Cloud Dancer

I worked in the eye glass industry for a couple of years making prescription eye wear. We always had to coat the polycarbonate lens to make them scratch resistant. The coating we used was a UV sensitive liquid. We spun the lens and sprayed the liquid into the center in a coating machine to get an even coating and then transferred the lens to a UV chamber to harden the coating. There may be a way to do a similar process on a windshield to protect it from scratches.  Here's a link describing some of the properties of polycarbonate.  https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-polycarbonate-pc

I don't think these guys had an IFR flight plan or an adds-out but there's always an exception to the rule. For one thing, they are not in the United States. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiv4XJ17_7Q

Fred's right, them old Cessna's are popular. Me, well I prefer to watch gyro copters when I'm not flying. Gyrocopter Girl has over 60,000 subscribers so I guess I'm not the only one following. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj-ivhpjeSj7Qpqi8MHF-RA

You guys crack me up.

She always gets asked about her assets and mentioned she admired Dolly Parton growing up. I'd like to see a video where she gets to meet her idol. She does travel to the United States from time to time so maybe somebody will make it happen for her someday. I'm sure Dolly would be willing to meet her if she knew about her. While her assets might get views it's her valid content that keep them coming back. She's known for her programming skills and she plays with cnc lasers, cnc mills, 3d printers. A pilot with her along as a copilot building airplane mods would get more views than Trent Palmer in a very short time and that's a fact. She's always designing camera mounts and electrical mods and does reviews on the latest tech items out of China. Some vendor would be wise to hire her to promote their product at the Oshkosh air show.

Have you shopped around for a prefab kit? Here's an example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/DuroSPAN-Steel-40x40x16-Metal-Building-Farm-Storage-Open-Ends-Factory-DiRECT/283390906577?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3D8559d2ce5ce44409aebc0ff560bb060f%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D333042937692%26itm%3D283390906577&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

This vendor has many sizes and prices and he's not the only vendor.

If you end up with any extra material from an old or new spar you might want to save a piece of it to pick up WiFi out in your hanger or shed. How? Link here on building a quality antenna. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1veNvAxWHyM&t=132s  The tube size he uses is about the same as our spars and most of us have access to a piece of brazing wire. Simple build. I have not tried it but I've built other designs of his. He's pretty sharp on simple antenna builds.

One of the makers I follow on YouTube is Naomi Wu. She's been making 360 videos from time to time but I've never seen hers do the edits yours do. Her videos when watched on my tablet or phone (touch screen device) are truly 360 degrees. I can swipe my screen to pan the camera around in her videos and even see above and behind her. Here's a link to one of her videos featuring a swimsuit she designed and printed on her 3d printer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm5ouqs0dro Fred does your camera do this? Is this a difference in cameras or software? Both editing methods are interesting.

If you have any machinist friends you may check and see if they can have an extra piece shipped with their next order. The last machine shop I worked at was Energy Manufacturing. We used mostly steel seamless tubing and chrome plated rod in various sizes. We did use some aluminum and the same vendor could get it all. Much of the metal such as the chrome bar stock is color coded on the end with spray paint. You needed a metals chart from the vendor to identify the metal bars material hardness and tolerances. Once someone cuts a piece off the bar you either paint the new bar end to identify it or your left with mystery metal down the road that ends up being sold for scrap. If I needed a piece for a home project I just had my supervisor order it with the next order and had them take it out of my check. We ordered most of our stuff in 10', 12', or 24' lengths. Usually it's cheaper in the long lengths but not always.

Here's a link to the old video where they used a couple of these engines to set the altitude record for a paramotor by flying over the top of Mt. Everest. Link here: https://youtu.be/I1pVMr8kRHQ

As far as fuel burn, some of the companies promotion videos state the fuel burn is higher than a 4 cycle engine but better than a 2 cycle engine. To most of us flying behind 2 strokes any improvement is just that, an improvement. If they even get half of that 1000 hour TBO I'd call that a win too.

Here's a peek inside the engine with the designer explaining how it all works: https://youtu.be/AA4IIVhYf3M

And here is a link from about 10 years ago when they were promoting two different sized motors for paramotors: https://youtu.be/a28Y_psYPGc

I was wondering if they were still using Rotron engines in paramotors and learned the company that makes the engines have a 100 horsepower version. Winner winner chicken dinner! I can't wait until somebody plays with one of these in an Avid Flyer. It might be a good match power and weight wise. They had a 40 horsepower version that's used in a paramotor and that's huge compared to other backpack units. One of their motors boasts 1000 hours TBO and that's huge too. Link here to the engine: http://www.rotronuav.com/engines/rt-600xe

Today the trend still continues and is popular with Paramotor pilots who refer to the sport as foot dragging.

