1. Fold on dotted black line down the middle,
crease & open out again. (this is where
the upright goes)This idea came to me in a waking dream!
A4 paper
pen/pencil
compass or something that can draw different size circles.
1. Fold on dotted black line down the middle,
crease & open out again. (this is where
the upright goes)
2. Fold on red corners so that the top edges meet on the centerline, crease and open out.
3. Fold on blue corners form the centerline at the bottom to the bottom of the red corners along the sides.
This is the basic shape of the kite, recognize it?
4.
Fold from the apex
of the red and blue
corners.
5. On then centerline, mark where the top of the paper now crosses it. Crease this fold and open out. (It isn't used again so I haven't marked it)
This is the bottom bridling point
6.
From the point just marked as the centre,
draw a quarter circle from one apex
of the red and blue
corners to the
other.
This is the curve of the cross member that keeps the edges under tension.
The
tricky bit...
7. Where the pink curve intersects the centerline Mark here (x).
8. Where the pink curve touches the side mark here (x)
9. Bisect the marks. Do this by putting the compass point on the mark (x), set the width of the compass to just over half the distance between the two marks. Draw two arcs, one from each mark and draw a line between where the two arcs cross.
10.Where the bisection line crosses the pink curve, mark there. (The green arrow, that's the next bridle point. )
11. Repeat tricky bit... on other side of kite.
We'll that's the design, but how do I build it?, I here you say - well any way you want!, but this is how i did it...
I did steps 1-5 on the A4 paper, measured the appropriate lengths and scaled them up by 800%. Cut out my fabric
Steps 6-11 I did with string a pencil and a friend. (in this case TOB, A most excellent friend. Photo - My Mates).
The cross member is carbon fiber (as it's strong flexible and light) This provides the tension to keep the fabric taught, because of this I used reinforcement tape (sowed in) along all the edges. To calculate how long the cross member should be before it's bent into shape, measure the red corner length and multiply by 1/2 pi. (pi=3.14)
The upright is doweling rod (a thick one so that it is in-flexible). This stops the kite "collapsing".
Pockets were sown in to receive the ends of the cross members, very strong ones as they take all the tension on the kite through them.
When it came to the bridle, it was best to tweak it in field testing. but here's how it ended up...
This configuration is if you want to fly it as a single line, however it can be flown as a dual line.
This was it's maiden flight and I dual bridled it - control was very slow but worked! its actually 3 meters high!!
I first built this with some willow canes, bin liners, fishing line and parcel tape. Total cost £1.25! It flew for 8 hours after I staked it out advertising a gig the band I was in were doing, it was the best turn out we ever had!
Since then I've built a few versions of it, one being the the desk kite, actually made with a piece of A4 and attached to a fan. - Just to remind you what you're working for!
The last build flew at the Washington international kite festival as 2 meters tall.
Well I hope you enjoy it I did!
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