Wright Stuff B

[bob3443]

Whats a winding ring?

I don't understand your question, where did you see that term?

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

I bought 24ft. of 1/16 Tan supersport rubber, it came with 10-6mm winding rings. They are little circles and the 6mm is the diameter of it. Not sure what they're for.

Also what are some good lubes to use that i can find in my house?

[andrewwski]

Are they o-rings?

Armor All is a good lubricant. You can find it any auto parts or many department stores.

[bob3443]

no not o-rings they're metal.

[bob3443]

Also my airplane is going straight, not up, if i change the angle of the wing it stalls, i add weight to the front, it doesn't go up, any ideas?

[andrewwski]

Could be a couple things.

First is your angle of attack. You want the front of the wing slightly higher than the back. If you do go too high, yes, you'll stall. Are you ensuring you're not changing it too much?

Second would be your torque. If you don't have enough thrust from the prop, you're not going to gain altitude. Increasing your rubber thickness slightly would help in that situation.

Also, is your wing fixed with tubes or do you have some kind of saddle? If you can adjust the distance between the wing and the stab, that also alters things. Mostly stability-wise though.

[jander14indoor]

no not o-rings they're metal.

OK, I think they were included to be used as the O-rings indoor flyers use, but they are explicitly not allowed in the Wright Stuff rules.

Do you understand how the o-rings are used on rubber motors? Functionally they might be called winding rings, but best not made out of metal for indoor planes (note, some large outdoor planes do use metal rings on the ends of the motors to attache them to the prop).

Armor-All or Son-of-a-gun vinyl protectants both work well as lubricants, easily found any any auto parts place.

Also my airplane is going straight, not up, if i change the angle of the wing it stalls, i add weight to the front, it doesn't go up, any ideas?

What's your plane weigh? Are you close to the 7 gm minimum? If so, since you are flying level you are close. Here's a couple more things to check. If not, lose weight and you will start climbing.

Andrewwski mentioned torque, how hard are you winding the motors? 1.5 gm Tan Super Sport motors should take over 1000 turns to fly these planes well. I'm disappointed every year by the number of otherwise good planes that students just don't wind the motor hard enough to get a good flight.

Andrewwski mentioned several other good things to check, but here's another many inexperienced flyers miss. Is your inner wing washed in enough? Is the plane flying fairly level as it turns?

Just out of curiosity, would it be lighter to use a grocery bag than saran wrap? That is what my friend was going to use last year because she said it was really light. She ended up using something that was heavier than saran wrap though. That plane never worked out. It was 20+ grams and it was for BLG. But is a grocery bag lighter than saran wrap? I'm going to stick with the film.

Depends on the grocery bag. They vary WIDELY. The lightest are far better than tissue, not as good as the indoor mylar films. You have to get a large collection and weigh them. Use the lightest per area you can find. Oh, and nothing wrong sticking with film if you can get it easily enough. I just don't like students to think its the ONLY solution for these planes.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[bob3443]

I think i know how the o-rings help... you put them around the rubber near the hook right?
I'm not sure how heavy my airplane is but i'm pretty sure its over 7 grams. I don't have a scale at home. How long are your airplanes? I think its because my airplane is a little to long. I don't have it right now but i think its about 40-50 cm.

[jander14indoor]

I think i know how the o-rings help... you put them around the rubber near the hook right?
I'm not sure how heavy my airplane is but i'm pretty sure its over 7 grams. I don't have a scale at home. How long are your airplanes? I think its because my airplane is a little to long. I don't have it right now but i think its about 40-50 cm.

Can't tell, but your description of O-ring use sounds wrong. O-rings, I hate that name because its misleading. The winding rings name you have is a more functionally correct name, you just can't use metal ones in SO. A proper indoor O-ring isn't a rubber donut like most folks think of. Its a small plastic ring that doesn't collapse under winding stress. You can make them from the siphon tubes of spray bottles, ink reservoir of old, empty ball point pens, etc. The ring should be about 3/16 inch outer diameter, 1/8 in inner. Plastic should be stiff, but not hard. Slice off rings with a sharp knife about 1/32 thick. You use TWO on a motor. One ring goes around your winding anchor, preferably a torque meter clamped to a heavy object. The other ring goes over the hook on your winder. Note, the rubber motor itself does NOT go over either of these hooks. Stretch wind the motor OFF the plane. Motor winds up and grabs the O-rings, but they are stiff so they don't collapse and grab the hooks. When done winding, use the O-rings to remove the motor from the hooks without losing turns and transfer to plane.

Its MUCH harder to make heavy airplanes climb. Get or make a scale, wt is critical to success in this event.

Your airplane isn't too long. Long planes at minimum weight have an advantage. They are more stable, and can load up the tail in lift, done properly. Short planes tend to be more more sensitive to small changes in pitch, might be why you are having trouble dancing between level flight, stall, and diving.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[smartkid222]

is this considered an o-ring?

[andrewwski]

That's considered many O-rings.