Helicopters B

[2017Kortman]

Hey, does anyone have a design for a helicopter that works really well? Because we need "300% improvement" if we want to get to nationals this year.

[mrsteven]

"design," not really. Alot of this event comes down to your skill in fine details to get everything exactly in place. Another huge chunk of it is matching the rubber width and length to the helicopter you have. No two helicopters you make, even with identical plans, will be the same.

If you're looking for a general design, look through the image gallery. The parlor helicopter style is very popular. Its successful and more simply to build than an elliptical bladed helicopter (parlor is heliptical). The major differences between them are the "boxy" type blades VS the "egg" type blades. In theory, the elliptical design is more efficient and works better but it requires a HUGE amount of skill to make them correctly such that it gets a positive effect.

If you want a challenge, that is the way I would go. It is definitely interesting, but matching pitch to surface area and getting everything balanced with surface area proved more difficult of a task than I was up to the last couple years.

If you don't already have great modelling skills from prior experience/events, then the elliptical may prove difficult, but I would start on the heliptical front, if you can build/test/refine one of those, then you probably have the base skills needed to bump up to the next level. But I certainly did great with heliptical both years.

[rmp509]

Would putting two o rings on the rubber ( one on top one on bottom ) allow more turns on the rubber without it snapping? I don't wanna break my helicopter

[chalker7]

Would putting two o rings on the rubber ( one on top one on bottom ) allow more turns on the rubber without it snapping? I don't wanna break my helicopter

O-rings don't let you wind the motor any further, the number of turns you can get on any fixed size, brand and batch of rubber is the same. However, o-rings do allow you to keep more of the turns you put on. That is to say, when you take the motor off of your winder, you don't need to pinch one end and let the turns loose so you can hook onto the motor hook. The o-ring stays stiff and provides a loop for you to latch onto.

[NerdGirl314]

Is it better to have a longer motor stick (or fuselage whatever you want to call it) or shorter motor stick? My partner and I have been making ours around 26-28 cm long. I started thinking maybe it would be easier to make it shorter so that when the rubber band is wound, it wouldn't have to be stretched any further. Any suggestions?

[jander14indoor]

Read back up this chain a little, your question has been answered.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

PS, short version, it just doesn't matter. Motor stick length has little effect on this event in terms of energy return from your rubber. Now, it MAY have an effect on overall weight, very important, and stiffness, not trivial.

[hummus_k]

Can you make last minute adjustments to the helicopter? If so, how much time will you be given?

[Hosj]

Hello,I have a question, about the test launches.
I built one copter, and did 10 test flights, writing down the six parameters as per the rules. We had a regional competition, and we were planning to build a better copter for states.
My question is, do we have to make a new data sheet with 10 launches with 6 parameters as per the rules, (Of course we would still test it excessivly, just not record it.) or can we circumvent that and focus on testing?

[jander14indoor]

Hmmm, I think you missed the point. WHY would you test and NOT record the data. Do you have a perfect memory? We didn't put the data requirement in the rules for us. We put them in there for YOU. The whole point of this event is experimentation! If you aren't keeping the data, what's the point of the experiment?

Now, as far as the rules and scoring, as usual, this is not the official place, blah, blah...

There is no additional reward beyond the 10, so no you don't have to show more to the event supervisor.

But really, see the first paragraph. Data is all to your benefit. Keep the records, look at them, analyze them, understand them. Its the only way to continuously improve. And in the end, it doesn't hurt to show the event supervisors more than required.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[chalker7]

Hmmm, I think you missed the point. WHY would you test and NOT record the data. Do you have a perfect memory? We didn't put the data requirement in the rules for us. We put them in there for YOU. The whole point of this event is experimentation! If you aren't keeping the data, what's the point of the experiment?

Now, as far as the rules and scoring, as usual, this is not the official place, blah, blah...

There is no additional reward beyond the 10, so no you don't have to show more to the event supervisor.

But really, see the first paragraph. Data is all to your benefit. Keep the records, look at them, analyze them, understand them. Its the only way to continuously improve. And in the end, it doesn't hurt to show the event supervisors more than required.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

Here's a little anecdotal evidence to support this (if you don't believe the scientific method in general.) Having supervised this and other flying events for years, I can always tell when I team is going to perform well without ever seeing their helicopter or airplane. If they hand me a notebook filled with WAY more data than required, I know they'll do great. If they give me the minimum, it's totally random. If they don't have a log at all, I know they are unlikely to get a good time.