Kites & kiting

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

I suspect that aerographene evacuated then reconstituted with helium or hydrogen could have very groovy applications...as a semi-rigid core for instance....perhaps molded into an airfoil shape then coated with a thin polymer sealer coat. I've already heard of instances (such as Lamborghini's latest beast, rumor has it a couple other exotics as well) where rigid aerogel is used for insulation and as a core for some of the carbon composite components...there's also mention in various circles about aircraft sporting it as reinforcement and insulation. From reading it's not to terribly complicated to make (mention in several places that the chinese are claiming the capability of large blocks of the stuff), provided one has the right tools and ingredients....nearly all of which would be a reasonably cheap date for someone of an upper middle middle class income....shame no-one I know falls in that category :P

 

 

Electrical properties, yesh, I suspect that batteries may soon sport an aerogel of one sort or another before too long...apparently some are already in use in capacitors.

Graphene is being looked at as the future of processing power in computers, as it is cheap and super efficient, It is an interestin dealio that the fella that supposedly discovered graphene not too terribly long ago got a nobel prize for something that was known as far back as WWII, thin layers of graphite can function as a transistor, and pass electrical current rather effectively.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxhole_radio

Edited August 28, 2013 by DFINITLYDISTRUBD

[Turtle]

...

Graphene is being looked at as the future of processing power in computers, as it is cheap and super efficient, It is an interestin dealio that the fella that supposedly discovered graphene not too terribly long ago got a nobel prize for something that was known as far back as WWII, thin layers of graphite can function as a transistor, and pass electrical current rather effectively.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

 

http://en.wikipedia....i/Foxhole_radio

 

In the radio application you link to, it is a contact between steel and graphite that acts as a diode.

 

On the radio note, I suppose I could take my SW receiver into the field and fly a long aerial from a kite. I would want to check on how to properly ground it though. :lightning

 

So rather than put plugs in the cross-spar sockets of the rhombox, I decided to put small screws in the ends of the socket dowels. Fully in, each screw protrudes 3/32" for a total length increase of 3/16". If that doesn't tighten things up to my liking I can run the screws out a little bit for adjustment. :smart: 2 down, 6 to go.

 

Re-stapled winged-box wing and it's good as new. According to Turtle's Rule for Staples, if one staple comes out, put in 2; if 2 come out, put in 3; etcetera. Continue adding staples until no more will fit, then start hammering on them. :hammer:

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Lolz, why don't you just go to barbed tacks.

[Turtle]

Lolz, why don't you just go to barbed tacks.

 

Lolz, I didn't have any. :lol: As it was I used 3 different types of screws because I couldn't find 8 that matched. Besides, with the screws I can easily adjust the lengths. :smart:

 

I also found a small tear on the rhombox sail and fixed that as well. Both box kites now back in service, and I'm going to add a loop to the trailing longeron on each kite so I can fly tails from them. I had my new 26 foot tail all hooked up to Matilda when I bent her spar and that was that. Rats! Definitely going to chop her down into a straight Conyne as my next project. Might be able to build a small straight delta from the cut-off pieces too.

 

PS Starting reworking knots on my heavy line. Attached has just one side whipped.

As you were. :coffee_n_pc:

Edited August 29, 2013 by Turtle

[Turtle]

Matilda is cropped and propped. Now with a bit of wind & a Frenchie war, she and I can go all mercenary. :ebomb:

Edited September 1, 2013 by Turtle

[Hill]

Here we goes then. Hold onto your stomach. B)

 

 

I think I saw an ant once - maybe. I do admire your persistence!

Edited September 1, 2013 by Hill

[Hill]

Arrgh! Sorry. I haven't been here in awhile an can't figure out how to delete unintended posts. So I just edited my duplication

Edited September 1, 2013 by Hill

[Turtle]

Arrgh! Sorry. I haven't been here in awhile an can't figure out how to delete unintended posts. So I just edited my duplication

 

Good to hear from you again Hill. You may have to get to 1,000 posts before you 'earn' the ability to delete posts. In any case, nice audible.

 

I think I saw an ant once - maybe. I do admire your persistence!

 

Macro kite photography. Who woulda thunk it. :lol: I shoulda laid off the effort with a single small kite, but hey; if I got some admiration out of it I guess it was worth it. I didn't find the ant yet, but I did find one impact around 3:56 that activated the hard-drive park. Ooooopppssss! :doh: I also noticed that a couple minutes into the vid that I unintentionally zoomed the camera. Crap!

 

It may be necessary to hang some balancing arms below the carriage to damp the swinging. That's more weight of course & more troublesome stuff to fuss over. :rant: I'd like to get a steady wind and the camera up 400ft before I persist myself under some daisies. :lol:

[Turtle]

...

It may be necessary to hang some balancing arms below the carriage to damp the swinging. That's more weight of course & more troublesome stuff to fuss over. :rant: I'd like to get a steady wind and the camera up 400ft before I persist myself under some daisies. :lol:

 

The damping arms aren't my original idea, as this drawing of Lawrence's carriage shows. Those arms are 15 ft long! :omg: He was flying trains of 9 kites over 2000 ft. up!! :omg: :omg: Over 100 years ago! I know. What's my problem, right!?

 

I see folks doing so-called KAP (Kite Aerial Photgraphy) with on-demand pan & tilt and live video down-links and all the gadgets they can afford, but I don't see much of any flying above a few hundred feet. I know. What's their problem, right? :lol:

 

Replaced my plastic line-following tube with a rigid carboard string core. The line will cut into it, but if it lasts a few times I don't care.

 

 

George Lawrence: A Giant in Kite Aerial Photography

 

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Oh mr T...........

 

When you just going to give in and do it proper? What's next shower curtain rings?

You should make something like dis...a pair of dem....something tells me you could make a couple out of thread spools or pieces of wood...it would be not so easy but I could make the pulley part using my electric hand drill, a piece of wood, a longish bolt and a sharpened screwdriver. The shackle could be cut from 2 liter plastic bottles, detergent bottles, scrap angle, sheet metal, etc. add a couple washers, bolts, nuts and disposable pen bodies for bushings...VOILA!!!! Something that can reasonably efficiently travel up and down the line. Silly Turtle!

 

 

I rescued a turtle from the road at the peninsula (Presque Isle state park) yesterday, I'm sure I was very popular for having parked my bike right in the middle of the road, though the fella immediately behind me was laughing pretty hard and gave me a thumbs up I'm not sure the folks behind him were as amused.

Edited September 4, 2013 by DFINITLYDISTRUBD

[Turtle]

Oh mr T...........

 

When you just going to give in and do it proper? What's next shower curtain rings?

 

That's not a bad idea!

 

Anyway, I have tried 'proper' pulleys & the problem is keeping the string from jumping the wheel and lodging between wheel and its mount. If I try and make the gap small enough to keep the string out, the wheel binds up and doesn't roll. Damned if I do and damned if I don't.

 

Attached pulley shot shows two pulleys with the frame cut (red arrows) out to allow hanging onto line without accessible ends. The third is a newbie and the blue arrow points to the gap.

 

PS Turtles throughout time & space applaud your efforts to preserve us. :turtle: :thumbs_up

Edited September 4, 2013 by Turtle

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

I'd still wager a bound pulley slides easier than a cardboard tube :P

 

How do you small up the gap...do you instal warshers to keep dem floppy lookin pulleys in line?

[Turtle]

I'd still wager a bound pulley slides easier than a cardboard tube :P

 

Soooooo I bind a pulley at each end of the tube and voila!! Good thinkin Lincoln. :smart:

 

How do you small up the gap...do you instal warshers to keep dem floppy lookin pulleys in line?

 

I didn't try any actual shimming as the mind experiment foretold a comedy of arrows. erhm, errors. :lol:

 

If I thought I would be using the carriage very often then I would invest more time & effort in it. Besides using the hauling technique that I used decades ago on single kites, I could simply tie the carriage onto the flying line at or near the join of a small pilot kite to a larger lifter. I haven't given off the idea of directly mounting the camera to a kite either. Not only could it make some interesting vignetted views from inside the kite, I don't see anyone else doing it. Arrrggghhh & avast ye yella bellied pikers!!

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

There are only two drawbacks I see to mounting it direct.

1. Harder to get the kite up when conditions are less than ideal at ground level.

2.Potentially significant banging and bouncing of the camera during lift offs and landings (planned or otherwise).

The first being the worst in my book, once up in good wind it tends to be easy to stay up, but getting there can be quite the female dog/ill tempered lady.

I didn't try any actual shimming as the mind experiment foretold a comedy of arrows. erhm, errors. :lol:

Lolz. Were I in better shape financially and had I your addy I'd ship you a long spool of good line and a proper carriage with appropriately shaped, properly shimmed bearing mounted rollers. Well actually if that were the case I'd prolly combine a M/C trip to the west coast and deliver them personally.

