How to Restore Old Windmills

Put on your painter's suit, goggles, dust mask and gloves.

Remove the old paint from your windmill with a sandblasting tool. Stand a few feet away from your windmill and apply a small amount of pressure on the sprayer and increase the pressure as needed. You don’t have to purchase a sandblaster; you can usually rent one.

Cover your windmill’s windows using newspaper and tape.

Paint the wood around the windows with primer and follow up with the paint of your choice.

Apply primer to your sandblasted windmill.

If your previous DC motor generator no longer runs, remove it by unbolting it from the gearbox and sliding it away from the gearbox. The DC motor generator is located in the back capsule of your windmill. Attach a new DC motor generator to the previous gearbox and bolt it in place. If your windmill is old, the new generator may differ in fashion and may be larger than the older model. In this case, cover the protruding part of your generator using a weatherproof box that you’ve attached to the windmill.

Paint your windmill, excluding the blades, using a latex-based paint. Climb up your ladder and use a paint sprayer tool to evenly distribute paint. Avoid spraying the fan blades if you want them to retain the original look. This may be a bit tricky on a windy day, so you may need to hire a professional painter to paint your windmill.

Write down the rotations per minute, or RPM, for your DC motor generator. This will be listed in the manufacturer's manual. Purchase new blades that work for this RPM total. If your previous generator shares the same RPMs as your new one, remove the metal blade hub and blades from the previous generator and attach them in the same fashion to the new generator.