My Pet Project

[Bob]

among my many other projects there is one that is very dear to my hart My Gyro copter !
My Dad bought it for me about 8 yrs ago in a Pile of parts...with a manual... it was a Bumble Bee  if I remember correctly to start out with, but now no longer resembles one at all.
...
 its a Ultralight flying machine that has a rotor over head instead of wings...
and you take off and land like a airplane does...not like a helicopter.
...
I spent the better part of 5 years on it constantly improveing it and practicing How to fly it.
I got it off the ground in Hops many times but quickly ran into a steering control problem that gave me
no end of truble for about 3 years...
 the last time I had it out I was having truble getting it to go stright as well as fast enough !
the problem was my Altitude 5000ft ASL makes the 440 Rotex work very hard for every mph it gets, couple that with inexperience and you have a desaster waiting to happen !....
I got it to bottom out at speed doing about 20~25mph... going stright down the old runway
and I realised what the problem was , I had the stick back too far.. so I eased the stick forward and
my speed shot up and the gyro all of a sudden lept into the air... I was supprized and not quite ready for that because I had no indication before that it wanted to fly at all.. then all of a sudden it hops off the ground ! 
  I admit I froze for a split second and that is all it took by the time I corrected for the right hand roll it was too late and I hit the runway on my side as the rotors sounded like hand gernades going off
as the ground devowered them in large bites ! I slid down the runway and off the side on the hard exposed rocks that made up the side of the runway ... so when I put my arm out to shield my head and face my arm slid on the dirt and packed sharp rocks, cutting the heck out of my right forarm.
when I came to rest the dust was so thick I couldn't see anything, but parts of the gyro but pieces of the rotor blades were raining down all over the place ! as well as pieces of the prop...
I un did my 3 point harniss and fell a few inches to the ground and stood up and looked around "SHIT" was all I said ! ... my gyro was seriously hurt I just knew it ! ...I grabbed the mast and with a mighty heave flopped the gyro back on her wheels.... and I started assessing the dammage....
rotor...obviously kapoot as there were pieces of it all over the runway...
Prop was a might bit shorter than it used to be and not looking very well at all.... the pre rotor drive line was busted and the Push pull-tube to the rudder was almost cut in half by a piece of the prop.... but that was ALL !!!! the gyro was intact.... no major damage it would fly again !
so I made a new 3 bladed prop and a new rotor and when I get the time I'll get it all going again and this time not be cought by supprize !
I am Fortunate that My Dad was out there with me at the time as he took a Picture ( unknown to him at the time) that captures the craft as she started to Roll to the right.
...
I am so very thankful that the rotor didn't hit my father... or even a piece of it, the good lord is merciful in many ways some times and this was definitely one of those times... I walked away but learned allot from the experience ! ...
with my new Chainsaw Pre rotator obtaining the speed I had to before will not be needed... a brisk walk should do it... and then the craft will be air borne.... At the Ranch here there is enough room (or WILL BE!) for me to take off and land in the O'l gyro... I've named her "Persistence" as that is what it takes to fly if your Dirt Poor !
...
Here's the Pic.
 

[Bob]

