FO Kite Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Everyones got a new kite out..........but who needs Flixifiol or Odzone. Here's my latest kite.....called the NUFAN 6m on it's very first flight. Designed using SurfPlan and once again many thanks to Dave Aberdeen for his brilliant program and help. Very little wind yesterday just what I wanted............well chuffed http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/DiggerDan/P1010048Cropped6x4.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/DiggerDan/P1010046Cropped6x4.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/DiggerDan/P1010038cropCropped6x4.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/DiggerDan/P1010042Cropped6x4.jpg F/O Kite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandhi Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Pretty impressive dude....Looks like a SAmurai!!! Cost much to make? I'd be interested in doin this if it works out considerably cheaper than manufactured! I'm soon to be unemployed and need a bigger kite for the sumer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO Kite Posted February 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Funny you should mention a Samurai Probably has about 15m of ripstop @ £3.00 a metre and about £6 of other bits. Bridle lines approx £25. Probably about £80 in total...................and I nearly forgot the most expensive bit about 3 weeks work from plan design to finish. Cheers F/O Kite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandhi Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Just had a look at the programme!!!! Looks very good. Few questions for you, if that's ok? -was the full programme very expensive? -Did you get the data from somewhere (I wont tell anyone, honest!) or was it trial and error type stuff? -did you have to become a seamstress to finish the job? I'd quite like to have a go at this methinks! Bit bored at the mo as not workin much and weather is rubbish! Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrena1in Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 That really is a very impressive looking kite. I'd love to have the time and patience to make my own. Girlfriend's just got a new, snazzy sewing machine, so I think I might give it a try one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO Kite Posted February 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 @ gandhi you can download SurfPlan for free as long as you are not going to use it commercially. It comes with a huge selection of aerofoils some of which I don't think would ever fly. There are some plans around. There is a group on Yahoo who build kites and people up load their plans to it. I basically pick up on a shape, choose an aerofoil and enter the details in Surfplan, you can view the 3D plan on screen. When your happy with your design (no guarentee that it will fly) make sure you have plenty of paper in your printer and print away, Dave Aberdeen has put a limit on the number of times you can print. You then get about 300 A4 sheets that you then join together in panels for each cell eg one rib, one top skin and one bottom skin. I then stick these down onto hardboard sheets, cheapest material around. You then have half a kite in wood:D Then lay each template on your ripstop and cut around it using a seam allowance...........I use a soldering iron to cut theripstop....it cuts and seals the edge. Then get the sewing machine out and practice joining three pieces of material together with opposite curves. Sew in your tabs for the bridle....make up the bridle,,Surfplan gives you the sizes and away you go. This kite is my sixth. The one in my avatar is a 3m that has been used alot lately. Have a good think....you certainly start to understand why they cot the money they do. F/O Kite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandhi Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 have had a bit of a fiddle with surfplan now....some of the stuff is a bit beyond my ken at the moment. The version I downloaded is limited in so far as it won't let you alter the graphical makeup of the kite and there are no foil plans !!! Did you take any measurements off of the foil design you were trying to copy? I'll have a hunt for that group on yahoo I guess. sorry about al the questions, perhaps i should be asking DAve!!! I'd feel a bit cheeky asking you to share your hardwork!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Andy Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 take a closer look. you just need to do a couple of things and it will become a foil. theres a certain bit you go to to change it from inflatable, double layer or ,single layer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gandhi Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 done that bit!!! Things confusing me are..... Profile of ribs..... WTF!!!! how to get the top down shape right i.e. the flat, not inflated shape! grrrrrrrrrr........ wish i'd paid more attention in my c.d.t. lessons at school now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Andy Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 just keep on scanning it over and youll get there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO Kite Posted February 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 version 4.40,0,1 I worked out the rough area of the kite I wanted..you can enter this into size and shape on the tool bar. You then need to work out the aspect ratio this kite is about 3.3. The smaller the A/R the faster the kite will be have a look at some race kites, the bigger the number the more stable they are. Have a look at some manufactures for data they often tell you flat span, flat area, aspect ratio, projected area and projected span. Since the canopy will have a curve to it the projected area is always smaller than the flatarea. when you choose a profile get something simple there are a couple of "blade" profiles which work well Fix the number of cells more cells better the kite but the more cutting out and sticking. Again have a look at some manufacturers. It's best to have a plan of a kite loaded up then you can mess with it and see the effects. Bridling is difficult to explain you need to try the program. Not to confuse but there is a similar program called Foilmaker which has a pdf manual with it www.foilmaker.co.uk F/O Kite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little john Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 nice kite i've found out about the paper but