Home Made Bungee/Hi-Start

[Chuck Glider]

Does anyone know where latex rubber tubing can be bought in the UK? The stretchy type suitable for making your own bungee. I can only find the braided shock cord stuff - which is heavier and not as elastic as the surgical style tubing.
Thanks!
:cool:

[StevenatorLTFO]

Maybe check ebay? I built myself a nice little 2 meter high start with some tubing I bought off of ebay, launches my Spirit Elite 2M real nice, and I've even launched my Topaz off of it too. It was very economical to build.

Steve

[CloudyIFR]

I realize this isn't in the UK, but he's says on the beginning of the website to email for international orders.

They are absolutely the best hi-starts!

I've had one for over 10 years and I keep it in the garage during the winter months of Montana and she's still working great!!!!

Curtis
Montana
www.TailwindGliders.com

[KickAce]

Keep away from the amber colored surgical tubing, as there is little/no UV protection as the UV rays penetrate the tubing causing premature degradation... Stay with the solid colors and the UV rays can only attack the surface... Having said that, it doesn't mean that the solid color tubing are UV safe, just that the UV rays can't penetrate all the way through the tubing and only attacks the tubing on the surface, so use some 303 Aerospace Protectant to act as a sunscreen for your tubing... I recommend storing them when not in use in an insuated Kelty Binto Cooler… Click HERE (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8697661&postcount=89) for more information…

If your not sure about if the size tubing will work for your sailplane, That is if your buying online like ebay, I had created a Calculator (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=795380) awhile back, that would assist in determining the approximate pounds of pull with the rubber stretched to 3-times it's length, at least you’ll get a general idea if that rubber is right for your application... I hear that for some that the program won't install, others have had no problem at all installing and using it... Any upgrades to the program will be quite sometime yet, just not the top of my list of things to do right now...

[Chuck Glider]

Thanks all.

CloudyIFR, which website are you referring to? Couldn't see it in your reply. Please could you post it, Thanks!

Steve, been looking on ebay uk, but no luck yet.

Hmm, that's spot on Kickace. I'm looking because my old one perished and became brittle. It was a natural rubber colour tubing. So you're advice is really apt and useful for me. I tried 5mm braided shock cord, and she goes up like a rocket - far too fast - and then wooshes off the hook when the line is only at about 45 degrees. Scary :eek:

What do you all think of this one:

http://www.divecourses.co.uk/acatalog/Dive_Rite_Surgical_Tubing_3_8_Inch.html

I can't find much else in the UK though....does anyone know of a local supply?

[KickAce]

Thanks all.

CloudyIFR, which website are you referring to? Couldn't see it in your reply. Please could you post it, Thanks!

Steve, been looking on ebay uk, but no luck yet.

Hmm, that's spot on Kickace. I'm looking because my old one perished and became brittle. It was a natural rubber colour tubing. So you're advice is really apt and useful for me. I tried 5mm braided shock cord, and she goes up like a rocket - far too fast - and then wooshes off the hook when the line is only at about 45 degrees. Scary :eek:

What do you all think of this one:

http://www.divecourses.co.uk/acatalog/Dive_Rite_Surgical_Tubing_3_8_Inch.html

I can't find much else in the UK though....does anyone know of a local supply?
Hey Chuck, just glad that it helped.. :) I couldn't tell you about the tubing unless I had more info on the ID or wall thickness, send them a message and see if they will reply... What size sailplane are you launching...?

[Chuck Glider]

This hi-start is for sailplanes with span in the range 1.2m - 2.0m.

Old tubing was 5mm outside diameter, natural amber colour rubber. Not sure of wall thickness. I'm going to try a 4mm shock cord bungee line. If that doesn't work, then 3mm. But really, latex tube is what I'm after. You guys in the US are spoiled - what I need is a supply in the UK for this kind of thing:

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/100_foot_hi-start_rubber_for_under_2-meter_78_sailplanes_715_prd1.htm

Chuck

[Wylie Shaw]

here ya go the best of the best


www.aerofoam.com



Best Regads,

Wylie Shaw

[atmosteve]

Nah, thats not the best of the best. The best is a dual core stuff, dual core for a reason;

http://www.rc-sailplane.com.au/subacccategory.php?category=Launching%20systems


:)

[KickAce]

