My bensen clone

[Craig Finnegan]

Well here it is. Its powered by a ea81, direct drive. 330 pounds with no gas. No rotors as of yet. The pictures show how it was wen I picked it up. I am doing away with the air command style front wheel and going with the bensen stlye. Right now I am working on the control tubes, they are binding up when the stick is forward. Any recomendations for a set of rotors? Fun-flyer has a set of skywheels and a set of dragonwings for sale. Is there much difference between the two for the beginer. I have gotten it registered, n-numbered (N171CF) and inspected(at the shelbyville flyin).

[Timchick]

Craig,
Looks promising. Why are you changing out the front wheel? Does it not work very good like it is? You may have to install scissor control tubes.

[StanFoster]

Craig- Nice looking gyro. I am sure your dad would have been proud. Could you e-mail me your moms address? I want to mail that plaque to her. Thanks. strbldr@yahoo.com

[Craig Finnegan]

Tim- I am switching to the castering front wheel for safety reasons. Trying to be as safe a possable, the wife won't have it any other way. If scissor control tubes are the ones that are split up into 4 tubes then that has been considered as fix. I have also thought about tyring what raf has on the cross tube where the rod ends a rotated 90 degrees so that the rod end is facing the side.

Stan- address sent. I have been thinking about gyros ever since Jerry took me up in his sparrowhawk at my dads flyin. Lots of considerations. Did I want to do this to try and hold on to memories, to try and get a little closer to him, to try to understand his life a little better. But it all just come down to the fact that its a lot of fun and I like it.

[M. Pearce]

Craig,

Ewwww, that's a nice little gyro you got going there.

I'm a subaru fanatic and I got to looking at your plunbing there for the sub exaust, neat way to do it.

I really hope you keep us posted on it's performance when you getter up.

I'm building a EA81 right now and boy I sure like what I see in this little power pack.

Keep up the good work.

[dragonflyerthom]

From what I see it looks very loud. But very nice. I enjoyed your pics and agree on the way you have the exhaust is different. very interesting.

[fiveboy]

Did I want to do this to try and hold on to memories, to try and get a little closer to him, to try to understand his life a little better.

I hope someday I am lucky enough to have my son say words like these.

[cgmg]

Craig didn't give you a very good picture of the seat, but he has a red velvet insert in the seat cover. It looks like something Elvis would be proud of!

Craig, don't hesitate to call if you have questions. And keep us posted on your progress, both completing the machine, and your training.

[Friendly]

Well here it is. Its powered by a ea81, direct drive. 330 pounds with no gas. No rotors as of yet. The pictures show how it was wen I picked it up. I am doing away with the air command style front wheel and going with the Bensen stlye. Right now I am working on the control tubes, they are binding up when the stick is forward. Any recomendations for a set of rotors? Fun-flayer has a set of skywheels and a set of dragon wings for sale. Is there much difference between the two for the beginer. I have gotten it registered, n-numbered (NFC) and inspected(at the Charleville flyin).

Craig,
I have a set of both. I have not flown my KB 2 with the Skywheels due to engine problems with the mac. The Dragon wings are great rotors as long as you bring them up to speed properly. They are light which means your aircraft will weigh less and be more agile. The skywheels will weight almost double the dragonwings which means that they will hold their rotation speed longer and not speed up or slow down as quick at dragon wings. With the Ea 81 you may find the skywheels will land you softer and the dragonwings get you in the air faster.
good luck with your machine, it looks very sharp. Do you have a close up of your pod?

[Timchick]

Craig,
Is your seat tilting forward or does it just look that way in the photos?

[Craig Finnegan]

Mark and Thom- I don't know who designed the exhaust, but I am supprised at how quiet it is. At about 1100 rpm the prop noise is starting to drown out the exhaust. And about 1500 rpm you can hardly hear the exhaust. I would guess that would be different when its up in the air.

Mark Carmouche- thanks for the info on the different blades.

Tim- The seat is a jaz dune buggy seat. The way it mounts it looks like it is tilted forward, but when you sit in it, it is just right.

I think there is space for an airspeed indicator up top on the pod.

[dragonflyerthom]

Thanks Craig

I have an imprezza 2.2 Siamese engine. It will need some type of exhaust just like the EA81.

[cgmg]

Craig,

Not sure we talked about it at Shelbyville, but you'll want to get a rotor tach.

Charlie taught both of us to fly without it, but having one would have saved a couple sets of rotor blades. Plus, I could get off the ground about 1/3 sooner with my DragonWings once I installed a tach. That's because I always nursed my blades up to speed without a tach. But with one, you'll know by the numbers how quickly you can speed up.

Just my two cent's worth.

[giro5]

I suggest you find a gyro with a bensen style wheel to try before changing. The bensen style mounts closer to the rear axel and is quite short coupled. From the looks in the picture your front wheel setup is more stable. I have something similar to that look on order and am wanting to do away with my Bensen style. It is too short coupled (too close to the rear axel). Meaning it turns too sharply with little input and can lead to tipping over while taxiing.

[Craig Finnegan]

mark- we did talk about it and I will have one. Where is a good place to get one? I am going to make another piece to exten the curent pod down a little for the rotor tach and gps.

Giro5- I have thought of going with something like on the gyrobee. A blockthat will extend out of the front part of the keel.

[Timchick]

Craig,
A simple rotor tach can be made from a bicycle speedometer. I got a Cateye model off ebay for about $15-$20. The following thread talks about those.

http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7207

Also, you can mount a Bensen type front wheel towards the front of your front keel. Mine is mounted forward of the original position. I used a couple pieces of aluminum bar stock for spacers to clear some of the other bolt ends there. Here's a photo of how mine is.

[cgmg]

Craig,

If you don't want to go the bicycle speedo route, buy one of Ernie Boyette's.

I think they're $175. I went for Ernie's over the RAF one, even though the RAF one came with the kit.

[Craig Finnegan]

Tim your front wheel is one I saw on a post awhile back and had drawn insperation from. The gyrobee type noseblock would push the forward a little more.

Mark for the price I have to try the bike spedo first.

Question for any one with the knowledge.
On the shywheels website they list a min. 600 pounds for the 25 footers. That is to include the weight of the rotors. And a max. of 740 pounds. I am in the middle some where close to 675 pounds. I come up with a disk loading of 1.376 lbs/sqft. Am I right with choosing the 25 footers? What would be the best disk loading for the skywheels?