mnowell129

Flight test update.
As I am considering a re-design/new model,
(Probably over the thanksgiving weekend)
I pondered the use of a smaller propeller to
allow shorter landing gear.
Off I go with my apc 9x3.8 instead of my
trusty apc 10x4.7.
This was a VERY BAD IDEA. I could fly level
and climb slightly but not to the degree with
the 10x4.7. Quit possible to fly around with this
prop but not climb out of my tight "airfield". This
created an "opportunity" to rebuild and improve a
few things on the gyro.
Just to reiterate my power plant is
a re-timed GWS eps350, with D gearbox, pixie 20P
speed control, 3 cell tanic 1050 and apc 10x4.7 prop.
I believe that a 9x6 may work and I will try this
at the flying field where I have more room to
deal with low altitude. Also the combination
of a "C" gearbox with the 9x6 might also be tried.
Summary : power is important, but you knew that
already, however the dramatic difference in two props
was fairly surprising.
Once I get a slew of non-eventful flights I will switch
to brushless.
On the positive I have added a longer tail wheel
steering arm and removed all the slop from the tail
wheel assembly. This seems to have greatly improved the
ground handling. I will find out after I have tested with
modified blades that include tip weight. I will post a pic
of the tip weight installation in anyone is at all interested.

mickey in longwood florida.

mnowell129

Electric Gyro V2.0.
12.5 ounces, about 1 ounce lighter than 1.0.
Flies very well, can now make nice long passes
down the street. Improved rudder control,
especially in the descent. Still not enough
to suit me however.
Ground handling went from bad to worse, way
too tippy. I will return to the taildragger layout
but do a better job. My previous tailwheel was
wobbly and caused great grief.
Lead in the rotor blades made a big difference.
Blades went from 11 to 15 grams.

rcflyerfl

My Feedback: (1)

Mickey,
Keep up the good work.. Your experimenting may change the world of Gyro's..It does look like you have a greater attack angle on the blades then the recomented.. Just more drag I guess.
Jim in Lakeland

mnowell129

One thing to consider about the angle of attack...
Because i am using a swashplate the actual blade AOA is
not what the mast angle and static incidence would seem to
indicate. In trim the swasplate is almost horizontal, basically
down by almost the aft mast tilt. If you want I can
measure the angles with the pitch gauge to give you
an idea of how they are varying around the circle....
My friend here is building a spin doctor and the blades
appear to have a rather large amount of negative pitch.
I'm running a lot less than this, maybe 5-8 degrees, but
making up for it with cyclic pitch.

Incidently I have ordered parts to make a four bladed head with
collective pitch. This should be interesting. My plan is to just replace
this head with that one.

I am convinced now that with a stable rotor design the need for
horzontal surfaces is moot.

A long term goal is a microprocessor based control system that senses
rotor rpm and automatically lowers or raises the blade pitch to
maintain RPM...I imagine full negative for initial roll off, with gradually
increasing pitch as flight RPM is reached, this should significantly shorten
the takeoff roll.

Thanks again for the feedback. Seems like no one is commenting
am I just wasting you guys time?

rcflyerfl

My Feedback: (1)

Mickey,
There is lots of guys reading but just not making any comments..
One of these days I am going to have to check your gyro out in person if permitted.
Jim in Lakeland

mnowell129

Gyro version 3.0 flies.
Three flights this afternoon.
Tube tail boom, with skid.
Three successful takeoffs and
one touch and go.
Several low passes (< 6 feet).
Ground handling much improved,
no tipovers despite numerous wild
turns.
Will add slightly bigger main wheels and
a steerable tail wheel based on this configuration.
Video posted soon at
[link]http://home.earthlink.net/~mickeynowell[/link]
when I can get it on...

mnowell129

One video posted, Note that it is around 6 meg.
Will put the other two up when
these have been viewed (10 meg limit).
Please let me know when I can swap these
out, thanks.
mickey
[link]http://home.earthlink.net/~mickeynowell[/link]

mnowell129

I posted another video. This one of a low speed pass between the trees.
This is the left to right pass just preceeding the right to left pass in the
other video.
This craft flew well enough that I flew the battery out and had
to do a dead stick landing. It came straight down, plopped on the
gear and just sat there. Pretty cool.
I have the landing video from this flight. I will post this
in 24 hours when I can remove the slow pass one.

Icanifixthat

Great work! Using the helo parts seems to have moved you right past a lot of the problems folks find with gyros. Thank you for providing the detail on what works and what doesn't.

mnowell129

You are welcome. To you want to try and reproduce it?

mnowell129

Posted some low speed flight at twilight today.
Making circles in the street at head high altitude.
[link]http://home.earthlink.net/~mickeynowell[/link]
Starting to get this figured out.
Nice clean takeoff, slow flight, touch and goes.
way cool...

Icanifixthat

I'd love to reproduce it. I'm just getting my biplane flying wing ready for test so I'm looking for a new projectile...er, project.

rcflyerfl

My Feedback: (1)

Mickey,
Another nice movie of you latest.. Will try and be at your field Saturday AM.
Jim in Lakeland.

mnowell129

Jim from lakeland is coming to our field saturday.
I have never seen a model gyrocopter fly, much less
flown one. I'm going to get Jim's opinion in person
and see what I have. If we think this thing
is worth sharing I'll make a parts list of what I
have in mine and some drawings of the critical bits
and angles.
Leave a post/email if you want drawings...
mickey

QuPloid

There is only one word to descride this: cool.

Gyroguru

Can you please list all of the parts you need from the GWS helicopter?

Thanks

rcflyerfl

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Guys,
Well I was privileged today to fly Mickeys Gyro two times . He spend the time with me and explaining his machine. Its slow flying capabllitys were great. Any Gyro you can fly in a Sreet and turn and miss the trees and poles in going to help others get into and fly Gyros.
I did stop my Graves RC on the way back home to look at Heli parts but they were so busy today ,so I just bought some servos I needed for another project and headed for home.
I believe Mickey will have a list of parts needed an a sketch to show where the go..
Mickey thanks for the invite today, It was fun. Nice group.

Jim

mnowell129

I spent the morning with Jim M. flying and showing him
how this thing works. He'll probably put up a flight report
when he gets back here. Jim got to fly it twice this
morning so he can give you guys first hand
knowledge.
He suggested that my low
altitude hovering in near calm conditions was a good
sign. My first takeoff was a mess because I had set
the trim for fly, not takeoff (more later in the post).
I am happy with this arrangment. There were a few
minor mishaps this morning but nothing major.
I spent a little time this afternoon making some
repairs and made two good flights in the street again.
Both times were takeoffs, one with two touch and
goes.
The way to fly this thing is with lots of rudder and little
bits of aileron, like a coordinated turn with a high wing
plane. THis is especially true low and slow when I am
making turns in the street, they are almost stall turns.
Up high at speed you can fly like ail/elevator but coordinated
rudder helps. I have resisted adding mixing because
I think someone else might want to make one
and I don't want to make it too hard. However If you have
it in the transmitter it would make flying even easier.
I was retrimming with elevator for takeoff, but this afternoon
I made the main mast a slight amount longer and now I
can takeoff at flight trim, so I think i'm getting really close.
Takeoffs are now almost non-events in the street.
Some guy was there taking pictures, when I figure where his site
is i'll post it. I have purchased more web space but haven't put
stuff up yet. When I do I have 400 Meg to work with so I can
leave pictures and video up all the time. More later.
I did do an intentional dead stick landing today in something less
than 5 mph winds. Nice vertical descent to a tidy little plop. No fanfare
just a clean descent right into a spot landing with 0 rollout.
Flew a battery out this PM with the same result. Good control
all the way to the ground.

mnowell129

I will work up a parts list and some sketches. May take a few days, probably
over thanksgiving weekend.
mickey

mnowell129

The pictures from today are at
http://www.megapixphotography.com/De...=RC%20Electric
The person in the gyro picture is me flying a low pass.
The sig antoinette is also mine.
mickey

rcflyerfl

My Feedback: (1)

HI Guys,
I might mention the dead stick landing was a piece of cake for Mickey.. With power it was controlable right down to an helicopter type landing.

Mickey petty well discribed todays activitys accuratelly.For someone that has not seen any other gyros fly he has it going right.

Lets start looking for used electric heli parts.
Later guys.

Gyroguru

I think all of the parts for the Dragonfly are available from Balsa Products. Can you please post which parts are needed?

Thanks

Wahid

http://www.balsapr.com/common/listVi...31005452003248

mnowell129

Here the order I made :

http://www.balsapr.com/csupport/email.asp

Thank you for your business!

Bob & Dave

Your order:

Link Set (FD001) Price: $8.07 Quantity: 1 Total: $8.07
Center Hub Set (FD004) Price: $10.08 Quantity: 1 Total: $10.08
Flybar (FD005) Price: $3.36 Quantity: 1 Total: $3.36
Flybar Paddle (FD006) Price: $3.36 Quantity: 1 Total: $3.36
Swashplate Set (FD008) Price: $5.37 Quantity: 1 Total: $5.37
Rotor Head (FD025) Price: $2.19 Quantity: 1 Total: $2.19
Outer Control Plat (FD007) Price: $2.52 Quantity: 1 Total: $2.52


Sub-Total: $34.95

Shipping/Handling: $6.00

Total: $40.95

NOTE : You will need to also get at main shaft (3mm) I had one
but you can get a MAIN Gear Set FD010 $6.06 and cut the gear off.
You can also use a piccolo helicopter main shaft.

I will post some closeup pictures soon as I can.
Note that to build my gyro you will need
A GWS EPS350 gear frame and bearings.
Some 3/32 wheel collars drilled out to 3mm for main shaft.
A stick of whatever size wood that fits in the GWS gearbox
for the main mast.
A piece of fiberglass tube and tail feather stuff.
A GWS EPS350 "D" gearbox, 10x4.7 APC prop,
3 cell 1000 mah lithium and appropriate speed control.
Wheels, etc..etc.
You probably could fly this thing up a storm with a
Norvel 061 (hmm... I've got one of these in my
junk box...) But you'll need to to all that bothersome
fuel proofing.
More later. I'm glad somebody wants to build one so
we can see how the design translates.
mickey

mnowell129

Another parts option is to find a wrecked dragonfly ( or hummingbird, same thing).
The parts I use seldom break in a crash, what goes
in a dragonfly death is tailboom, blades and landing gear.
So if you can find a disgusted dragonfly flyer (there are
many of them) maybe you can buy a whole wreck for
about the price of the parts. Advantage here is that
you get to see the head assembled when you get it.
Also a trip to your local hobby emporium will get
you a peek of a dragonfly/hummingbird/.. etc.
The century web site
www.centuryheli.com
has a diagram of the hummingbird that will help also.

mnowell129

Oops my mistake.
The centuryheli site has the new hummingbird.
THis link
http://www.balsapr.com/catalog/model...onfly_doc1.asp
will get you the manual for the dragonfly with pics of the head,parts, etc.
I'm basically using everything from the swashplate up except the blades.
mick