And after....2 weeksish the N-ARC if finally ready to fly!!! Hoping to get her up tomorrow......look for pics!

Here is a series of the interesting pics:

Profiles on:


Zipper:


Upper skin:


Intake:


Rear line attachment:


Front line attachment:


Dry run:


Inflated:



Wish me luck!
NPW
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Dude!!!! WTF!!! man we gotta talk,about sewing machines ..... I wanna make my own too , maybe we could start a new section about custom builds aka (a sewing circle) WTF!!! I can't believe my shipyard welder a$$ just said that !! But I really do wanna make my own!

dude that is so awesome looks really good hope it turns out good for you.

Weldngod, go for it man! I'd say start w/ an NPW though. There is nothing gay about sewing machines as long as you use them to make things that lift you off the ground. :D

And thanks SC!

*crosses fingers*

Looks nice on the ground, but I need to see it in the air! (I got first run on that bad boy when you come to the east coast!) I'm curious about the few amount of cells will effect it.

Yeah, thats the one thing that does concern me. But one things for sure, it aint no jumping kite. So I'm not too concerned about the amount of lift. Just get me out there on those 25+days. (My 3m is a 2 line trainer so I've never been able to use that)

Perhaps it should be nicknamed "The Almost" Went up today and tried to fly it, but the one thing I messed up w/ this kite.....the zipper is on the back. Makes it hard to preinflate and then launch. And the seams need to be taped, it leaks sooooo fast. Like I don't need to open the zipper to deflate it. I think a battery operated pump is a must to launch this kite. And from there I tried holding it in a vertical C shape to get it fully inflated, and it pushes all the air out.... I need some help to get it tuned and then I hope it gets flying. But those short 3 second flights make me think I might have just pulled it off!!!

Dude! Still, again, and always inspiring! I can't believe you cranked that out so quick! I KNOW you'll get it dialed in, and I KNOW you'll share your wisdom.

One of the manufacturers out there is probably watching your posts and gonna pay your engineering degree for you to come work for them......

LOL! I'm not a math person though.... I was thinking last night, can you have an open cell arc? Cuz the real issue is the preinflation. If I could cut out every other cell would it inflate? I won't be using it on the water anyways...too small and I would never go out on a homemade kite.

I don't see any issues with open cells, but I'm not an arc expert at all. Really though, you get this working good, I'll be heading down to the fabric store to build my own high wind kite!

im no arc expert but why not put vents in every cell like the old arcs. that way it has better pre inflation. and the zipper would make it inflate even faster. but regardless great job i think you have really inspired some confidence from the members here. stick with it im sure youll figure it out.

I can't put any one way vents inside now because the kite is closed, but I can cut holes and stich in mesh. So if I do make it open cell it can't be used on the water at all, which I kinda want to mess on a medium wind day w/ a strapless board this summer. I'm kinda a bit reluctant to just cut open my kite. Also it's leaking like hell out of all the seams, what do I use to fix this? I can't seal the profile seams, it would be too much, and look absurd, but I do need to seal the TE and sides. Then once I silkscreen N-ARC on I can seal it w/ silicone tent spray I bought so I can fly it on the snow and not have it absorb water.

i think that if you were to start over i would seal the seams with glue first im not sure what kind but glue and then stitch. but my arc 1120 has tons of one way vents and its hard to pre inflate but it helps. remember this is your first twin skin im sure if you build another it will be tons better, we learn by our mistakes. if building kites were easy we would all be doing it. i just hope you can get it to fly for you.

I can see it now...."Guys - I've just received my NPW Brilliance 17m and this kite is the shiznit! I'll post pics as soon as I can but don't wait - buy your own today! You won't regret it!"

Or something like that.

:D

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I think it'll go up today......20 gusting to 40, maybe it will pre inflate in that!

Quote:

Originally posted by strictlycarved i think that if you were to start over i would seal the seams with glue first im not sure what kind but glue and then stitch.

most of the homebuilt arcs tend to use double sided stickytape to seal the seam and then stitch through it. Worked on mine when I made one. Inflation was great, flew like a sack of &*$%

That's why i stuck to making foils and mainly used my 3.5m homebuilt at NABX this year