No one wants to be in a position where a customer has purchased an item and the seller is not able to provide the item and the customer cancels their order – here is the email that I had to painfully send to new customers that have cancelled their orders -I know that some of the people who cancelled will end up getting a windmill from somewhere else and that they probably are going to end up with one the cheap, poorly made imitations:
Sorry that you cancelled your garden windmill order because it did not ship immediately – here is some information that I wanted you know even though you have cancelled your order. (there is a partial message included that went out to customers that decided to wait below) I really hate delays however I really appreciate quality. If you have decided to go ahead order from another seller I truly hope the order goes well. The thing to know is there is only one USA manufacturer of 8 foot steel windmills in the USA. It is possible that you have ordered from another dealer that carries the same brand who had them in stock. It is also possible that you have ordered an imported windmill from another seller. The imported windmills vary in quality from “not so bad” to really poor. I am enclosing a photo of the box that the USA manufacturer uses. If you ordered from another seller and this is what you got then you have purchase a very well made product. If your box does not look like this and your windmill fails then it is a Chinese import – remember that I can get you Made in the USA replacement parts. If you simply cancelled and perhaps decided to get a windmill later I hope that you will consider coming back and taking a look at what I have to offer.
While the Made in the USA steel windmill manufacturer is running several day behind you might want to consider the premium aluminum windmills that I carry. This manufacturer also has gotten a lot of recent orders however he has been able ship within 2-3 days.
Anyway I am sorry for the inconvenience and that you felt it necessary to cancel your order.
Ronald Headley – Owner
eTech n Stuff & Yardgardenwindmills
Here is some information about you recent 8 foot garden windmill order-these windmills come from a very small manufacturer in Iowa.
It is Saturday 12 May 2012 – I had hoped that the manufacturer would have shipped out my pending orders yesterday (Friday 11 May) which I am sorry to say did not happen.
These windmills are made in small batches pretty much by hand. First they have to cut out the steel pieces – then bend, form and weld the pieces to make the sub assemblies, next the wheels are hand welded and hand balanced, the parts that need to be painted are run through the painting process and finally after the paint has dried the parts are then packaged into boxes to be shipped. It takes the 6 people that make these 10-15 days to complete a batch. This small American company makes every effort to make certain each individual windmill is correctly done. This is so you the customer will we happy with your purchase and so that as long as your windmill is properly assembled, set up and maintained will last for years.
When there are a lot of order for windmills which has been going on recently the manufacturer first runs out of finished packaged windmills, they package more and at the same time they begin making a new batch of windmills. If they become overwhelmed with orders they can very quickly run out of the completed sub assemblies that make up the completed windmill. This is what has happened recently – they ran out of windmills ready to ship, they ran out of the completed sub assemblies need to make up a new windmill. They of course began making a new batch. That batch was completed and began shipping a few days ago however they received a lot more new orders over the past 2 weeks and so had to begin to make another new batch which they are working on.
I had hoped that this lastest batch would have been complete and shipped yesterday but that did not happen.
Ronald Headley – owner – eTech n Stuff & Yardgardenwindmills
Tags: Chinese Copy wind, Chinese copy windmills, garden windmills, Made in the USA windmills
Here is the email that I had to send out to several new customers this morning – there is some good information here not only about the Made in the USA garden windmills. There is also information that applies to products made by other small manufacturers:
Here is some information about you recent 8 foot garden windmill order-these windmills come from a very small manufacturer in Iowa.
It is Saturday 12 May 2012 – I had hoped that the manufacturer would have shipped out my pending orders yesterday (Friday 11 May) which I am sorry to say did not happen.
These windmills are made in small batches pretty much by hand. First they have to cut out the steel pieces – then bend, form and weld the pieces to make the sub assemblies, next the wheels are hand welded and hand balanced, the parts that need to be painted are run through the painting process and finally after the paint has dried the parts are then packaged into boxes to be shipped. It takes the 6 people that make these 10-15 days to complete a batch. This small American company makes every effort to make certain each individual windmill is correctly done. This is so you the customer will we happy with your purchase and so that as long as your windmill is properly assembled, set up and maintained will last for years.
