Bungees

[Tom Wilson]

Has anyone found a source for bungee rubber yet. I have scoured the internet but can not find a suitable supplier. I want 30metres of  Latex surgical tubing amber in colour with 5/16"O/D and 1/16" wall thickness, preferably from a UK supplier and at a realistic price. 

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Overlander gave us one for a review model last year so it's worth seeing if they carry them as a stock item.

David.

[Tom Wilson]

Thanks David, I have phoned Overlander but they say that it was probably something that they made up themselves. They told me to try "Gliders" in Nottingham. they have been advertising on the back page of "Soarer" for many many years. They have some stuff 10mm o/d x 7mm i/d but unfortunately only 25m long. There are so many soarers out there that I can't believe that no one knows where to get the material. If anyone else is interested please get in touch and I will order a length from the states. There is a company in Chesapeake  VA. that does it in long lengths.

[Erfolg]

I do not think that there are that many bungee launched gliders any more. Of those remaining, some will be using solid (square) rubber, others bungee cord (that cotton covered multi strand rubber stuff). Competion flyers use power winches.

So what happened to the model guiders. Some gave up due to age etc. the rest went electric. I became electric, so much more convienant, than putting out and taking in that bungee. I now welcome still air days and evenings, no longer the bane of my life.

Regards

Erfolg

[Tom Wilson]

You are probably right and I am in the process of making a power winch at present. However as it is 25 years since I flew competitively, I need to get a bit of practice in first. A winch would pull the wings off of some of my models. One of the fields that I can use means a 150yard walk up a lane, climb over two gates and then a 3/4 mile uphill in the field just to set a winch up and then I would need a return trip to collect the model and repeat it all again at the end, so a bungee would be much easier when I'm on my own.  PS. we don't get to many still air days up here in Scotland and even less in NI. However I will keep trying.

[Erfolg]

Where is NI, my daughter lived in Inverness for a year (great place, hell to get to, by road, plane to expensive and the train far to slow), now lives in Aberdeen.

Its not the wind that I find a problem, it is the cold and rain (very cold in winter). Great place to live though.

Regarding power winch, I put golf trolley wheels on my own, I also had a microswitch cut out operating in conjunction with a tensioned arm (adjustable). Mainly used in Gorrila mode though. Still a pain to put out and take in.

Electrics are far more practical these days and possibly cheaper (if budget equipment is used).

Regards

Erfolg

[Tom Wilson]

3rd attempt. N.I.is Northern Ireland.My daughter lived in Portlethen outside Aberdeen before moving to N.I. i have not got round to fitting wheels yet but have fitted a constant tension device with a changeover switch to bypass it if necessary.

our flat field is no problem as you can drive a car right up to where you want to stick the winch. i have only just tried electric but not yet fully convinced about it. It is expensive initially what with motors and esc's(fairly cheap) but batteries, chargers, balancers ( if you go down the Li Po route), wattmeters fairly pricey.as you need more than one or two batteries. 

[Terence Lynock]

Hi Tom,

            have a gurggle for Thera-Med or Theramed, they do exercise equipment etc and do three strengths of Latex tube for use as stretchy exercisers up to 25 metres long, I use the 6mm (two 7.5 metre) and one 25 metre 8mm so I have the option of an assortment of lengths and power as they can all be linked with little carabiners used for boating etc.

One 6mm or two end to end, two 6mm parallel or the 8mm with one or two 6mm parallel or end to end or for launching elephants I can double the 8mm to half its length with the two 6mm all in parallel, managed to launch a fully loaded Starlifter to 30 thousand feet with that one, they also do a 12mm I think but I am not into launching battleships,

                          regards,              Terry

[none.none]

i too have foud it difficult to find a bungee, how about if RCM+E did an article on how to make a bungee to suit yoour model, what are the options costs etc etc. most people end up resorting to the 6mm eleastic cord stuff, and monofilament fishing line.

[Erfolg]

George Stringwell in his Thermal Soaring book, covers all types of bungees etc. and how to make them, down to the last knot. I think this was the definative book on flat field flying.

What has happened to George?

Also I have another book, Radio Control Soaring by Dave hughes (& Ken Binks, Pat Teakle, Tony Elis, Chris Foss, Geof Dallimer and the list of the greats goes on) seem to cover much of the same ground.

I think these were all Radio Modeller books, but excellent never the less.

I know this does not directly provided an answer, but given that bungee launching, is almost as common as the tow line launch, I would be suprised if these sources can be improved.

Perhaps worth looking on Amazon for a second hand book, probably down to £1.

Erfolg 

[Terence Lynock]

Could a Turbex 2 engne starter be utilised as a launch winch? it has plenty of power and speed and I happen to have a new one doing nowt,

             regards,               Terry

[Tom Wilson]

Sorry about delay in replying but computer has been acting up.

I tried Theramed but they e-mailed to say that they do not do this stuff. Making up the bungee is very very simple Adam. It is finding the surgical tubing that is the problem.

Terry, I don't like the idea of joining bungee lengths with carabinos. If a bungee was to break it would be like a circus trapeze act  ie "The Flying Carabinos" ,a bit dangerous don't you think with lumps of metal flying through the air. As for the starter ,well I'm sure that it would be powerfull enough to be converted to a winch as I doubt very much if you could stop it turning by hand. After all it is just the same as a small car starter motor, which gives a high torque.

I have tried a number of surgical tube suppliers but yet with no luck but I got a number today which I will try tomorrow.If I find a supplier I will let you all know and i hope that some others will also keep chasing this up.  

[Terence Lynock]

I will try to find the invoice from the company I bought my tubing from in the UK, Theramed is an American concern but I got my 6mm for about £7.50 for a 7.5 metre length as i recall, the red 3/8'' I got off eBay in the States and that is a 25 metre length cost me about £20 with postage.

