DIY - Strutless bow kite

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androka
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Re: DIY - Strutless bow kite

Post by androka » Sat Aug 30, 2014 10:24 am

voted, good luck!

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le noun
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Re: DIY - Strutless bow kite

Post by le noun » Sun Aug 31, 2014 8:07 am

Yup, voted too.
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Re: DIY - Strutless bow kite

Post by reyrivera » Sun Aug 31, 2014 8:54 am

Thanks guys, appreciate it. Looks like I will miss the cut by 18 votes. Definitely a lot of different cool projects on that contest.

I will be working on a modified version this Fall/Winter. Same shape but tapered at the corner. Kite was stable, but the weak corner points sprung a leak at the river a few weeks ago. I think I have enough data to build me a more robust version. No wind distractions so I can get the job done. I am hoping a version next year that people can try.

Rey

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Re: DIY - Strutless bow kite

Post by reyrivera » Sat Sep 20, 2014 8:00 am

Time waster, or a worthwhile endeavor?

Thanks to Vinnie and Jay, two kites at the end of their lives were donated towards my strutless experiments.

I know that hybrid kites are good candidates for strutless models, not really sure about bow kites. So, I went ahead and patiently repaired and re-inforced these two kites that were bound for recycling.

Vinnie's 12 meter Obsession, and Jay's 10 meter switchblade.

Hopefully, there would be at least 10 mph winds in Alameda so I can test there. Otherwise, I'll probably head down to the coast and try them there.
12.m.obsession.png
Vinnie's 12 meter resurrected as strutless
12.m.obsession.png (1MiB)Viewed 7151 times
10.m.switchblade.png
Jay's kite trashed and revived after he loaned it to a careless beginner
10.m.switchblade.png (980.12KiB)Viewed 7151 times

reyrivera
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Re: DIY - Strutless bow kite

Post by reyrivera » Sat Sep 20, 2014 10:10 pm

Okay, looks like turning bow kites into strutless kites work. I was able to pump up the two kites and rode them this afternoon in Alameda one hour each kite.

Turning speed and response did not change, they are still both slow, switchblade being slower than the obsession.

The ability to ride upwind in low wind improved. In the conditions today in Alameda, I would typically pump up my 20 meter and go mow the lawn.

I initially rode the 12 meter from roughly 4 to 5 pm, and then the switchblade from 5 to 6 pm with a 6'6" devolution fish.

I was surprised that I was comfortably powered with this setup. Got a little bit overpowered on the 10 meter when it got gusty at around 6 pm.

The canopy fluttered a little bit, but not a lot. It is probably because I added two layers of dacron on where the struts used to be, and they acted as soft battens.

I did not do a lot of crash test because my initial goal was to see the viability of bow kites flyable in strutless mode. I crashed the kites a few times, and was able to relaunch, I will still need to see/test if they will relaunch if the canopy fills up.

This is a big find personally for me since I can now make my model with the wingtip a bit more swept to make it more stable.

The one thing that bothered me is that both kites seem to overfly the edge of the wind window, cabrhina switchblade being the worst culprit. They do both recover nicely if I push out the bar and let the kite drift back to the window.

All I need now is a foil and I can kite Alameda year round. |}{+
alameda.wind.9.20.png
alameda.wind.9.20.png (85.47KiB)Viewed 7121 times
lowwindtest.1.png
lowwindtest.1.png (1.5MiB)Viewed 7121 times
lowwindtest.2.png
lowwindtest.2.png (1.33MiB)Viewed 7121 times

NorCalNomad
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Re: DIY - Strutless bow kite

Post by NorCalNomad » Sun Sep 21, 2014 11:31 am

Rad dude!
Listing gear is bad, and you should feel bad.

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Re: DIY - Strutless bow kite

Post by sflinux » Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:11 am

Cool experiment.
I'd lose that V pulley bridle for the rear lines on the switchblade, and make it a direct bridle connection at the tailing edge.
Do you think coning/darting the tailing edge will rid the overfly effect?

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Re: DIY - Strutless bow kite

Post by reyrivera » Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:47 pm

I took out the pulley for the rear lines on the switchblade, the overfly went away. Thanks for pointing that out.

As for the RRD, I tried changing the bridles a bit by shortening some of the lines in small increments, basically a guessing game on how the angle of attack will change based on the position of the tow point. Seem to have fixed the problem, the kite turns slightly faster than usual too. Not sure what these changes will do on higher wind conditions.

Did not get a chance to test further today as Max, Ino, Yuri and Tianna showed up at the beach and we ended up hanging out for a bit.

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Re: DIY - Strutless bow kite

Post by reyrivera » Tue Sep 23, 2014 11:00 pm

Ino just dropped off a 2007 9 meter hybrid Vegas, canopy in amazing perfect condition with exception to delaminated bladders. Perfect candidate for strutless experiment. I will need to find some time to finish this before the winds totally conks out.

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