jeanjockey - 13-9-2010 at 12:22 PM
I spent about thirty minutes yesterday trying to get all the twists out of the center lines on my Montana IV. Seems these twists build up overtime and
there is no built in swivel that relieves them during flight. The right and left center lines after they split off from the single line also seem to
have a coating that makes them love to twist around each other. Has anyone else had this problem or installed a swivel in a similar situation and
where might I obtain a suitably strong swivel.
John Holgate - 13-9-2010 at 03:43 PM
Not sure about the swivel - I would assume you would need the combined breaking strength of both power lines - say 600kg's ? that might be a bit
heavy. I would take the lines off, peg the end and run them out full length and get all the twists out of them. I always fig 8 my lines onto either
bar or handles (I get in a tangled mess if I just wrap 'em round) which keeps them kink free but more importantly, I keep an eye on my lines and which
way I've twisted them when flying and always try to get them back to 'neutral'. Which often involves a few assorted kite spins and accompanying bar
twists at a convenient time. Even though my brake lines may not cross over, I still keep an eye on my power lines to see if they're twisted.
I would often down-loop at the end of a beach run the fly back the other way with crossed lines until I down-looped again at the other end. Didn't
take me long to work out this was causing a lot of wear and tear on the lines. I now try and take out any twists in the lines at the earliest
convenient time.
jeanjockey - 13-9-2010 at 04:59 PM
Thanks John, it is the wear that I am concerned about. As I'm not doing many kite spins the twists are being introduced during setup and random
spinning of the chicken loop before hooking in. I too always figure 8 my lines and the brake lines seem fine. The thicker line attached to the chicken
loop running up through the trim cleat is not observably affected by these twists and translates the twists up towards the kite. Its the lines that
then split off to the two front leading edge attachment points that retain the twists. I detached the lines yesterday and ran out all the twists, so
for now I will just keep an eye on them and repeat as needed. I was just surprised because even my small Rage has a swivel on the break lines to keep
this from happening.
Kamikuza - 13-9-2010 at 05:01 PM
Detach the line at one end (say, the kite) then from the bar, run the line through your fingers with a good pressure and sorta smooth it out ...
DAKITEZ - 13-9-2010 at 06:42 PM
how about a peter lynn spinning spreader bar?
jeanjockey - 13-9-2010 at 07:49 PM
I'm fine with the bar but would be interested in a lightweight bomb proof swivel.