Some dudes and their home made winch............

[Marc]

Look like they may achieve first launch in early spring. This needs
nowhere near the level of technical sophistication exhibited by Bob K.
and Brad H., but as my high powered mechanical devices usually involve
some number of rubber bands, this is a huge leap:

http://www.ranlog.com/winch/

A lot of beer and pizza was consumed during this process...

Marc

[Brad[_2_]]

On Jan 25, 8:46*pm, Marc > wrote:
> Look like they may achieve first launch in early spring. *This needs
> nowhere near the level of technical sophistication exhibited by Bob K.
> and Brad H., but as my high powered mechanical devices usually involve
> some number of rubber bands, this is a huge leap:
>
> http://www.ranlog.com/winch/
>
> A lot of beer and pizza was consumed during this process...
>
> Marc

Nice looking winch Marc. I like the CAD stuff!

Brad

[Dan Marotta]

EXCELLENT! I can't wait to see it in operation and wish we had something
similar (or the skill to build one).


"Brad" > wrote in message
...
On Jan 25, 8:46 pm, Marc > wrote:
> Look like they may achieve first launch in early spring. This needs
> nowhere near the level of technical sophistication exhibited by Bob K.
> and Brad H., but as my high powered mechanical devices usually involve
> some number of rubber bands, this is a huge leap:
>
> http://www.ranlog.com/winch/
>
> A lot of beer and pizza was consumed during this process...
>
> Marc

Nice looking winch Marc. I like the CAD stuff!

Brad

[Marc]

On Jan 26, 9:07*am, "Dan Marotta" > wrote:
> EXCELLENT! *I can't wait to see it in operation and wish we had something
> similar (or the skill to build one).

Assuming this works out, one insight will be that not much "skill" is
needed to build a winch. Much research was required, and structural
analysis was done by gliding buddies who are engineers. The frame
tubes were cut by the steel yard, and most of the other steel parts
were laser cut. We hired pros to do the welding and the small amount
of machining needed. The rest is being done with a cut-off saw ($60
on Craigslist), a drill press, and a bit of scrounging. My one
relevant skill is that I spent some time writing CAD software for a
living. Now, anyone who needs a drum, fairlead, clutch, etc., for
their winch project just needs to ask for the DXF files and machining
diagrams...

Marc