Homemade Winches - Let's see those creative contraptions

[Ed Anderson]

I received the RCME newsletter and this photo was included. It is a homemade gldier winch built from a bicycle. Cool

**LINK**

 

The photo is credited to  Terry Whiting 1 so I presume he built it.

 

I have a Ford Long Shaft winch, 2 Hi-starts and a OneWinch. But only one of the hi-starts is homemade and that is not much of an accomplishment.

 

How about you? Anyone built their own electric winch? Let's hear about it! Let's see some photos.

 

Edited By Ed Anderson on 14/12/2012 22:00:24

[Stephen Grigg]

At our field all the tow gliders are towed by tugs,never seen a winch used.Some use the MPX Mentor electric.

[Terry Whiting 1]

ED , yes I made it, buit really I should say I recycled it, no pun intended. The wheel has a line guide so no fear of slipping off the wheel rim

I turned up two nylon cones which guides the line on the wheel rim. There are ball swivels at either end of the drouge chute. I found in a decent breeze once the model is flying, you can adjust the rate of climb as a kite with hardly any cranking of the pedals. The stands are the quick release type, in two minutes in can be packed flat to lay in the boot of my car.

Terry (TW1)

[Ed Anderson]

That is one beautiful piece of work. I wish I could have a launch with that.

Do you use it often?

Ed

[Tom Sharp]

About ten years ago people were giving away top quality winches when they found that they could put a brushless winch on the front of the plane.

[Frank Skilbeck]

But you are then carrying the weight of the winch .................

[PatMc]

Posted by Frank Skilbeck on 23/03/2013 22:52:25:

But you are then carrying the weight of the winch .................

... but one that's a lot more convenient to use.

Before economical power trains became available to power motor gliders I used to regularly use a bungee, power winch & hand tow. Now that E power is so practical I only fly pure gliders from the slope, I've binned the bungee, gave the power winch away & lost the hand tow bits somewhere in the loft.

[Terry Whiting 1]

Yes Ed in regular use as these past 10 years I have been unable to climb Ivinghoe Beacon. The idea came upon me whilst sitting watching the gliders at Dunstable Downs (home of London G.C) being winch launched. I had seen model electric winches but then thought of my grandsons cycle he had out grown, and bing-go Mk 1 recycled cycle launcher was created.

TW1......................PS   I think I would need an EXTRA long line to launch your models                 

Edited By Terry Whiting 1 on 24/03/2013 06:48:54

[JACK]

does anyone have an electric glider winch for sale suitable for launching 1/4 scale vintage sailplanes???,l know they used to be about but l cant find one now,coming back to the hobby after a fairly long period,so l am a bit out of touch,give me a ring on 07873337796,anything considered,cheers for now.....Jack

[Rich too]

That's great Terry - does anyone use bungees these days? We used the surgical tubing type 30 years ago but these do not appear today? Rich

[Ed Anderson]

In the USA we call the fabric covered elastic a bungee. Not commonly used for launching sailplanes.

If you belong to a sailplane club or are part of a group that flies a lot of sailplanes there is likely to be an electric winch or two around. When available the winch is typically preferred.

When made with latex or silocone surgical tubing type material we call it a hi-start. These are still fairly popular among those flying pure gliders.

There is a new option called the OneWinch that has a small but growing community. www.onewinch.com .

However with the rise of low cost light weight brushless motors and lipo batteries I expect that most new glider pilots will start with electric launched gliders. And the e-gliders will make it easier for older glider pilots to stay in the game long after hauling a winch or pulling a hi-start might be too challenging.

I am lucky enough to have all these forms available to me within my club. My preference is for the electric winch with a nice 3+ meter molded F3J type glider racing up the line with a big zoom at the end.

.