You Know.... many things could be said for that... includeing but not limited to " you get what you deserve, trying to fly without proper training!" simply because I hurd enough of that on "Rotory wing forum"
but my reply was alwayse  if I could afford the $150.00an hr lessons in portland Or. ( yes thats the closest place that does any gyro training)
and the money to get there, as well as the motel fees and food for the Minimum of 3 days needed to do the training... I would have done it a long time ago !  I figure the Write brothers as well as the early boys with Gyros learned how to fly them without lessons, so ...so can I...
and I have a very good proven guide in the Benson flight manual to guide me
... but the rebuttal alwayse came back as You can't afford not to take lessons.... yet I can't afford TO take the lessons... and one fella was brash enough to say then you shouldn't even attempt to fly then !
...
it was attitudes like that that Ruined "Rotary Wing Forum" for me. I learned allot from the knowledgeable fellas there, but most are so bloody rich that they have no idea what it is like to be on the lower side of Low income... yet they insist that many of them are Poor at $50k income a year.... and they probably indeed are.
...
I believe that Powered flight can be obtained by anyone that has the Gutts to give it their all... it can be done cheeply and is totally dependant on how resorcefull you the individual are!...
  My Gyro Initially cost us $800.00... and as I said it was a pile of pieces. some were missing some were not, most of the important things were there... the engine (a Rotex 447) the frame pieces, the rotor although busted ( I did repair it) and the seat and one wheel.
... and the all important manual.
to this day I still have a darn good memory about the parts on that gyro because I studied the manual so well. I learned the funtion of each piece
and thought of ways to improve it, however I did not change it untill after the first initial flight, where I got it a foot off the ground for about 30 feet and landed again....and it was not my only flight like that
but in all honnesty when it was finally assembled just like the manual said I was Apalled at it... it was a flying lawn chair...rickity and it did NOT inspire confidence that it was not going to break in flight.
so I changed it.... Many times over the years and today it hardly resembles what it used to be at all.
...I learned what was both good and bad for a gyro and tried to apply that knowledge to keep me safe.  in so doing the gyro gained weight
ever so slightly and the added weight and trying to fly it at a high altitude air strip,  made for a very fast take off speed.
....
 I have by no means given up on my dream of flying my gyro, and I will do it without formal instructions...as I wouldn't take them now even if I had the money..... I've hurd their speal over and over... and I have no doubt I could fly a regular gyro at a airport below 1000'ASL with no problem, be it a HTL or CLT design.... so to me it would be a waste of money Now..... but it has taken me close to 5 or 6 years to get to this point and one crash to say that !....( and who knows my next attempt may be my last too ! )
...
 I do however recommend that anyone trying to fly a home brew gyro , for goodness sake get FORMAL instructions if you can afford it! if you can't then don't get in a hurry... start slow and work up to hops and from hops to longer hops.... learn the feel of the craft before you leave the ground .... and believe me that is not as easy as it sounds !
...it takes many many Runs down the air strip  believe me
because these things like to tip over... and when it does you have to go back to square one on your training and on the build !
....
to give you an idea  I will post the before and after pictures of the mods I have done....
...
Bob......
 (the first pic is Sept, 2003... the second Aug, 2007) and I realy havn't touched it sense then as the "MOVE" has gotten in the way ...big time!

[Manta]

Bob,

You say you 'repaired' the rotor.  What did you actually do to it ?

Manta

[Bob]

Hi manta !
I repaired that Rotor 3 times sense the alumimum spar on the leading edge was undamaged... I simply fiberglassed it and re ballanced it and had to do the entire setup for the rotors each time... but it worked and worked well.
the last crash however ended the repair sequience because the alumimum spar was in about 5ft sections all bent and twisted beyond repair.
so I made new blades out of laminated flooring sheets (no voids)
and although they are a bit heavier than the original blades they arn't by that much, and I made a 4ft hub bar to increase the Rotor diamator to 24ft
which realy was the best thing I've done for the gyro ! it made a big diference on its ability to get off the ground at a slower speed !
....
the original rotor blades were foam filled, so I used sprey foam and filled in the gaps in the blade where the old foam was missing and it worked out very well, however  fiberglass reson eats that foam and it was dificult at best to get it to accept the reson... once the blades were repaired the first time  the gyro tipped over on its side and broke them again
sense the rotor wasn't at flight speed it didn't destroy them... so I repaired them again with fiberglass in the same manor.
...(that was when I had the gyro configured as a tail dragger... that didn't work at all.... !)
 hehehehe
...
Bob......

[Manta]

Bob,

...so I used sprey foam and filled in the gaps in the blade where the old foam was missing and it worked out very well, however  fiberglass reson eats that foam and it was dificult at best to get it to accept the reson...

 

You sure like to live dangerously.

I used to have a set of plans for a Bensen Gyro.  And I do remember that they suggested using it as a tethered glider to gain the experience. All you need is a windy area and a long rope.Over here they (the CAA) would have you thrown in jail is you were caught flying without a license. Funny thing is I would be able to go up to,  say,  a thousand foot,  on the tether and be legal.  But if I disconnected it and glided down I would be in deep doodoo.

[Bob]

Well, I don't view many things Dangerous that other people do... I ride a motorcycle allot...and think nothing of the "Danger".... the only difference is that if my Rotor fails in flight its going to be EXTREAMILY hard on my body.... <GRIN> where if my motorcycle sheds a tire at 70mph and gets away from me its going to be hard on my body....<GRIN>
....
when I build something that has the potential to end my life I am extreamily careful on doing the job correctly.... So No I really don't like to "LIVE Dangerously" I just accept the risks as part of the package... and don't think that much about it...
 I'ed rather Die by my own creation than try and fly a "glorified Flying lawn chair" that is"Safe" by other peoples ideas... I feel my machine is far safer than any store bought ultralight gyro.
....
the 3 bladded prop on my gyro is a work of art even if I do say so myself... I made it from scratch as well....and I have all the confidence in it in the world... I tested it by setting the pitch to zero pitch and reving the engine to redline and holding it there for 30 seconds.... I know it will hold up to the riggers of normal flight RPM as it will never get anywhere near that fast again!
the rotor I did the same thing set pitch to zero and spun it with the pre rotator to way above flight speed.... and when I mount these new Rotor blades on the rotor hub bar I will do the same thing again.... if its going to break it will be then not when its loping along in flight at 400rpm max
....my rotor Tach. told me the repaired rotorblades reached 1000rpm.... I doubt store bought rotor blades will be guarenteed to reach that speed HEHEHEHE!
....
but rest asured I am very carefull when I have a 24ft rotor wherling around over my head and a 3 bladed meat cleaver roaring behind me .... it is a bit unnerving to say the least ! you don't make mistakes !
....
Bob.......

