Homemade Helicopter: For the People.

RonL

Not sure if this is a hit and run post, or if you are in Jr. High, nothing in your profile to indicate what you can do, or if you have any qualifications to justify an answer.

Brian C sure went overboard on requirments I know several people that can and some have built blades and gear boxes, using limited shop equipment and some parts from rear axels of junk trucks and cars.

Basic skills and study, along with access to the proper tools can produce almost anything
Now to qualify that statement, using tools properly requires a learning curve that can be quick for some and quite long for others.

Ron

minicoper

happenly come across this video clip, seems the chinese are one step ahead already, they have DIY their cheap helicopter and made it fly in air already, and according to it, the total cost is just around $4k. though looks very scary when in flying. :-)

http://hi.baidu.com/tblc/blog/item/d...11ad5762f.html

Cyrus

In what way are they a step ahead?

minicoper

the guy made the thing out there and it works, though looks dangerous, and we are still under discussion and in theory.... :-)

Cyrus

These types of small helicopters have been around for well over ten years.

See this link:
[1] http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/light.html


Your statement about us 'still being in theory' is a puzzle to me. We (technical experts who have given advice, not the yahoos asking the questions) have simply said that this is a stupid idea to be attempted by someone without training in helicopter aerodynamics. No one is actually trying to calculate or prove anything here theoretically.

FredGarvin

The cheap, Chinese (redundant) helicopter link didn't work for me.

Aviation + Chinese = no friggin' way. With the amount of copying and downright fraud when it comes to spec'd hardware and components, there is no way I would even entertain the notion.

mugaliens

Counting the Bensen autogyro, make that 58 years!

Cyrus

Note the inventor: Dr Igor Bensen

mugaliens

Ok, noted. I'm curious as to why, for the "Bensen autogyro" has gone by that name, without the academic accolade, since it's inception. Even his company, Bensen Aircraft, exists sans the doctorate, similar to Freeman's "Dyson sphere." It's not the Dr. Dyson sphere, and having met the man while visiting a good friend from high school who attended Princeton, I'll say "wow" as in "extremely mentally adept," but I'm thankful he never lorded his credentials.

I never met Dr. Bensen.

Plans for homebuilders of his Bensen B-8 remain available to this day. Remarkably capable aircraft! I've flown two helos, a Hughes 500C (369HE), used as a sherrif's helo, and a UH-1N. The Huey was solid as a rock, although it tended to slowly beat you like a washing machine, while the 500 was a bit squirrely!

Cyrus

The note was for the people thinking they should build one in their garage with no expertise.

The fact that its still in use says a lot because there are many home builds that fell by the waist side due to unsafe designs.

mugaliens

It's true: Amature-built aicraft experience experience approximately 3.5 times the accident rate of FAA-certified general aviation aircraft.

However, I'm not so sure that's a function of design or poor quality workmanship as it is the psyche of your typical amateur bilder! Most of them accept more risk than your average pilot, as evidenced by the fact they enter the home-build arena at all.

Having said that, I'm a very meticulous garage mechanic (i.e. I work on my own cars), builder of R/C models (though not since high school), and an aero engineer.

If I ever decided to enter the home-built market, I would rework all calcs, as I'm not about to sit my butt in an airplane that may contain hidden defects! But that's just me...