Wright Stuff C

[Airco2020]

What's a torque burner?

[jander14indoor]

Yes, torque burners are for low ceilings, though low is relative. Since these things can climb 100 ft without too much trouble, 30 ft can be low...
But yes, the benefit of torque burners is greatest the lower the ceiling is.

ABSOLUTELY, Brett Sanborn is the master, I watched him do it at the MI state tournament when he was an SO competitor, a thing of beauty. Plus, he's the current F1D world champion.

Torque burners are methods to meter out the torque release so you don't have to back off the winds to avoid augering into the ceiling in low sites. Allows you to use all the energy you can store in the rubber band instead of releasing a significant portion of that energy in the backoff winds to avoid hitting the ceiling.
For more detail, search is your friend, been discussed on this forum multiple times, including relatively detailed descriptions on how Brett did it years ago.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[jander14indoor]

And warning, until you can fly these things regularly to 2:30 to 3 minutes with conventional practices and are having to back off tons in low ceiling sites, torque burners are HARD. You have more productive places to spend your time.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[Airco2020]

And warning, until you can fly these things regularly to 2:30 to 3 minutes with conventional practices and are having to back off tons in low ceiling sites, torque burners are HARD. You have more productive places to spend your time.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

Thanks. First year building.....Maybe a topic to revisit next year!!

[coachchuckaahs]

And warning, until you can fly these things regularly to 2:30 to 3 minutes with conventional practices and are having to back off tons in low ceiling sites, torque burners are HARD. You have more productive places to spend your time.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

Listen to Jeff!

We tried this several years ago, in prepping for Wright State Nationals. TB's are difficult to get right, and even when perfected do not work every time. With only 2 flights, the odds of failing are high. We had several hundred test flights, then abandoned them. While there is clearly an advantage for low ceilings when they work, we would have been better served to work on other areas, such as perfecting our prop and our trim, for those precious hours in the gym.

As Jeff indicates, everything else should be optimized before moving into this area. Last year was a relatively low ceiling as well, and we spent our time on the prop/rubber balance, and on improving the flaring of our props. It paid off with a second place at CSU, only 0.07 seconds behind Tower Heights.

TB's are not the "magic Bullet" when all else fails. They are the icing when all else is great.

Fun to experiment, but it was not the right solution the year we tried it.

Coach Chuck

[SaintLaurentShawn]

Any tips regarding flaring props?
Recommendations on sanding/pitch/rubber matching?
We're having mixed results with our flaring propellers, specifically, our planes are not climb at all with them on.

Coach Chuck, am I able to get a number for the best time you guys have gotten? (I wanted to gauge the max time achievable this year ).

[coachchuckaahs]

We have been specifically working on low ceiling operations, as State is next week with 19' ceiling. We have not been running full rubber, but rather partial with weighted sticks to gather data.

At Regionals, we got just over 2 minutes with a 20' ceiling. However, the room was only 60x60 feet, the AC was on, and both flights drifted into the wall while nearing full altitude. Very challenging environment, so time is not representative. Second flight torque should have taken us to 35', but with A/C blasting we never got to the 20' ceiling!

That's probably all I want to say on times for this year so far.

Flaring props have additional variables (initial pitch, flew stiffness) that must be logged and evaluated. You may need stiffer rubber, or maybe stiffer flare, or different static pitch. All of these can dramatically impact altitude.

Coach Chuck

[Chameleon02]

at UMSO this weekend the Wright Stuff ceiling is at 13 feet. We have been practicing in about 20 to 30 feet gyms and empty cafeterias for the past month. Any tips on how to deal with such a low ceiling height?

[CrayolaCrayon]

at UMSO this weekend the Wright Stuff ceiling is at 13 feet. We have been practicing in about 20 to 30 feet gyms and empty cafeterias for the past month. Any tips on how to deal with such a low ceiling height?

Super low launch torque

[coachchuckaahs]

Wow. 13'? If it is smooth, and room large, I would plan on banging/scraping the ceiling! Careful though, it can redirect plane and hit a wall if the room is not large.

For a no-touch, I would be looking at significant flare, and low torque. Check your data, see what has worked in combination to give you good times with low rise. We have plenty of half-rubber data with under 10' rise, but would have to adjust substantially to a 13' ceiling. See what your data tells you, make changes accordingly, and test again!

Coach Chuck