Recoil pre-rotator

[Alan Coats]

I saw a GyroBee on Ralph's site that had a recoil starter hooked up so you could pre-rotate the blades by pulling a starter rope. Seemed like a pretty neat idea. Do any of you have details or pictures of one?

Thanks,
Alan

[gyroblackwell]

Alen,
Rufuss Howard and I are hard at work completing preproduction set-ups for the "Man-powered" pre-rotator. We had it on display at Mentone. Alot of good reception was received. I will post pictures this week-end.

Basically we took the origonal design that Rufuss created some 4 years ago, and redesigned it for ease of manufacture, and to lose some of the weight.

We now have a P-R that only adds 4lbs. of weight, and will bring the blades up to 125 RRPM.

I am trying to get a casting-vendor lined up to produce "sand-castings" of the outer hub. The rest is pretty much complete.

I will be demonstrating the P-R at Three Rivers Airport over the Labor Day Weekend (ASC Nationals). We are going to finish mount the P-R to Don Shoebridge's Hornet frame, along with a set of blades.

Come check it out!

Tim Blackwell

[Alan Coats]

Tim,

That's good news! I will look forward to seeing the pictures.

Alan

[GyroRon]

Got any pics of this thing? I would like to see one, and also a estimated price if you guys get it on the market

[Brent_Brown]

125 RRPM would be great I think I get about 75 by hand right now and I guess you can be seated doing the pullstarting. will it fit a parsons trainer type twin mast?

[gyroblackwell]

The pre-rotator will fit any benson style rotor head. it will require a slight change to the over all height of the head (1/4" taller)

I will take some pics today and get them posted here.

Price and time to market are still up in the air. Rufuss will determine the price since the origonal design is his. It will be less then a rotor head.

I know that the "wait and see" sindrome kinda sucks, but for now that is all I have.

I will take video at three rivers and post it too!


I will say that we are far enough along in the design/manufacture process that it WILL make it to market. We are linning up a machine shop to mass produce the standard components, and the casting is the only questionable item at this point. Not an "IF" it works, but more of a "who can cast it cheaply, and with zero defects.

So give me a couple more weeks, and we will see what happens.

Ron .... too bad you did'nt come to Mentone .... you missed alot of new design ideas, and this product was on display as well!

I know of too many U/L guys that need this to fly safer!

Tim

[GyroRon]

I got a red gyrobee that is begging for a pre rotator. Let me know when one is ready and I will be the first customer.

[Curran3]

Tim,
Count me in for one. I'm getting too old to stand on the seat just before takeoff! Any chance you could incorporate a rotor brake?
Curran in Jacksonville, FL

[RayPierce]

I need one for my GyroBee Project.

[GyroRon]

Curran, hope to see you at ROC!

[Curran3]

Ron,
Thanks for the kind words. It isn't going to work out for me this year. We have our annual meeting that week. That's where they vote on whether or not to keep the pastors and if so what to pay them for the coming year. When you live one small step above the poverty level you don't miss that meeting! This has not been a good year for visiting w/ my gyro buddies. Bensen Days fell over Easter and now ROC is out.

By the by, why are you looking for Gyrobees? I thought you had given your heart to a Dominatrix. Or was it some other part of your anatomy?
Curran

[GyroRon]

I am not really looking for a gyro for myself right now. I am very happy with my Dominator. I would like to find a smoking deal on a nice two place gyro, but I haven't seen any good deals as of late. If I found a good deal on a gyrobee I would buy it and play with it some and resell it hoping to make a few bucks.

Too bad you can't come to ROC. Is the meeting the entire week???? Can't you break out and come up for even a day or two? Miss ya man!

[Brent_Brown]

photos where are the photos. it is raining so no flying today and I go back to work 1 Sep

[Wolfman]

You know..... I have seen some very small displacement engines that are electric start. Mainly lawn mower engines, but an electric start weedeater engine would be ideal (Although I don't think such a thing exists). Rigging up an electric starter might not be that hard on a weedeater though.

[Brent_Brown]

look at some of the small mopeheads, some have E starters now on 30cc to 45cc motors. I will be working on a motor pre-rotator. The last one I saw was on Carls at ROC like 2000. Can't say I saw it in action but it has to be as good as some e car starters. looking on line you can find some big 45 to 55cc motors that will put out 3 to 4 HP

[Brent_Brown]

Here is a good link for a motor Ken J can pick them up downtown for us.
www.sdscooters.com
the one below has some cool redrives that might work.
www.staton-inc.com

[Brent_Brown]

e start motor with gearbox on it.

[Kevin_Richey]

I will say that we are far enough along in the design/manufacture process that it WILL make it to market. We are linning up a machine shop to mass produce the standard components, and the casting is the only questionable item at this point. Not an "IF" it works, but more of a "who can cast it cheaply, and with zero defects.

So give me a couple more weeks, and we will see what happens.

I know of too many U/L guys that need this to fly safer!

Tim

Say Tim and Rufus!

You've got another very interested customer here!

Please let us know more and when...!!!

Do you have any video of it working yet?

[Kevin_Richey]

Tim: Any news yet? Video?

[GyroRon]

YES news update please! Got a gyrobee that is in need of a not too expensive pre rotator.

[GyroRon]

Dean thanks for the pics, but I wish I knew what it was I was looking at!

[Dean_Dolph]

Pictures?! Okay, patience already! It takes awhile for the Pony Express to get them to the photo shop and back.

Okay, Ron, I changed out the pictures for a larger size to see if that will help. It is hard to tell what is what but I've changed the order of the pictures so maybe the first one will help orient you.

In the first one you will see a HoneyBee rotor head from GyroTech on top of the pre-rotator.

In the fourth one you will see a flat coil spring (can't think of the proper nomeclature at the moment!) on the left in a white spool.

In the fifth one you will see where the pull cable attaches.

[GyroRon]

Okay! now me understandy what you got there. Now the next questions are.... How much and How Soon???

[scottessex]

That is COOL! Pure genius,

[Kevin_Richey]

Tim: Any news yet? Video?

Tim: What is the latest news regarding the recoil pre-rotator??????

[gyroblackwell]

The latest is ...... no chance for Aluminum castings .... the cheapest I was able to get was about 6grand for 50 castings . :eek:

Looks like we are back to a completely machined pre-rotator. This has turned out to be more difficult then I imagined !

Rufus has decided to sell this design to a manufacturing firm, and let them build and sell it. I was just in it for the thrill of design and development,

and to get an ultra-light pre-rotator for my tractor gyro!

So there you have it. The design will definatly make it to the shelf.

The cost, and delivery time is up to the manufacturing company, and Rufus will get a royalty payment out of it ! (I hope)

Just hang in there ..... the product is on it's way !

[Brent_Brown]

So 120 each was to high to get them cast? How much more would be in each one? selling 50 at 500 is 25,000 and at 600 = 30,000. If each one was 250 to make that is 100% that sounds good to me. Just looking at the numbers I'm sure I'm missing it here.
Did you try the emachine and see what they want to cut 50. looking at it that might be the way to go. Just another option before it gets made of gold and noone can use it. sell plans?

[gyroblackwell]

That was 120$ each JUST FOR THE RAW CASTING ! they would still need to be machined.

My hope is that the manufacturing company will stick to a reasonable price for the finished product. (IF they want to sell any ... they will have to be reasonable)

As for plans ..... that would be up to Rufus Howard . I think the vendor will want all rights to the design .... so plans will probably be out of the picture.

Sorry guys .... had this been completely my design .... I would have stuck it out and built-and-sold them myself.... just to keep cost down, and

customers happy.

As it is, I will finish out my pre-rotator that I have been building, and maybe even go for the next level of design! there is always a BETTER mouse trap! :rolleyes:

[Brent_Brown]

The same thing but completely different

[quadrirotor]

From the argentinian site:

[Alan Coats]

Brent,

That looks very interesting.

Has it been used on a gyro yet? Did you make it, and are plans available?

Thanks,
Alan

[Brent_Brown]

I pull that pic off the gyro web site down under. The butterfly dealer in Oz. has it and said it will get 90 RRPM. I would hope to get more but that might be a gearing thing. 1 to 1?

[Alan Coats]

Thanks, Brent.

I'll look for more info there.

Alan