My Progress

Daniel: It's a little late for advice, I guess, but here's a bungee tip: Tie a rope sling to the LOWER end of the loop and put your foot in it. Use your weight instead of your muscles to stretch those rubber bands DOWN to the lower bolts.

The guys who work on Cubs and other planes with bungee gear probably have their own tricks.
 
Pics

Pics

Heres the pics as promised.

DanielM

P.S. Does any one have closeup pic of a aircommand tail mounted to a 2x2 keel? Thanks
 

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Very nice, Daniel!
Getting close to making buzzing noises.
 
Daniel,
She's lookin' sweet!!! You're past the ''HUMP'' where alot of builders either give up, burn out , or financially lose interest. Your almost THERE!!! Keep up the good work!!!
 
Thanks for the comments guys :)! Its one of the main forces that drives me to do this(the other is the want to fly of course :D).

If the postal system will stop slacking off on its job :whip:, I hope to have engine start and taxi tests this weekend w/ a video.

Some other good news is that If I can get my motorcycle to sell I'll have the blades sooner than expected :whoo:. Everything seems to be lining up now. I just can't wait to meet you guys at Bensen Days.

DanielM
 
Daniel(and others),
Doesn't the prop thrust line seem high on all Bee's? Does Taggert say that the rotor drag brings up the mass some to make it closer to center line thrust? Guess the hang test will show something. Can't wait to see pics of the hang test - always been curious about that with Bee's.
 
thirdy8special said:
Daniel(and others),
Doesn't the prop thrust line seem high on all Bee's? Does Taggert say that the rotor drag brings up the mass some to make it closer to center line thrust? Guess the hang test will show something. Can't wait to see pics of the hang test - always been curious about that with Bee's.
Click to expand...

I am in no way qualified to answer this. But from the visible standpoint you would be correct. It does look like a typical high thrust-line gyro.

This link might solve some of your questions: http://taggart.glg.msu.edu/gyro/gbclt.htm

DanielM
 
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And I thought that when I got the engine on that I was the happiest I would ever be.

Today I finally got the right cable connector from CPS and immediately proceeded to install it. After about a hour of fiddling I proclaimed that it was time to start the engine. I couldn't find my dad so I had to tilt the gyro out of the garage by myself(which really scares me :(). After that ordeal I tied the rear wheel to a tree, pumped the bulb a few times, worked the throttle lever forward and back, turned the killswitch to the run position, sprayed some starter fluid, looked around me, and finally with the shout
"CLEAR PROP" I pulled the starter cord. A few sputters later a engine that hadn't run in about three years came to life.:whoo:

I never seen my dad run out of the house so quickly :D. After the "why did you not come get me?" talk, we adjusted the idle and let it warm up a bit. Then we killed the engine took off the rope and rolled the gyro to the soccer field across the street. Now it was time for something that I have been waiting for for a long time, taxi test! I restarted the engine, strapped myself in, gave it a little throttle, and proceeded to have the funnest ten minutes of my life. What a rush.

Well thats about it for now. I have some video of it on my phone that I will upload later.

DanielM :peace:
 
Hi Daniel,
Somehow I managed to miss the story of your odessy until tonight. Thanks for sharing it with us. I see that you are planning to visit us for Bensen Days are you bringing your bee?

I hope so I know we would all love to see it.
 
Joe Pires said:
Hi Daniel,
Somehow I managed to miss the story of your odessy until tonight. Thanks for sharing it with us. I see that you are planning to visit us for Bensen Days are you bringing your bee?

I hope so I know we would all love to see it.
Click to expand...

An odessy that it is.:D

I'm planning on going but I'm not too sure if I will be able. My dad has some heart tests that week and if they find anything wrong they are going to have to open him up AGAIN :(. If I do go I won't be able to take the bee with me srry. :(

DanielM
 
Daniel,
See. . .
buzzing noises are great.
Hope all is well with your dad.
Looking forward to talking to you at BDs, sorry you can't bring the "Bee", we'd love to see it up close.
 
Congratulations on firing her up. That is always a dramatic Dr. Frankenstein moment: "It's alive!"

When tipping a 'Bee to get it under a door, put a sandbag in the seat. This balances it and makes one-man handling much less risky.

Be extremely careful when ground-running a gyro. We've had a few people maimed and even killed by props over the years.

Check and re-check the throttle setting to make sure it's at idle before pulling her through. Use substantial wheel chocks. Be able to hit the kill switch NOW without looking.
 
Good deal, Daniel.

Comments: Check your bungees. It looks like your tailwheel is touching, or nearly so It should be 3 inches or more off the deck when you are at normal gross weight. Tighten the bungees if necessary so they are still at the beginning of their travel with you, full fuel and the equivalent of rotor weight (40-55 lb.) on board. The machine will not steer or take off properly if all four wheels touch at once.

It looks like the steering is easy for you. Good; many gyros have excessively touchy ground steering. You were going at a good clip -- fast enough to fly if you had blades. With blades off or not turning, you'd never taxi at even a fraction of this speed. A modest walking pace is plenty. (Stow that advice away for future reference.)

Always wear hearing protection around these things. They will ruin your hearing! Also please wear a helmet and buckle in even if just taxiing around.

Hope you can make it to Bensen Days.
 
Doug Riley said:
Good deal, Daniel.

Comments: Check your bungees. It looks like your tailwheel is touching, or nearly so It should be 3 inches or more off the deck when you are at normal gross weight. Tighten the bungees if necessary so they are still at the beginning of their travel with you, full fuel and the equivalent of rotor weight (40-55 lb.) on board. The machine will not steer or take off properly if all four wheels touch at once.

It looks like the steering is easy for you. Good; many gyros have excessively touchy ground steering. You were going at a good clip -- fast enough to fly if you had blades. With blades off or not turning, you'd never taxi at even a fraction of this speed. A modest walking pace is plenty. (Stow that advice away for future reference.)

Always wear hearing protection around these things. They will ruin your hearing! Also please wear a helmet and buckle in even if just taxiing around.

Hope you can make it to Bensen Days.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I should have slowed down, just wanted to get the feeling of a takeoff run :cool:. Your right about head protection it slipped my mind, I'm starting on a preflight checklist so I'll add it to the top of my list. As for the bungee I know the right bungee is fully compressed but the left goes down about a quarter of a inch, gotta fix that. On concrete the tail wheel does have about three inches of travel, I think its just the curvature of the field(its a pretty big radius, used for clearing rain). After a long talk with my parents it looks like I won't be able to make it to BD :(. I will be getting some training however, from a guy by the name of Larry Banks in Tennessee probably in late April or May.

DanielM

BTW the steering handles like a dream. I do wish I had a little more throw. Thats a project for a later date.
 
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More Progress

More Progress

I made some more progress on the Bee today. Painted the tail and mounted it. All thats left to do is to finish installing the cables up front.

But over all there is not much left to do now. I have a Starbee rotorhead coming from a fellow forum member. So my next task is to make some dummy cheek plates and perform a hang test. After that its just a matter of saving enough cash for rotorblades and training. Then hopefully some :plane:.

DanielM
 

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Very nice work Daniel. Can't wait to see it at a fly-in!


Barry (former Bee junkie) K
 
DanielM said:
I tied the rear wheel to a tree, pumped the bulb a few times, worked the throttle lever forward and back, turned the killswitch to the run position, sprayed some starter fluid, looked around me, and finally with the shout
"CLEAR PROP" I pulled the starter cord.
DanielM :peace:
Click to expand...


I would recommend using a squirt bottle with mixed gas as a priming agent rather than starting fluid.
 
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