When there are a lot of order for windmills which has been going on recently the manufacturer first runs out of finished packaged windmills, they package more and at the same time they begin making a new batch of windmills. If they become overwhelmed with orders they can very quickly run out of the completed sub assemblies that make up the completed windmill. This is what has happened recently – they ran out of windmills ready to ship, they ran out of the completed sub assemblies need to make up a new windmill. They of course began making a new batch. That batch was completed and began shipping a few days ago however they received a lot more new orders over the past 2 weeks and so had to begin to make another new batch which they are working on.
I had hoped that this lastest batch would have been complete and shipping yesterday but that did not happen. While I am sorry that your garden windmill has not shipped yet I do want you to know that it will ship soon and that the manufacturer has nearly completed the latest batch of windmills. While I do apologize for the delay I want you to know that the manufacturer and their six employees always do the best they can to make certain you the customer are very pleased with the results of their work. They do not rush or take shortcuts when they get overwhelmed with a lot of orders and run out of the hand manufactured parts needed to make these. They complete a batch – package and ship and then start making a new batch as they have done for a very long time – several decades in fact.
Your windmill will be shipping soon – I will send you the tracking information as soon as it ships – remember these are not “mass produced” off in some distant country. Your windmill has been hand made by a few Midwestern Americans that take a lot of pride in what they do. Everyone at the manufacturing facility is focused on doing everything right so that you the customer will be pleased with your purchase for years to come. Quality and pride of workmanship is well worth having to wait a few extra days to receive your order.
Again sorry you order is delayed – it will be shipping soon and I will be emailing you the tracking information as soon as it ships.
Ronald Headley
Owner eTech n Stuff and Yardgardenwindmills
Today I had to send out several emails apologizing to some new customers telling them that the shipment of their garden windmill has been delayed. The small Iowa manufacturer has been overwhelmed with orders recently. They are making new windmills as fast as they can however I have been getting and submitting new orders at a rate that is continuing to cause the manufacturer to run out of completed windmills as well as windmill parts for replacements and the sub assemblies necessary to make new windmills.
One of the biggest problems is that customers in this day and age want their order to ship immediately which I can certainly understand. The reality is small manufacturers that take pride in what they are doing and make certain that each individual product that they make is done correctly can get into situations where supply is not able to keep with demand.
Unlike the Chinese imported windmills where they are able to poorly make thousands of garden windmills at a time the American manufacturer is small. They make the windmills basically by hand and can only deal with small batches at a time. It takes them 10-15 days to complete a new batch of windmills and 2-3 days to pack and ship them.
The end result is that there are times when orders for windmills exceeds the manufacturer’s ability to produce them. Internet and online shoppers expect their orders to be shipped immediately. We live in an age where due to the Internet and the big box stores we all expect to be able to get what we want right away and have become unwilling to wait for quality products that take longer to make than the flood of imported copies.
Today I had to email a number of new customers that their garden windmill will be delayed. While I do not know if the delay will be a day or two or several days I do know it is frustrating for customers to have to wait. It is painful for me to have to tell customers that their order has not shipped yet but will “in a few days”.
Sadly I had several customers who cancelled their orders because they were not willing to wait until their windmill was completed and shipped. At least one found another seller that is offering what initially appears to be the same windmill from another seller who is able to ship right away and who also has a much lower price than I have on the windmill at the same online seller. This customer did share who they had ordered their windmill from. I looked closely at their website and their on-line store – on the online store while they are saying that their windmill is made by the same manufacturer that I carry. Their initial price is amazingly if not suspiciously low. I have actually ordered one of theirs myself from their on-line store to see if what they have is really the same brand I carry.
