An overview of the last 12 months testing from first spinning of the blades to controlled flight. Surprising to me how long it's taken and it's still ongoing.
Just incredible. You should be (and I’m certain, are) tremendously proud of your work. All I can do is “like and subscribe” and let you know there are those of us out here that know the amount of effort and emotion you’ve Invested. We are rooting for you!
Well done that man. I struggle with an Airfix model, so to see the level of knowledge construction and skill of development on display here, I can only tip my hat to you for this amazing achievement.
I can't imagine the amount of work put into this gorgeous machine! I believe every second and every penny you spend on this is worth it. To really appreciate the amount of effort, one must have experience making stuff. I don't have much, but I have a hunch. Sometimes to make a particular part, you spend most of the time building jigs and stuff that are essential. 👏
Thank you and yes you're absolutely right, making jigs is part of it that people don't see or necessarily know about. The blades were the most time consuming for making jigs, I remember spending a few days making a jig and at the end of it I thought the helicopter hasn't actually progressed after all that work. 🙄 however the next time things go much faster. It might not look much to build to some people but it's a massive project for one person working evenings and weekends. I don't think I'll be building another one. Ha
long journey , been here fora lot of it. Its like anything else now , putting in the hours on the controls till it feels right. Oftentimes in life we assume we know the complexity of the problem from arrogance , then years later we realize we had no clue and how foolish we were. ..Figuring out home made helicopter flight is tantamount to figuring out women, except homemade helicopter flight is possible . congrats on everything. always looking forward to more.
Well I've learnt a new word today "tantamount" 😃 and I agree. Thanks for the support Rob, it is a slow project and I'm glad you are still interested. Plenty more to accomplish with the project as it is quite different to other helicopter configurations. I feel it's important to document it's flight characteristics, the only way to discover this is through continued testing and getting the machine to last the duration might be an additional challenge. Part of me would like to move on to another project as this one has been so huge but I'm not going to do that. Ben
You have come a long way. And glad you have a sense of safety. It may be seem like it’s taking a long time but taking your time is better than rushing thru and getting hurt. That would put a damper on the project. Cheers
Completely agree, however i was surprised how long the testing has taken. People ask me things like when is the first test flight then? I say I've been testing it for months. I suppose with some other projects you make something and then see if it works with this the process is quite different.
Thanks Mate, I miss it too, it was the best project I have ever undertaken by miles. I want it back working but I need to make the right decisions about its design. It needs collective pitch as a minimum but I think it should be swash plate controlled like a normal coaxial. I'm building a flying boat at the moment so that will take a few months to build, but after that I will be back onto the helicopter. I'm putting together a video at the moment about the helicopter and the design decisions going forward. It's tempting to just fix the driveshaft and continue hovering practise but I really don't think that's a sensible thing to do. It would be a decision based on desire rather than common sense. Appreciate your message and support. 👍
@@Ben-Dixey welcome brother, many of us get involved with your helicopter project like we are too the part of it ... because you had been sharing step by step all developments and setbacks . I believe you are right about installing swash plate and collective pitch . I have stopped counting days we spend in these DIY scientific projects because it far better then wasting times in the pubs getting drunk or getting bored with daily life routines ...what better could you had achieved then this if you wouldn't commited to this great project.it was very rarely seen project,only one can do out of few ten millions . I truly believe it is great achievement. Hoping soon to seeing you working on it again brother.
@@Ben-Dixey Well, I would like to go down the easiest route available to me! Would you say that the conventional route with plans may well be the easiest way forward?
Yes, using plans is much easier, you can just make the parts according to the plans and know what you have done will work and has been tested. No design work involved but the quality of the engineering still has to be good. The Aw95 would probably be my choice but there are others on the vortech website.
@@Ben-Dixey Many thanks for this. Just completed some initial research. Yes, what a simple, beautiful, and affordable design. Your recommendation of the AW95 is what I am going with. There is a " Vortech " business that charges, around $100 to $150 for a CD and a printed document. Does that sound about right for the plans?
Yes that's the ones. The AW95 is an updated version of the hobby copter to which there are free plans online. There is also a RU-vid video detailing the AW95 plans but not sure if everything is there. Just be aware that the price of materials might be more than you are expecting, it does seem to escalate. I thought I could build a helicopter for around £3k but ended up spending twice that and it's still on going. At £6k you might be able to find a mini 500, which might be worth thinking about. It just depends on what you want to achieve.
Cheers, I'll do my best to keep pressing on, there are questions that i would like answered on this type of machine. As long as there's not too much remaking/redesigning of parts, I can keep going on it. 👍
Amazing work inspiring people across the world .can you brief a little on load distribution in the main rotor blades? Does each blade lift 60 kg along the length equally and also is it a cantilever type load? It's working magnificently, as I see through. So if you share a few details on these, it would be nice. Thank you for the lovely videos.
Hi, thanks for the message. The majority of the lift is produced on the outer third of the blades, as the airspeed decays towards the center the airfoil becomes stalled. As these blades are parallel and not tapered, straight and not twisted it's not the most efficient blade type but tapered and twisted blades are hard to make. There shouldn't be any cantilever force on the hub if it's designed correctly. The centrifugal load is pulling horizontally at over two tonnes and the weight of the machine is pulling vertically at 1/4 of a tonne. Using trigonometry we can determine each blade will have a coning angle of 1.5 degrees and if the blade is allowed to fly at this angle there won't be any cantilever. Most helicopters have hinges that allow the blade to fly at whatever angle it likes which is better than my chosen fixed blade angle hub design.
