Ground-To-Teeter Tower height?

[Brian Jackson]

Howdy.
Has anyone measured their GyroBee finished height from ground to top of teeter towers? The purpose of requesting this info is to determine if my garage door opens high enough to clear the rotorhead. I think it may, but not by much. If not, I need to budget for modifying the door opening. I'm aware that the GyroBee's tail boom can be removed which permits the airframe to be tilted back for clearance. But I would rather modify the door and leave the airframe intact if possible.

Thanks,
Brian Jackson

[Vance]

Hi Brian, I can't tell you about the mast height, but I can tell you that I picked up about 4 inches of garage opening height by going to a roll up door. Thank You, Vance

[Doug Riley]

Going by memory (bird's up at the airport), it's about 8 feet.

[gyropilot]

My non-standard Bee measures 8.5 feet to the top of the teeter towers. I had my garage / shop built with a 9 foot door opening to accommodate it.

However, when I built my Bee, it was in a basement garage with very limited headroom. As a result, I built my Bee with a folding mast. But now that I have a garage / shop with a 10 foot high ceiling, the folding mast isn't used very often.

Regards,

John L.

[Brian Jackson]

Just spoke with Dana at StarBee and he said it's 8'-1" +/-. Guess it depends on which suspension type, rotor head design, tire diameter, etc. Looks like a garage door mod is at hand!

John,
How did you design your folding mast? Any photos? I'm just curious.

Thanks,
Brian Jackson

[Doug Riley]

A garage door mod should be easy if the chainsaw will start.

[Brian Jackson]

A garage door mod should be easy if the chainsaw will start.
:D :D :D

[KDOG]

Chainsaw?!?! Nah, high explosives are quicker and much more fun!

[Alan Coats]

Brian,

Mine measures just over 8'.

Alan

[gyropilot]

John,
How did you design your folding mast? Any photos? I'm just curious.

Thanks,
Brian JacksonI cut the top 24" of the mast and fastened it to the lower mast via 1/8" thick SS plates. The holes in the upper mast have aluminum bushings exactly 2" long epoxied in place mainly to prevent hole wear (because of the bolts being removed and re-inserted).

To fold the mast, 3 of the bolts on the upper mast are removed and the 4th one is loosened and remains as the pivot...

http://home.usaa.net/~gyropilot/GyroBee/FoldingMast1.jpg

http://home.usaa.net/~gyropilot/GyroBee/FoldingMast2.jpg

http://home.usaa.net/~gyropilot/GyroBee/FoldingMast3.jpg

http://home.usaa.net/~gyropilot/GyroBee/FoldingMast4.jpg

Regards,

John L.

[Brian Jackson]

John, that's brilliant! It also appears that you rotated the upper portion of your redundant mast 90 degrees such that the bushings pass through the center of each mast tube's narrow side. I also like how you did the rotor control rods. I think RAF does something similar but I'm not very familiar with their designs.

With the folding mast, are you able to attach/detatch your rotor blades easier, without a ladder or an assistant? I've never witnessed the blade attachment process so I don't know what all is involved. Just seems like it'd be easier with the rotorhead at eye level.