have you made training gear

[dogbiscuit]

have any of you clever folks out there made your own training gear.
racking my brain trying to think where you could buy something off the shelf that could be used for training gear rods. light, bendy and cheap, thin rods?

pop on the ping pong balls and get out the cable ties...but what about the rods...

[dw45]

garden canes..... golf practice balls simple's

[Rctintin]

For a 450, 5/6mm carbon rod and practice golf balls.

I taught myself to fly 15 odd years ago, and made them from 10mm dowling and tennis ball size air balls for the shuttle. Think they came from a toy shop as a bat and balls set.

I just made up a block (nylon or wood) in the centre, and push/glue the 4 rods in. Use 'O' rings either side of the balls, and a spot of cyno to hold them in place.

[derrick]

For a 50 size use hoola hoop and 2 ally rods tiewrapped together

[dogbiscuit]

this will be for a blade 400.
would garden canes be to heavy for this heli (or do you mean the thin green ones)
where do i but 5/6mm carbon rod? if its from the local model shop will it cost as much as the training gear?

[Ewan]

If you have a kite shop locally they should have some 5mm rod reasonably cheap as this is a standard size for most cheap kites

[Tony Brazao]

The blade 400 will easily lift off with training gear, its a bit of a beast.

I made some training skids; get a length of 50x50mm wood & cut a cube off the end. Drill 4 holes, buy some 8mm wooden dowel to make 4 arms, secure ping pong balls to the end by burning a 9-ish mm hole on one end and screw through the other end into the dowel.

[jakegazzard]

Get 5mm carbon rod, make a square out of wood and drill 1 hole of each horizontal square so 4 holes all together, get some polystyrene balls and put on ends of the rods.

[Tony Brazao]

The blade 400 will easily lift off with training gear, its a bit of a beast.

I made some training skids; get a length of 50x50mm wood & cut a cube off the end. Drill 4 holes, buy some 8mm wooden dowel to make 4 arms, secure ping pong balls to the end by burning a 9-ish mm hole on one end and screw through the other end into the dowel.

[coptermanic]

For my 450, I made trng gear from 2 x 10mm wooden dowels and some of that thick grey pipe lagging. The dowels were attached with elastic bands in parallel across the landing struts, and having sharpened the tips, the lagging was pushed into the two dowels to make a pair of big outriggers. Saved a lot of blades!!!!!!!!!

[tonystevens]

Or save yourself the bother and go get some training balls straight off the shelf from your LMS,they're cheap enough as it is

http://www.fast-lad.co.uk/store/rc36...ge-p-4881.html

[Qube444]

I agree, but when the centre hub gets damaged, use the wooden block method it soooo simple and works a treat.

[Hangar-7]

I found the traditional training gear are a bit bulky so made my own from broken training gears. I had better control on heli and had no broken TG since.

Made an aluminium version as well but never had to use it. So I'm saving it for my Trex 500. 10mm sq aluminium channel I got from good ol B&Q!

[dogbiscuit]

thanks. the kite is the answer i needed for the rod. now you have said it, it seems obvious. we have one in the loft that the kids never use. perfect.

[Matt_W]

i had an old tent so i used the carbon rod from that and some tennis balls