I probably should clarify here – an on-line store is a place where lots sellers list their products. On line stores typically have thousands of products that come from hundreds of different sellers. Some examples of online stores are Amazon, eBay, eCrater and so on. Sellers have “stores” on these online sites – an example of a “store” on an online site is my Amazon store
This is different from a seller’s website. On a sellers website the seller offers the item that they sell only. My website Yardgardenwindmill is an example of a sellers website what I have on my site is windmills and weathervanes.
I will find out if it is in fact the same brand in a few days and share that information here. I really dislike having customers cancel orders because I know a certain number of them will get a garden windmill someplace else and probably will end up with one of the inferior imports. Rather than wait for the quality Made in the USA windmill that will last for a good number of years – these customer could very well end up with an import that will fail in a short time. The customer does not know there is a difference and often due to the early failure just figures all garden windmills are the same and that they quickly fail and so they never buy another one.
I get phone calls and emails every day from people who have purchased these inferior imports – their windmills have failed and they are looking for replacement parts. Here is a link to my newsletter here about repairing a damaged windmill in case you happen to have gotten one of these inferior imports.
I will be posting the email that I had to send out to my customers who have had to wait for their windmill to ship. There is some information there that hopefully will help people to not only better understand why sometimes windmill orders get delayed, I hope that this will be helpful for people ordering other products from small American manufacturers.
It is not that I am against imported items or specifically Chinese made items – there really is no way to get away from purchasing imported items. The computer I am writing this on has parts made from all over the world which is true of all computers and electronics. What I do not like to see are cheaply and poorly made imitations of quality products that are sold are greatly reduced prices and which are marketed in ways that the consumer thinks that they are getting a certain product when in fact what they are getting is an imitation of the “real” thing. These imitations typically fail and the consumer just assumes because the photos and description look the same that they did get the “real” thing and that the “real” thing is not of good quality.
Tags: Chinese copy windmills, imported windmills, shipping delays
I recently got an 18 foot aluminum windmill to have on display at my booth at the Lexington KY Home and Garden Show. Here are some things I learned about the large aluminum windmills together.
First just like the smaller aluminum windmills layout especially the bolts. There are two sizes of bolts that look about the same length they are not so follow the directions included with the windmill. The really short bolts are used to bolt the four pieces of the platform together.
The first thing to know is how the legs go together. There are two pieces that make up each leg. The bottom has a solid aluminum insert already attached. The anchors will slide over these inserts as one of the last steps. These four leg pieces have the insert at the bottom and have a bolt loosely fitted at the top of this part of the leg. There will be a magic maker “C”. The top leg section also has an insert bolted in place and also has the letter “C” in magic marker. “C” means center. Lay the leg pieces together on the ground on driveway or sidewalk – something fairly solid and fairly level. Remove the loose bolt from the top of the lower leg piece and slide the upper piece in place. Put the bolt back in and tighten. Do not over-tighten the bolts that hold the legs together and make certain the nuts go on right. Self locking stainless nuts are fairly easy to “cross thread” and if you try to tighten them when “cross threaded” you will break the bolt. Luckily there are spare bolts included. “Don’t ask how I know this.” Do this for the other three legs. Also the nuts and bolts are the same size so you will need two of the same sized wrench.
The mast head has a thrust bearing. The legs go inside the mast head. The top of the legs have a magic marker “T” written on them. Insert the bolts through the mast head – put the legs inside and put the bolts through the legs. Put the nut on so it is loose.
Set the mast head with the four loosely attached legs on a chair, low table or something that is 2-3 feet high. The bottom cross pieces are tubular aluminum – make certain you use the correct sized bolt and put the bolt through the cross piece, then through the X brace piece and then through the leg. I found that with the top of the frame resting on something 2-3 feet high was a bit help. You will have two legs on the ground and the other two on top. I found the easiest place to start with the cross braces is the two bottom legs. Do not tighten these yet. Just loosely put the nuts on. All of the nuts on this windmill go on the inside of the frame.
