Am trying to mount my batch 4 to a skycruiser trike, while I think I have the trike mount figured out (I used hinge stops to prevent the top frame moving down) I cant
seem to figure out how to get the harness into a semi sitting position for launch. I have tried to shorten the front strap to the shortest it can go but I still do not see the harness seat in a good seating position
It seems to me that at launch time just slide down into the seat till I’m almost falling out of the seat
I can see that once I launch the arms would be raised up much higher and allow me to “sit” but I need to be able to sit with my feet on the front wheel guides at launch
In flight the harness is supported by the wing through the arms. It sounds that you are concerned about the time before the wing is overhead and the seat board of the harness isn’t supported yet, correct?
Why not just add a seat plate to the trike that supports the harness seat board from below until the wing takes over? A “plank” on the center spar of the trike, if you will.
The front wheel and any load you put on the trike is going to put quite a bit of torque on those lower carbon legs… Sure it is going to handle the load without deforming… or folding the legs back in flight?
not sure how i would support the plank at the bottom on this frame, my earlier motor frames had fixed arms and I was able to sit in the harness at take off since the arms were fixed.
I do have concerns about the strength/strain on the carbon fiber frame legs but i read on one of the forums that Zack has used these on trikes before and I’m hoping that translates to these should be strong enough.
To prevent the frame from folding forward I have installed the hinge stops as made by @GliderPilot
However in this configuration the pilot and the wing was connected to the trike. The openppg unit was connected to the back and only provided thrust, no load on the open ppg frame.
I would not assume that at all. Those legs aren’t strong enough for all the loads it would take with the way you have it mounted. Those legs are only strong enough to hold the bottom of the hoop during flight. If Zach or anyone else used an OpenPPG with a trike it would need to have its own structure and the motor is only there for the thrust.
Agreed. I was more concerned about the carbon legs. The hing between the body and the legs would fold rearwards in flight because of the moment from the weight of the front of the buggy, putting the legs into the lower two props.
If a buggy is added to the openPPG frame, it should be attached to the main plates by some means, very similar to the aluminum one, connecting the unit to provide thrust only, but having a separate frame transfer the loads from the trike through to the wing.
I am a little confused…but will offer this, as a trike flyer of 6 years.
The harness…has to be connected to the trike…from the bottom…so when you lift off the wing is supporting “everything” via the swan bars…and the harness is holding up the trike…if not the entire front of the trike will drop down…and you don’t want that…trust me… found that out on a hang test the hard way,.
I used the skycruiser trike for almost 10 years and since I always used frames with fixed arms i never had to attach the harness to a trike. With all the frames i had used till now the frame attached to the trike and the harness attached to the frame using the fixed arms. Hang tests were done to validate the front wheel was slightly raised and i never had any issues flying this way.
I see now that the X4 frame version that i have will likely require significant re tooling to frame/trike to make this work on the current trike I have. I appreciate all the input and thank everyone for their feedback
namaste