My new 18HP wacko-winch
07-12-2008, 01:52 AM
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My new 18HP wacko-winch
I was recently given an old Craftsman lawn tractor with a Briggs & Stratton 18 HP twin-cylinder horizontal shaft engine. I had to do a little work on the engine, but changing the ball bearing on the PTO, making a new air cleaner assembly, and reworking the electrical wiring didn't take long or cost much. The fellow I fly with donated the trailer to haul it around on.
I couldn't resist the opportunity to build a winch. I assembled the frame with threaded rods and nuts using electrical conduit sleeves to cover the sharp edges. The round endplate supports the outer end of the stationary shaft for the drum. The other end is supported by a ball bearing in the hub of the rotor for the electric clutch. The brake arm and belt are also attached to the end plate.
The drum turns on ball bearings which have the inner races locked to the stationary shaft. A regular footswitch controls the electric clutch to drive the drum.
I tried it out for the first time yesterday. The wind was fairly steady at about 10MPH. More than I wanted, but OK to fly in.
I set the engine speed at 1650 RPM for the first launch. (Idle is around 1250.) It took a couple seconds for the line tension to build up, but I was able to hold the pedal down for almost the entire launch. I could see that the wings were flexing some as the plane leveled out, so I tapped the pedal several times before letting off entirely. I think I could have held the pedal down the whole way up if the wind had been lighter. The launch altitude was what I'd expect for the distance to the TA and the wind speed.
The brake worked fine: three or four quick chirps of the belt, and the drum is stopped. Line retrieval takes just a little more pull than my clutch-winch.
I made several more launches with the same results. No problems, no surprises. It works exactly like I expected it would.
The brake may be a little aggressive, but I want to see how it does with my friend's larger plane and his more aggressive launch style before changing anything. I can easily reposition the belt anchor and the arm attachment to soften it up.
I'm really pleased with how well it works. Especially since the total out-of-pocket cost to get it in operation is less than the cost of a new battery to run my electric winch.
Roger
I couldn't resist the opportunity to build a winch. I assembled the frame with threaded rods and nuts using electrical conduit sleeves to cover the sharp edges. The round endplate supports the outer end of the stationary shaft for the drum. The other end is supported by a ball bearing in the hub of the rotor for the electric clutch. The brake arm and belt are also attached to the end plate.
The drum turns on ball bearings which have the inner races locked to the stationary shaft. A regular footswitch controls the electric clutch to drive the drum.
I tried it out for the first time yesterday. The wind was fairly steady at about 10MPH. More than I wanted, but OK to fly in.
I set the engine speed at 1650 RPM for the first launch. (Idle is around 1250.) It took a couple seconds for the line tension to build up, but I was able to hold the pedal down for almost the entire launch. I could see that the wings were flexing some as the plane leveled out, so I tapped the pedal several times before letting off entirely. I think I could have held the pedal down the whole way up if the wind had been lighter. The launch altitude was what I'd expect for the distance to the TA and the wind speed.
The brake worked fine: three or four quick chirps of the belt, and the drum is stopped. Line retrieval takes just a little more pull than my clutch-winch.
I made several more launches with the same results. No problems, no surprises. It works exactly like I expected it would.
The brake may be a little aggressive, but I want to see how it does with my friend's larger plane and his more aggressive launch style before changing anything. I can easily reposition the belt anchor and the arm attachment to soften it up.
I'm really pleased with how well it works. Especially since the total out-of-pocket cost to get it in operation is less than the cost of a new battery to run my electric winch.
Roger
07-12-2008, 01:05 PM
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RE: My new 18HP wacko-winch
My sailplane buddy and I took it out today. He brought his BoT, and I had my Lovesong. We were able to make a couple launches without lifting off the pedal until the very end. He was really impressed with the smoothness of the winch. Not having to pulse the pedal makes launching really easy. We were both pleased with the altitude of the launches.
He's got enough confidence in the new winch now that he's going to bring his larger scale plane the next time we fly.
Roger
He's got enough confidence in the new winch now that he's going to bring his larger scale plane the next time we fly.
Roger
