All the Bensen Stuff

[Lspav8r]

Does anyone know where all of the machinery that Bensen used to manufacture his gyros is located? Who owns it, and if it can be bought from them?

I think if someone was to buy this equipment and make frames of the drop keel design and sell just the kits less engine it may just be possible to produce a CLT HS/Tall tail machine that "anyone could afford".

Am I crazy for thinking like this or what? Hell for all I know someone is using all of bensens machinery to do just this but not the way I thought of it.

Straighten me out here.

 

[Fl90]

The Bensen is very near CLT. The drill press is the most common form of equipment used in building a Bensen. A HS on the tail of the Bensen cures the PIO tendency. The engine and rotor are the most expensive to acquire. The cost to build is quite a bit lower than the price to buy.

Thanks for the spelling.

 

[Lspav8r]

Video

Video

The Bensen is very near CLT. The drill press is the most common form of equipment used in building a Bensen. A HS on the tail of the Bensen cures the PIO tendency. The engine and rotor are the most expensive to acquire. The cost to build is quite a bit lower than the price to buy.

Thanks for the spelling.

In the bensen video they had all kinds of jigs and stuff, and that is what IM interested in. That is why I said tall tail, CLT, and Drop keel so the venerable 447 or 503 could be used. Those engines can be bought all day long used for under a thousand, and if rotors are expensive then let those out of the kit too so the thing can be bought as the money comes available. Just a crazy thought on my part.


What is this about spelling anyways?eace:

 

[Passin' Thru]

Anyone with any mechanical ability at all can build a square tube gyro with only basic hand tools. With a simple drill jig it becomes a piece of cake!

Rotor heads and rotor blades are a different matter, but I have seen some home made wood blades covered with fiber glass that flew quite well.
.

 

[StanFoster]

Jim- I think that's a good idea you have, and its similiar to what Larry Neal is doing by breaking up his kits. My Helicycle is broken up in four shipments and four payments. It really helped out. Stan

 

[jcarleto]

Star Bee does that with the with bee designs. I have a feeling that since the machinery in Bensen's plant was not gyro-specific, it went to machine shops. No idea where the patterns went. However, if I were you and you were interested in selling parts, I'd get a set of Bensen plans and set them up with a CnC rig.

I've played with the numbers of doing just CnC rotorheads, for example, or a generic walking beam with yoke setup. Before the economy tanked, it might have been feasible. Might not be the right time at the moment. I think there could be demand for parts and even entry-level kits again once we get past this fiscal mud.

 

[animal]

it don't get much more basic then this.

it don't get much more basic then this.

what you have described is the Sparrow kit.

http://www.phoenix-rotorcraft.com/sparrow.htm

The Company is now here in NC.

 

[jany77]

bensen

bensen

ask david hillberg he might have some machinery left from brock ,he bought large inventory of parts and i think some machinery too ,but cant confirm

 

[Fl90]

Rotax?

Rotax?

nothing wrong with sticking a Rotax on a Bensen.

 

[Fl90]

and the tail mod that clears up the PIO.

 

[Lspav8r]

I like it.

I like it.

and the tail mod that clears up the PIO.

I have a b8m project that I will remove the 72 mac off of and replace with a 503 in the rebuild. Man thanks for the closeup shots of that installation. I will have a 72 for sale here soon. Prop, Hub and all.

 

[Timchick]

Jim,
Phil weighs about 150 lbs. His rotax setup uses a short prop. If you're a big guy that same setup will not work.

 

[Fl90]

Thanks, Tim! Unfortunately, I haven't weighed 150lbs. since 5th grade. I vary in weight through the year. This has been a warm one so I'm 190 dressed right now. When I was flying the Rotax Bensen, I was about the same. I do like light machines and that set up was 245lbs dry. All up weight was 500lbs. with 23' DW's.

The key is thrust. I was able to get 290lbs. of thrust out of the single carb 503 with a 52" warp drive. The machine was a performer, a lot of fun. I had another setup that was 525 AUW and had 240lbs. thrust, with the same blades, and it barely flew. Moral of the story; a little weight here and a little thrust there = a big change.

Phil.

 

[Resasi]

Amen to that Phil.

 

[Timchick]

For some reason I thought you weighed a little less than me, Phil. I stay around 160.

 

[Fl90]

No, but thanks for the compliment.

However, my machine was lighter than yours. I would think the thrust with the daul carb you had was greater than mine, but I don't know the difference in weight with gauges and prerotator on your setup.

 

[Doug Riley]

Back to the initial question, I believe Bensen's original shop's contents were dissipated when he closed up. Much of it went for scrap, including some one-of-a-kind experimental aircraft and components. Quite a shame.

OTOH, making Bensens even on a production basis didn't require that much special tooling.

And you wouldn't WANT to resume producing his blades, as their performance is not up to today's standards. Ditto his landing gear and metal tail, both of which were ridiculously heavy.

Putt-putt 1 hp O&R prerotator, anyone?

Ken Brock really tweaked the Bensen gyro, and his KB-2 components are the ones that would be better kept in production, IMHO.

 

[dragonflyerthom]

I have been thinking about a small Bensen type myself.

 

[Ron Iaconis]

Ken Brock got the Blade stuff

Ken Brock got the Blade stuff

Ken Brock got the tooling . ect for the Bensen Blades,,,,and he produced them and after his death,,,,from what I heard was that Marie ( Ken's wife ) most of the stuff went into a " Dumpster " would you believe that? ! I am not sure if the tooling for the blades went into scrap but I did hear that other stuff did.
I fly a basic Bensen with a Mac and the old stlye original tail and use Bensen Plans for reference,,,with slight modifications that most gyronauts have gained knowledge of mods over the past decades. All in all I believe and am as well told by other officinatos that the basic Bensen is as close to " centerline " thrust as necessary so I am very well satisfied and pleased with my machine. I have flown this type configuration since 1984.
At first I flew it with a pump joystick that had a 6 inch travel front to back which means that the " pitch" on the rotor head stop to stop ( 16 to 18 degrees) with reference to my joystick. This made the sensitivity so ,, so ,, so very sensitive that I do not know how I survived the initial self learning I had to do that a PIO or a PPO didn't happen. I now have 12 to 14 inch travel stop to stop on my pump joystick. This makes it so much more comfortable to fly and as Ed Alderfer used to say ,,,,he could " pick his nose" while flying a gyro!