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Looking for Kitemaking Resources


Bred

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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.

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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

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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.

 

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