Bred Posted March 20, 2020 Report Share Posted March 20, 2020 Where can I find some good, consolidated resources on kitemaking? I'm decent with a sewing machine and I'm handy. I have made wooden RC sailplanes, repaired carbon fiber planes and parts for my dirt bikes, built/repaired/tuned RC helicopters, etc. so I'm pretty confident I can take some plans with a little insight and guidance and make a good kite. I've found several sites with plans listed, but not much about how to read the cut sheets/schematics, and haven't found info on tips for order of operations, stitches to use for different seams...stuff like that. So where can I find the good stuff?! Oh, and I'll note that as of now, I am primarily looking at building dual line sport kites since that's what I am familiar with. I intend to get a quad liner at some point, too, but want some experience flying them before I build one. Cheers, Bred. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted March 20, 2020 Report Share Posted March 20, 2020 Into the Wind, Kites and Fun Things, Flymarket, and Goodwinds all have varying degrees of materials and availability.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonFibonacci Posted March 21, 2020 Report Share Posted March 21, 2020 Have you checked out http://www.kitebuilder.com/? Lots of information there, although sometimes it takes a lot of digging in forum threads to find it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bred Posted March 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2020 Thanks, I'll check it out. Any books or personal websites of builders that come to mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bred Posted March 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2020 So here's what I'm talking about... ...these aren't all standard techniques for assembly, seam construction, joining hardware, installing fittings, etc. Just looking for some inside info here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photomom Posted March 21, 2020 Report Share Posted March 21, 2020 Check out this link. It’s old and the links it contains may not work anymore but the information contained in the body should help. It is basic sewing and fabric information that should get you started. http://dako-club.tripod.com/kitesewing101.htm 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exult Posted March 21, 2020 Report Share Posted March 21, 2020 4 hours ago, photomom said: Check out this link. It’s old and the links it contains may not work anymore but the information contained in the body should help. It is basic sewing and fabric information that should get you started. http://dako-club.tripod.com/kitesewing101.htm Yes, that a good one, especially the part about tension. Start practising on paper until you get it right and then on a patch of ripstop. I leave no guarantees whether paper will eventually make the needle go blunt or not. However I have done rather much paper sewing stitch practice and then checked the needle tip in a microscope by comparing it to other needle tips without seeing any bad effects. Here is the same document in two other addresses: https://web.archive.org/web/20180524030645/http://dako-club.tripod.com/kitesewing101.htm https://sites.google.com/site/kites4all/home/kite-sewing-101 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonFibonacci Posted March 22, 2020 Report Share Posted March 22, 2020 I was just about to suggest that kites4all site. [emoji106] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bred Posted March 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2020 OK. I think I've settled on the [Return] as my first build. Looks like a pretty simple panel layout and very good documentation. Wish me luck! http://www.kareloh.com/kite-plans/return/return-plan/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zuul Posted March 24, 2020 Report Share Posted March 24, 2020 This site spells out every step to build a sport kite in great detail: https://www.tweelijners.com/tom/tomskitesite-en/KB0.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bred Posted March 24, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2020 1 hour ago, Zuul said: This site spells out every step to build a sport kite in great detail: https://www.tweelijners.com/tom/tomskitesite-en/KB0.html WINNER! Thanks! I also leveraged my poor german skills to peek in on drachenforum.net...this stuff is just hard to search for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zuul Posted March 24, 2020 Report Share Posted March 24, 2020 Glad I could help. I’m an aspiring kite-builder myself. The green and white one is a slightly modified and scaled OSTK with my own panel design. The all white one is my current project ... my own design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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