[Turtle]

There are only two drawbacks I see to mounting it direct.

1. Harder to get the kite up when conditions are less than ideal at ground level.

2.Potentially significant banging and bouncing of the camera during lift offs and landings (planned or otherwise).

 

The first being the worst in my book, once up in good wind it tends to be easy to stay up, but getting there can be quite the female dog/ill tempered lady.

 

On #1 I agree and that is what has me sold on putting up a smaller kite first as a pilot. It helps pull the larger kite up to better wind as well as adding some lift to the line load.

 

On #2 I also agree, but it's a risk I am willing to take. The camera was a gift and if it goes unused for a week I feel guilty for not putting it to good purpose. I would rather have it smashed to bits by daring, than sitting in the closet by timidity.

 

Lolz. Were I in better shape financially and had I your addy I'd ship you a long spool of good line and a proper carriage with appropriately shaped, properly shimmed bearing mounted rollers. Well actually if that were the case I'd prolly combine a M/C trip to the west coast and deliver them personally.

 

:steering: If you get to Portland just drop me a PM from an internet café & I will guide you in the last few miles. By all means feel free to build a carriage for your own use and upstage me again. :lol: I had a friends cell phone volunteered but it only takes 30 seconds of video so decided not. If I had the disposable scratch I would cut to the chase and get the newest GoPro Black Hero3 camera.

[JMJones0424]

Turtle- one of the benefits of working at a nursery is that there's almost guaranteed to be at least a few hours a day that I'm doing a mindless, repetitive task that allows me to ponder life's great mysteries. Today, I was thinking about your pulley problem.

 

It seems you have at least a few pulleys hanging around, would it make it easier to keep the line from jumping in between the pulley and the casing if you mounted three pulleys in line? Wrap the line under the first, over the second, and under the third. I haven't tried it myself, so I may be way off base, but it seems like a variation of this arrangement may help keep the line in track more than just a single pulley. Of course, it may introduce new problems that are just as bad as the one it's trying to fix, like too much friction or inability to use with a spliced line.

 

Alternatively, you could still use one pulley, but manufacture (from coat hangers or something similar) minders that keep the line centered on the pulley as it pulls through.

Edited September 4, 2013 by JMJones0424

[Turtle]

Turtle- one of the benefits of working at a nursery is that there's almost guaranteed to be at least a few hours a day that I'm doing a mindless, repetitive task that allows me to ponder life's great mysteries. Today, I was thinking about your pulley problem.

 

It seems you have at least a few pulleys hanging around, would it make it easier to keep the line from jumping in between the pulley and the casing if you mounted three pulleys in line? Wrap the line under the first, over the second, and under the third. I haven't tried it myself, so I may be way off base, but it seems like a variation of this arrangement may help keep the line in track more than just a single pulley. Of course, it may introduce new problems that are just as bad as the one it's trying to fix, like too much friction or inability to use with a spliced line.

 

Alternatively, you could still use one pulley, but manufacture (from coat hangers or something similar) minders that keep the line centered on the pulley as it pulls through.

 

Glad to have you on the case! :thumbs_up I like the 3-pulley idea in principle and as I have 3 on hand I will try experimenting with a mock-up in the lab. I think ultimately your suggestion to custom manufacture something is what will take the prize. I was thinking of your project as well and how maybe you could try the tetrahedral straw setup yourself before your niece arrives. Work out the bugs and all.

 

So, my original carriage used an aluminum tube and I flared the ends. In any case, if I plan to haul the carriage up after the kites are up & steady, I also need a single pulley attached just below the lowest kite. Here again, a 'thin' line jumps the wheel and ever more easily because the line through it is more-or-less slack except when hauling because the line must be put through the hauling pulley before the kites go up. Here I have been thinking maybe the pulley in an enclosure with the in & out strings passing through little slits, or a piece of sponge or some such a matter as would keep the line inside the enclosure tensioned on the wheel. For now I'm just going to use a 1" nylon ring.

 

 

I see my original drawings of my first carriage are gone from the early posts, but I can dig them out and make some photographs. There is still a written description in post #19 .

 

I can't find the B/W aerial shot in the thread either so I'm posting it again as well as a shot I just took of the camera I used to make it. It was flown on the 6 foot box when it was still square and had heavy sticks. Boy was she a ripper in a moderate to strong wind!! Anyway, back in a bit with...well...something. :D

Edited September 4, 2013 by Turtle