Hi,

I just tested a new flapping autogyro hub made from, what some call, live hinge plastic. I guess it's some type of polypropylene and it has the triangle with the number 5 in the center. I used two pieces stuck together with spray adhesive. The thickness of the two pieces are approximately 3/16" thick. It's more flexible than the fiberglass hubs and the autogyro performed as good or better. It's a quick and easy way to make a hub. I have attached a picture.

Phil

Sorry about that. I attached the wrong hub picture. I'll try again.

Phl

Hi,

Well the other hub worked so good that I decided to make a delta hub from the same type of material. I have attached a picture of the hub and the hub with the blades mounted. I used small plastic tie-wraps to keep the blades at the correct angle on the hub. I haven't tried it yet. Anybody think this will work?

Phil

Phil

Many congrats to your new design. I thought of it once but never got around to doing anything about it.

What are you doing for down stops if anything...???

How thick a piece are you using..???

Has anyone told you that you are GyroNUT..............?????

Best Regards

Rick

Hi Rick,

I have been called worst names!! The thickness of the two pieces bonded together are about 3/16" thick. I am not using any stops, up or down.

The rumor has it that you are in the process of a new pusher. Any truth to the rumor?

Phil

Today I made 4 flights. Two with the delta hub and two with a standard hub. Actually I used the same hub but with two flights I removed the tiewaps and allow the blades to seek their own positon. If there was a difference it was very slight. If anything the gyro got off the ground quicker when I allowed them to swing straight out to seek their own position. I was using the molded SG6042 profile blades.

Has anyone else done a comparison. The delta hub didn't seem to contribute anything in my experiment.

Phil

floridagyro, are you using any shims under the rotor blades to add negative incidence? Would you relate your experiences with/without incidence shims? What is the approximate amount of your mast angle? I'm getting close to completing my 'gyro and am getting REAL nervous about this stuff!
:spinnyeye

Hi,

I'm not using any shims. I found that the SG6042 profile blades spin-up good setting flat on the flexible hub. Other blade profiles that I have tried required shims.

I'm setting the mast angle at 5.5 degrees. I found that to be about minimum. I found that with minimum angle the gyro flies better, less drag, but if reduced more, the gyro struggles to get off the ground.

Phil

Great! Thanks for the insight. I had mine set at 10 degrees; I think I'm going to go with around 7 for the test flight. I have my 'gyro setup with a direct control head plus standard H/stab/elevator and V/stab/rudder. The fore-aft rotor control is controlled through ch6 flap control. I'm using an old Futaba "Gold box" tx with the linear slide pot on the flap channel so I can trim the rotor incidence while in flight. All my flying hrs. on flap equipped aircraft is with this tx so I'm pretty comfortable with it.

Assuming it makes it through the test flight in one piece and I find that I don't have enough pitch authority to suit me, I can switch Tx's to a Futaba 6XA 'puter type so I can mix in the rotor fore-aft control to the elevator.

Nudder question: I'm balancing and finishing my rotor blades this weekend; do you do all the balancing things I've seen on the 'gyro website like spanwise CG checks? This is a small machine (30" rotor dia.) I have 1 light blade of 3, can I just glue in some weight at mid span or is it imperative to go through the whole 9 yds. as depicted on the website? What's your opinion of iron-on film covering for blades? Sorry 'bout all the dumb questions!