Next add the cross brace and X braces to the top two legs – bolt goes through the tubular brace first, then through the X brace and then through the hole in the leg.
At this point you can lift up the two top legs with the braces attached and add the two side tubular cross braces and the X braces.
Here is a hint – when you add the X braces line them up with the legs. I found that some “painters” tape was useful to hold the side cross braces temporally to the legs.
The next level cross pieces are angle aluminum . Again I found that doing the top two legs, followed by the bottom two legs was the easiest. Bring the tops of two X braces across diagonally - Choose which side goes over the top to form the X – while it does not matter structurally which X brace goes over (on top) of the other X brace, they do look better if each X is done the same way. I started with the one on the left and put it across diagonally to the right. Then put the one on the right over top and diagonally to the left. Again it does not matter which way these go, the completed windmill will look better if each X brace is the same on each side all the way up. (it is a pain to chance these later) so the all are the same – all levels – all sides – put the same X brace over the same way.
Locate the angle aluminum piece – put a bolt through it (flat side toward the top), then through the brace coming from the bottom and through the brace going up to the next level – through the leg and add the nut. Like before keep these nuts loose for now. Again I found that a some painters tape was helpful. I taped the X braces to the legs going up to the next level. Do the same with the two cross pieces that are on the bottom. Move them across diagonally put a bolt through the angle aluminum, the X brace coming from the bottom and through the X brace that will go to the next level and through the leg and add a nut.
With the X braces taped to the legs they do not get in the way as you add the X braces and cross brace to the sides.
Go up (toward the top) with the next level in the same way. Finally when you get to the top – platform level – put place and loosely bolt the top and the bottom. Add the two platform pieces to the sides – the bolt goes through the platform piece first then through the X brace then the leg.
Add the lower plate that holds with the pillow bearing and cinch up all the bolt some. They still will need to be somewhat loose. Stand the tower up on a level surface. Get it so the legs all are in contact with the level surface and tighten up the lowest level of tubular braces and X braces. Tighten up the next level up and tip it back down so again the top is resting on the chair or table.
Tighten all of the bolts – remember this is aluminum – the bolts should be tight but not so tight that you are crushing the aluminum tubing.
Stand it back up to see it is level – you will need at least 3 people to stand this up – four is a lot better. Two on the lower part so it does not slide or “kick back” and two “walking” the tower up. Once you make certain it is still level, bring it back down and check all of the bolts to make certain they are tight.
Assemble the wheel and tail – lift the tower high enough to insert the wheel and tail into the mast head and lower pillow block. You can have the top resting directly on the mast head or you can move it up a few inches. There are set screws in the pillow bearings – tighten these. You want it so the top turns the bearings not loose where the vertical shaft turns inside the bearings.
At this point add two of the ground anchors and bolt them to the solid bottom leg shaft. Tip the windmill up – again 3 or 4 people are needed. Put the two anchor plates on the ground and tip it enough more to add the remaining two anchors.
At this point your will have the 18 foot windmill together, the wheel and tail will be in place and it will be standing on the anchor pads.
Here on this blog is a post where a customer talks about his experience with the 18 foot windmill and discusses mounting it. I had mine at a show so I have not personally mounted one of these large windmills yet.
I will continue this post when I mount mine and try to include some photos as I reassemble and mount this 18 foot windmill. In the mean time here are a couple of photos. One of the 18 foot windmill at my booth at the show and one from the manufacturer. The photos will enlarge by clicking on the photo which will open a new window and then by clicking on the photo in the new window.
 18 foot windmill at Lexington Home & Flower Show |
 18 Foot Aluminum Windmill |
Tags: 18 foot aluminum windmill, assembly tips 18 foot windmill
The Windmillers Trade Fair is an annual event that is held in a different location each year. This year it will be in Batavia, Illinois – June 14th – 16th. This an event where people buy and sell real windmills and windmill parts. Here is a link to the web site – WINDMILLERS TRADE FAIR – Here is a link to the PDF of the flyer
Here is a link to some information and photos of past Windmillers Trade Fairs
I have been aware of this fair for several years but so far have not been able to make it. It is looking like this year I will be able to get away and attend.
