riffclown Posted January 28, 2018 Report Share Posted January 28, 2018 Just wanted to share a few things I do differently than Rev/Freilein or anyone else that I know of..When I'm attaching the Bungees and Caps to the sail, I did not care for the washers both Rev and Freilein use as they both allow the sail to bunch up when tension is applied.. My solution I started using about a year ago is to make inserts for the corners of the sail that provide a fixed flat area to attach the bungees to.. I make the inserts out of some plastic boxes I've had on hand and just cut them up and sand/size/punch to fit.. At the Bottom of the sail I use these triangles. If you look at the finished sail you can just see the edge of the plastic where I pulled it out a bit to show how it fits.. At the ends of the LE Sleeve I use these angled fittings that also fill the space that would be a continuation of the screening. These aren't visible on a finished kite so using an LE Sleeve I have already made but not used to show the detail. The amount of weight added to the finished sail is only a tiny bit more than the typical round washers the manufacturers use. but the advantage of the sail not bunching up at all is IMO tremendous.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photomom Posted January 28, 2018 Report Share Posted January 28, 2018 I like this idea. Especially for the bottom triangles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flintfootfilly Posted January 28, 2018 Report Share Posted January 28, 2018 Hadn't thought of doing that. Thanks for sharing. Sent from my [device_name] using http://KiteLife mobile app Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted January 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 It made a real difference in the tails kites especially since I could edge up the sail tension a bit without those annoying ripples in the fabric that disrupts airflow.. As I've stated elsewhere, I've played a lot with curvature on the LE and to get that you do need some additional tension there or the sail just bunches up and cancels out the curve. But every kite is an experiment..I had to completely redo the LE on Midnight Royal Taboo because of the way the fabric bunched in the center. Kite is 1/4" shorter than originally sewn.. I have no pattern and you can tell.. they don't all fly the same.. I've had a few I had to go back and rework. The only fixed measurement I have for most of my sails is the length of the leading edge sleeve and spars. Everything else is ooptional <--pun intended It's all fun right??? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oapbillf Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 That certainly looks to be worthwhile, I must try it. A couple of pictures that you might find of interest of how I attach thend caps and the top of the vertical rod caps and replace the mesh with Dacron, this was on a EXP where the mesh had been destroyed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted January 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 @oapbillf I've considered the Leading Edge holes and can't identify a hole cutter that would work for me. I don't have the patience to hot cut that many circles. I also doubt I could perfectly cut that many round holes. Would love to find pre-punched Dacron ribbon. I see some VERY NICE WORK there!! Well Done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim P. Posted January 31, 2018 Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 8 hours ago, riffclown said: @oapbillf I've considered the Leading Edge holes and can't identify a hole cutter that would work for me. I don't have the patience to hot cut that many circles. I also doubt I could perfectly cut that many round holes. Would love to find pre-punched Dacron ribbon. I see some VERY NICE WORK there!! Well Done! We use these at work sometimes, making holes in gasket materials. It should work for making holes for you. Just use some wood or a cutting board under the material. https://www.mainethread.com/index.php/tools/arch-punches/product/7-arch-punches 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffclown Posted January 31, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2018 Cool Link.. Thank You.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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