[Bob]

Today I aired up the tires on the o'l gyro and drug it down to the house where I can tinker with it.
the engine hasn't ran in at least a year and needs to be ran so that is in the works...
 sense I am seriously considering changing my gyro into a helicopter I thought I'd have a better chance of getting something done on it if it was in my work area!
 It was actually good to be around the O'l girl... like visiting an old friend <grin>
I have put much time and effort into that thing and loved every minute of it,there's about 5 years of work setting there and thousands of hours... still if I ever get to fly it , it will all be worth it
...
Bob.

[Manta]

Bob,

You say 'NEW' rotor blades.  Does this mean that you have junked the repaired old ones ?

Dave
(Manta)

[Bob]

Hi Dave ! Yes I made new ones to replace the old repaired blades...because after the crash they were in about 1000 pieces all scattered about !
  My new blades are the ones I made a while back... out of wood and fiberglass.
(I didn't pay over $2500.00 for them... I made them for about $250.00 +~-  )
I haven't actually finished the blades because they haven't been completely balanced and spun up
and I consider that part of making them. but they are ready for that bit now.
 they are of the Flat bottom air foil shape top of most Gyro blades ( H8 or something like that....)
...
Bob...

[Bob]

I got the gyro engine running this evening, had to pull the plugs and clean them, but it fired up easily after that and ran on both cylinders ok.
... I noticed a crack in one of the blades of my home made adjustable pitch 3 bladed prop.
seams the weather is taking its toll on the o'l girl. 
I ran the prop anyway but never got to top RPM and its still in one piece so I guess its good enough to repair the crack in the outside resin....
 However sense I will probably not use that prop again I doubt I'll bother.
I got looking at the gyro with the eye of a Helicopter in mind and think I can do it fairly easy with minimal modification...
the hardest part will be turning the engine vertical, all new engine mounting will have to be made to do that... and at the right distance so the COG is correct.
I am also thinking about removing the 4ft hub bar and putting the 1ft hub bar back in there instead...
not thinking real seriously about doing that but I might for a smaller diamator rotor.
I will literally cut off the tail and frame that goes to it. lower the engine and put 2# 1"x2" Box alum tubes 1/8" wall thickness 8' to 10' long just above the engine straight back and mount a tail rotor on it at the end. the drive to the rotor is almost already there sense I made my chainsaw pre-rotator so well.... it has a ring gear under the rotor and a starter Pinion gear to turn it
the drive shaft will need to be beefed up and that goes for the slip joint too. I will probably use a steering column set of U-Joints for the new drive line to power the rotor...
Powering that drive line will more than likely be 2 v-belts  at a 4:1 ratio the top drive on the rotor is a 12:1 if I remember correctly....
I haven't ran the numbers yet and really don't know the RPM needed to get the thing off the ground so the gear reduction is sort of UP in the air till I get some idea. more research is needed in that.
...I can Power the tail rotor by my old Power-take off Pre rotator setup... with its 90 degree gear box it should do great. but I'ed like ANOTHER 90 deg gear box to drive the prop from that drive line... its just a more sanitary setup.
... other than that I may have to change the cheek plates to get the COG perfect. hook the foot pedals to the pitch control of the rear tail rotor and set the pitch of the rotor blades to about 8degrees and give it a try and see if it tries to leave the ground!
... I have about 6 months of tinkering ahead of me at least ! HAHAHAHAHA
.....
Bob.......

[Bob]

Well, I'm committed now !
I cut off the attachment point for the rear tail boom for the gyro tail....
the tail rotor boom will go above the engine so it has to be in a different place than the tail boom on the gyro.
 I got the Engine off and engine mount off and moved around to where I will re attach it (with stronger aluminum angle than was on it!)
 been mostly eye-balling it to see where stuff SHOULD go... I spend allot of time just standing out there Looking at the silly thing, trying to get an idea on how to do this the easiest way ! LOL
...
I've decided to replace the Mast with a much stronger version so the torque of the engine doesn't twist the mast into a pretzel!
... I'll more than likely pull off the seat and gas-tank too...as I have a boat plastic seat that is a good 10 pounds lighter ! the gas tanks will probably be 2# 2.5 gal plastic gas cans , one on each side behind the seat.
...
 I MAY use a small 2 cycle engine to drive a prop for the tail rotor instead of using the engine for that... and use throttle control on the little motor for turning... haven't decided on that yet though.
...
other than that not much going on around here ! heheheheheheh
...
Bob......

