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Forum Index : Other Stuff : What are they?
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norcold Guru  Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Above photos of a mystery aerofoil blade. Have been given two of these, a relie was cleaning out an old shed on recently acquired property. They are 3055 mm in length, have a constant chord of 210mm are made of solid fibreglass, estimate each weigh around 30kgs. Perhaps the rusted mounting on one end is a clue to what they were for. Unfortunately there was no turbine with them and the previous owners widow has no idea. Helicopter, wind turbine, UFO ???? We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I would guess at a gyrocopter, but I always thought they we made from aluminium. I saved the pictures from the PDF you upoaded, added them to your post and removed the PDF, hope thats OK with you Vic. It was a big file and I have to pay for excess bandwidth. The PDF was about 700k, but the two pictures together are about 150k. The forum does a pretty good job of scaling and compressing images, but its got no control over a PDF. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Thought thety`d be a bit heavy for a gyrocopter, but that`s probably what they were for. From the steel-Al conx. it would seem the angle of attack can be changed easily. My photo software converts to pdf by default for emails etc., will make sure I send using the 4m image download in future. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
From my understanding of gyrocopters, the blades have a fixed angle of attack, so once set, they are not changed in flight, unlike a helicopter that makes changes to a blades angle at various times during one revolution. The gyro can tilt the entire turbine back and forth though, I think. The turbine ( if its called that on a gyro ) is acting like a highlift wing, which is why they need to be moving foward to fly, where a helicopter can hover. I've always thought gyro's were cool.  The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Vic They are a gyrocopter set probably an experiment by someone, they are made heavy to give them inertia so the stored energy in the blades can be used to control flight parameters especially an engine failure, some of the ones I gave lead weights in the tips for that reason. they work well as mill blades, although do suffer the 2 blade waffle. They are designed to be used at 4 to 8 degree blade angle. Hi Glenn The are cool to fly but a bit scary as it is like sitting on kitchen chair at 2000 feet, with your life hanging on one 3/8 bolt at the centre of the blades on the flapper hinge, give me wings anytime. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
Bloody hell, hoping they were off a UFO.  I`d sell the story to some TV Channel for zillions. 
I`ll stay on the ground and fly with my thumbs, wreck enough doing that, would only wreck one if I flew a real one. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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| norcold Guru Joined: 06/02/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 670 |
A little follow up . Did a bit of investigating, to try and find the source of these blades and course I was bloody curious. Turns out the fellow that had the blades was a Health & Safety Inspector, which explains some of the other stuff I`d scored. Can only speculate as to why he collected these blades, do know he wasn`t into gyrocopters. Guess he was a bower bird, reckon most 4M members have a full understanding of this. Anyhow thought I`d share this. We come from the land downunder. Vic |
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