Richard Harris
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Posts posted by Richard Harris
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I managed to retest the Twister over the weekend with its new modifications and it is now flying really well, one of the local club members of WMFC took a few snaps of it, thanks Mike. I need to tweak my side thrust, once done I will try and capture some flight footage, I'm pleased with this one.
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On 17/06/2022 at 14:39, Mike T said:
Question for @Richard Harrisif I may? I've enlarged my Panther plan by a modest 15% to make it easier for the fus. to take a .52 FS plus associated tankage. The structure will be as per original (no increase in section dimensions etc.) apart from subbing 1/8 birch ply for some sheet parts at the front for engine and u/c mounting.
The question is, do I need to increase the blade chord or thickness, or can I get away with the original plan dimensions, albeit 10-15% longer?
Mike,
You should be fine
Rich
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On 10/06/2022 at 00:17, Steve Adams said:
Hi Rich,
The Twister is without doubt the best looking autogyro out of all your marvellous creations. A great many seasoned gyronuts and potential gyronuts would be very pleased to see a plan of this in the mag.
Congratulations on another superb design Sir.
Kind Regards
Steve
Steve,
Thankyou, I have blown the dust off it and re made the fins after you stirred a bit of interest in it. They are about twice the surface area of the originals, 2/3 of these are rudder so I am hoping this will sort out the yawing instability encountered on that last flight.
If the weather is kind I hope to re-test fly it at our annual autogyro Fly-In this coming weekend, fingers crossed.
Rich
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19 hours ago, Mike T said:
I've just been meandering around YouTube on the telly, when this video popped up under recommendations and I re-discovered this thread!
What progress please, Rich? I hope negotiations for a mag. plan are well underway! ?
Mike,
It lies somewhere in my shed and has not been touched since that flight. I need to increase the fin area and rudders, when I get round to it I will try and grab some footage.
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Thought I'd share this experimental twin boomed tail I have retrofitted to my Revolver II. If it works out OK I will adapt it onto an upcoming new larger design, the booms are spruce laminations and seem to be plenty strong enough. I have had to up the KV of the motor so as to reduce prop diameter, I am hoping this will enable accurate alignment of the thrustline to vertical CG.
A little more work to complete but should be flight ready for our up coming FlyIn.
Rich
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40 minutes ago, MattyB said:
This must have been pretty popular, I searched for the RCM&E about a week after publication in the local newsagents that normally stock it an it was all gone! Now waiting to see if the new owners can provide back issues...
Matty,
I was only able to get the last copy from my local WHSmith's, if you get stuck give me a shout?
Early indications are that it is popular, always good to hear folk are still building from scratch.
EarlyBird,
All kits seem to be pricey these days but it does suit some, I prefer to hack stuff out.
Rich
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On 05/03/2022 at 17:03, Richard Harris said:
2022 UK International Gyro meet will once again be hosted at Winterton Model Flying club over the weekend of 17th -19th June. All required info is on the poster, any questions just ask here or give Cali a bell.
Just bumping back up as we are 4 weeks away!
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Whilst flying my Gyroo saturday I had my motor drop off in flight, luckily the model floated down nicely with minor damage to the tail but it took 10 mins to find the motor. On inspection the motor mount was still in place on the bulkhead, clearly I hadn't tightened the countersunk bolts up enough so worth adding a spot of loctite on these.
All repaired and I managed to fly it today at 12noon along side rc fixed wings, drones and competition FF gliders, I think around 40.
Good fun and glad it got back in one piece as it was pretty busy up there.
Rich
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10 hours ago, Bob Bertram said:
Hi Rich,
What ever happened to the Whippiteer? Is it ever likely to appear in plan form for the magazine?
Hi Bob,
I must admit I side tracked onto the Gyroo, maybe one for the future if there is enough interest?
Rich
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I've been informed that the Gyroo 3D printed files are now available free to download from Coolwind models . These have been designed by renowned gyronut Tim Arnold. They are located in the download section and feature a modification to the UC giving you an option to add extra wire to the standard legs if you feel the need.
At the moment a balsa tail is used as the first printed tail was a tad heavy, However, a few experts over on our FB group are modiying them to extract as much weight as possible.
On another note I flew the prototype last weekend, I had broken the 11" prop trying my one blade experiments. All I could find was a 10x 4 drone prop ( the coloured thin type that hum when over rpm'd) I was pleasantly surprised that it still had plenty of oomph. Though I coudnt pull a loop as before but the duration was definitely extended some what.
Rich
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2 hours ago, Ace said:
@Richard Harris On the plan the blades are 500mm (19.7") which means you can only get 2 from a 4" x 36" (910mm) x 1/4" sheet. If the blade length was reduced to 455mm (18") you could get 4. Question is, would blades just under 2" shorter still be acceptable or would you recommend sticking to the full 500mm length? Thanks
Ace,
As Phil suggests splicing works fine, however I make my blade blanks at full sheet length which has given me several smaller sets at 410mm span. I plan on designing something specifically for these shorter blades.
