MAKE: Noise — Discuss this article

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• Other recommendations
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  This looks a lot like some other ornithopter designs that are being built. However there are a lot of great sources out there to use as inspiration to make your design work better.
  
  You can find some great other ornithopter kits to use for ideas at www.ornithopters.org, or find out what state of the art of research is going on at www.ornithopters.wordpress.com
  
  The IFly Vamp and WowWee Dragon fly also are great sources of inspiration for how to upgrade the ornithopter you build. You can get increased camber (and therefore more lift) by putting a strip of tape on the bottom of your wing (pre-tension it as you put it on). You might also want to investigate using carbon fiber rods at just the leading edge or diagonal across the wing to save some weight and give the wing some more flexibility/increased thrust.
  
  Have fun making your own!

  Posted by robertdlove on July 04, 2008 at 17:40:39 Pacific Time

• Cool - but could it be better?
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  I have to say that this is really cool. I am impressed at how slowly this thing can fly. However, now that the initial excitement has worn off, I would like to be able to get a little better performance.
  
  The problem that I am having is gaining altitude. I am getting less than 2.5 cycles per second at the very best - usually closer 1 after the first few seconds. On the Make video, it looks like theirs is flapping no faster. My longest flights are maybe 10 seconds. A quick internet search brings up many ornithopter projects that produce much higher hertz and can gain altitude and stay aloft for a minute or more. What can I do to improve mine? It seems like the biggest problem is the jerky crank rotation. Has anyone tried a different crank geometry?
  

  Posted by shoomaker on April 06, 2007 at 11:26:15 Pacific Time

• 2.5 inch crank/front motor wire ?
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  When I look at step 1E (page 95) it says the wire should be bent with lengths of 1", 3/4", 1/8" and 3/8"... which together are 2.25 inches long.
  
  However, on page 94 it says to cut the crank/front motor wire to 2.5" If that's true, 2.5" - 2.25" would leave just 0.25 inches for the shaft and hook.
  
  I was hoping the electronic version would have corrected this, but maybe not.
  
  Anywho, I'll try making the whole thing 3.5" and see how it turns out. :P I'll try to post again if it works.
  
  Cheers, Everyone! :)

  Posted by B_Free on January 14, 2007 at 13:29:03 Pacific Time

• 2.5 inch crank/front motor wire ?
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  Finished!!!
  
  Actually, I ended up using a 4" wire for the main crank assembly. (Thought I'd share that for what it's worth.) Also, be sure and have 2 needle nose pliers for bending the wire! :)
  
  This is uber-cool! Have fun with it Everyone!!! :-D
  
  

  Posted by B_Free on January 17, 2007 at 18:35:02 Pacific Time

• flappy!
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  arg, i got the angle on the crankshaft wong, and now it flaps retartedlike, its still awesome though!

  Posted by leeweek on January 07, 2007 at 10:11:56 Pacific Time

• flappy!
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  Posted by swordk on October 05, 2008 at 03:07:27 Pacific Time

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  I can't wait to build this one.

  Posted by TheThompsonFive on November 07, 2006 at 17:00:02 Pacific Time

• Ok...mine is done!
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  I think I found one small flaw with the design, however.
  A coworker and I felt the wings did not raise nearly enough to give sufficient lift, so after a number of tests, I incresed the length of the connecting rods by 1/4" (and moved the holes up appropriately of course).
  The wings slightly alternate, but it doesn't seem to have much of an adverse effect. It flies great and looks amazing. Its currently hanging in my classroom.
  
  

  Posted by Charlie24601 on December 07, 2006 at 06:44:14 Pacific Time