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Beginners Corner > Best training Gear?????
 
 
Covert
Heliman
Location: Portland, OR

Team, I have been useing a hula hoop as a training gear. I like the fact that you have 360 degrees of coverage, the weight is no big deal, and it looks pretty cool. Hahahahahah

BUT,,,,,,,,,, I have used dowls as the spokes, and have snapped them twice.. I dont land too hard, do I??

So I have switched to Carbon Fiber tubes as spokes... BUT... (again).... I used too small of carbon fiber tubes and now they are too flexible..... sets up a harmonic waggle that causes the tail to oscillate back and forth that threatens to sexually arouse the geese here in the northwest..(I'm not talking about a Gyro sensitivity issue here) . I plan on upgrading the carbon fiber spokes next.

Seems like a waste of time?????? You tell me.....

What do you all think?????
04-05-2002 Over year old.
 
 
JCadwell
Key Veteran
Location: Richland WA/ Morro Bay, CA

How close are you to flying without the gear? How big are the dowels you were using? You might consider aluminum arrow shafts. I made a set out of those. They worked great. Have not touched them in 4 months though...

Thanks, John Cadwell
04-05-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Two words: Roto-Pod!
04-05-2002 Over year old.
 
 
z11355
rrMaster
Location: 10000 is enough time wasted.

we've had a number of newbies come out
w/ Rotopods. Check to make sure that the big cap screw holding the
metal plate is fairly snug and tight. Alot of the newbies
have them much too loose and the machine
is flipinflopin during spooling and bouncing
across the field.
04-05-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
crashkit
Heliman
Location: Ohio

loose the gear.........
04-05-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Remy
Senior Heliman
Location: Washington, D.C. - MHA Member

Don't use carbon fiber

Carbon fiber is not a good idea for training gear. Sure it's light, but it is also quite fragile. It will break at the first tough landing. (tipically what the training gear is designed for!)

But the worst is, carbon fiber is very prone to vibration. If the heli starts vibrating, it will then resonate and amplify in the training gear. That's very scary, and can get ugly too.

On the other end, wood will tend to damper vibration, and therefore is much better. Cheaper too.

Just my 0.2cents

Remy
04-05-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
driftrider
Veteran
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA. (In my own little world)

The legs of my 60 size "Deluxe" Roto-Pod are carbon fiber rods and they are plenty stiff enough to support my 50 size machine, yet flexible enough to take a landing hard enough to stick the center dowel about 1 inch into the ground and spring right back. I've pushed the center block down to the ground with my foot to test the strength of the legs and they didn't show any signs of breaking. Carbon fiber fishing rods can be made to be very flexible too without breaking. Yet a carbon arrow is very strong but won't allow much flexing without snapping off (but it takes a lot of force to bend them enough to break). I think the properties of carbon fiber can be altered to suit a wide number a applications, and the Roto-pod is designed to flex.


Mike
04-06-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Virtual1
Senior Heliman
Location: Waterloo, Iowa - USA

I can vouch for the strength of the CF rods in the large RotoPod.

http://www.vftp.net/rchelicopters/raptor/r3/index.html

I slammed it down hard enough on my 3rd flight (chopstick!) that it broke my tail pitch slider and snapped the "slam dunk" stick clean off the RotoPod. I took out the stub from the hub and put what was left of the dowel back in. After that I buried it in the dirt on several occasions, and never broke a CF rod in all that abuse.

One thing I would advise doing however, is that after you install the rods, make sure they are completely bottomed out or they will come out. Then drill a small hole on the top of the delrin hub into the rod and insert a tapping screw to make sure the rods stay in. I had mine come out on a rough landing one time and it's quite a challenge for a newbie to land on only three of the five legs. This was more my fault than the pod's, I hadn't pressed the rods all the way into the hub, they can be quite hard to press in.
04-06-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
driftrider
Veteran
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA. (In my own little world)

Virtual1,

Didn't you Roto-Pod come with predrilled holes and self tapping screws? Mine did, but maybe I have a newer version where that problem had been addressed. Did you have to soak the delrin block in hot water to get the legs into it?

Mike
04-06-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Virtual1
Senior Heliman
Location: Waterloo, Iowa - USA

No, all the legs were merely press-fit into the holes. Yes I did have to heat up the block to get the legs in. I put it in a bowl of water in the microwave for 2 minutes, that worked very well, but it cools very fast so you have to be quick about it. If you go to the link and hit and then go to "flight 1" you'll see what happens when you don't heat the block up and don't get all the legs in all the way and don't epoxy in the plastic ends for the wiffelballs. (I'm still amazed I didn't tip over)

Second attempt, once I had the rods in, I measured them and found they were not all the same length extending out, so they were not all in at the same depth. The ones I put in last weren't in all the way. So I took the metal top bar and beat on the ends until they changed sound when I hit them, then they were all "bottomed out". (no, it didn't mushroom or otherwise damage the ends of the rods)

The only predrilled hole was for the one screw that was to secure in the slam-dunk dowel on the bottom. The kit also included the five plastic expanding wall hanger thingies and five screws to go with them.

IMHO the kit should have come with some 5-minute epoxy to secure the plastic wall hangers into the ends of the rods, and should have come with the hub predrilled and screws to secure the rods into the hub. After these things have been done, it's a perfect set of gear. Well, maybe they could replace the slam dunk rod with a big strong spring, but maybe that's asking too much of your training gear. :P
04-07-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
driftrider
Veteran
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA. (In my own little world)

I don't know about the spring idea, the legs have plenty of bounce as it is. I've had a couple of oh s*** landings where the heli hit and compressed the legs just as I added collective and had the heli bounce up like it was on a trampoline!

The designers of the Roto-Pod must have improved the design and added the pre-drilled holes and set screws to the kit when they heard about people loosing legs in flight.

Mike
04-07-2002 Over year old.
 
 
shaggy
Senior Heliman
Location: USA

ROTOPOD

Go with the 60 size Rotopod instead of the 30 size. The only difference is the price, about $10, and the legs on the 60 size are carbon not wood. I love my set, and it has held up to PLENTY of abuse, from both a 60 size and 30 size Raptor. Definately worth spending your money on!!

Brooks
04-07-2002 Over year old.
 
 
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Beginners Corner > Best training Gear?????
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