That said, I am pretty sure the Gyroo would fly on 450mm length blades though the rotor loading will be higher. Steve Jones 2 is flying his on shorter blades, I don't remember the exact length, if he see's this I am sure he will advise.
Rich
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4 hours ago, barry tume said:
Richard H.
Hi,
I've completed the balancing and covering of the blades. The covering isn't as bad as it really looks in the picture (honestly). I used a little gadget sourced from China to balance the blades would this be a correct way to achieve the balancing of "AUTO GYRO" blades, as it's supposed to be for helicopters, just a thought, your comments would be appreciated, thanks ?
Barry,
Neat tool you have there, I do mine in pretty much the same way but not so sophisticated. I bolt mine directly together through the mounting hole with a piece of M4 all thread and use this as the axle between the open jaws of my vice, these are orientated 90 degrees to what yours are.
Looks like your not far off?
Rich
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Hi Barry,
First off, welcome to the forum ? Good to hear you are having a crack at Gyroo
Regarding your blades and the task of applying PVA, I just add a little more to take into account the slight weight loss once cured.
There is no reason why you couldn't use pins to add mass to a blade, just be observant of the lengthwise and cordwise CG when doing so.
In the past, if I have had a blade that has ended up being significantly heavier than the rest I have used short pieces of plumbers solder set into the blade around its cordwise CG. Using a piece of suitably sized piano wire you can scrape out quite a neat slot for the solder to sit into.
Will be interested to know how you get on?
Rich
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On another note SARIK hobbies will have a laser cut part kit available as of the 29th April.
https://www.sarikhobbies.com/product/new-auto-gryo/
Also Coolwind have added alternative fibre glass blade reinforces to their Gyroo parts.
https://www.coolwind.co.uk/Gyroo_Parts/cat2253307_238247.aspx
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Shaun,
To be fair it is a bit alien when blade balancing for the first time, just take your time and dont be afraid to ask as we have all been there.
One of my Gyro friends has uploaded a video of his 3D printed Gyroo flying in 30 mph winds, thought I would share it.
I am hoping he will make the files available here at some stage.
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Dave,
Unless you have a modern 3d drawing program that will give you an accurate CG position its a case of trail and error.
It's worth taking the time to read THIS, written by Jim Baxter back in the 90's. It gives you a good underpinning of what is needed in the designing of a tractor autogyro, it really needs re writing as it is out of date now but still good info.
Rich
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Dave,
As a rule I start off with 5-6 degrees of down thrust, this generally aligns the thrust line above the vertical CG on a tractor model and also aids spin up.
The effects of pitch instability are nowhere near as severe as that with a pusher as the moment arm between CG and tail surfaces are longer in comparison and dampen any offsets.
You can move mass around to suit (servos, ESC, lipos etc), alter mast height and thrustline.
If you are close in alignment but climb is to severe for your liking under power just simply increase the tailplane area.
Or if your not up for experimenting simply copy the dimensions of a proven design.
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Nice neat work Steve,
Is this your original build or the one for your clubmate?
Rich
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1 hour ago, Bob Bertram said:
R/C Model Aeroplane?
I think that's it Bob, Thank you ?
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On 09/04/2022 at 22:14, codepox said:
Does anyone knows how to buy and have the RCM&E May issue shipped to USA?
My understanding is that Barnes & Noble bookstores stock the USA's version of RCM&E (cannot remember its name off the top of my head), easiest thing to do is to drop the magazine an email for the up to date info you require.
Rich
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21 hours ago, Stephen Jones said:
Thanks Richard,
Been a while since I built this one and have been asked if I could build one for one or two of these for our club mates. ??
I will post my build pictures on here too to prove how simple and easy this one is.
Steve
Look forward to seeing your twin build for your mates Stephen?
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23 hours ago, MattyB said:
Sorry to be a pedant, but “density here” seems to have snuck into your pdf… ??
Opps, my reminder........medium it is.
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Autogyro Get togethers
in Autogyros
Posted
What a weekend, we were blessed with fine weather on every day with well over 100 model autogyros appearing of all shapes and sizes (and only one ARTF!).
The largest model there was Harold Booms own designed pusher, he travelled from Germany and managed to shoe horn 3 models into his 1980's VW Golf. This model has been developed over a couple of years with a few crashes along the way to get where it is today, it is now vice free and powered by a Moki 5 cylinder radial it's sports 4.5m rotors, he flew it many times over the weekend.
The ducting around the motor was added due to overheating of a couple of cylinders, this houses a fan unit which is incorporated onto the prop driver.
An outstanding model.
I will upload more videos and photos in the coming days.