gyrobee experimental windshield

[gyrojeffro]

I like the pod on the dominator but I don't want to build one and I'm not sure if dominator is still in business. Just experimenting with a couple scrap pieces of lexan mainly to deflect the wind somewhat away from my body and from my shorts so they don't blow open in flight. everything temporarily clamped in place to see how it will look. I find wind blast on the body fatiguing especially when its a direct 50 mph wind. I laminated a wooden arch structure with braces that the windshield will screw to and then the whole assembly can be bolted to the aluminum. windshield lexan is on the smallish side because its all I had in my scrap pile. I don't think It will fly funky but if it does I can just remove it with two bolts. In my opinion a properly built fiberglass pod would keep the airflow laminar, and reduce drag.

 

[Eric S]

We used to make homemade windscreens for trikes. It was easier since we had a front strut to attach it. We took 2 pieces of aluminum angle (the soft stuff like they sell at Ace hardware and aircraft parts) and put a curve in them by bending them around a barrel. The curve keeps the lexan stiff. Drill holes (use plastic bits) and attach the lexan using rubber washers. Sorry, I looked, but couldn't find a photo.

Eric

 

[Brian Jackson]

Cool. I'm interested in knowing what your keel angle in level cruise is with the windscreen installed vs. without. I have no idea at what point an angled plate surface placed that far out starts to behave like a canard. If I'm interpreting the photo correctly It may start oscillating suddenly in the wind with a twisting motion, so be ready for anything. Let us know what you find. I love the idea of a windscreen on my GyroBee but haven't gone down that path not knowing what the behavior might be. I hope it works out well. Good luck mate. Maybe a video?

Cheers

 

[Jazzenjohn]

I'm interested too, whatever the result. It would be nice to have a Bee pod or windscreen. I've looked at the CGS Hawk bent tube with fabric covering and thought it might be worth a try. I've installed one of these pods cut down but didn't like how much it affected the flight. Your windscreen has very little side exposure. https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/SwsAAOSwNSxVEVYE/s-l640.jpg

 

[gyrojeffro]

More progress, installing the screws that hold the windscreen to the wooden structure. The pictures make the pod/windshield look bigger than it is. definatelly will take it slow and do some high speed crow hops to make sure all is good. I'm no aero engineer but I would think the flow would be improved somewhat vs just smaking into me. I will post a video when I fly it.

 

[gyrojeffro]

Cool. I'm interested in knowing what your keel angle in level cruise is with the windscreen installed vs. without. I have no idea at what point an angled plate surface placed that far out starts to behave like a canard. If I'm interpreting the photo correctly It may start oscillating suddenly in the wind with a twisting motion, so be ready for anything. Let us know what you find. I love the idea of a windscreen on my GyroBee but haven't gone down that path not knowing what the behavior might be. I hope it works out well. Good luck mate. Maybe a video?

Cheers

thats a good point, part of the windscreen, a seperate piece I built is deflected downward to block the airflow to my feet so that will help somewhat. there is such a strong forward stick pressure required at full power high speed already that I think were well in the margins for clt or in my case low thrust line with a downloaded tail. If we can streamline things and keep the airflow laminar without seperation, what may look like a canard may not be a canard at all but a drag reducer.

 

[Brian Jackson]

thats a good point, part of the windscreen, a seperate piece I built is deflected downward to block the airflow to my feet so that will help somewhat. there is such a strong forward stick pressure required at full power high speed already that I think were well in the margins for clt or in my case low thrust line with a downloaded tail. If we can streamline things and keep the airflow laminar without seperation, what may look like a canard may not be a canard at all but a drag reducer.

Indeed. I'm curious about the airflow overall as a system. That's something I've been paying close attention to on my build, especially below the thrust line. When do you think you might fly it for testing? I might consider something similar in the future but with an overhead stick it could prove challenging to implement.

Anxious to see the test video and read your review. Might be helpful to place the camera high looking down to see any oscillating motion, provided the image stabilization doesn't produce video artifacts that could be misinterpreted for windscreen motion. Just thinkin' out loud here.

Keep us posted Jeffro. Be safe.

 

[Eric S]

...knowing what your keel angle in level cruise is...

It would be interesting to see if it changes with differences in speed as well.

How do you guys measure it? Best I found was to velcro my iphone to the wall of the cabin, but it still moves in flight and the readings jump around enough that it's not really reliable.

 

[Brian Jackson]

It would be interesting to see if it changes with differences in speed as well.

How do you guys measure it? Best I found was to velcro my iphone to the wall of the cabin, but it still moves in flight and the readings jump around enough that it's not really reliable.

Hmmm... good question. I'm suddenly reminded of that scene from Apollo 13 where Jim Lovell needed a fixed point in space to navigate. Perhaps the camera, being fixed to the airframe, could be aimed to capture the horizon as well. If we know the field of view of the camera in degrees, it would seem reasonable that could provide a scale to measure the difference in horizon locations before and after. Again, just brainstorming a little here.

 

[ultracruiser41]

Be extremely careful when test flying it..... it’s not that simple to “ just add” a windshield..... it can sometimes really effect the flight characteristics and could result in a dangerous condition. My 2 cents.

 

[gyrojeffro]

I didn't notice any adverse side effects even testing it out in strong gusty winds. Will have to try it out on a calmer day to get a real effect because the wind gusts were hitting me from every direction. It feels like it needs to be slightly taller to totally block out the wind hitting my face but it is a very tiny windshield.

gyrobee test flight with homebuilt windshield

Hard to tell how good it really worked because the winds were so gusty. Feels like it should be slightly taller by a couple inches to totally block the wind on my face.

rumble.com

 

[gyrojeffro]

Be extremely careful when test flying it..... it’s not that simple to “ just add” a windshield..... it can sometimes really effect the flight characteristics and could result in a dangerous condition. My 2 cents.

Thanks berry! when I was six years old I used to sit in my grandpaws vw bettle in front of grandmaws single wide trailer and pretend the vw bettle was a airplane. Good times! I feel blessed to to do the thing I always knew I would do as a six year old boy sitting in grandpas bettle.

 

[Brian Jackson]

Thanks berry! when I was six years old I used to sit in my grandpaws vw bettle in front of grandmaws single wide trailer and pretend the vw bettle was a airplane. Good times! I feel blessed to to do the thing I always knew I would do as a six year old boy sitting in grandpas bettle.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who did that.

I responded to your other thread about the windscreen before I saw this one.