BladeIII 4.9M Setup Help

[Gixer]

Anybody with lots of experience near Capstone Saturday afternoon? Need somebody to have a look at my setup as having serious problems.

 

Luffs, collapses, Overfly, and spins and that’s on launch !

[StuartRW]

Hey there.

 

Got one of these myself - great kite!

 

I'm a newbie myself, so I'm sure there's people out there with more experience but I'll tell you what I did to set up.

 

Firstly, stretch the lines. I think some people say they are prestretched, but I stretched mine again anyway, just for piece of mind. Get a mate to help by looping the lines over the handles and give them a good pull. With any luck they should all then be the same length. If your kite spins on take off, it sounds like your control lines are different lengths.

 

Next, put everything together. The guide sheet shows how to do this properly.

 

You should then at least be able to get the kite up in the air and be able to adjust the brake lines with extra knots on the lines from the handles to adjust the lengths.

 

Even with mine set up ok, it still luffs a bit in low winds - just need to work it a bit more.

 

Hope this helps - as I say - I'm new to this game too, but doing the above has got me flying and already looking for extra toys!

[Adrena1in]

Uncontrollable spinning, collapsing and luffing is often a result of the brake lines being too tight, and it's usually noticeable as soon as you launch the kite. Brake lines should be slightly slack...make sure the bottoms of the handles are pointing at the kite when you launch it.

 

Blade 3s do need a bit of work to get them to fly up into the window. Don't jerk the handles back too vigourously, and when you pull back on the handles don't move your hands down past your hips and behind you, as this simply applies the brakes. Keep the brakes off and move backwards if necessary.

 

As for the overflying, most kites tend to do this a little, and quite a few people have commented that the Blade 3 does it a fair bit. Keep the brakes applied slightly as the kite nears the edge of the window to prevent it over-flying.

[Gixer]

if you did not see the other post, heres the out come...

 

http://www.flexifoil.com/community/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22378

[rockhopper]

I was asked on sataday to have a look at a new 4.9.lll to tune it up and the first thing I found was that it was flying with break-on simply moved the knots up on the power leaders and that solved the problem there and then and she flew like a dream...

 

Works for me :)

 

RoCkHoPpEr:p

[jamo3]

I just got a blade 3 today it is awesome the lift and power is great you can get great air.

[TK-666]

yeah if you have problems like this while launching the kite check the line lenghts and they have to be equal lenght .

[Chris De Roock]

Yep, sure looks like a line lenght problem.

 

Make sure your left and right power lines are equal lenght.

 

The Blade III should be set up with minimal brakes, in fact no brakes at all during flight, just enough to land the kite. Flying a Blade III with brakes on causes instability, luffing, overflying,...

 

So set up those brake lines as slack as possible without loosing the ability to land the kite.

[Mouthwash]

I've got my 4.9 set up with the brake leaders knotted halfway along.

 

This leaves a nice arc away from the trailing edge of the kite and it flies perfectly, only a slight tweak on the brakes is needed to enhance your turning speed.

 

Another factor was the kite killers. They were attached almost at the end of the handle brake leaders. They are a bit short for this configuration, I have moved the knots closer to the handles (agaib about half way) and this prevents them pulling the brake lines when you don't want them to. I had a discussion with other forum members about this and moving these knots does reduce the effectiveness of the killers. However, this reduction doesn't affect their performance. Drop the handles and it still depowers instantly. Just don't let go if you're 10 feet up!

 

Chris

[KevinRoulson]

Hello all, I've very recently purchased a 4.9 blade3 and enjoying it very much. However, have found that it luffs.(overflying I can cope with) but the luffing seems to be unpredictable. Am I right in saying then that all lines, brake and main should be the same length and all tuning done on the handles? I can overcome some of the luffing with the brakes at max. length but there does seem to be a lot of slack,and also not turning too well on brakes.

 

Many thanks for your thoughts

[billbennett]

hi m8,i had exactly the same problem as u describe and it was just down to the lines streching on very first flight and it was causing the right tip to luff,just disconect the lines and check lenghts,they should all be the same length and i bet they aren't!!

[peteb303]

use your ground stake to walk your lines out, they should all be the same. attach to kite. Add a knot of equal lenght on the brake line leader from kite. Adjust these knot's up or down until the kite fly's right i.e. flying on main lines and brake lines only when pulled on.