Big Foam Glider Makes Headlines

Yesterday I noticed on the MSN homepage was a video clip of one the big foam gliders launched too hard causing a loop which ended by hitting the person launching it in the face. The gliders are lightweight and fly rather slow so he was not injured and everyone thought it was funny.

Link to "model airplane test flight fail"



Glider Launched by Towline Method

Through basic aerodynamics we know that in the Lift Equation velocity is squared. This means the lift is going to increase by a large amount with a fast throw causing a loop. Many people have put electric motors and radio control in these gliders but I thought maybe it could be launched as a "towline" glider with no control. Towline gliders are launched much like a kite flies but the line detaches at the top of a launch. I really went the quick and dirty route on this making the towhook from a paperclip glued to a craft stick.

Rails for Launching

There almost needs to be another person holding the glider as it is launched except I came up with launching rails made from two dowels pushed in the ground. This worked pretty good and I could launch the plane by myself using kite string and a kite reel to pull it with. It never got real high for me but the glide was slow.  This is the article I created about what I had done.  Big Foam Towline Glider

Kite Reel Pulls Glider Up

There is a short video segment of the glider flying in my video Fun With Foam Gliders.

Bill Kuhl
http://www.scienceguy.org

Schools Out - Summer Slump

Views to a science / project website such as mine pretty much follow the school year. No doubt there will be some interest from summer camp programs but the major interest to http://www.scienceguy.org is from schools and student assignments for school. This past school year brought many views to my website, normally over 500 unique views a day. The Hydraulic Syringe Arm and the foam gliders have been popular new additions this year.

Working on the Math & Physics for Future

Summer is the busiest time for me as that is when I teach for summer camp programs which are the testing opportunities for the projects on the website. Each year I try to tweak the kits I make up for students a little bit more so that I do not need to spend so much time helping students.

Summer Camp Water Rockets

Building Model Solar Cars

This summer I am also thinking of how I will improve the website for the next school year. The direction I plan to head is to add more educational content such as the math and physics that would go along with the projects. Currently my emphasis has been to just present how to build the projects and how to operate. At some point I would like to see some revenue from my website which has been entirely an expense endeavor. If I go the advertising route I sure do not want it to detract too much from the website.

Bill Kuhl

E-flite UMX ASK 21 Sailplane

On occasion I do purchase ready-to-fly model airplanes instead of building, my latest purchase was the E-flite UMX ASK 21 radio control sailplane. This sailplane is just so cute that I could only resist seeing it on the hobby shop shelf (Everything Hobby) for so long.  Part of why I purchased this sailplane was that everything would easily pack into the box it came in which made it great for bringing it along on trips. It is a small sailplane with a wingspan of 34" but it has tiny servos to control ailerons, rudder, elevator, and remote towhook release for aerotow.

Transmitter Not Included

Everything Fits Back in Box

As of yet I have not tried the aerotow but I have flown the glider from a small slope and have done hi-start launch which is included with the glider. The ASK 21 flew well from the small slope in wind that was probably around 10 mph. It does not take a lot of lift to keep it up but the kinetic energy of a glider that weighs under 3 ounces is pretty small. This means the glider will have to carry a good amount of speed to perform a maneuver such as a loop. The receiver of the glider has the AS3X technology which is suppose to make flying smoother, not sure how much it helps as I have not flown it without that feature. With a scale-like look this glider is rather hi-aspect ratio which is not conducive to super stable flight. So far any minor crashes have not hurt the glider at all.

Hi-start Launch

Canopy Held on With Magnets

Launching on the hi-start took me some practice to get good launches consistently. I found that it helped to use some throw with the launch to get the glider moving faster right way. Without the momentum given to the glider by throwing, the start of the launch was rather wobbly. It was windy at times the day I tried the hi-start also which does not help. Not a real good day for thermal flying either.  On a better day I will try to see if can get the ASK 21 to climb in thermal lift, I would assume so.

** Addition 8/3/2013 Slope Soaring ASK-21

I did more slope soaring with the ASK-21 and it really flew well, with a small slope it looks to be more in scale with the slope making the slope look larger.

** 9/7/2013 Update
From a hi-start launch I was able to have the ASK-21 climb in thermal lift. I was getting better launches also, it helps to give a throw on launch or the glider will stall on the launch. The wing will bend but so far it has not broken for me.

ASK 21 had Amazing Glide Indoors

Bill Kuhl

htttp://www.ideas-inspire.com

Important Concepts Learned Through Projects

I tried to come up with some important concepts in my opinion, that would be valuable working on projects from my website and also in many things in life. This is what I came up with:

* How to find the resources for what you are trying to do.

