Hi Rich.
Seems you are learning, even if a bit the hard way!
Persistance is the key, each leson learned is a step forward.
We all can help but first you must find the need. OK?
You can take an airplane off with any reasonable wind direction
but experince has taught into wind best.
Wind velocity can be deducted from needed air speed.
Into a wind, that wind is same as the airstream in flight, thus it is
passing the wing and creating some lift.
Have you noted with a plane that in a strong wind the craft takes
off with no run, leaps into the air? The wind-airstream is creating the lift the calm air take off run to needed speed does.
Giros are no different from airplanes take off wise. The rotor is
simply rotating wings instead of a fixed wing.
Both an airplane and an autogiro can take off up wind or down wind. The need is to get to take off speed with a plane, rotor rpm
with a Giro. Obvious that going down wind the craft must reach
a speed that when minus the wind speed number is the speed
required in calm air. Take of speed must be higher than the other
two ways.
Giros have a short coming which is not as serious with airplanes.
When a Giro is moving in a cross wind the wind gets under the
rotor tending to force the windward side up.At lift off this is usually a major problem,. At lift off the forces are in equalibrium
any outside force (cross wind) easily overcomes them.
Thus the word is NEVER take a Giro off except into the wind,
can be up or down, NOT from a side.
A smart operation is it is OK to taxi a plane to the runway and go
but not a Giro. You take the Giro to the runway, check wind direction with a hanky and point the Giro directly into the wind.
That simple trick saves a zillion rotor blades!
Full scale Autogiros and now Giroplanes all saw the worth of the
pre-spin ability. After several aborted take offs(read busted blades)I realized the worth also and gave it thought.
It seemed to me that a rotor is much like a large propeller. If we
can wind up a engine prop with a starter and a prop spinner why
not a rotor? Simplixity is most often the solution to evils.
My size rotor seems to autirotate at about 450 rpm, your larger one probably a bit slower. Check RPM in a wind with a tach.
I found my engine starter would only bring rotor to about 250 rpm. Solution was a B&D drill motor rated at 700 rpm. The rotor
loads it pretty heavily so I only get 400 rotor rpm but that is close
enough to produce a short take off run. Understand, the shorter
the run the less oportunity for a tip over and abort.
Can say this, since using prespin I have not had an abort, probably over a hundred take offs.
Reaching the spinner may be a problem with your rotor. At one time I had a similiar one, answer was academic. I lashed an extension onto the drill handle
Hope this answers some of your questions.
Above all don't give up the ship, you have the potential for great
times and fun!

Hal deBolt