Winch Plans ??

[eightwgt]

Anyone know where I can find info on building a winch ???

[KevinSheen]

http://www.superskeg.com

http://www.laserartco.com/accessory.htm

http://www.monkeytumble.com/winchdoc/

There is a thread going on right now in the Sailplane topic.

Kevin

[fprintf]

Based on your other post asking about whether the BOT ARF is a good plane, might I suggest you not build a winch just yet?

You will need to do two things to make the most of any time on a winch, especially with that plane. First, find a local club by joining the AMA and seeking out help. There are quite a few glider fliers in Florida in various locations and they probably hold either regular flying days off winches or contests. By hooking up with some experienced fliers you can get your new plane on the winch and learn how to tap it up the line without breaking the wings on your wood plane.

Second, you will want to learn to fly for yourself. For this your best flying time for the money is to buy a histart from www.aerofoam.com. Once you decide soaring is for you and you can regularly find lift then you can get yourself a winch -- even building it yourself from plans you can easily sink several hundred dollars. The major components are a battery, solenoids, motor, frame, line & turnaround and while individually they are relatively inexpensively it does add up. The thing is, flying a wood plane on a winch in my opinion is only marginally better than flying off a histart. Yes, the launch can be up to several hundred feet higher but you definitely do not walk any less and the personal stress stepping up to the winch as a newbie is *way* more than hooking up to the histart.

Good luck, and keep asking questions! We'll get you started the right way. You can learn this hobby by yourself, but it is *far* easier to find those elusive thermals with an experienced set of eyes to guide you. I also highly recommend seeking out and downloading the latest version of the CRRCSim flight simulator - about the only computer simulator that actually can teach you how to watch the plane for indicators of thermal activity.

[Hostage-46]

Tim at Superskeg is the way to go.

I just built mine and I'd say I have around $500 bucks into it. Yes I could have scrounged for parts and spent less, but time is money.

I still have bungies around, I got the winch so I wouldn't have to drive so far to fly on the club/buddy's winch.

[eightwgt]

fprintf..

Thanks for the post.... nice to see people looking out for others. Perhaps I should have posted that this is not at all my first kit. I started with the ole SIG Riser 2M 5 years ago then started building some of my own designs, a hand launch, a sloper, a flying wing,then a Kestral 2M. I was for a while a member of AMA, and a local club (Thermal Riders AMA Club# 2987) my ama # was 669810 I actually just sent in via internet a new registration with them since I am starting to fly again after quite a break.......

I have used a winch a lot and asked about plans to see if I simply felt like messin with it. I have built lots of things including a CNC machine so a winch is a breeze.....just dont know if Im going to do it so wanted to investigate.

Thats it.....=)

[erikdahlchriste]

try:
http://www.gliders.dk/winches.htm

Cheers

Erik Dahl Christensen
Denmark
www.gliders.dk

[fprintf]

Sorry for the assumption Eight... I forget that some people might not know how badly a lot of people experienced sudden wing failure of the BOT ARF. So I tied the two posts together and assumed you must not know about sailplanes if you were planning on running that plane up a winch. Good luck!