247DV

Some of you might remember from one of my earliest posts that my registration number is my dads birthday and his initials. 247DV. Well...today is that day.

"The wealth of information you have given me has shaped who I am today. Woodwork, welding and fixing anything with an engine are just a few of the skills you have taught me. You have made me a more self-sufficient person. That self-sufficiency has helped give me the confidence to become a pilot, repairman, college graduate and soon a husband. You have passed on your ability to be an open, honest and loving individual. Your advice is always well thought out and truthful, to the point my friends have gone to you in their time of need. You accept others as your own kin and are not afraid of expressing your appreciation for them in your life. I’m thankful and honored to call you my father. Happy 65^th dad."

Tubing and a harness!

I picked up the tubing today. I'm hoping to have the bends done this weekend or the next. I also got a very gracious donation of a 5 point harness from Gary at Gary Paulson Racing!

Ordering Steel Tomorrow

After toying around with many designs (some realistic, some not so realistic), I have finally decided how to approach building the frame. I don't have any pictures worth sharing right now, but the design is going to be very similar to one of the sketches I shared in my last post.

The basic layout is going to be the same with a few minor changes and additions. I will be ordering the mild steel for the prototype tomorrow. Then on to building. Then on to testing.

One final note is that I will not be recording video of the frame being built. There are too many difficulties in trying to get a video of the entire process since a lot will be inside, and a lot will be outside. I don't want to inconvenience the people who are helping me out. BUT, I will be taking a ton of pictures that will go in the time lapse video when I'm done with the balloon.

Another update in a couple weeks. Thanks!

New Year and New News

Hello all! Sorry for making all of you wait for another update for so long. My last real progress was back in October when I stated my intentions for building the fan a new frame and getting it a new prop. Well, I haven't done that yet. You might have noticed the pace of the build was starting to slow back around September-October and there is a good reason for that (which I wasn't able to share at the time)....

I'm engaged!

I was putting most of my extra money away to buy a ring for Ms. Kelli Cherry (remember the cherry on my parachute??) soon to be Mrs. Kelli Veliz.

So, now that the proposal is out of the way....back to the hard stuff!

Although I haven't fully decided on the design for the lower end of this build, I haven't been short of ideas. Here are a few drawings I sketched up. They are not meant to be realistic, so they are not exact measurements. I was just trying to get an idea of where I might start to approach this part of project and used the grid to help me sketch a little more accurate than freehand drawing.

As you can see, I am using a horizontal 20 gallon Aerostar tank. The seats are actually polyurethane racing seats and are very comfortable to sit in.

Here is another sketch I made up.

So after doing a million sketches I decided to start building a prototype out of 1.25" Galvanized pipe. The reason? It is cheap, light and I have 100+ feet of it. Here are a few pictures while moving around the components, welding and cutting up pipe and trying to figure out what will work and what wont.
*Please keep in mind this will NOT be my final design. The frame will be much more carefully constructed, there will be more bracing and my welds will be clean and strong.*

What I learned from building these prototypes is that i should have built a larger envelope. Limiting myself to a specific weight for the gondola has posed more than a few complications for me. However, I have decided to continue with a design like the one below. If it ends up being too heavy, I will build a one man cloud hopper lower end and use this lower end for my next experimental envelope.

Like I stated earlier, the frame will not be EXACTLY like this. I will not be using a single upright tube in the front because it will not provide enough structural support. Sometimes you just have to use your imagination.

That is it for this update. Expect another in a week or two. I will be building a demo frame out of mild steel which I will then destroy in load and drop tests. As long as everything turns out fine, Ill be ordering the stainless steel and have this project finished by the end of March!

Check Back In January

Hello All! It has been a month or so since I have updated, so I thought I should give some insight into what's going on with the project.

As stated in the previous post, I have the envelope basically completed and I am waiting to purchase the materials for the chariot lower end. This wont happen until January. I have been quite busy with the holidays, work related activities and I am graduating from the University of California Davis in the beginning of December. Needless to say it has been hard to focus on building the rest of the experimental. But, January is the month!

In my next few posts I will be listing items that I will be purchasing and hopefully have a final drawing of how I am going to construct the chariot frame. Check back in a month and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Inflator fan

The final touches on the envelope will be completed upon its first cold inflation (IE: installing the thermistor wire and turning vent lines). I am unsure of the exact length needed for the turning vent lines since I changed the location of the stainless steel rings to avoid the parachute line and turning vent lines possibly getting tangled. I am going to cold inflate the envelope, string the turning vent lines through the appropriate rings and tie them in. I will cut the final length once I have the balloon inflated and stood up.
Now that I have the envelope pretty much finished, I have a few new projects to start on. The first and most important being to build the gondola (chariot lower end). Unfortunately I don't think I will manage to get to that project till the beginning of December. However, I do have some smaller projects that I can start working on in the mean time.

I knew I would be needing an inflation fan for my balloon and was contemplating purchasing one from either Tempest or from Klein Fans. Tempest makes a fantastic safe and VERY effective fan which I have been lucky enough to have used on numerous occasions. I have not had the opportunity to use a Klein fan yet, but I have heard great things about their compact size and light weight design. So as I was contemplating which one to purchase, I stumbled upon an amazing deal through a customer of mine, Chuck Reynolds, who wanted to contribute to my balloon project. I was speaking to Chuck about what he liked about his fairly new 5hp Tempest fan and explained how I was in search of a fan for my experimental balloon. After a few minutes of conversation about how the Tempest was a great choice, Chuck offered up his old fan for next to nothing. I gladly accepted and am now the proud owner of this beast of a fan:

As you can see, it needs a little TLC. But, if you didn't notice from the pictures....it has a brand new 8HP motor! Yes it is OVERKILL for my little balloon, but who cares?! Ill be able to cold pack my balloon on idle!

My game plan is to purchase a 6 blade propeller to replace the damaged wooden prop currently on the fan. I will remove the motor from the frame, weld up my own which will be a little smaller and will be easier to move around. In addition to building a new frame I am going to construct a shroud for the fan and I plan on using the existing cage to seal up the front and back of the unit. Of course...there are plans to paint the entire unit some form of gray, pink and lime green. I will wait till it is finished being built before I come up with a color design though.

That's it for now. Check back in a couple weeks for another update.

In the Bag!

There are some things I just cant resist putting personal touches on. Having things custom made or altered to be truly unique is a great way to stand out from the crowd and can make all the difference in how you treat your equipment. At least, that's what I believe...

So, it got me thinking...the envelope spends most of its life INSIDE its bag. Why not make the bag just as impressive as the envelope itself? So without further adieu...

The bag is made from VERY durable ballistic nylon. The pink and green fabric is from some cold air scraps we had laying around. I constructed the bag to be comfortable to carry and to last the abuse of being tossed, dropped or dragged around. Here are a few other pictures of the construction process.

 The diamonds are overlaid on the envelope bag.

 Some 5/8 inch rubber hose makes the bag handles much more comfortable to hang onto

As for the envelope, I still have to tie in my thermistor wire and turning vent lines. That should only take me about 30 minutes...which means...I am basically done with the envelope. All in all I am happy with how it has turned out (without seeing it inflated yet). The envelope has a few extra pounds here and there, but overall it should fly nicely when paired with the lower end I will construct over the next few months. I will be purchasing some of the materials to start building soon.