The World’s Best Kite
Retrieval System.
The idea was to quickly retrieve my kite without doing much.
First I rebuilt the Reel, it had to be a bait caster so the spool wouldn’t bird’s-nest.
Penn is now my favorite reel, this one is made in the USA!!! It is of very good construction and engineering.
A seven gear-train total, (eight when I’m done with it). Clock-wise rotation of the crank gives counter-clock-wise rotation of the spool and counter-clock-wise rotation of the indexing shaft for the guide follower.
I had made the motor for one of the ALX-1 experiments.
Tuned down (lower voltage), it was still a good 300 watts so I used a switch triggered relay.
I wired a switch and the normally closed relay contacts (in series with the motor) in parallel with a 7.2 volt RC car battery.
It worked great for a while, then burned (melted the solder off) the contact off the inside connection of the relay contact.
It will need a Solid-state relay in the future but I’m just
using a 120volt 30 Amp home fuse to switch it now. http://www.omega.com/pptst/SSRL240_660.html
Man and it goes, probably about or around 100 feet per second, with a small kite and no wind, really, ~100 feet per second, tested in a park.
Rebuild Photo
The reversing gear for
the follower shaft (below)
The gear I attached, an HPI gear.
This is what I milled
in between the two aluminum pieces are washers that set the mesh. The motor
must turn clock-wise (looking at the motor)
I had to mill (drill) the bottom posts out of
the project box to make room for the relay and switch.
Charging the battery.
Thanks to Aaron for the Reel.
Image with Solid State Relay installed
