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Build Your Own Flying Lawn Mower
Ant writes "Ever seen a flying lawn mower (streaming; download 5.1 MB WMV file) before? I haven't. The WMV video file description says: 'FlyingThingZ Sky Cutter .40 V2 flying at Moon Lake's Annual Make a Wish Foundation Airshow for 2004'. More information can be found on the official Web site. Seen on Blue's News. My good friend, KaT, brought up a good question: 'Since lawns (also known as grass) live usually less than 6" from the ground, how would flying help them do their job better?'"
in case of slashdotting on that site and to reduce slashdotting on my site (I get 25 GB per month... i'll use about 20 this month)... tack on the filename in the 5.1 MB file link to "http://www.calcgames.org/site/pub/" and it'll be there. Please, if you have bandwidth, mirror it to your site, and PLEASE do NOT post a linky to my site.
The video file is likely to slashdot the server, so I've created a mirror at http://emvis.net/skycutter40-1.wmv. Enjoy.
--sean
"[T]he single essential element on which all discoveries will be dependent is human freedom." -- Barry Goldwater
My niece was killed by a flying lawnmower
She's better now
Huh?
This
Just a small model of a lawn mower made out of balsa and foam with an engine tacked on.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
C'mon, hobbyists have been making and flying this for years and years. I'd be impressed IF they implemented some kind of a height-restriction system to keep the "mower" some distance above the ground, say a few inches or a foor or whatever. But there is nothing unique about this. Sorry.
A blog like any other.
The flying lawnmower's been a staple design in the the "fun fly" catagory of RC (radio control)for years. Always a head turner for those not into RC. Since they tend to fly like a brick outhouse, this one was either very well designed or flown by a really good RC pilot (or both). Nice video too.
nice troll but the lift action on lawnmowers is backwards from ^ up. Turn one over and sharpen the blade one day and look at it.
Now they USED to make what is called a "flymo", it was a hovercraft action lawnmower, no wheels on the thing. Been looking for one at a pawn shop or a yard sale for a long time now. They used to sell them on late night UHF TV infomercials, pretty nifty for cutting steep hillsides and rough ground.
skycutter40-1.wmv
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"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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If you like Cotton Eye Joe (by Rednex), check out Swamp Thing (by The Grid).
It's a remote-controlled (RC) "toy". It's made of balsa/plywood/etc.
Kill the engine, and it will be landing pronto.
You can appreciate the details.
Besides the obvious "She was killed" and "She's better now" discrepancies, there's the fact that a lawnmowers blade apparently created lift.
A lawnmower's blade creates downward force, not lift, as the blades are designed to suck the clippings upward into the bag or suck them upward until they are chopped finely enough to drop (mulching!).
Not only that, but how could any residential lawnmower create enough lift to haul itself AND a full grown man up to a second floor balcony?
Good try, but maybe next time.
On a positive note you've got a brilliant carreer in politics ahead of you!
This thing (or a variant) has been around at LEAST 6 years (probably a lot longer, but that long at least I remember seeing a picture of it).
The way it works is that the "deck" of the lawnmower itself is the wing. It is essentially a strange-shaped flying wing. The "bars" to the handle are the rudders, and there's elevons (combination aileron/elevator) behind the deck/wing. You can easily see the engine and propellor on the front as-is.
Neat to see more pictures of it though, even if variants of it have been around for a while.
Erioll
Pound for pound, model airplane engines have the highest horsepower of any internal combustion engine. Realize they are basic in design, with high-quality tolerances, and the bare minimum of metal to contain and cool. All unnecessary weight is dropped: there is no battery, no starter. The throttle works directly on the airfeed, which pulls the fuel by suction. (Occasionally helped by pressurized tanks.)
They are simple. But they only have to do a simple job, and they do it well.
'Sensible' is a curse word.
But outside of that, it either needs plenty of altitude *or* forward speed to land safely. Either will do. What the pilot does is adjust the pitch of the blades (the collective) so that the forward movement or the movement of the helicopter down speeds them up. Once you get close to the ground, you adjust the collective the other way to flare your approach. Requires quite a bit of practice to get right. :) (no, I can't do it yet.)
You, uh, didn't look too hard for one, did you?
Flymo
-Z
You have violated Robot's Rules of Order and will be asked to leave the future immediately.
Nothing very exciting actually :)
.40 cc glow engine running with 70% methanol, 15% oil, 15% nitromethane. ;P
I've built my first RC airplane recently, and thus have roamed the appropriate forums. You wouldn't believe what kind of contraptions these guys build.
I have to admit the skycutter was the best one I have ever seen. (Was linked in my local R/C airplane forum few weeks back.)
The thing is made of debron, the ultimate end-all material of indoor and other wacky fliers. It weights next to nothing and is rather durable. It is a foam, used mostly in insulation of floors and fast food packaging.
By the looks of it, I'd say the skycutter weights under 2 kilograms. Which is quite easily taken airborne with
Planes this light don't actually need any kind of airfoil. Flat control surfaces are enough to adjust where you want the lift to go.
So again -- With enough static thrust, you can fly a rock.
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