Flying carpet for sale. Currently out of annual. Has not flown for several years due to camel flea infestation. $1000 dollars or best offer.

Yeah, it does look just like my ground adjustable Ivoprop. I remember seeing an in flight adjustable from Ivoprop at Oshkosh many years ago that had a tiny electric motor in the spinner so maybe it's one of those or he's got something wrong in the listing. Too much money for a used ground adjustable but cheap if it really is one of the in flight adjustable.

I noticed the last comment below the video was mine from 7 months ago! I must be getting old, I don't remember watching it back then.

I'm curious how he shoe horned a VW engine on the front of an Avid Flyer and how it's working out for him.

New DWI test for pilots.

Just found this on Craigslist, someone on this list may be interested. Ad says in flight adjustable.

https://lansing.craigslist.org/avo/d/saint-johns-in-flight-adjustable/6806589161.html

I just ran across this on E-bay. Not practical but interesting. It was made by what later would become a huge marine engine builder. It's a 100 horsepower, 4 cylinder, 2 stroke, fuel injected aircraft engine from WW2. Link to ebay auction here while the sale is active. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kiekhaefer-V-105-2-aircraft-Drone-Engine-V4-two-stroke-with-Prop/283346972788?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D80b26e6b9fcc4f7188179fd94c190574%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D173752446457%26itm%3D283346972788&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A3d840137-1de8-11e9-8c5f-74dbd1807027|parentrq%3A734161c11680ac3cbf2fdbaeffe9f815|iid%3A1

If you decide to drill it out I suggest you either grind off the old number on the jet or at least document that it has been drilled out. If someone ever tries to work on it down the road they are going to take the number on the jet at face value.

I was reading a story about a guy that wanted to make carbon fiber tubing for bicycle custom builds. He designed and built a machine that does it on the cheap. I can see how his mandrel could just as easily been shaped like an aerodynamic wing strut and lengthened to produce wing struts. His round mandrel would also work for producing carbon fiber wing spars and leading and trailing edge components too. The future is looking bright.

Here's a link to his article or at the Hackaday website. https://hackaday.com/2019/01/18/an-arduino-carbon-fiber-wrapping-machine/

And here's the link the the machine designers detailed page. https://bryanmkevan.bike/2018/12/16/carbon-framebuilding-das-faserwickelmaschine/

Somebody spent some time putting those images together. I can't say I have any love for the woman. She's a multi millionaire, if she wants to go somewhere she can use some of her own money for a change.

Somebody on this site had a motor mounted right side up, why didn't that catch on? With most guys going to the taller gear I would think you could lower the engine to get it inside the cowl and mount the reduction drive spun 180 degrees. It surely can't be prop clearance issues can it?

Just back inside from blowing the first major snow off the sidewalks. I used an old Toro 2 stroke snow blower from the early 70's that I used as a kid when my grandfather purchased it new. Granted it only gets used a half dozen hours a year but it still amazes me it's still running. I've replaced parts over the decades but no work to the engine. It screams at full throttle and burns regular 30 weight oil mixed 1/2 pint per gallon. It never gets winterized but keeps on ticking like a Timex watch. Some might say I would be smart to run modern 2 cycle oil in it but I think I want to keep the 30 weight oil experiment running. Have we really gained anything with these new oils or are we just being sold snake oil?

I went to the Oshkosh air show a week early last year just to help assemble the WW1 birds Kermit Weeks had shipped up from Florida. I was amazed to learn they still use Castor oil in those engines. With all the advances in oil since WW1 and they stick with Castor oil. They told me they use it because it does not mix with fuel and therefore does not wash off the cylinder walls. The down side is it gets thick and gums up the engine during extended storage. Maybe it's because they are from Florida where it's warm, I don't know, but they have never heard of Sea Foam. I contacted a chemical engineer at Sea Foam and asked him about foaming rotary engines for storage. He said because it is mineral based like Castor oil it should work just fine. I forwarded the information to Kermit and he said he was going to look into it. Most people I know here in the Midwest winterize our two stroke water craft by fogging. There is even a fog port built into my jet ski just for this purpose. My snowmobiles got the same treatment for summer storage back when I sledded. I do know it keeps the  carbs from gumming up during storage. Before using it; every time I dug out the jet ski or snowmobile for the year, I would have to spend half a day taking carburetors apart and cleaning them to get the motors running smooth.

My question is when during engine development did we get away from Castor oil and why? Since you guys were talking oil, maybe someone has an answer. The only modern engines still using Castor oil that I can think of are those used for model aircraft, cars and boats and those are quickly being replaced with electric.

I agree,that's why I think you would have to add the static poundage to get it to move to the scale to get a more accurate number of the actual thrust.

Was the pounds required to move the aircraft's dead weight added to the scale number? How much force did it take get each airplane to begin to move?