Helicycle Hatchery

Chuck- I definately will be at the Ultralight safety seminar this Saturday. My turbine as of last Friday is still 2 weeks away from being shipped....."hopefully"

I just read a good article about Eagle R&D in my last Expermental/Helo magazine. There are 5 guys working for them, they do all 40 of the shipments in batches. Right now they are balancing the turbines and assembling the gearboxes. Stu Fields actually did the dye penetrant test on my turbine and compressor wheels and other turbine components. I am not about to climb on them now ....especially when they are balancing my turbine wheel! It wouldnt do any good anyway. I knew this was a strung out deal when I signed the contract....thats why I cant gripe too much. I figure once I get the turbine.....then its not far off before I will have it ready to burn kerosene.

I would be watching the curling matches at the Olympics anyway instead of working on my turbine this week , if I did have it. ha


I have decided to put a building blitz on when my turbine arrives. I want it ready for the checkout before I come down to Bensen Days. I have lots of time to achieve that goal.........if I get that turbine soon.

Stan
 
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Latest news on my turbine. I have been been asked at least 50 times the last month.....

As of today....its 3 weeks away. I must be in a time warp. I have totally changed my goal for having it ready for the for the factory checkout by Bensen Days. I just now will be ecstatic if I only "receive" the turbine shipment one day before leaving for Bensen Days. Its how I have to deal with it. I was on the phone today an Blake thanked me for being so patient and not yelling. I just said I wasnt going to yell at him while he is finishing all the finesse details that they do out there. If there is one part I dont want rushed...thats the turbine/transmission assembly they are doing now.

Absense makes the heart grow fonder......they say. Oh well........


Stan
 
Don't feel bad Stan,at least you don't have a Helicopter that is complete except timeing and then praying that it runs, sitting in your shop. of course I still can't fly it yet.
 
One day your turbine will arrive Stan , and just think , unlike building stairs , you will not have to wait for glue to dry during the installation.

I agree with your letting the factory do it right and according to their own schedule. I have never met a good craftsman who purposely delays a customers order. Any delays usually have your best interests in mind throughout.

You still have amazing patience and just to make you feel better I actually watched some curling during the Olympics. There , I admitted it ! My favorite was the Norway team with the bright multi colored pants. Never has curling been so exciting .. :)

The USA - Canada Hockey was top notch. The US team was one of the best out of them all and I actually cheered when they got that goal in the last 20 seconds. I am glad Canada won in overtime but to me the US was certainly worthy of gold.

When your turbine arrives in 3 weeks or so , we will be getting out our stop watches to check your installation speed. We know you have been practicing for it between curling games. Until then your loyal fans wait patiently as well.
 
Put the stop watch away, quality is the factor not speed. I'd rather see you make it next year than not at all.
 
LOL Stan you got Arnie too watching curling!!! Well we all have our weaknesses....
:) It is going to be hard to leave for Bensen days knowing you have the T62 on the shelf waiting to be installed.... But again, you are a balanced man you can handle this :)
 
Gabor- As much as I want to get my Helicycle finished, having it delivered even as late as the day before Bensen Days will not even make me consider staying home and working on installing that turbine. I will be pleased as punch knowing it is in my possession and awaiting my hands to get on it. Blake has a tremendous job of seeing that all 40 of these turbines and transmissions are built meticulously. EVERYTHING so far has been absolutely georgous, the rotorhead deserves to be put in a glass case, they did such a nice job machining it. I have been 2-3 weeks away from receiving my turbine since mid November. I am patiently awaiting when I am told it is only one week away. Stan
 
Looking forward to see you fly your new heli Stan. A turbine is a meticulous piece of equipment. I do work on rebuilding steam & gas turbines, and the new gas turbines now have special coating on the blades to prevent them from burning up. We can,t touch them with are bare hands as the oils and slight acid our bodies secrete will create a burn spot on the blade. Which can cause an imbalance and eventually vibrating apart, this can happen very quickly at the rpm they turn. The units we work on are huge and a 1/4" nut drop inside one of these will destroy the unit. They install vibration sencers to shut them down automatically to minimize damage. I've seen the results, not pretty.
 
Mitt- Sounds like you are really into hi-tech turbines. I would love to have your experience working on them. I will say I am glad my Solar T-62 turbine is not critical with how you touch the turbine wheel, which I will be! It is a very forgiving workhorse type engine and hot starts are not near as likely with it as turbines in other helicopters. The day that truck delivers my turbine will be a holiday. Stan
 
Stan from the time you intrigued us all by beginning on your new mystery project it's been a bit like watching a fine whiskey maturing in the barrel. And we all know that when it's time has finally come it will be all the more appreciated in the tasting.

I think a long slow build like this constrained by the delivery of parts has to have allowed a deeper examination of all the components, how they have gone together, and for much higher standards of finish to be obtained, than might have otherwise have been the case.

I would bet that you have been able to think deeply about the assembly and to tweak, improve and fine tune it all. In fact Stan, the whole machine will be worthy of being put in a glass showcase by the time it is completed.
 
Leigh- Thanks for your comment. You hit the nail on the head about a constrained delivery of parts causing a more detailed examination of the components. If you recall...or dig back in this thread, I have mentioned several times that although I would prefer the 4 shipments to say be over a year period instead of 2 years, having them all dropped off at once instead, would have been too overwhelming for me. I cant stand seeing stuff sitting in a corner without getting my hands on it. That would be too much too soon.

This has been a very laid back build...and I NEEDED a lot of time just to think about how I wanted to do certain things. This extra time I know has allowed me the time to do extra things that I probably would not have done if all the parts and the turbine were sitting in a pile at my feet.

I feel there is very little I would have done differently on this ship, and can think of several things I would have done over had I not thought it out. One example is my panel layout. Every Helicycle is different, we all have our pet necessities. My priority #1 in my last 3 gyros and this helicopter was to have a centrally located GPS in my panel. This is even more important to me in this helicopter as I wont be as hands free as flying my gyro was. There are several other examples of stuff I just plain and simple needed to think out.

Other things I needed time to work out were how to run my wiring neatly and correctly.


Waiting for something like this turbine does indeed add a lot of value to it when I finally do receive it. I had to go through a very long wait just to get scheduled for my helicopter checkride. I soon realized the longer I waited, the more value that license would have to me when I did get it. I cant explain what a nice feeling having that rating feels ...EVERY time I think about it. I have no doubt I will be extra fond of my turbine when I do have it also.

Stan
 
It really is a great pleasure watching quality dreams unfold in an orderly fashion, and, very good of you to have us all along.
 
Leigh- Thanks.
I missed your last post fro several days ago.
. I can't put a price on the nice comments from people such as yourself and many others throughout this thread. I enjoy watching other build threads, and I appreciate the tenacity many have shown sticking with me on my build. I would have thought the interest would have seriously dwindled down . Many here have a lot of patience putting up with most of my time NOT working on my chopper, due to waiting on parts. I assure you that when the turbine arrives, there will be no more waiting, but just sleeves rolled up and the final assault to complete this chopper and start feeding my Turbinator some JetA. Stan
 
What is it with curling that allows cheating by rubbing the ice with brooms. Thats like going for a put and making a groove in the green to help it.:rolleyes:
 
That's not cheating, just another skill set adding another dimension. Team work and having a good ice rubber.:)

Besides grooving greens screws up the green. Rubbing ice not a problem, refreezes smooth quickly, good as new in a jiffy.
 
I have to look at the positive side of things...I would not know near as much about curling had my turbine arrived. I think that sport will "sweep" across America someday.

Stan
 
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