Try throwing 'Theramed' at ebay worldwide search and see what it comes up with, thats how I found my stuff,

regards                  Terry

[Terence Lynock]

Quick thought - try googling 'Thera-band' which is the trade name of the tubing, this is the stuff you want 

here

regards, Terry

[Erfolg]

If a Turbex motor is an electric starter for models, I would suggest a visit to the local car salvage yard to purchase a high torque, high wattage car starter motor.

Power is generally what is sought, in a winch. Not a balance between torque and physical size etc. I am sure you could make it work, but easier solutions can be found.

Whilst in the scrap yard pick up a high power solenoid to switch the current. I also used an old electric sewing machine foot switch to operate the solenoid.

The motor is less than half the problem, the forces on the (winch) drum are also very high. Without access to an engineering workshop or some one who has, the difficulties are probably very high.

I had to stake my winch down and turn around, use deep sea fishing line. Not every one likes the Gorilla type launches (auto tensioning, adjustable device required?) so typical of the powered winch

Once working I lost interest, as less convienant than bungee, except on a still day.

Erfolg

[David Williams]

Has anyone any experience of using the Ripmax Bungee ??

Does this use Latex Tube ??

this

[Bob Cotsford]

if you look at the bungee chord that they list at £26, you can see that it's cotton covered stuff, not latex tube.

[Tom Wilson]

Erfolg is perfectly correct in what he is saying. There is quite a lot of engineering work required to make a starter motor into a winch. First you need to make up a frame to mount the motor, then you need to make up a drum and cut splines through the hub to fit the motor spindle. You need a bicycle sprocket mounted on the drum with a release mechanism, you then need to make up a constant tension device which requires pulleys and tensioning arm, plus whatever other extras you may wish, like wheels or carrying handle. Then there is the wiring and safety switches etc. I was lucky enough to have the facilities of a large engineering workshop when I built mine before I retired, although it is now only being finished off after lying idle for over 20 years. It was built from Ron Russell drawings which bear a very uncanny resemblance to a Spanish winch(no not wench) depicted in the September 1980 issue of the BARCs magazine "Soarer".

[David Williams]

Hi Tom,

We seem to have wandered a little from your original request for assistance obtaining quality latex tube. I'm interested in finding some to launch a 100s model. You mentioned the possibility of obtaining it from the States if you got enough interest. Well I'm interested if the price is right. Do you know what an economical order quantity is. Perhaps we should try to get an idea of how many want to buy and see if we have enough to raise an order 

[Tom Wilson]

I had a job finding the site again, but Yes I agree with you and I will have another look.

[Tom Wilson]

David, I have found the site in question and made e-mail contact with them. They are Primeline Industries site address is www.primelineindustries.com .Their online catalogue states that their 50ft reels will be made up of no more than 3 pieces, but as I don't really want 5 joints.Iasked if I could have the 50ft lengths( the maximum size that they do) in one continuous length meaning that I would only have one join, and as it is for sport flying only this would be acceptable to me as getting 100ft appears to be very difficult. Their reply was that "Yes" they can do a 50ft comtinuous length but at 15% extra cost and I would need a minimum order of 200ft (4 pieces). The price for this is $27.05 per 50ft length which would come to £26.18 plus p&p for 100ft. I think this is very reasonable. They also told me of a company in Germany which does bungees for launching. They are www.emc-vega.de ,they have a large selection for different sizes and weights (and classes) of glider but it is all in German. The one that would probably suit us is the allround, but at 92euro (£64.18 for 29.4 m) it is a bit more expensive plus postage of course. So have a look and get back to me. I am happy to go with the American stuff, but I will hold off until I hear from you and if you wish we can get together on this and place an order. As you said in you last posting there may be others, so let them speak now or forever hold their peace.   

[David Williams]

Tom,

Thanks but I'm sorted. In haste I've ordered a 2M Competition Hi-start from aerofoam.com in US. They will supply Tube,Line & Parachute for £55 delivered to UK. Looks more expensive than your options, but I was just sold on their advertising. I'll let you know if it lives up to their claims. Here's their web address.

http://www.aerofoam.com/hosemonster.html 

The price of £55 is a special price if they supply Tube line & chute only. You put it together.

[Tom Wilson]

 David,

glad to hear that you got sorted out. I had a look at the aerofoam site and e-mailed Mark about their products. It would appear that they also do it in 50' lengths with a joiner but again a bit more expensive. They say that it has more UV resistance than the amber coloured stuff, but I'm not too worried about that as my original bungee lasted many years and let's face it we don't get the same sort of sunshine that they get in Arizona. If I can get someone to share in an order with me, I will go with the Primeline simply because they are cheaper but as stated in my previous post they need a minimum order of 4 x 50' lengths and the price is £26.18 +PP for 100'. If anyone is interested please contact me with you e-mail address and we can deal with it together

Tom

[Peter Wood]

I bought mine from RS component, in UK. I have a trade account, as I used to be an Electrician. I beleive it is 10mm, but still having problems joining the latex rubber to the 200lb fishing line. is there a suitable connector.

Peter 

[Tom Wilson]

Peter, all that you need is some heat shrink sleeving some heavy cord or light twine and a ring (key ring is ideal). Slip a piece of heat shrink ( big enough diameter to allow a doubled up length of bungee rubber to pass through approximately 3" long. Slip on the key ring (about 1" diameter is fine) and double back the rubber. Bind with light cord. Don't use a thin thread as it can cut into rhe rubber. Slide the heat shrink down over the binding until it reaches the ring and shrink. All you have to do now is tie the nylon line to the ring using a fishermans knot.