We now have killer wind instruments

Met One Instruments , a very cool company in Grant's Pass Oregon that makes very high end and accurate meteorological instruments excitedly responded to the challenge and have jumped in full bore to help us document our NALSA record runs.

We just received from them 3 stunning 034B combo instruments that will be mounted on the Blackbird (2) and also on the chase vehicle (1). Compared to the Davis instruments that we have been using, these beauties appear to be made by the Gods -- the smoothest bearings I've ever seen and perfect mass balancing on the vane (critical to our moving application) After confirmation testing by NALSA, the output of these calibrated instruments will be transmitted back to the data base station (manned by Nalsa official) to determine the speed and direction of the winds local to the vehicle.

Accurate instruments are key to any record that is based on a wind multiple so we are extremely grateful to Met One Instruments for this wonderful and generous contribution to the project.

www.MetOne.com

Testing graph

Here is a graph of the gps/WS data for our last two runs at NewJ:

Blue = relative WS from vehicle
Red = GPS speed output

1: towing Blackbird upwind to N end of runway.
2: positioning Blackbird for run
3: waiting through low wind cycle
4: pushing by hand.
5: vehicle at WS
6: peak speed
7: reload at S end of runway and then repeat

Testing shots

We'll edit up a 2-3 minute condensation of our video (have a couple hours of tape) and get that posted soon as well.

We done good

A great Sunday of non-destructive testing. The runways at NewJ are too short to let the Blackbird truly stretch it's wings, but we still were able to document 8 runs with the fastest just over 2.85x in a 13.5mph wind.

More pics and then some video once I get on a faster connection.

Off to the most recent holy land

Loaded up for testing at the New Jerusalem runways.

Drive axle ratchets

Just in time for our tests on the NewJ runways -- the new drive axle ratchets. Just like the previous and less robust) versions, these act as a form of 'differential' to keep the axle from binding as we turn and allow us to reverse them to tow the vehicle without the prop spinning.

The old and the new, side by side

We've got a handle on it

Variable pitch system complete (for now).

We're going out for runway testing this weekend and we'll see if we need anything more added to that lever system. For accuracy on the upper end of the pitch range I might want to mill some sort of 'gate' system that allows the pilot to adjust one degree at a time by feel. We'll see.

The handle had to be removable to enable entry and exit for the pilot -- turns out the handle from my angle grinder was perfect and threads on and off.

It's the bomb

More odds and ends

Rick mounting the spinner over the hub and Chris working on fabricating the instrument case deck.

Chris is a bright guy

Notice the 'I'm soon to be an official rocket scientist' glow reflected inside the spinner.

Front VP hub linkage complete

The front hub linkage for the variable pitch is now done. It operates nicely from the cable in the cockpit. Next I work on the lever assembly for the pilot.

Things change

The 'thru-propshaft' VP adjustment mechanism is done. There is a long push/pull cable that runs down the inside of one of the pylon fairings and up to the pilot controls (which I build next).

Chris also hollowed out top fairing cap so it fit's nicely

Back panels

Chris also fitted these Coroplast bits over the back axle structure. The half moon openings are there so we can reach in and operate the axle ratchets and we'll likely tape over them for the record runs.

Spin me right 'round again.

As we mentioned in a previous entry, apparently one week of cure time wasn't enough before we melted the foam out of the spinner as the acetone attacked the glass. We had the templates still so we decided it was quicker to build a new one than to fill and sand the wrinkles on the old.

Here's Chris putting the first layers of glass on the new one.

She's a spinner

Chris adding a couple layers of glass. This will be a rather oft handled part and it has no foam for reinforcement so we've thickend it up.

Seat fitting reduex

This time with the official pilot.

Other than the head/helmet, the pilot will be covered with a sewn up lycra piece stretching between the 'dash fairing' and the 'engine cover' and over the pilot's shoulders.

Seat fitting

Nah .... no seat fitting, I just couldn't resist trying out the new digs. With a helmet it should work out to about the right height.

Where we hide the 'other' engine.

In F1 this would be the "engine cover" -- we'll freak people out and call it the same. It's really just gonna be a shaped solid block of foam acting as an aerodynamic device behind the pilot.

A fresh bowl of gu

We had to remove all the foam from spinner so we could mount it up to the prop hub. We used acetone to melt the foam away (sort of).

We probably did this a bit too soon (epoxy perhaps not fully cured) as the acetone attacked our spinner a bit, but we'll survive.

Please don't tailgate

Rick puts a point on the aft most portion of the vehicle -- the rear of the nacelle

Higher torque upgrades

As we approach and perhaps even exceed 3 times the speed of the wind, we're getting rather twisty on our prop shaft. We're now in the 500-700 ft lb range torque wise and car buffs will note that this is similar to the torque output of a modern supercharged Corvette V8 engine.

While Rick and Chris were working on aero upgrades this weekend, I installed the new beefy prop shaft ratchet and milled out and installed a prop sprocket reinforcement plate.