Nah, thats not the best of the best. The best is a dual core stuff, dual core for a reason;

http://www.rc-sailplane.com.au/subacccategory.php?category=Launching%20systems


:)
Hi atmosteve,
I think you done found him a supplier...! Not sure what you mean by dual core stuff :confused: , but sounds awesome when ya say it... :D

[atmosteve]

Hey Kick, yeah its hard to describe this stuff, but in the words of David Leigh from sailplane.aus "Even the kiwi f3b team loved using this stuff for practice when they visited last year" . Those kiwi's are tough sceptical customers, especially with anything to do with australians.... :p ;) :D

He reckons that the inner core gives you the zing at high stretch, while the outer core covers low to medium stretch pressures, or something like that...
At any rate, I find you get a nice linear rate of pressure over given stretch distance, its a little different to mono-mould latex. The 10mm OD / 7mm ID pictured below has plenty of zap for gliders up to 4m, god only knows what the 11mm stuff is like, for mouldies only i guess.

All the same though, there's nothing wrong with any of the quality hoses the good folks have recommended, they'll all do your glider proud when matched to quality no-stretch tow line like thin braided fishing line.

Woohooo! have fun choosing rubber Mr Chuck Glider man. :D :cool:

[KickAce]

Looks intimidating atmosteve... hehehehehe… :D

If it is just 100% natural latex that is being mandrel dipped with the last dipping being done with a black dye, it's really the cross-sectional surface area that'll determine its pull strength when stretched 300% of it's relaxed state... Sure wish we could here from the manufacture… But I do say (IMO) that I prefer the mandrel dipped latex rubber over the extruded latex rubber... Just seems to have a smoother pull to them and I think less likely to be effected by the micro cuts/cracks that develop over time, I’ve used both and believe the extruded rubber is more susceptible to the cracking that effects its durability and its failure point...

True Story:
I had my 3-meter HoseMonster out one day at a park that I have flown at many times... People were there with a party on the far end of the park well away from where I was... I had launched at least 5 times that day already and I had just got done retrieving the hi-start and was back to my launching point at full-pull, when I turned around, a hay wagon full of people with two horses pulling it was just about to run over the rubber…!!! The party that was going on, like I mentioned, was way away on the far end of the park… Never once did I see a hay wagon or horses and apparently the wagon and hoses must have been behind the park commons building… I never even heard any noise and only caught glimpse of them when I turned around after stretching the hi-start for another launch, they were about 20 feet from running over it...!!! The thoughts that ran through my mind, no not :censored: words, more in line on the safety side of things... Now, I can't let the hi-start go as it would most certainly spook the horses, with ten passengers onboard would most likely have ended in disaster...!!! The best that I could hope for was to just lay the rubber as close to the ground as I could, then hope and pray to the thermal gods to look down upon me and not have the rubber break as they crossed over the rubber, hoping like hell that it wouldn't break as that would have been just as bad as letting it go... After they passed by to my amazement the rubber hadn’t broke, I walked the tension off the rubber and inspected it, I could see the marks where the wagon ran over the rubber and found not a scratch anywhere on it… I decided to wrap the hi-start up and end my flying for the day while I was still ahead… The party apparently had rented hay wagon rides that day, which in all the days that I had been flying there had never occurred before… One must be on guard at all times…! I really thanked my lucky stars (and the thermal gods) that nothing bad happened…!!! :p

[atmosteve]

^ Ace i can so appreciate that today. I had 9 tonne council work truck pulling a trailer with a bobcat excavotor roll over my fully stretched histart late this morning!
I wasn't to worried about the weight going over the tube, more that it might get caught up in the tread of the big tyres. Needless to say i was crapping myself for a few seconds there, but what i thought was the inevitable didn't happen, I was very thankful.

Thinking about it though, I'd rather wide rubber truck tyres run over my histart rubber than thin, hard wagon wheels anyday! Glad it worked out ok for you. :eek:


Sorry i don't know who makes the rubber pictured above, and neither does the local supplier according to him. I've used a few histarts in my time, and this stuff is really nice and durable so far, for me. Apparently it has a good life expectancy under the sun, but i'm yet to experience this as i've had it now since the start of this year. As to the stretch nature of the different colors it has, I can find no solid data, but I can feel a bit of difference to other latex hoses on stretch and on ascent when using this stuff. Hey, i plain old like it!

[Wylie Shaw]

And mate that is all that counts.... :D :D


Wylie Shaw

[atmosteve]

Right on!

