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New starter/ Home build trike


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Hi

New to paramotoring, and paragliding. Had a club pilot rating in hang gliding  and a couple of days paragliding lessons some years ago.

I’ve built my own trike and is now almost ready to fly so training is the next step, I’ve hurt my leg so foot launching would be very difficult.

Any help would be most grateful.

I’ve attached a photo of the trike, any comments would be gratefully received.

174F8566-CF3A-451C-9861-C9B6EC5C0A71.jpeg

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Hi 

done a hang test yesterday looking like it’s 175cm from the bend in the top rails, this gives me a slight nose up but haven’t tried it with the engine running, does this sound ok.

The wing  I have is a Dudek LT 34 just had a test done at The Loft and has a cleaner bill of health so should get me started. I also have an old wing only good enough for ground handling (Max 75kg) I was going to use this as a test wing to see how the trike behaves whilst taxiing. I’m fortunate to be surrounded by flat farmland and I know the farmers so will soon be able to try it out. Does this sound a good idea or not!

Any advice will be much appreciated as I’m an absolute beginner.

Cheers

kev

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I don't like to encourage folks to experiment with flight but I admire those who do.
How else would sports like this exist if it were not for the head-bangers doing what head-bangers do:)

Its a good looking machine!
If that material is 6061 (6082) I personally would want a failsafe strap from the mounting point... even a long (ish) one ought to keep the wing in some sort of flying condition should one of those top tubes fail.
They look good and strong with those gussets in but a failsafe would give me one less thing to worry about.

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Hi 

Thanks for the reply’s. It is 6068 and I’m just making the hang points and I feel the same as you about a safety back up. I’m using 8 mm climbing rope attached to the hang points, I’v Attached a photo to show, they’re a bit clumpy and heavy at the moment so I think a bit more machining is required.

CEF5A622-7E12-46E2-8BFA-1AF60FFB424D.jpeg

0B14118A-AA76-4D4F-81B5-7285F20FA2F4.jpeg

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Hi

The engine is a gy6 as you said. It started off as a 150cc but I’ve made a few changes. The only original part is the crank, the engine casing had to be machined to fit the engine mounts and the reduction pulleys, and had to bore out the neck to accept the larger 180cc barrel. The cylinder head is a big valve head with a high lift cam, 30mm inlet manifold and 30mm slide carb as well as a big bore exhaust. I removed the cooling fan from the flywheel as this only consumes power and I thought I’ve got a big fan already, to compensate for this I’ve fitted a oil cooler and external oil filter. It also has a “racing” ignition module which removes the Rev limiter and advances the timing at higher revs. Should rev to 10,000rpm with max power around 8,000 and plenty of torque.

Have had it running but only upto 4,000 rpm on a test stand and it felt it had plenty of power, also fitted it to the trike and drove it around the garden at around 25mph so I’m hoping it will have enough power to take off!

I’ve attached som photos 

Please let me know it there’s any thing I’ve overlooked as I’ve fitted several engine’s in to different vehicles but never something that’s intended to fly

92C82465-495E-435F-B065-0135C5ED5993.jpeg

47295511-4C84-4805-8F45-98AD47AD885C.jpeg

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I'm not sure your back up hang point is really a back up. Having the carabiner confined in a machined space introduces stresses that the carabiner might not have been designed for ie soft strap mounting spread loads without creating high stress points. Confing the carabiner creates high stress points in the pin. The failure could well be the carabiner. Two people recently dies just for using the wrong carabiner when one side snapped.

The engine mods all look nice, but you will obviously be aware that engines that are intended to fly usually go through extensive testing in order to minimise in flight engine outs. 

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4 hours ago, Blackburn Mark said:

I don't like to encourage folks to experiment with flight but I admire those who do.
How else would sports like this exist if it were not for the head-bangers doing what head-bangers do:)

Its a good looking machine!
If that material is 6061 (6082) I personally would want a failsafe strap from the mounting point... even a long (ish) one ought to keep the wing in some sort of flying condition should one of those top tubes fail.
They look good and strong with those gussets in but a failsafe would give me one less thing to worry about.

Hi Andy

Thanks for your reply.

I did think of using long hang straps like used on   Hang gliding but longer that would go down to the lower spar and just use the upper spar to hold the hang points correctly for pitch positions. Avian hang gliders can supply these to any length so may be I’l give them a call. 

I still have one hanging from a beam in my garage swl 1.5 tone.

I didn’t like the look of my hang points anyway!

As for the engine, it’s similar to the bailey engine, I know mine has many mods done to it but my friend has a scooter with one of these engine and he is 18 stone and he ride’s it flat out to work and back, nearly an Hr each way for the last 2 years and hasn’t even changed the spark plug, never let him down, I don’t even think he knows where the engine is!

I will definitely scrap the hang points.