A few years ago while at the Columbus Ohio Outdoor Power show I saw a demonstration of a ratchet pruning tool and got one. This one has a yellow handle and has worked very well for the past several years. While at the Lexington KY Home and Garden show a couple of years back there was a demonstration of a ratchet pruning tool that looked like the demo I seen in Columbus. While my small yellow handled one work really well it is not big enough to do larger branches so thinking this was the same thing as my small ratchet pruners I got a larger one. I only used it a few times and the ratchet bent, after a few more uses the blades would not close.
This year I had a booth at the Lexington Lawn and Garden Show and in the next booth were a couple showing a ratchet pruner. I told them that I had a yellow handled one that I had gotten in Columbus several years ago that work well but the longer handled one I had gotten were not very good and had failed completely.
This is where I learned that just like the garden windmills, there is a genuine Made in the USA brand that it well made and lasts for years and there are some cheap Chinese copies that are poorly made and will fail quickly.
When it comes to Ratchet Pruning tools I came to find out that my little yellow handled ones were Florian 701 – made in the USA and have a lifetime warranty. I also learned that the lopper I had gotten at the Lexington show was a poorly made copy of the Florian Mini Lopper. In fact the people who I had bought the Chinese lopper from were also at the show this year.
I ended up getting a Florian Maxi Lopper – while I have not used it a lot yet I do know it is FAR better made than the Chinese piece of junk I have. I have cut through a number of branches and trees with ease. The Chinese one failed after cutting just a few limbs and so far the Florian Maxi Lopper is really doing a good job.
The thing to know is the Chinese ratchet tool is not worth the money. The people who sell this one at shows do a good demonstration however the tool is not worth buying. The Florian (like the genuine made in the USA windmills) just plain works. If you are looking for a Ratchet Pruner or Lopper get the Florian.
I also got the Florian 201 Maxi Pole Pruning System – I have not used this yet however it looks like a huge improvement over the pole cutter and saw I got from Lowe’s a few years ago. The one from Lowe’s never has worked – the cutters (non ratchet) will not do anything other than really small branches, the pole just bend when I attempt to use the saw. I am looking forward to trying the Florian Pole cutter and saw.
Just like garden windmills – the Chinese copy looks a whole lot like the made in the USA model – the Florian Ratchet system tools and the Chinese made copy look a lot alike. There is a huge difference in how they are made and how they work. Yes the just like the windmills the Chinese ratchet pruning and lopping tools are cheaper than the Florian Made in the USA tools. The difference in price is well worth the vastly improved quality. What I have learned is if you are at a show and people are demonstrating ratchet pruners and loppers make certain of what you are seeing — Florian is the Made in the USA brand – if it is not Florian you are looking at the Chinese copy and I have learned the Chinese brand is NOT what you want. FLORIAN TOOLS LINK
Tags: Florian, Made in USA, ratchet loppers, ratchet pruners
My booth at the Lexington Home and Garden Show – April 12 thru 15 – 2012. I had several windmills at the show including an 18 foot aluminum windmill plus a number of the new (to me) Birdhouses, Bird Feeders and Light Houses. These Amish made yard and garden items are at my new site Yardgardenwindmills (click to link to go to the site) – Clicking on a photo will open the photo in a window and clicking the photo again will enlarge it.
 My Booth at Lexington Home and Garden Show 1 |
 My Booth at Lexington Home and Flower Show |
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18 foot windmill at Lexington Home & Flower Show |
 At my booth at the Lexington Home and Flower Show |
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Tags: 18 foot windmill, Aluminum windmill, bird feeders, birdhouses, Lexington Home and Garden Show
Here is a photo of one the 8 foot windmills from a customer in Texas.
8 foot windmill in Texas
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