Quote Originally Posted by irving2008 View Post
Forgive my stupidity, by why do you need all that z-movement for a wind turbine blade? If you're thinking of cutting them vertically 'on the hub' so to speak I think you run the risk of, as a minimum, the blade deflecting, or worse snapping off... anything that high a length to width ratio probably needs milling horizontally and adequately supported... or have i got the wrong end of the stick (or should that be blade?) :lol:
Yes you got the wrong end of the stick/blade there! :lol: I am intending to mill them horizontally. Near the hub, due to the twist on the blade, the Z distance is quite large. I'm intending to make a set of 3.2 meter (diameter) blades for a variable pitch wind turbine I've made. There are other things I want the big Z travel for, I just can't remember them at the moment!

I've found some 160x80mm steel box section. There's 5mm, 6.3 and 8mm wall thickness available. I think the 5mm should be ok. No idea how much it costs or if I can buy less than a 7.5 meter length....

http://www.steel-shop.co.uk/contentf...talogue(1).pdf
(page 7 - I live very near to them but I've never actually been)