Cheers

Kev

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1 hour ago, radioflyer said:

It started off as a 150cc

I bought one (£170 new, mental) I also have the larger cylinder and 63mm piston / A9 and A15 camshafts to try but if I go for a pull start I will probably need to stick to an auto decompression cam.


I was hoping to drop the starter, sprag clutch, battery, magneto and bell etc..... anything to get the weight down!
I am flying an old Bailey V2 version of the GY6 at the moment and it is getting a tad heavy for foot launching with these old legs.
I'm looking to machine (or fab?) a new crankcase so I can stand the head upright and mount the Re-Drive to the cylinder.

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with this machine!

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Hi Mark

I had noticed the compression on my motor is very high. The starter really struggled to turn it over, I have to press the button until it stalls then release and try again, but considering what I’ve done to the engine it start’s every time, the fuelling needs to be fine tuned but I’m running it slightly richer than normal as it will run leaner with altitude. I used to race karts and they were a pig to setup at different tracks.

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5 minutes ago, radioflyer said:

The starter really struggled to turn it over

The V2 I am flying doesn't have a decompression cam but it spins up fine using a three cell (11.1v) lipo (5500mah)… had to disable the charge circuit and charge it off the machine.
Some are using a four cell lipo (14.8v) 
You might find yours will be fine if you use a similar high discharge battery.

 

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Hi Mark 

I’ve kept the engine at the same angle as in a scooter but machined the crank case and welded on a 20mm think aluminium plate on one side and a 16mm plate on the other, spent hour’s machining most of it away to get it as light as possible, I think I have about 20 % of the original metal remaining. I then put a aluminium shaft between the two plates to transfer the thrust from the propeller shaft to the engine mount’s so as to not load up the crank case. I’v Attached a photo to help explain 

C601CB88-5BE9-4614-A9B7-65E452F4CAEC.jpeg

Edited by radioflyer
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6 minutes ago, radioflyer said:

can be dangerous if the correct charger isn’t used

B6 charger £15 ish ebay.
I have never had any trouble with them but be cautious.
I always charge them while I am present.
 

 

13 minutes ago, radioflyer said:

I’ve kept the engine at the same angle as in a scooter

That the sensible way to do it and you are on a trike so weight is much less an issue for you.
You seem to know what you are doing... I'm sure you will have some failures along the way and I expect plenty of my own but that's all part "n" parcel of making shit happen :)
 
If that's a 130cm prop, I'm going to assume you will get between 50 and 60 kg of thrust.
You may be able to squeeze more by running higher revs but I would personally exercise some restraint for the sake of reliability and economy especially if you have plenty of runway and a trike!

I'm getting between 2.2 and 2.5 liters an hour which is great for long XC flights

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https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/11-1V-5500mAh-3S-35C-Lipo-RC-Battery-for-RC-Helicopter-RC-Airplane-RC-Hobby-L5A7/233272250730?epid=24017829825&hash=item36501c116a:g:rUcAAOSwmXVdXrWq

Pretty sure this is the same battery I am using... 3S means three cells, 35C means it can momentarily discharge at 35 X capacity
So this battery can momentarily discharge at 192.5amps
There is no swelling on mine yet, its a couple of years old and I have hammered it one or twice when I have flooded my motor.

There is another member on here that uses the 4S (4 cell 14.8v) version of this battery but I cannot vouch for that but he seems happy with it.

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2 hours ago, Blackburn Mark said:

I "think" the cutout is for the raw 8mm rope to thread through Andy....?
Looks good to me besides (as he says) it being a tad over engineered.

The picture shows the shank of a carabiner sandwiched in the top of the metal block, with a rope sandwiched in the lower half. ie like it assumes the whole block would break off and be saved by the rope. The more likely break point is the carabiner as it is restrained in metal.

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Hi Andy

I see what you’ saying, if the wing was to move side to side this could put more strain on one end of the pin and caused it to sheer. I’v decided to scrap the hang points. I’v just contacted Avian hang gliders to see if they can supply me with two hang loops, they do custom lengths so hopefully they will do them 1080mm, that will allow me to use the bottom tube to take the weight and the top tube to hold the pitch correctly. If it works I will then order two more to attach on another tube as a backup so in total I will have four straps and four carabiners as this is an experimental unit just to be safe

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21 minutes ago, AndyB said:

assumes the whole block would break off and be saved by the rope.

Ah, I get your point.
If that pin is a good fit, I would indeed have assumed it would not fail until after the required three ton (ish) but that's me guessing.
You may have made me paranoid enough to do a pull test on the thing if it was mine :) 

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Next I need to think about training, my past training was with BHPA, but now wouldn’t prefer training with Simon, maybe I contact him directly as not sure of the syllabus as I would like to go straight into Para trike training if possible as the bad leg could be a problem foot launching. Does anyone know if this is possible.

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