Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 21:11:18 -1000 From: spsl@warthog.ru.ac.za (MR SC LAWRIE) Message-Id: Organization: Rhodes University Subject: Flexi Spar Substitutes Has anyone tried making their own flexifoil spars? I recently looked at blank fishing rods to see if they would be suitable; certainly they flex enough, even if the shape of the flex is slightly different to that of a genuine flexi spar (I took mine in to compare). It seems to me that this would be a cheap source of replacement / additional spars; any comments? Steve +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Steve Lawrie P.O.Box 360 Grahamstown 6140 South Africa Tel +27 461 25631 | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 21:59:13 -1000 From: kevin@hawaii.edu (Kevin Mayeshiro) Message-Id: Organization: University of Hawaii Subject: Re: Flexi Spar Substitutes MR SC LAWRIE (spsl@warthog.ru.ac.za) wrote: : Has anyone tried making their own flexifoil spars? Any particular size Flexifoil? How about wind range? I've flown a 6' with a spar made out of ProSpar Comp CP-15 and fiberglass A20 rods. The CP-15 rod is in the middle with A20s on both ends. It flies rather nicely. - Kevin -- - When posting, please keep quoted material to a minimum. - Subject lines are important. Please keep/start a thread when appropriate. rec.kites archive: ftp.hawaii.edu:/pub/rec/kites mirrors: ftp.uni-bremen.de:/pub/kites, ftp.funet.fi:/pub/misc/kites = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Wed, 14 Sep 1994 04:59:10 -1000 From: bwg001@carina.unm.edu (brian wad gordon) Message-Id: <35733u$quu@lynx.unm.edu> Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Subject: Re: Flexi Spar Substitutes MR SC LAWRIE (spsl@warthog.ru.ac.za) wrote: : Has anyone tried making their own flexifoil spars? : I recently looked at blank fishing rods to see if they would be : suitable; certainly they flex enough, even if the shape of the flex is : slightly different to that of a genuine flexi spar (I took mine in to : compare). It seems to me that this would be a cheap source of replacement / : additional spars; any comments? : Steve : +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ : | Steve Lawrie P.O.Box 360 Grahamstown 6140 South Africa Tel +27 461 25631 | : +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ I have a 4' hot shot that I sheared the tips off of while not using common sense while flying a 4', 6', 8' stack. Oops. I then got a 4' length of 1/8" fiberglass rod, slid a 1 or 2 foot scrap piece of carbon tube to the middle of the rod to prevent too much flexing in the middle, and tightly secured the carbon to the rod with strapping tape (to prevent splintering of the carbon). Shazam! I have 4' ultraflex spar that, IMHO, works better than the original. More willing to fly in lighter winds. Too bad my friend smacked it into the ground at warp factor 9 and blew out the sail. Keith Kidder. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Wed, 14 Sep 1994 00:48:08 -1000 From: ye79@gec-mrc.co.uk (ye79) Message-Id: Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: Re: Flexi Spar Substitutes Steve Lawrie writes: >Has anyone tried making their own flexifoil spars? > >I recently looked at blank fishing rods to see if they would be >suitable; certainly they flex enough, even if the shape of the flex is >slightly different to that of a genuine flexi spar (I took mine in to >compare). It seems to me that this would be a cheap source of replacement / >additional spars; any comments? I've been wondering about this too. Whether changing the distribution of stiffness on the spars of my 10' flexis could be used to get a little extra power from them. I've got an ultraflex spar which is excellent in low winds, but I'd like something for the other extreme ;-) I'd thought of trying a spar with a uniform stiffness distribution across the width, but I've never got round to it. The other possibility would seem to be in increasing the width of the centre carbon fibre section. Has anybody else tried this sort of thing? Judging by some of the threads here there seems to be a lot of experimentation with spars on revs and deltas but I haven't seen anything about flexis. Chris -- Chris Willis (ye79@uk.co.gec-mrc) GEC-Marconi Research Centre, Essex UK = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Wed, 14 Sep 1994 06:54:01 -1000 From: hqbfk@aol.com (HQBFK) Message-Id: <3579r9$gor@search01.news.aol.com> Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Subject: Re: Flexi Spar Substitutes In article <35733u$quu@lynx.unm.edu>, bwg001@carina.unm.edu (brian wad gordon) writes: The center spar on an a stock ultraflex flexi spar consists of an Easton A/C aluminum carbon spar and the tips are from the four foot flexis... Just about anything that is stiff and light would work in the center. Just make sure you don't exceed it's maximum breaking strenght - i suspect any lightweight carbon spar (Prospar - Advantage - Skyshark) would work as an acceptable light wind substitute for the stock carbon on the 8 or 10 foot model. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Thu, 15 Sep 1994 22:45:47 -1000 From: gaffer@ibmpcug.co.uk (Andrew Beattie) Message-Id: Organization: /usr/lib/news/organiszation Subject: Re: Flexi Spar Substitutes brian wad gordon wrote: >I have a 4' hot shot that I sheared the tips off of while not using >common sense while flying a 4', 6', 8' stack. If you follow the instruction leaflet, you may find this problem on larger stacks. Put a stopper-knot on the stack-line, then make a small piece of separate line, tie it into a loop and then larks-head the loop first onto the stack line (just below the stopper-knot), then use the loop to larkshead the kite. If you followed that, then the strain on each larkshead is merely the strain associated with the attatched kite, rather than the strain of the whole stack. As well as avoiding shearing the spar-tip, this also leads to longer life for your stack-lines. >Too bad my friend smacked it Flexifoil into the ground at warp factor 9 and >blew out the sail. *grin* Not too hard to fix... unpick the rear seam. repair tear with ripstop repair tape. sew tape to hold permanantly sew up rear seam Probably a little fiddly on a 4' because of the small cell size. On the other hand, send it back to Dealer/Cobra/Flexifoil for repair. Andrew -- The Kite FAQs are at ftp.hawaii.edu:/pub/rec/kites/faq/* = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 21:43:04 -1000 From: micha@ekpux2.harvard.edu (Michael Schneider) Message-Id: <35jfe8$ern@nz12.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de> Organization: University of Karlsruhe, Germany Subject: Re: Flexi Spar Substitutes MR SC LAWRIE (spsl@warthog.ru.ac.za) wrote: : Has anyone tried making their own flexifoil spars? yes! i use 6mm gfk rods, which are conified with sandpaper(under water) with the help of a drill machine, and a glasforms k40 in the middle. this construction is very light and even works fine in high winds. but the gfk rods are too hard to substitute the ultraflex. micha -- ================================================================== Michael Schneider Institut fuer Experimentelle Kernphysik der Universitaet Karlsruhe Engesserstr. 7(Physikhochhaus), 76128 Karlsruhe 1 micha@ekpux2.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de | BD14@DKAUNI2.BITNET ================================================================== = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =