Progress

[Vance]

Hello everyone,
I love it when people share their progress with pictures. I always feel inspired.
Here are some pictures of my progress over the last three weeks.

I have been working on my autogiro to give me a little more leg room and to put dual controls on it so I can train in it. Almost all my training has been in a two place side by side.

It is very intimidating to work on something so nicely made. Mark Givens really did a nice job. I am trying to not compromise the integrity of the aircraft.

The cyclic was a challenge because there is only just enough room for the link that controls rotor angle of attack. It is a rod that runs up the middle of the big tube. We ran a link down the right side and had to dent the floor to clear when the stick is all the way to the right.

Left to right was easy as we just make another stick with a clamp. The rear stick is longer than the front one so we changed the ratio front to back, but there is nothing we can do about left to right. Fortunately the frame is a little wider back there so there is room for the extra movement.

We raised the rear seat so that we could keep the pedals inside the frame. By making a sort of rocker we could get more travel from the instructor’s ankles. We linked to the front pedals with rods. I painted all the moving control stuff red so people wouldn’t step on it. We used aluminum seats that have thinner backs so we could move the rear seat back a little and up so we now have room for a 23 gallon tank under the rear seat. The side tanks have just about a foot of frontal area and would probably be compromised in a rollover accident. Two reasons I am not fond of the side tanks.

The throttle was fairly easy. We just duplicated the throttle arm and linked it to the front quadrant.

We mounted another aluminum seat in front so I could get a little more leg room. There is a bar across the truss that limited the roto mold seats from moving further back. We had to cut the rear corners of the front seat so the instructor’s feet wouldn’t get jammed under the seat.
We saved 12 pounds between the seats and the seat brackets.

Both seats had seat belts that would pull down in a frontal impact so we raised the rear mount and created a new higher front mount. I worked a lot on the belts. I will one day replace them with something a little more substantial.

We are cutting a hole for an access door in the shark’s mouth. This will allow me to remove the body without crawling under the panel with the stub of the stick poking me in the stomach. As an older person I found this trying.

I still have to clean up the wiring that we moved around to get access to things.

We hope to have the access panel for the body finished by Wednesday evening and mounted by Thursday so I can do a hang test, weight and balance and determine the center of gravity before I begin my training on Monday, October 29th.

I have been having a wonderful time working on this machine and almost everyone that has stopped by the hanger has been very nice. I only had to hear about how dangerous flying gyroplanes and how stupid I was for doing it once.

50 shows the pedals, cyclic and the cutout in the seat corners for foot clearance.

52 shows the connection to the front controls.

57 shows the throttle linkage and the new upper seat belt mounts.

63 shows the modified rudder pedals with toe brakes.

74 shows another view of the rear controls.

83 shows an overview of the aircraft on the trailer.

87 shows another long view.

89 shows sort of an overview of the work.

Thank you, Vance

[CLS447]

Vance, that looks like a great gyro! I would like to see more of it & your work.

Thank you for the inspiration!

I promise to post some pics real soon !

[JRB549]

Hi Vance, great looking bird and workmanship! Was wondering about how someone gets into the seats, I see what appers to be a rear step on the side but not sure, some insight please.

[Vance]

Thank you Chris,

I always enjoy your company and your posts. You are someone who consistently brightens my day. You have great social skills. I would like to see pictures of your progress.

That is a good question JR. It is made more difficult with the body on and the panel in place.

There is a cast aluminum step like they use on four wheel drive trucks on the left side of the tower that goes down to the main gear. You can see it well in picture 87. You step up and on to the rear seat and then to the front seat. Once you are standing on the front seat it is a fairly easy to stand on the floor and lower yourself down. My balance has been compromised by my injuries so I can use the front seat belt upper mount as a hand hold. There are panels that cover the rotor tower and I need to cut a hand hold to help me with my balance.

The tubing and the aluminum floor are all fairly thin so it is important to not set foot in the wrong place. I painted the moving control parts red in the hope that people wouldn’t step on them. They are all designed to accept this kind of abuse, so it doesn’t really matter. I also want to prevent people from putting clothing in a place that would fowl the controls. It will be quite a while before I feel comfortable carrying passengers and I will probably remove the rear controls. There is no panel in the rear seat, only throttle, stick and rudder.

Thank you, Vance

[Racer]

You do nice workmanship! Thank you for sharing with us

[Joe Pires]

Wow!!!!! Nice.

[dragonflyerthom]

Vance

If your craft is N numbered you will have to fly off 5 hours and put a statement in your aircraft book as to the stability of you mod.

[C. Beaty]

The rotor pylon looks to be a correctly triangulated and therefore inflexible structure, Vance.

How do you intend to address the resulting 2/rev problem?

If you are using SkyWheels rotors, it is possible that they’re stiff enough in-plane to avoid resonance.

[Vance]

Thank you Todd and Joe,

I am no longer able to weld because of my monocular vision, so the welding was performed by my friend Smokey Alleman. I just make the pieces fit together and paint them when his is finished welding.

Hello Thom,

I will be training and practicing landings and take offs so staying near the airport is no problem.

Jim Mayfield feels that I will need about 15 hours in the tandem before I will be safe to solo in it. Jim is the one who gave me my demonstrated ability medical check ride and felt that he had cheated death once again. He is a test pilot with a very high fear threshold. I have over 70 hours in rotorcraft, more than 50 hours in gyroplanes. I have a low fear threshold and my skill set is somewhat deficient for the challenge of autogiro flight.

Thank you, Vance

[dragonflyerthom]

Originally Posted by C. Beaty

The rotor pylon looks to be a correctly triangulated and therefore inflexible structure, Vance.

How do you intend to address the resulting 2/rev problem?

If you are using SkyWheels rotors, it is possible that they’re stiff enough in-plane to avoid resonance.

Chuck B

Please digress on the 2/rev and the rotor resonance. Can there be a resonance from the prop? What are the cures for them. Is it also a repitching of the rotor or the prop?

[StanFoster]

Vance: You never cease to amaze me. You have a really nice project going there. Glad to see life has turned around for you and your exceptional creativity skills being turned loose.

Nothing beats making stuff with our own hands...at least in my opinion.


Stan

[Vance]

Hello Mr. Beaty,

I don’t have a plan. What would you suggest?

It was exceptionally smooth when I flew with Gary Brewer. It has an RAF Hub bar and blades. It has Ernie’s two bearing rotor head. I would like to go to Sport Copter blades, but it seems like their flexible blade mounts might exacerbate the challenge.

I have closely inspected all the welded joints in the airframe structure because of my concern over this. It seems like it should shake a lot.

My friend, John Stevens, keeps telling me that “if it isn’t broken don’t repair it”.

He says “just fly and enjoy it and work on your projects that don’t fly yet.”

It is hard for me to know where to stop with the modifications.

Thank you, Vance

[Vance]

Thank you Stan,

I find working on it to be a cathartic experience and particularly uplifting.

I wish I had your skills, sense of style and work ethic. I am grateful to have your friendship.

I am still learning how to take pictures and I cannot figure out how to get my finger in the picture.

Thank you, Vance

[StanFoster]

Vance: Let me tell you about "skills" I have seen different level of skills in curved stairwork.....and whatever level I think I am at.....when I go visit some of the curved stairway projects around Chicago...my level I was at just got lowered down to a lower level. But.......I go back to my shop with a catalyst burning in me to see if I cant improve my work either in quality or quantity. It does me a lot of good to KNOW there are far better craftsman out there. That gives me a lot of room for improvement.


Stan

[Vance]

You always inspire me Stan,

Thank you, Vance