All in One

[PonoBill]

I'm assuming that's automotive paint and you had a pro do the work.

[Admin]

Hey Bill,

Yeah, these are is the guys I told you about.  They are doing drone painting for Insitu.  They have awesome temp / humidity / dust controlled spray rooms with heated drying etc.  I finished this one to smooth, did two coats of my graphite epoxy mix sanded it back again and then brought it for pro paint.  Next one I may just bond, sand and send.  If that works, I can bring him a bunch of parts all at once.  That would save me a lot of time and a whole course of sanding.  I am the world's slowest craftsman (term used lightly) I hate sanding and I want to move much quicker now.  If there are no side effects, this is my new plan.

[Hdip]

Josh Ku is going to be in hood river this week. For aWSI. You’ve got to get him to try these foils. I would love to see that. Let me know if you need a introduction or his WhatsApp info.

[Admin]

Hi guys,  I wanted to share this video of the very first run on this design.  As always, Chantalle Strome took her for the maiden voyage.  It is a pretty radical design and I was stoked to see level fight right away.  The conditions were very stripey and we were getting 8 to 23 MPH with quick ups and downs.  That made for great, if not challenging, testing conditions.  This is going to be a really fun foil and I think I can learn a lot from it.  Thanks for looking!

[burchas]

Fantastic! What is the first impression? Any specific feedback, rejects?

[Admin]

Fantastic! What is the first impression? Any specific feedback, rejects?

Many thanks!  She had a ball, and she rode like this for an hour each session (two so far).  She liked the one hand carry weight, ease of takeoff, stall forgiveness and whatthefuckisthat factor.  She is working on best foot position.  Without the cantilever design of conventional foils, the mast can (and really needs to be) more centered under the rider and stabilization can be much closer in, but the specifics of that are crucial and I have a lot of questions which will require alternate designs and time.

As always with something new, there were a lot of assumptions (OK, guesses).  As the stabilizers are now very close in, stabilization was the big question mark.  What stabilizer profile, what dimensions, where, what angles, how to flow that all together, etc.  That is a lot of unknowns, so I was thrilled to see her airborne.

After this first day we picked up some 6mm mounting bolts which allowed us to use the front of the track.  That got us about an inch further forward which was helpful.  Because of the direct mount (mast into wing), we lose 3-6 inches compared to conventional fuselage mounted systems.  Chan could use another two inches further forward so I will have to build an adaptor (or add a forward box or find another board).  There is really no room for her back foot further back, so she is riding a bit further forward in relation to foil position than optimal.  She can get away with this due to her lighter weight, but a larger rider would struggle until I get the track/mount sorted.  Right now, we are just forward enough so that she may be able to use the front straps (which she is used to).  Riding without straps is brand new to her.  She is also riding a 78 mast where she had been riding a 96.  That is new as well.  This currently has the foils very close to the surface.  Once I correct the mount position, the mast length and the footstraps, we should have an improved testing platform for Chan and some larger riders. 

[PonoBill]

Sop very cool to see that flying.

[Admin]

Very stoked to hear that Bambulabs is working on an XL version of the X1 and that it will use the new next generation tech.  He said not too long to wait.  They have my wish list.  Hah!

[PonoBill]

Cool interview. And good to know a larger format printer is in the works.