Lol, for those that may be needing clarification over the casual using of the phrase 'right on' in this post, in this case it is a fall back upon having ran out of both verbal and intellectual prowess on a given subject, and finding oneself lacking in further knowledge and therfore in need of popular appeal, via a cry. It can often be heard before a melee or disturbance of some kind, but that is not the case here on a peacable forum.

[target]

Hey Kick, yeah its hard to describe this stuff, but in the words of David Leigh from sailplane.aus "Even the kiwi f3b team loved using this stuff for practice when they visited last year" . Those kiwi's are tough sceptical customers, especially with anything to do with australians.... :p ;) :D

He reckons that the inner core gives you the zing at high stretch, while the outer core covers low to medium stretch pressures, or something like that...
At any rate, I find you get a nice linear rate of pressure over given stretch distance, its a little different to mono-mould latex. The 10mm OD / 7mm ID pictured below has plenty of zap for gliders up to 4m, god only knows what the 11mm stuff is like, for mouldies only i guess.

All the same though, there's nothing wrong with any of the quality hoses the good folks have recommended, they'll all do your glider proud when matched to quality no-stretch tow line like thin braided fishing line.

Woohooo! have fun choosing rubber Mr Chuck Glider man. :D :cool:


So were the Kiwi F3B guys using a full 100' length of the 10mm x 7mm stuff??

I hear that the hot ticket for landing practices is a short length of rubber @25' and a short length of line @40-60', to just do a short zoom launch with. Should get you to 150' or more to shoot landings with....

What tubing and line setup were they using?

Thanks,
Target
I have a 30' section of "speargun" rubber now. It's 5/8"OD and 1/8"ID; it's pretty STOUT! :eek:

[galaxian]

I google for a bit and found this

http://www.horizonhobby.co.uk/aeroonline/e1hangar9/e1accessories/e1glider/e1glider.html

Any use ?

[target]

That looks like pretty light duty stuff, to me.

[galaxian]

Maybe try contacting these guys...


http://www.megaflex.co.uk/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,608/category_id,11/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,31/

[atmosteve]

Target, they used the 11mm stuff, I was told. I wasn't there, it was in another state, so I couldn't tell you what line and tube length they were using.

David Leigh loves talking about this tube, and he is usually happy to reply to emails regarding this product, he's the man to ask about the dual core stuff.

steve.

[galaxian]

This may be worth looking at in the UK too..

http://www.omega.co.uk/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref=tygr

[target]

Target, they used the 11mm stuff, I was told. I wasn't there, it was in another state, so I couldn't tell you what line and tube length they were using.

David Leigh loves talking about this tube, and he is usually happy to reply to emails regarding this product, he's the man to ask about the dual core stuff.

steve.



That is what I figured. Thanks for the info.

I pinged off of my own mega-spear-gun-rubber today in fact. It was fun!

T

[atmosteve]

Yeah, it does sound rather robust, gotta love customised equipment!!!!! Nothing like some instant acceleration hey?

[target]

Yup. I like watching the aluminum joiner in my Psyko bend at the ping.
When I grow a set, I will launch my Ceres with it!

[KickAce]

^ Ace i can so appreciate that today. I had 9 tonne council work truck pulling a trailer with a bobcat excavotor roll over my fully stretched histart late this morning!
I wasn't to worried about the weight going over the tube, more that it might get caught up in the tread of the big tyres. Needless to say i was crapping myself for a few seconds there, but what i thought was the inevitable didn't happen, I was very thankful.

Thinking about it though, I'd rather wide rubber truck tyres run over my histart rubber than thin, hard wagon wheels anyday! Glad it worked out ok for you. :eek:

Hey atmosteve,
:eek: Ironic wasn't it... lol...
I take it that you were flying alone like I was... Never saw it coming until it was too late...! I agree that I'd rather have rubber tires run over it than two horses with steel shoes and a wagon with narrow steel clad wheels any day...! :eek: Safety is everything in this sport and when flying alone, one can not see more than the direction our eyes are facing at the time... Glad to hear that all turned out well... :D

[KickAce]

I have a 30' section of "speargun" rubber now. It's 5/8"OD and 1/8"ID; it's pretty STOUT! :eek:
Hi Target,
Yep, that is some pretty hefty stuff...!!! :eek:

[target]

I would love to have that calculator!

Target

[KickAce]

I would love to have that calculator!

Target

Hey Target,

Click HERE (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=795380) for the link to the thread where you can download...

[target]

Thanks!!

T