Babbman - 34 Cell Tetrahedron

[Babbman]

This weather is ridiculous.... I was bored

Plus, I can't slack off on building too much....

So, I turned my 10 cell Tetrahedron into a 34 cell...

This time, I used a space blanket from Walmart for some of the cells... should make it extremely shiny and visible.... I also redid many of the connectors to make them a bit longer and better orientated to hold the dowels in line with each other

I think I've broken every weak dowel on this thing so I shouldn't have any surprises there... but, this thing is pretty fragile... I hope it doesn't just explode in the air when I put it up...

Anywhere, here it is...

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[Mike]

It's beautiful! It will look stunning in a sunny sky.

[Babbman]

Thanks Mike... I wish I could drive it down to Champaign today but alas, I play at church until noon today...

Depending on the weather here, I was going to call Chris and try to get out for an hour or so today... The frozen ground is going to make launching the Jordan an improbability but I might be able to get this up...

Have you built/flown a tetrahedron?

Any suggestions on a next project? I'm still trying to find unique and unusual things to build....

Have fun today... I hope the weather cooperates...

[Hector Herrera]

Hi Babbman, it's an absolute beauty you have there.
It looks like a very intrincate thing to do...
The See through red and blue will be strikingly awesome when the sun get through to it.
May I ask what kind of material you used in your blue and red?
That's exactly what I want to use to make my Revo. butterfly.
I was thinking Cellophane at first but is not for a fast kite, I guess Polypropilene is more apropiate.
Congratulations...

[Jim Foster]

Babbman

Your Tetra is beautiful. I'm sure it will look very nice in the air.

These are some pictures we took of the Alexander Graham Bell exhibit at the World Kite Museum in Long Beach Washington when we were there for WSIKF last August. The frames were wooden dowels connected with tubing. Each corner had a small metal spring wound over one of the dowels with one coil bent outward. The cells could be assembled with small plastic machine screws and wing nuts.
The exhibit was open for anyone to assemble whatever their your fancy.

Thought you might be interested

Jim

[Babbman]

Hi Babbman, it's an absolute beauty you have there.
It looks like a very intrincate thing to do...
The See through red and blue will be strikingly awesome when the sun get through to it.
May I ask what kind of material you used in your blue and red?
That's exactly what I want to use to make my Revo. butterfly.
I was thinking Cellophane at first but is not for a fast kite, I guess Polypropilene is more apropiate.
Congratulations...

Hector... Thank you!... yup, it was pretty intricate but I have always loved to put models together and found this no different in reality...

As for material...

1 Space blanket from Walmart ($1.99)
1 roll of red/white/blue clear wrapping paper from hobby lobby (2.99 ea)

I don't like the wrapping paper... the blue and red is ok, but the clear is rather thin and weak, hence, I didn't cover too many cells with them. I would definitely NOT recommend this particular brand for use in anything that will take a lot of stress..

The best thing about this kite is how it packs down for travel... it takes about 2 mins to pop the spreaders out (and probably 10 to put them in...lol... but it flattens down to about 3 inches thick and 3'x3' in height and width...

I want to get it out today!

[Babbman]

Jim,

Thanks for the comments and thank you for the pictures! There never seems to be enough pictures available for the things you decide to build... it's one of the reasons that I try to take so many pictures of what I am building... not to show off but hopefully to help others build and improve upon the build....

This is a cool idea and would make reconfiguration very easy....

[Jim Foster]

Babbman

Thought I would show our two tetras. I think the Rainbow Tetra is made by New Tech, not sure, we got it at a kite shop in Long Beach WA in 2005. It goes together in about a minute and comes apart the same to fit in a regular kite bag (not included, Lynn made one). It flys OK, but not as well as the orange one.

The orange Tetra is interesting. We got it about 1973. The sails are plastic sheet, doubled with the corners cut off. This makes the whole sail a pocket so that the spars can be slid through the edges of the sails. The spars are all the same. They look like large plastic hollow stir sticks, about 12" long and rectangular in cross section. Maybe 1/4 " X 1/8". The connectors are plastic "spider" looking things, all the same, allowing not just the four cells you see here, but four, four cell kites can be put together for a 16 cell. Assembly takes about 10 to 20 minutes, depending how often you do it. Disassembly takes about two minutes and all parts fit into a box 14"x4"x1 1/2". The kite is rather heavy and likes 8 mph or more, but flys very well.

Jim

[Babbman]

Jim,

thanks for even more pictures!...

What I loved about the plan I used (www.tetralite.com) was that you could break the kite down and set it up in a matter of minutes... here's what the 34 cell looks like when it's broken down

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All you do is pop out the spreaders and push it together and you get that...

Also, the kite itself is very light... according to tetralite, it will fly in 2-3mph... of course, with the gusty winds we had here today, I wasn't going to chance it...

Also, the tubing that I used is something that we use at work so it was virtually free...

I am going to refine this plan once I fly the 34 cell and see how it reacts... One thing I didn't like was that everything is interconnected so making smaller sections and putting them together was out of the question... My intention has been to redesign the connectors to allow 4 cell sections to be put together in a variety of ways.... I'd also like to make the sails out of ripstop but thought I would just follow the plans to start...

Another interesting option they give you is to make the spreaders 18" rather than 12" in order to get some more dihedral on the smaller models and allow them to fly in lighter winds... Personally though, I have no doubt that the 34 will fly in really light winds... it damn near wants to fly just when I am walking with it in the house!

Specifically, I want to build one that spells "IKE"

[Frodos Majik]

Looks good Babbman, nice thinking on the resources. Complements of work IS always good!! I would have been a little scared to fly it in todays wind for sure.