David Begg 1 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Thanks guys. The summer here has been fantastic, really hot every day (and most nights), with very little wind, just like the summers were before the weather changed in the early 1970s. I have had some great flights with my glider in the thermals. In fact it has forgotten how to rain and all the hills are dried off and yellow rather than their more usual green colour. I am hoping the C30 blades come back into stock sooner than later. Spruce wood, is for some reason very difficult to obtain in NZ, so I am thinking of using a carbon fibre rod instead, should work fine I think. Cheers David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 Hi David . We could sure do with some of that warmth over here . . If you have worked with carbon before it should be easy to make the minor changes to accommodate a tube ,but beware of the cheap stuff as it's very weak in torsion. We look forward to hearing how the build goes. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Eggerton Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Hi Tom , yes it was cold today!, went up to the field at 2.30pm and none of you chaps were there! I had brought the 1/4 scale K18 and had a great 30 minute flight, there were quite a lot of thermals about which was surprising and gaggles of gulls everywhere, so was chuffed, but could not feel my thumbs! Bet your new shed is great will have to pop round to have a look soon Edited By Stuart Eggerton on 23/02/2013 21:42:43 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Flynn 1 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 Trying to post some Crane Fly photos make that photo if it works. The one on the left is the latest and seems to fly best, next is the third build (both this and #4 are SFH models with rudder) the third from left is a CF with a shorter nose and the far one (on the right) is my orignal long nose both with the HK head's I must admit it has survived some terrible landings thanks to yours truly. One thing I have niticed over and over is that my blades work much better when covered,I wrap them with coloured packing tape. This really is an addiction can't seem to stop building them what fun too. Thanks to Rich and Tom for all their help. I have these four, a Fire Fly a HKC30 The Kay autogyro (which still has to fly) and I hope in the next few months a Panther and lest I forget the famous Auto G. Kevin. California Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 24/02/2013 23:59:07 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Flynn 1 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 Sorry for the photo in the last post guess I will have to try again Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Kevin - the version of the photo you are using is very low res - can you put a jpg version in your album then you will be able to post it at better quality. BEB PS - Crane Fly finished - but still awaiting maiden! Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 25/02/2013 00:01:36 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 Kevin. That's quite a collection ..Keep trying with the photos .Did you click save to my album before copying ?. Thanks to BEB for re jigging the post. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 A free build sequence with photos, parts list , and live links to material suppliers are all included in the seventeen page PDF now available to build the model shown in the video. Send a PM and include your e mail address to receive. Tom. Edited By Tom Wright 2 on 25/02/2013 00:52:41 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Begg 1 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Started my Crane Fly this afternoon, all going well except I had to hunt out a ruler that had inches on it. Everything is metric here (New Zealand) and I am having to rack my mind to remember what 7/8 of an inch is! 20 plus years since I last used the old imperial measurements. The Crane Fly is going to be a very strong build. No spruce is available so I am using some Old Popular timber, very light and strong . It came from an old scaffolding plank. I am certain it will prove to be satisfactory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 Hi David . Sorry about the imperial measurements ,some of us are stuck in the dark age lol. As you say the simple "A" frame structure is very strong and I can confirm that I have never managed to break it . It sounds like the wood you are using should be well seasoned and up to the job. Look forward to hearing further progress. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 25/02/2013 00:01:13: Kevin - the version of the photo you are using is very low res - can you put a jpg version in your album then you will be able to post it at better quality. BEB PS - Crane Fly finished - but still awaiting maiden! Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 25/02/2013 00:01:36 BEB. Any chance of some photos ,before the big day ? . Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 A welcome to two new Crane Fly builders Mick and Martin .I hope you guys will post progress, and don't be shy about asking questions . Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 Sunshine and warmth at last! with a proper long session at the field today ,plenty of Autogyro action and great spin up's in the near calm wind. Congratulations to Paul in DE for his excellent Crane Fly sortie and first video in - 5 degrees! . Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Begg 1 Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 I can't locate any 0.8mm fibre glass sheet to construct the rotor head. The only fibre glass sheet I have found is some fibre glass printed circuit board, I can remove the copper from it with etching compound, however this fibre glass sheet is 1.6mm thick, twice the specified thickness. I have ordered a 1.00 mm carbon fibre sheet from Hobby King, is being the closest similar item I could find. Will this be suitable to make the rotor head? Thank you guys for any guidance and suggestions you can give me. (by the way I live in New Zealand, so there is no point in suggesting UK suppliers) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 Hi David . Using different materials ,or changing the thickness , can require some previous experience to make a correct judgement . I would be surprised if the the postage from the UK supplier given in the the build pdf ,was to much to justify the order .Have you e-mailed them to check ? I suspect the 1 mm carbon will be far to stiff without doing a re design on the flex plate ,so unless someone else has used it successfully, I would be doubtful . Carbon is also much harder to work ,and more expensive than GF. If removing the copper from the 1.6mm you have is practical then it could be used but,it is very likely that some plate redesign will be necessary , if all efforts to get the 0.8 fail I will try and do a plate design to suit the 1.6 mm. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm - coolwind.co.uk Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 David, I did a google search and came up with these guys: Fabrum. They stock 0.8mm G10, but its whether they will sell it to the public or just to businesses, or if they have minimum orders. Must be worth a call as they may put you in touch with some of their resellers. Malcolm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 well done TW 2........ the crane fly has generated a fair bit of traffic for the RCME site here.......60000 view's.... ken anderson ne..1 foodmixer dept.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 Thanks Ken. The Panther ,Auto -G and Crane Fly seemed to have re awakened world wide interest in Autogyros , and provided a fascinating new dimension for seasoned fixed wing pilots . Even more importantly these designs have made having a go at something different ,practical ,and inexpensive.. Tom. Edited By Tom Wright 2 on 04/03/2013 17:23:13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Begg 1 Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 No I have not tried a UK supplier, all the information I have is to use '0.8mm standard fibreglass sheet', no email addresses for any suppliers. Another thought I had was to etch the copper off the printed surface board, cut out and make the head, then sand down the fibre glass printed circuit board to the correct thickness of 0.8mm. However do different types of fibre glass have different degrees of flexibility????? How accurately can I sand down the fibre glass board to reach 0.8mm???? Something simple proves to be so difficult. Thank you for your assistance. Cheers David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 David. Try e mailing this supplier. The same link is on page two of the pdf ,but you may have an early version that did not include links . Tom. Edited By Tom Wright 2 on 04/03/2013 17:42:44 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm - coolwind.co.uk Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 David, Please don't try to sand down fibre glass to thichness, it just won't work. The different thicknesses of FG do have different strengths and flexibility. FG sheet is made by impregnating a woven fabric of glass strands with an epoxy and fused under pressure or temperature. The thickness (diameter) of the glass strands will be different in a thin sheet to a thicker sheet, if you expose or damage the glass strands by sanding you will start to loose strength and may get premature failure of the sheet. and btw FG dust is very nasty stuff! Full protection would be needed Malcolm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Bertram Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Blast, some friends went to Oz yesterday. They could have posted it from there if I had known earlier and got some. Anyone else going down-under in the near future and could help David out? Cheers Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 Posted by Malcolm on 04/03/2013 18:03:49: David, Please don't try to sand down fibre glass to thichness, it just won't work. The different thicknesses of FG do have different strengths and flexibility. FG sheet is made by impregnating a woven fabric of glass strands with an epoxy and fused under pressure or temperature. The thickness (diameter) of the glass strands will be different in a thin sheet to a thicker sheet, if you expose or damage the glass strands by sanding you will start to loose strength and may get premature failure of the sheet. and btw FG dust is very nasty stuff! Full protection would be needed Malcolm Good advice . Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Begg 1 Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Right guys, I promise not to attempt to sand down fibre glass (fg) sheet to the correct size. The present plan is: To see what Malcolm's possible NZ supplier has to say regarding the supply of the 0.8mm fg sheet. To see if the UK supplier will send the fg sheet to NZ (at somewhere near a sensible freight cost) If neither of these options work, get the UK supplier to send the fg sheet to some kind person in the Uk and get them to send it on to NZ. (all cost covered of course) One of these options MUST work. Better go, I have a days relief teaching today, so had better fly to look after the little darlings. (and earn some money to pay for all the bits for the Crane Fly!!!) Thank you for your help. Cheers David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 I was glad to hear David got two sheets of 0.8 mm GF sent from the UK to NZ for a postage charge of only £6 .This should be of help to other overseas builders who might find it difficult to get the material . Here is the link again. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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