"new" winch w/ broken one way bearing...
04-19-2005, 07:57 AM
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"new" winch w/ broken one way bearing...
I have a new to me winch, an old Lucas F3b model killer. Apparently the motor is from an electric street sweeper, and has a huge resistor in place to limit the current to todays F3b rules.
During a spin up of the winch in my basement there was an awful racket and I have blown the one way bearing, likely a coaster brake bicycle sprocket by the looks of it. I have been told it is OK to fly off this winch without a working sprocket so I have loaded braid onto the winch in advance of me getting some mono for it.
I'd like to avoid any birds nests of the braid and yet may have an opportunity to go flying before I can fix the sprocket. Is there anything I should be aware of when trying to fly off this winch without any sort of brake or resistance on the drum? I have heard that I might have to use my foot rubbing up against the drum to cut down on its propensity to free wheel.
During a spin up of the winch in my basement there was an awful racket and I have blown the one way bearing, likely a coaster brake bicycle sprocket by the looks of it. I have been told it is OK to fly off this winch without a working sprocket so I have loaded braid onto the winch in advance of me getting some mono for it.
I'd like to avoid any birds nests of the braid and yet may have an opportunity to go flying before I can fix the sprocket. Is there anything I should be aware of when trying to fly off this winch without any sort of brake or resistance on the drum? I have heard that I might have to use my foot rubbing up against the drum to cut down on its propensity to free wheel.
04-21-2005, 06:31 PM
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RE: "new" winch w/ broken one way bearing...
The number one rule is to only put enough line on the drum to put a few turns on it when you are ready to fly. This tremendously cuts down the backlash problems. So you lift the plane above your head and step on the winch and you want only enough turns on the drum to take the strain off the knot holding it to the drum.
The brake for F3B is not really for anti backlash. It is for the rules. You are not allowed to let the line back out after you have reeled any of it in. Consequently you are really not missing anything.
If the drum is the typically 45 mm or so when you take your foot off the pedal it will not zing back at you with any of the furious nature as you see with a typical Ford winch with a larger drum. If you have any line on the drum and this happens it loosens everything to the bottom. You do not have a rats nest now but if you pull the line back you may create one. You probably will have to sit at the winch and carefully feed it out into the field.
Now the typical launch avoids much of this by simply stepping on the pedal and not releasing it till the plane is off the line. Assuming you are right handed the sequence goes like this and very few follow it. Left foot on the pedal, hold the plane in front of the wing with your right hand and balance it with your thumb and finger against the wing, touch the tail of the glider to the ground behind you with your arm outstretched., stiff arm it the whole time so you will not hit yourself, pedal to the metal and throw up as vertically as possible.
Your aim is to maintain tension so high the winch groans all the way up then a dive to gain speed and you are off. If you can't maintain tension all the way up you increase the diameter of the drum with cheeks or clamshells to increase the drum size. You cannot use line to do this because that is inviting a rat's nest.
Practice.
When you get a brake you can stop the winding and go back and forth with the wind in your face to increase your tension with a burst as you go over the top.
Rick
Richard Hallett Pittsfield ME
PS What is the Lucas motor number??
The brake for F3B is not really for anti backlash. It is for the rules. You are not allowed to let the line back out after you have reeled any of it in. Consequently you are really not missing anything.
If the drum is the typically 45 mm or so when you take your foot off the pedal it will not zing back at you with any of the furious nature as you see with a typical Ford winch with a larger drum. If you have any line on the drum and this happens it loosens everything to the bottom. You do not have a rats nest now but if you pull the line back you may create one. You probably will have to sit at the winch and carefully feed it out into the field.
Now the typical launch avoids much of this by simply stepping on the pedal and not releasing it till the plane is off the line. Assuming you are right handed the sequence goes like this and very few follow it. Left foot on the pedal, hold the plane in front of the wing with your right hand and balance it with your thumb and finger against the wing, touch the tail of the glider to the ground behind you with your arm outstretched., stiff arm it the whole time so you will not hit yourself, pedal to the metal and throw up as vertically as possible.
Your aim is to maintain tension so high the winch groans all the way up then a dive to gain speed and you are off. If you can't maintain tension all the way up you increase the diameter of the drum with cheeks or clamshells to increase the drum size. You cannot use line to do this because that is inviting a rat's nest.
Practice.
When you get a brake you can stop the winding and go back and forth with the wind in your face to increase your tension with a burst as you go over the top.
Rick
Richard Hallett Pittsfield ME
PS What is the Lucas motor number??
