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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
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.
You can appreciate the details.
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.)
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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