Thanks, I don't have a licence, the helicopters intended use is a hovering field vehicle. You could fly it without a licence in the US if the weight was under 115kg which is possible. In the Uk I don't think I'm allowed untethered
This is incredible. What do you think of the electric Franz Schöfmann? Why/ why wouldn't you make something like this? I'll link to a picture in the next comment.
Thanks 👍. I don't remember seeing an electric schofmann but an electric version would be great. I've read about the electric coaxial by pascal Chretien. The IC powered schofmann was probably on the limit of performance, changing that for a motor and battery's might well be possible at a reduced flight duration. It's something that should be developed, I think.
@@Ben-Dixey Unfortunately, I've only found pictures of the electric schöfmann. I've heard he preferred to keep a low profile and doesnt want to be on youtube. It would be great to see a video on it, and hear discussions about its limitations and potential to overcome them. I really like the small form factor and simple controls, and wonder if anyone could actually fly it more than a foot from the ground. I imagine it could be improved with a dual motor for a single rotor, and perhaps another dual motor for anti-torque, applied to the air frame
It's an interesting proposition to go electric and it solves a lot of problems. I think in terms of efficiency a coaxial would be the best choice. There are people working on these types of machines, the GoFly competition is driving advancements. There are some great looking machines with big budgets but the prize money hasn't been won yet. The restrictions of the GoFly competition make it a hard task but I'm sure achievable. The GenH4 I thought was a master piece of engineering but perhaps too expensive.
I recently came across your video series on your coax heli build and flight testing. Seems you have been struggling with cyclic micro adjustments / over corrections when trying to hover; have you considered altering the cyclic control geometry/leverage ratios to make the cyclic stick less sensitive... Also, you seem hell-bent on mastering the hover before attempting any forward flight; i believe forward flight is easier to achieve them hovering so i would love to see you try slow speed forward flight... I admire your persistence and determination. Keep at it !
Hi. I have considered making the controls less sensitive and I will give it some more thought. The reason I haven't done so to this point is the sensitivity feels correct to me, it feels like the R22 I've had a brief experience in. It might help to change it though even if I have to change it back again. I suspect it will be easier in a slow forward flight and I will give this some thought too, but it seems like trying to run before you can walk? Good subjections 👍
Hi Peter, I haven't done anymore flying attempts since the last video, had a little break from it but have reapplied the helicopter blade tape with two layers instead of one this time. I'm not sure if that will help but I'm hoping it might. I've also just installed a bigger radiator fan for increased flight duration at a weight penalty of course. I think the project has been pretty full on over the last 12 months fixing, modifying and making videos and a little break has done me good I think. There is of course more to achieve and it would be a shame not to explore the machines capability's
Hi Jim. With difficulty is the answer to that 😆. I had to make the exhaust manifold and there I've separated the coolant from the exhaust which would normally be exhausted together but as the engine is designed for coolant at temperatures no more than probably 10degrees C the channels are small diameter. This will obviously restrict flow rate and I don't know what flow rate is needed. Also with the coolant channel running so close to the exhaust unwanted heat will be transferred to the coolant. This wouldn't matter on a total loss system it used to run as an outboard. I planned a belt driven fan and ultimately this is what will be required but for now I'm going to put on a bigger electric fan just to give me more flight time. It's best in my opinion to gradually increase flight time as bearing temperatures ect can be monitored without a drastic overheating situation. Having seen what Cameron Carter went through to get his engine temperatures acceptable it's not going to be a quick job by the looks of it.
@@Ben-Dixey Yes no problem cooling those engines when out on the ocean with all the cool water you need. I used to be a marine mechanic working on those OMC outboards and that's why I asked. From memory the impeller was pumping a couple of liters a minute. what are you using for a water pump and radiator. I know the rotorway scorpions used to use I think V4 outboards so they were able to cool them to some degree somehow.
Thanks for the info 👍 I'm using an electric water pump from a vw bora. It's intended use is to improve water flowing on a car at engine idle. I don't know the flow rate but it would be easy to measure. The radiator is from a Honda Civic 1.6ltr my reasoning for using this radiator is if it's able to cool a 1.6ltr 4 stroke engine it should be able to cool a 737cc 2 stroke but I might be wrong on this. I take it coolant flow rate can be too high as well as too low ? The radiator is a single core but could be changed to a twin core if it was necessary. Of course this will add to the weight again, air cooled would be much simpler and lighter if i was prepared to spend the money on the appropriate engine.
@@Ben-Dixey Outboard 2 strokes are very reliable. If you can get the cooling to where you are happy, I doubt you could find an air cooled two stroke that's as reliable. Of course it would be more simple though.
That's an interesting fact, I didn't know that, gives me a bit more confidence in the engine. I had a boat with the same engine and it never let me down, I had an auxiliary engine and needless to say it wasn't needed. I like how smooth you got your gyro to fly, must have taken a lot of time perfecting that. 👍