managed to use works printer, paper:D what part did you find the hardest as to the sewing part Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Andy Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 the different colours for the kite are they different pieces of ripstop sewn together? and im not quite sure if i understand about the hardboard bit. how do you work out the size in square metres? if i email the website will they help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO Kite Posted February 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 @ little john The worst bit is the start and finish. On a kite with a curved leading edge you have to manage the curve of the ribs together with the curve of the upper and lower skins of adjacent cells. I found that stitching adjacent skins together first and then stiching in the rib after makes it easier. Twice the stitching and I'm not sure if it weakens the fabric. When you get to the middle it's great. I recon about 2 hours per cell!!! @ kiterboy The different colours are joined by stitching. If you mark the coloured panels out on the templates they tend to match up reasonably well............with a small amount of adjusting. Most of them are done as straight lines...but ifact it's not difficult to have two matching curves, one concave and the other convex and seam these together. Since you have to produce two of everything, having a template to draw round speeds things up and makes sure they are the same shape, The template is the exact panel size. I then have a 10mm wide washer that rolls around the template with the soldering iron bit in the centre....i get an outline of the panel with an exact 10mm seam allowance. Have a search for Roy Menage he did a great article in PK magazine. I believe its on line somewhere. He also has plans for Firecrest kites done using Foilmaker. here's a link to my 2m Lil' Boster http://www.flexifoil.com/community/forums/showpost.php?p=581175&postcount=11 http://www.flexifoil.com/community/forums/showpost.php?p=581251&postcount=13 F/O Kite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitingandy Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 where do you get the material from? also how do know if its gonna work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO Kite Posted February 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 For ripstop I use either Keith "Chalkie" White at Kiteworks http://www.kiteworks.co.uk/ Or Highwayman kites It works out at about £3.50 a linear metre usually 150 cm wide. It comes in different weights http://www.highwaymen.demon.co.uk/ How do you know it's going to work?..................haven't worked that out yet. I'm not sure hat work means does it work as well as the equivalent size Bullet..probably not. Does it work at pulling me along the beach....Oh Yes. F/O Kite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_lone_wolf Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 just for the record higher aspect ratio is more like the razor/raptor/century, low aspect is like the buster/LD/samurai i love the look of the kite in the first post though, now if only i could get hold of enough material for a 21m P2 design, i can d/l the bridle plan from FS website:D:D:D:rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Andy Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 still avnt worked out the template bit. 300 sheets of a4. what do you meen? is it the actual kite just printed on lots of paper to get the actual size? and the pockets look hard to do how do you stick em' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaRRy Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 If you really want to get into building your own kites take a look here as its full of information http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Foildesign/ still avnt worked out the template bit. 300 sheets of a4. what do you meen? is it the actual kite just printed on lots of paper to get the actual size? and the pockets look hard to do how do you stick em' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO Kite Posted March 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 @ Kiterboy you probably need a plan to load up into Surfplan. Then when you go to print preview you'll see what I mean. The whole shape, every rib and every cell (top and bottom) is printed on A4 sheets. You have to stick them together to make up the template. Not sure about the "pockets" either? F/O Kite I will send you a plan that you can load up into SurfPlan if I can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little john Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 Everyones got a new kite out..........but who needs Flixifiol or Odzone. Here's my latest kite.....called the NUFAN 6m on it's very first flight. Designed using SurfPlan and once again many thanks to Dave Aberdeen for his brilliant program and help. Very little wind yesterday just what I wanted............well chuffed http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/DiggerDan/P1010048Cropped6x4.jpg F/O Kite F/O Kite please please could I use the plans for one of these if you still have them or if you have something around the 2m/3m mark might be better i'll pm you my email address for the plans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Andy Posted March 3, 2005 Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 to make the kite bigger will i need to change anything else but the size. will it effect flight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belblade Posted March 3, 2005 Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 Top marks to you fella i have tried making a rev and my sewing skills are some what lacking ..................Well done looks very nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Andy Posted March 3, 2005 Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 f/o the one that you sent me. the boster. what size whas that? i wanna make a 4m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO Kite Posted March 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 It's a 2m^2 I have made a 3m^2...it's the one in my avatar. Had plans to build a 4m^2. In Foilmaker, enter the new area on the toolbar, then right click in the plan window and it should resize. In SurfPlan click the "size and shape" to enter a new area. F/O Kite BTW you must use polyester thread to sew it, NOT cotton as this will rot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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