Ring Glider attempt

[BABAR]

I’ve built both the Stovepipe and the Ringhawk. The Stovepipe by itself hand-tosses very nicely. I was never able to get it to separate from the booster cleanly. I even build an elastic loaded booster like the Ringhawk to throw the Stovepipe over the booster nose.
The Ringhawk fell gently to earth for me - I never got any forward motion out of it.
My experience with the ‘Zylo’ type gliders is that if you can throw them with very little angle of attack and a spin, they will lock onto a glide path and go far. But too far off angle, and the just flop. And a rocket booster is unlikely to release them at the right angle. Also, they fly -straight-, no corrective action. If the glide path is a dive, it won’t increase, nor decrease the angle to the ground.

I am thinking the StovePipe would have to be perfectly balanced rotationally to get a good spin pre-deployment. Just the engine hook alone on one side might be enough to throw it off.

 

[neil_w]

I've been following this thread with interest. My assumption has been that there's no way you can 3D-print the major components of a glider and get it to be simultaneously light enough to glide and strong enough to survive, but I want to wait and see if Alan can pull it off. Plastic is heavy.

If this can be made to work it'll be a very good accomplishment.

 

[Rktman]

so long as there is at least some semblance of a "glide ratio" instead of a nosedive. which is what keeps happening here.

Neglected to mention that the location of the rings in relation to each other makes a huge difference, both in terms of CG position and whether it will glide or not. For example the similar Ring Hawk glider instructions directed you to trim it by moving the front ring forward and backward until it achieves a nice smooth glide before gluing in the slide stops.

You might want to consider modifying your forward ring attachment so that it's able to slide along your fuselage stick till you achieve a good glide ratio, then lock it in with some CA.

 

[Nytrunner]

This video of Estes solo was not very impressive, to say the least

Try flattening out the trailing edge of the hoop glider and tossing it in your yard. If that doesn't work, try curling it more circular and tossing

As mentioned above, My Double Ringer has one hoop that drops swiftly like yours, but the other glides and circles in the general vicinity of the falling body/chute. Which I'm fine with because it means I only have to go hunting for one, and just walk back to the pad to grab the other one.

 

[BABAR]

Try flattening out the trailing edge of the hoop glider and tossing it in your yard. If that doesn't work, try curling it more circular and tossing

As mentioned above, My Double Ringer has one hoop that drops swiftly like yours, but the other glides and circles in the general vicinity of the falling body/chute. Which I'm fine with because it means I only have to go hunting for one, and just walk back to the pad to grab the other one.

Good ideas. Wasn’t my video, just the only one I could find.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Check out:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/ring-wing-glider.22077/