Disc Flight
01-17-2006, 04:19 PM
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RE: Disc Flight
I have tinkered with this on and off for years...what did you have in mind?
http://jnaudin.free.fr/lifters/main.htm
http://jnaudin.free.fr/lifters/main.htm
01-17-2006, 05:19 PM
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RE: Disc Flight
Well, I suppose the purpose of this discussion would be to share your experiences with the design, I've been dialoging with the geobat team pretty extensively with present and current disc shape construction, gathering valuable insight into aircraft design overall as well. I did a test flight with the latest creation and took some video:
[link=http://www.espresso-outfitters.com/airplanes/disctest2.AVI]http://www.espresso-outfitters.com/airplanes/disctest2.AVI[/link] it's a 3M file.
The temperature was too low, so the battery wasn't able to get enough of a charge for substantial altitude, but it does show this design as actually working in free flight mode, I'm working on the next generation of this design at present and am waiting for better weather and temperature conditions before taking more live park flight tests.
Do you have any photo's or working discs on hand? If so, I'd like to see pics and/or video.
[link=http://www.espresso-outfitters.com/airplanes/disctest2.AVI]http://www.espresso-outfitters.com/airplanes/disctest2.AVI[/link] it's a 3M file.
The temperature was too low, so the battery wasn't able to get enough of a charge for substantial altitude, but it does show this design as actually working in free flight mode, I'm working on the next generation of this design at present and am waiting for better weather and temperature conditions before taking more live park flight tests.
Do you have any photo's or working discs on hand? If so, I'd like to see pics and/or video.
01-17-2006, 08:47 PM
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RE: Disc Flight
Wow, I've never heard of this--looks cool. Would be interested in any kits or anything that is out there. How was the disc in the video being controlled?
01-18-2006, 11:34 AM
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RE: Disc Flight
ok, cool. The lifter link is just a very interesting, yet dangerous, version of a flying disc that I have messed around with. Too dangerous but yeilds very interesting results. I used an old computer monitor to power the flight. Needless to say, I am more interested in true saucer R/C flight now.
i am interested in your free flight model. can you explain how you program the disc to move on a desired path? i assume you are using sunlight to charge the battery.
my old discs and lifters have all been scraped now but I have been toying with the idea for a new flying disc. one that can be controled via R/C TX yet will fly in a manner similar to the robert lazar sport disk.
i am interested in your free flight model. can you explain how you program the disc to move on a desired path? i assume you are using sunlight to charge the battery.
my old discs and lifters have all been scraped now but I have been toying with the idea for a new flying disc. one that can be controled via R/C TX yet will fly in a manner similar to the robert lazar sport disk.
01-18-2006, 01:00 PM
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RE: Disc Flight
Actually, the mylar might be misleading, it was just something I experiemented with covering wise and my sealer died in the process so it has plenty of wrinkles, that and I found out contact cement and foam are not a good combo, so it's battery is charged using the stock harbor freight battery field charger, I had to cover it with something since I cut out most of the bulk and needed something to fill in the gaps.
When I formed the disc, I kept traditional airplane wings/stabalizer in tact, this means, if you were to break it down into it's basic form, you have 2 wings, both joined at an angle, I'm partial to the P51's layout in this one and it slopes into a flattened area in the rear. The tail configuration is what gives this stability and allows it to fly, I have 2 working versions of this in play, here is the photo of it during one of it's permutations.
I yanked the rear prop from it since it was totally useless. Next to it is another tail configuration that works equally as well, I just am partial to the V tail configuration out of the cool factor. So the idea here, you need to address the upper and lower section of the disc, not just the top, it cannot have symmetrical profile and the bottom is not flat, it functions very closely to a flying wing and this 16" free flight version was just meant to show the skeptics that a disc can fly if it is formed correctly. I'm currently building an RC version based upon the next configuration, it will use the lift body "disc" more as a mounting platform so I didn't get as hard core with the profile, yet the same elements still exist.
I have another version that's basically a flying ring that has just a killer glide ratio which was based upon the geobat, yet I modified it by simplifying the wing/rudder/stabalizer to conform to a symmetrical overhead profile, yet the side view does show it has some curves to make it conform even more:
Take note, it has divets in the front due to crashing into the walls, one thing I found with this version was the threshold you are facing dealing with the micro size, ultra light models; Low temperature tests causes it to completely fail as any form of flying device, yet indoors it glides like something unreal. There is no added weight, just make sure the front part of the ring is thicker then the rear and it will auto balance correctly.
When I formed the disc, I kept traditional airplane wings/stabalizer in tact, this means, if you were to break it down into it's basic form, you have 2 wings, both joined at an angle, I'm partial to the P51's layout in this one and it slopes into a flattened area in the rear. The tail configuration is what gives this stability and allows it to fly, I have 2 working versions of this in play, here is the photo of it during one of it's permutations.
I yanked the rear prop from it since it was totally useless. Next to it is another tail configuration that works equally as well, I just am partial to the V tail configuration out of the cool factor. So the idea here, you need to address the upper and lower section of the disc, not just the top, it cannot have symmetrical profile and the bottom is not flat, it functions very closely to a flying wing and this 16" free flight version was just meant to show the skeptics that a disc can fly if it is formed correctly. I'm currently building an RC version based upon the next configuration, it will use the lift body "disc" more as a mounting platform so I didn't get as hard core with the profile, yet the same elements still exist.
I have another version that's basically a flying ring that has just a killer glide ratio which was based upon the geobat, yet I modified it by simplifying the wing/rudder/stabalizer to conform to a symmetrical overhead profile, yet the side view does show it has some curves to make it conform even more:
Take note, it has divets in the front due to crashing into the walls, one thing I found with this version was the threshold you are facing dealing with the micro size, ultra light models; Low temperature tests causes it to completely fail as any form of flying device, yet indoors it glides like something unreal. There is no added weight, just make sure the front part of the ring is thicker then the rear and it will auto balance correctly.