[Manta]

Bob,

Take care man.  If a weld fails on a car you (hopefully) just slide to a halt.  If it fails on a gyro there is no hope and your future will be measured in seconds.
On a more cheerful theme. I've spent most of the day polishing up my panel beating dollys and hammers. It's years since I used them,  and much to my shame,  they have aquired some rust.  I intend to get my old BMW back on the road.  Hopefully with a Peugeot 1.9 XUD engine fitted so that I can run it on bio Diesel.  The original engine sloped over to the right hand side as does the XUD.  So I should be able to get it to fit.
Fuel (Diesel) is holding steady at £1.15 per litre.  My friends in Greece tell me that their petrol has gone up from E1.0 to E1.6 per litre. That's a 60% hike.  Just wait until Pres Obama sees that idea.  What are you paying at the moment ?

Anyway,  remember, if it don't look right it probably wont fly right.

I'm off down to start on tonight's chilli. Catch you later.

Dave(Manta)

Edited 3 August.  wrong price.  It's still bad though.

 

[Bob]

Ouch ! its $3.00 a gallon here now and has been steadily climbing all summer...
 definitely  way past time to get the truck running on 100% Hydroxy gas !
...
 Looks like I have to Order another Radiator for the wife's car.... woopie I hate working on that thing there is no room to do anything! HAHAHAHAHHA!
...
Yah I am aware of the risks on the build, one part failure can be all it takes to end your life!
...
Bob....

[Manta]

Guess that makes our fuel about $6.5 per US gallon.  If you can make a reliable hydroxy unit that cuts fuel consumption by even half then you will ensure your place in the hall of fame. Maybe even buy a new Bell Jetranger and save yourself some hassle.

Dave
(Manta)

[Bob]

I hear that Manta !
  You know, if 20amps will get you 2 Liters a minute, then 200amps can get you 20 liters a minute.
with 20liters a minute I am sure my little R22 toyota pickup will run on that...and not need anything else.... except oil in the crankcase!
... but its such a hassel....  I'ed need 10 single cell units to obtain that kind of output and a very big altenator to handle it all.... but its got to be worth it... geez look at the price of gas!
....
 Manta... surely you can see that stragity... its not flawed... and You could do it yourself and save 3 times what I would save here.
 .....
 I have an idea for a cell, a big one that may or may not do the trick I dunno... but it has to do with the large fender washers on a threaded rod....each washer is separated by a Nut and their all grounded to the threaded rod.... any fool can make that.... nothing special about it at all... its just a bunch of washers on a bolt!.... but 10 of these bolts and washers hung from a piece of Plexiglas in a Aquarium type box.... giving a huge amount of surface area to the plates....
10 more of these connected to the other lead and you have a big hydroxy gas producer if my theory holds true... I don't think plate spacing will matter in this case...it might because the high concentration of KOH will negate the spacing to a certain extent, couple that with high amps and the cell should produce a great deal of gas because it has the surface area needed....
it probably won't be at the 10:1 efficiency as the small Randy cell... but even a 15:1 wouldn't be bad in this case....because its very easy to make.
the idea is to just get enough plate surface area in the electrolyte to be able to produce the needed amount of Hydroxy gas and then pour on the amps till you get the amount of gas you need....
.... sort of going around the bush in a different direction !
....
we Know what it takes now to make an efficient cell....but high amounts of gas is in the relm of what some others have done ....not us.... its time we changed that  because we need to run 100% hydroxy gas before they outlaw it and call us all nuts! (and believe me the gas companies will push for that!)
...
So what if it takes 500amps or even a thousand amps to power a big Caddy.... who cares if you can drive it for free ?
...
we can either do it ourselves while we still can, or wait and the government will stop us because the government is ran by big business ... they pull the strings.... I truly expect some Misguided senator to try and pass a law shortly to stop all fuel related experiments by the private individual.... if they haven't already.... they already have it to where you can't modify your car and get it re-licensed again!  but that's not enough.... some people are falling through the cracks.... and they'll want jail time for those  bad people!....
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You should do it Manta... $6.50 a gallon isn't even funny ! make your cars run on Hydroxy gas ! not just a supplement...go for broke and make it 100%.... 
...
no REALLY !
hehehehe
Bob...