Jump to content
KiteLife Forum

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/17/2019 in all areas

  1. Finally got a chance to fly it a bit on short lines. Used my travel frame. Winds near Boston today were 18-25 and whipping pretty soundly.. Kite was great. It ate the gusts like they weren't even there. Nice balanced pressure across the entire sail area. Kite responded like a whip when the proper inputs were given. reaction time on short lines was crazy
    3 points
  2. the difference is what you want the adhesive to do,... I want the bond to survive a hard thrashing, banging superglue is how you break that bond, it isn't flexible in the slightest. Say you were making a rubber band powered glider, parts of it are superglued (those are intended to break away on impact ~ like each of the wings from the fuselage) and parts of it are assembled with 2 part epoxy (available at any hardware store, you mix it on a paper plate, a couple of minutes to turn milky colored with a toothpick or stick from the yard). These are pieces that are intended to survive an impact without separation,... epoxy has a little flexibility. Say the rudder and tail section, they probably wouldn't be the first point of impact from powered flight ending anyway. <LOL> Cleaning out the release agent and roughing up the edge of the ferrule may seem like overkill, but it's not that tough to do it perfect. You need an emory board for finger nails (or some other gentle abrasive), a paper towel and skinny insertion device (like a coat hanger) heck even an ear cleaning swab with alcohol on it, or windex will work. You don't want to adhere to the releasing agent (used to get the stick off of the mandrel when it was made!) Building up the stopper thickness with electrical tape makes a nice clean bonded edge (also prevents over insertion), as it just removes the excess epoxy overflow as unwrapping takes place. Wait for it to dry first!!! I carry a repair kit, you can bet both kinds of adhesive are in there too. But if I can wait until I get off of the beach I can do it right! Placing the ferrules into the outside pieces of the leading edge assembly just seems like a no-brainer to me. No "both ends sealed with solid ferrules", also the kite "breaks down shorter" (my A-bag is an oversized fishing rod case from Orvis). Lastly, on a personal level, I run a different bridle from most folks so my kites bend on the other 3rds instead of in the middle, therefore I also prefer a varying degree of flex in the LE. That is accomplished by use of a travel frame layout with stiffer members in position two and five from the other 4 spots along a six piece leading edge. Usually green race (2) and diamonds (4). for convenience these tubes are taped together in pairs making a three piece LE. I want more stiffness at the intersection of the down spars and LE. Having the ferrules on the outside 2 LE pieces makes changing the flex easier for me on site. I will grant that I do almost nothing as others do, I've spent lots of time experimenting and testing for my own preferences,... over decades in fact. The great thing about kiting is .... "you take the best and dump the rest!" As you'll hear hundreds of ways to get to your promised land.
    1 point
  3. Greetings everyone I'm new to kiting, I have a drone and it always seems too windy to fly! so you guessed it I purchased my first kite a quantum fell in love Instantly now I fly my drone NEVER kites kites kites just purchased my third a hypnotist my other is a zenith 7. I need help though I cant do any freaking tricks loop de loops and ish!!! Just pulled off a snap stall landing and it was orgasmic, lead it to the outside edge snapped it and boom touchdown and lift off. Tried several times again but couldn't stick the landing. I will practice practice practice just need one other little beginner trick to amazing my wife who thinks in out there just flapping my arms lol. Thanks in advance by the way I'm near Indianapolis if anyone is willing to take on a student
    1 point
  4. WAIT don't push the flush ferrule inside further, that will change the flexing of the overall shape on the LE don't re-glue it with superglue, instead use two part 5 minute epoxy (less brittle), Build a stopper with vinyl electrical tape so it can NOT go in too far. Clean out the releasing stuff from the inside of the spar with a toothbrush and some windex, rough-up the end of the ferrule that will be accepting the adhesive In the future, affix the ferrules to the outside tubes instead of the center one, it breaks down shorter length overall and you'll never have this experience again! "Feel along the spars" during assembly, to insure this doesn't happen on other kites. I carry a long skinny (point 125" carbon) tube to push thru the leading edge members, if necessary. There's no easy solution to the tube you cannot currently use. I carry spares but that doesn't help you. See if the other side can be loosen up and removed entirely. Then push out the stuck ferrule with a carefully straightened-out coat hanger? sometimes the stuck ferrule can be tapped out against a piece of soft pine wood, but don't count on a complete lack of peripheral damage
    1 point
  5. Showing the venting detail.
    1 point
  6. Getting there.. Quite a bit will come off the trailing edge during the final cut but I decided on a Keystone shaped center panel with an applique star. Ready to join the three panels and start sewing..Using Red thread for this kite. Edge Binding will be Red.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...