* Recognizing that something can be improved on and thinking of ways to do it.

* Visualizing how something would go together and would work.

* Narrowing down a problem and discarding what is not relevant to the solution.

* Recognizing the small differences that can make a big difference.

* What are the positive and what are negative components?

Finding Material Resources

 

 

Recognizing Improvement Needed

 

 

Boat Fender was Better Idea

 

Glider Needs Minor Adjustment to Stop Dive




Much Better Glide

 

Rockets Went Higher With More Tape on Nose

 

Improvements Needed to Electric Motor Design

 

 

Bill Kuhl

http://www.scienceguy.org



 

Fuel My Brain - Rochester Minnesota

Kevin Guy the proprietor of Everything Hobby in Rochester Minnesota started a nonprofit program known as Fuel My Brain for kids. One Saturday a month for over a year there was a project build activity for kids and an adult. The activities were much like what I was doing with ScienceGuyOrg, for most of the sessions the attendance was good. Luckily there was a large school yard across the street from the hobby shop where we could try out projects like water rockets and kites. Kevin provided a very nice classroom space.

Presently the program has been taking a little break but hopefully will start up sometime in the future. It was a big commitment for Kevin because he or his hobby shop staff had to take time away from the hobby shop on the busiest day of the week. There were some great volunteer helpers also but more would have been better.

I have to believe the kids and everyone else that participated got much out of this, I know I sure did. Take notice of how well the kids and the adults bonded together when working on a project. In many cases the kids were learning how to use a ruler or other tools. Older kids were normally there alone but younger kids could be with a parent, grandparent, or a teacher might bring a group of kids.


 Bill Kuhl
http://www.ideas-inspire.com

Thermal Soaring This Week

Finally got a chance the first part of this week to do some thermal soaring with radio control gliders, a hobby I have enjoyed for some time. On Sunday I flew a Radian Pro glider in slightly windy conditions but thermal lift was good. Climbing to a fair altitude the glider encountered thermal lift right way, it seemed almost too easy. After that it took many tries of power-on flying and gliding to connect with lift again.

Gentle Lady Sailplane by Carl Goldberg is a Classic

Monday the sun was out and the wind was light but I was back to work, when I left work it was starting to get cloudy again but I thought I would try flying Gentle Lady 2-meter glider from hi-start launch even if conditions did not look good for thermal air currents. Normally thermals are rather weak by late afternoon anyway but I noticed after one launch the glider was not coming down and might be climbing at times. With little breeze the glider did not have to waste energy trying to penetrate the wind.

Fly With Tiny Control Adjustments

This is when I really enjoy the thermal glider flying when the lift is marginal you have to keep working to keep the glider from coming down yet it is not climbing to an altitude where it is a tiny dot in the sky. I made very gentle turns so as to not create extra drag or lose altitude that would be hard to regain. This type of model flying might not be too exciting for the spectators but for the pilot you have to be constantly be watching for subtle signs the glider is gaining altitude, losing altitude, or changing speed. I like to think it is more my mind that is keeping it up than the thermal air currents.

Sailplane Lands With no Control Input

After several minutes it became apparent that the glider was getting lower and landing would be the next maneuver. The glider was adjusted so well and on a good heading so I just let it land by itself and I took a picture.

Bill Kuhl
http://www.ideas-inspire.com

Building 2 Pole Electric Motor Kit

In my quest for ideas in building a better electric motor I purchased four electric motor kits to give me more ideas to design another 2-pole motor. This has worked well for me with model airplanes, I have found many good ideas from building kits and have found ideas that could cause trouble. In building this 2-pole motor kit I could see that I did not use enough wire for the coil windings in the motor I had designed.

In building the kit the wood parts for the kit were all laser-cut which made for a good fit. I was worrying about finding a "soft iron" core for my motor but this motor used a couple of small bolts for the core. Like my motor the shaft was solid brass but the bearings were wood while I had used plastic. I got the wood bearings as free as I could but I think the plastic would still have less friction.

Brush on the Right has Big Gap  

Holding Brushes the Motor Did Run

In the kit the commutator was made from the ends of the wire coming off the coils. The brushes need to be bent to a curve so there is contact with the wires.  This appears to be difficult to form accurately enough and maybe is not supported well enough either. The one time I got the motor to run I had my fingers supporting the brushes. I would like to make some changes with the brushes and see if this motor might run better.

If Only Wire Brushes Could be Bent This Well 

2-Pole Motor I had Built

Bill Kuhl
http://www.ideas-inspire.com