Crane Fly Trainer Autogyro

[Tom Wright 2]

Hi Gaz.

Well done for all the hard work, and fingers crossed for excellent results.I some times think a degree is necessary to fly Autogyros lol.

Just returned from the field after a 2 1/2 hour session with the single function head fitted to a new Crane Fly .All went very well until I had to land out with a low lipo , not a problem until a helpful dog walker decided to retrieve the model by picking it up by the tail . will have it fixed within half an hour so no harm done .

Look forward to hearing how you get on with yours .

Tom.

[Tom Wright 2]

Single function head Crane Fly

Here is an option for mounting the blue wonder bearing housing under the delta plate ,as opposed to the top mounting used on my prototype.Mounting underneath requires one un flanged bearing at the top and a flanged bearing at the bottom .This method also avoids the necessity for a large centre hole to clear the housing body.

Top view,

 

Bottom view.

Tom.

Edited By Tom Wright 2 on 08/12/2012 20:34:29

[Kevin Flynn 1]

Tom it's just amazing how quick you come up with these new designs and then bang them out just as quick, I guess I will have to build another CF2 with the single function head, that will be number three for me, still flying numbers one and two. Thanks for all the hard work.Keep them coming!

regards

Kevin

(PS thanks for the PM's)

[Bernie]

Tom thanx ,it was the shim there wasn't enough ,I put a bit more on and tried again this morning ,well i can tell you she went ok so just a few more trials hanging on to it then i'll give it a try ,it did seem ok and just wanted to go up , no side ways pull or banking.,cheers tom i will let you know how it flys .soon as i get psyched up to do it.

[Gaz Elliott]

Well I did get to the patch for some well earnt therapy. Wind was not as gentle as would have liked but as you flew in stronger I felt comfortable with conditions. Head whistled on spool up , good sign. Motor had plenty of pull. Head moved in direction . Into wind and up . Then off to the right no recovery possible. Arrrrrggghhh post Mortim revealed that a carbon rod fixing from the steel clevises had fractured and released the left servo clevises . Hence lacking left turn . Dooooh 10 seconds flight. Will repair and band with cotton to strengthen

[Tom Wright 2]

Correction .

Post 08 / 12 / 2012 20 / 32 / 22 is wrong the plate has to have a centre hole large enough to to fit a flanged bearing . The bottom bearing should also be flanged.

Sorry about that . Will post a corrected photo shortly.

Tom.

[Tom Wright 2]

Following from above the top view of the bearing holder mounted under the plate , as I am flying at the moment . A flanged bearing must be fitted at the top , and bottom . At a quick look there may be room to fit a middle un flanged as well which may be beneficial . What ever method is used constructors should satisfy themselves that the final set up is suitable for porpoise ,and not get caught out by making a silly mistake as I did .

Tom.

[Tom Wright 2]

Gaz.

Are you sure the problem was not caused by the ground contact ? in that case it would be a matter off adding more left trim after the repair . Or ..... could it have been an problem not spotted after our exploits in high winds ?.

Your description of the pre launch observations sounded spot on ,so a successful attempt should now be imminent . It would be a good idea to check the rotor bolt is not bent as a small bend will throw the model out of trim. Oh and just a reminder to use thread lock when replacing the bolt .

Best of luck with the next try .

Tom.

Edited By Tom Wright 2 on 10/12/2012 16:59:13

[Tom Wright 2]

Pete started a single function head Cane Fly yesterday and hopes to have it ready for the maiden tomorrow afternoon. The forecast is good so we will be able to compare notes.

The weather today was bright and sunny with a moderate breeze , so I took the opportunity to fly a slightly larger delta plate on the single function head Crane Fly ,and concluded the model performs well on plates from 3" to 4 1/2" .thats quite a range to experiment with .

As it was a breezy day, so I shimmed the blades for best lift ,the difference was immediately noticeable in that far less power was need to cruise or climb. A full circuit hands off was achieved and turns to the left or right equal, with minimal nose drop.

I also noted that the spiral stability was good by entering a bank letting the nose drop then letting go of the sticks resulted in some height loss but with the model returning to level flight .

I must say this simplified version of the standard Crane Fly makes getting into autogyro flying even easier.

Tom.

[Tom Wright 2]

Today the weather turned out to be perfect ,bright sunshine no wind ,and Pete had finished his single function head Crane Fly so it was off to the field for an afternoon session.

Pete never builds to plan so his Crane Fly has a Hobby Zone Cub tail and rudder and nicely shaped blue foam front fus ....it looked good !

As he is still recovering from a major op I offered to do the launch ,and I kid you not the model climbed out as straight as a dye followed by a flat turn into the circuit and the the TX passed to me for comparison with my two single head models .

It flew just like the other two ,and no more difficult than a light fixed wing trainer .We then launched off the Standard mk 2 Crane Fly with he duel function head , and found little or no difference ,so getting rid of the complicated head in favour of the simple to make single function does seem to be the way to go for a first Autogyro .

Sorry we did not get any video or photos as we only anticipated a quick visit to the field , but ended up having a very enjoyable three hour session.

Tom.

[Tom Wright 2]

A simple method to shim HK C - 30 blades.

Quite a few are now fitting Crane Fly's with the HK C30 blades , this is a very inexpensive and a time saving way of completing the build ,and just leaves the job of setting the blades on the delta plate at a small negative incidence .

After trying several methods the following seems to tick all the boxes.

Cut a piece of 2 mm lite ply to 90 mm x 20 mm and mark off three 30 mm sections .

Sand along the length to achieve a 1 mm reduction in thickness at one edge , while maintaining the 2 mm depth at the opposite edge.

When the resultant end section is an even taper cut into three pieces and glue on to each blade root pad located on the underside of each blade , taking care to locate the thicker part of the wedge towards the trailing edge .

This method gives a reasonable balance between lift and good spin up in low wind conditions, and gives the blade root a good stable position on the plate.

Tom.

[Tom Wright 2]

The Crane Fly MK2 build details are available free of charge in page indexed ( pdf ) format . Just PM E Mail address to receive . The model can now be built with a very simple roll only head and single roll servo ,with elevator controlling pitch . The last few pages of this thread gives the options available .Any questions are always welcome.

Tom.

[Tom Wright 2]

The new modelling shed arrived today . .

This how how far we got after three hours , the lads from SE Timber are doing a brilliant job , and will have it completed by 2.30 PM .

Tom.

[Grasshopper]

Several of us have been waiting for some time to order C30 heads from HK, me included.

By chance last night I went on line using my smart-phone and using the HK shop app. for such 'phones and to my surprise was able to order 2 heads and 2 C30 blade sets. These are on back order admittedly - but I now note that the C30 head and blade listings do show '-2' quantities presumably because I have 'booked' two of each with my confirmed and paid for order?

Is this a way oif getting to the front of the queue I wonder since when they get stock and send out the emails to us all saying they have stock there will be a rush of orders and one has to assume that my order will be first in the queue!

Here's hoping - it may be worth a try.

Peter

Edited By Grasshopper on 12/12/2012 13:30:06

[Malcolm - coolwind.co.uk]

Peter,

In theory you should be ahead of the queue, lets hope it works.

You can get to their mobile site even on a PC based browser just by putting /mobile after the .com

Malcolm

[Tom Wright 2]

If these items are going to be re stocked ,and that's the big question , then surely it must put you at the front of the queue Peter. .

For Crane Fly builders the HK head is now not needed as the single function head and elevator version works really well . If you are really chomping at the bit I do have one set of HK blades spare complete with mast , control mech, bearing , and plate . PM if these parts will help .

Tom.

Edited By Tom Wright 2 on 12/12/2012 13:49:00

[Grasshopper]

Tom, thanks for the offer but I have a Crane Fky with HK head and blades waiting for the weather to improve so best leave these bits for someone who is desperate.

I do however want to try a single function head - does your latest PDF contain the revised build details? I know these are in the forum but are easier to follow if they are in a continuous document.

Peter

[Tom Wright 2]

Peter, the single function head version is not yet included in the pdf , but all you need to do is reduce the distance from the under side of the plate to mast pivot to 11.5 ". Rake the mast back 8-9 degrees ( for blades of similar proportions to the HK ones ) and either add an elevator to the existing tail or make a new one as described on the previous page . The suggestion for the simple control mech,bearings and plate , can be done to suit what you have to hand and is open for the individual to interpret .

The best around plate seems to be 0.8 mm x 4" wedged as described above, Three have have already been built and all fly well , it's a shame the HK blades are not in stock but they can be made from one sheet of 3/16" x 4" med hard balsa with a hard wood L/E added , in fact you would get two sets of blades out of one sheet .

Tom.

[ken anderson.]

Posted by Tom Wright 2 on 12/12/2012 13:14:49:

The new modelling shed arrived today . .

This how how far we got after three hours , the lads from SE Timber are doing a brilliant job , and will have it completed by 2.30 PM .

Tom.

tom - that there is a Grand Cree you have youngin....well done....

ken anderson ..... ne..1.... Cree dept.....

[Sparks]

The blades for the Durafly Auto-G Gyrocopter are in stock at the moment and may be worth considering instead of the Cervia C30 ones.

The HK advert says they are 400mmx45mm. Item 320000104.

I've ordered a set to try.

Richard.

[Tom Wright 2]

Ken.

Why I man it's a canny biggun.

Tom Foreign language dept.

Edited By Tom Wright 2 on 12/12/2012 16:54:45

[Tom Wright 2]

Hi Richard thanks for the heads up .... yes they should work fine .

Tom.

[Stuart Eggerton]

Shed looks great Tom, and you need it for that mega fleet of aircraft!

[Grasshopper]

Tom,

thanks for the info. on the single function head. I have ordered a few mounts from GS and bearings from RCBearings. I find the latter Company amazing - free delivery on just £10 of stuff. Like it!

I have a removable tail-plane on my Crane Fly so will make another unit to suit the single function head. I will use one of the two current head servos for the elevator and another digital bb one for the head control. Not sure where this will go but it would be good if I can mount it on the new mast at the base as then the whole ag can be converted from dual to single function head in a few minutes. We will see, and I expect Xmas to get in the way closely followed by 2 weeks in Thailand so this is def. a New Year project!

I still hope to fly the two function CF before Xmas - if it warms up a bit - and will keep you up to date.

Peter

[Bob Bertram]

Hi Tom,

I have decided to go down the home-made head route as HK seem to be taking a long time in getting the C30 heads in stock. Have been looking at various options that others have used and have all sorts of materials to hand. One thing that is puzzling me is, what is the hexagonal? brass anchor thing with the 3mm thread that you used in the low tech option in the pdf info you send out? It looks familiar but I cant think what it is!

Regards

Bob