K'NEX Windmill
Windmills were used for centuries to grind corn into flour.
Turn the blades of this K'NEX windmill to see how the grinding process worked.
View video
The windmill can be built using a K'NEX Base kit
First, assemble the twenty four 3D connectors shown in the photo opposite.
Please visit Handy Hint A4 if you need help to do this.
Now build the central platform of the windmill, being careful to ensure that each 3D connector is fitted in the correct way…
Then use white connectors and green rods to make two gear wheels.
Note that we prefer to use these simple gears when recreating historical models with K'NEX. The real gear wheels would have looked similar, but made of wood.
Make the grinding axle by adding to a grey rod:
1. A snap cap black.
2. A gear wheel.
3. A tan clip, with the pin pointing towards the gear wheel.
4. Three white connectors.
5. A silver spacer.
6. A blue spacer.
7. A tan clip, with the pin pointing away from the two spacers.
Push the tan clip along so that the pin engages with the gear wheel.
Then add the grinding axle into the central floor assembly, and add a white connector onto the top of the grey rod, so that it engages with the pin on the tan clip. This white connector will become the turning wheel for the grindstone.
Be careful that the white connector to be used as the turning wheel for the grindstone does not fall off when you turn the floor assembly over.
It should look like this when assembled.
…and attach to a red rod:
1. A snap cap black.
2. A gear wheel.
3. A tan clip, with the pin pointing towards the gear wheel.
Push the tan clip along so that the pin engages with the gear wheel, and add:
4. The two axle supports, as shown.
5. Three silver spacers.
6. A blue spacer.
7. A tan clip, with the pin pointing away from the four spacers.
The diagram shows a real windmill with a grindstone.
Grains of corn were fed continuously into the small gap between the lower fixed wheel and the upper turning wheel, which crushed the grains, and released the flour inside ready for packing into sacks.
Turn the sails on your K'NEX windmill. You can see how the gears cause the upper white connector to turn against the lower white connector, so as to create a grinding effect.
Website last updated 2 October 2024. Feedback 
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