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benne
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The trickiest of all tricks (How to disassemble a Deep Space

Mon Jun 20, 2016 6:10 pm

Hey guys, long time. My new Deep Space just arrived, I'll get a picture at some point, it's black, dark grey and orange.
Anyway, the trick I'm having so much trouble with, is folding it back together. Do I have to push the lower connectors back up a bit? Was hoping not to, they don't like to move much. What I'm doing doesn't feel right, so how do you do it? :oops:


The weather should be good tomorrow, hope there's time to go out and try it, my first experience with something that doesn't have the name Eolo somewhere on it hehe.


benne^
 
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Re: The trickiest of all tricks (How to disassemble a Deep S

Wed Jun 22, 2016 6:07 pm

As this question hasn't been responded to, I'll have a go at trying to answer....

I'm assuming that you have taken out the upper and lower spreaders, and detached the (black or white flexible fibre-glass rod) roll-bars from the roll bar connectors on the leading edges.

...If you want to fold up the leading edges, you know you have to undo the tension lines at the wingtips, and then pull the 'wingtip extensions' (as they called on spares pages on Benson's website) completely off the ends of the lower leading edges? When this has been done, the lower leading edge tube should be able to slide away from the upper leading edge. On my Deep Space, the lower leading edge tube will be seen sliding down from next to the roll bar connector. The roll bar connector is left on a ferrule that is connected to the upper leading edge.

Is that helpful? Or did you find it out for yourself anyway?
 
benne
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Re: The trickiest of all tricks (How to disassemble a Deep S

Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:46 pm

Thanks for the reply.
I figured most out myself, works like most other kites. The leading edge is what I'm struggling with, have done as you described, it seems to be missing a little bit; it can be rectified by moving the connector over the small stopper, just worried that will create a whole lot of wear on the connectors, as I have to fold it completely almost every time I go out.

Haven't had any decent weather yet, it's gone completely british here, rain with rain.


benne^
 
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Re: The trickiest of all tricks (How to disassemble a Deep S

Sat Jul 02, 2016 11:49 am

benne wrote:
.....it can be rectified by moving the connector over the small stopper, just worried that will create a whole lot of wear on the connectors...

Hmmm, "moving a connector over a small stopper" - it doesn't read quite like my experience with leading edge folding on our ~2006 Deep Space.

- For comparison I'll describe our DS leading edge in more detail.
When assembled:
The small APA elbow is in the middle of the upper cutout in the leading edge fabric. The top of the APA elbow is 15mm from the top edge of the upper cutout. The small APA elbow is prevented from sliding down the upper leading edge tube by a stopper that appears to be made from a flexible endcap with its tip cut off. Between the stopper and the elbow, the uphaul is tied around the tube.

The middle cutout in the leading edge fabric is 55mm long. The rollbar connector sits on the internal ferrule at the end of the upper leading edge tube. The upper surface of the rollbar connector is 7mm from the upper edge of the cutout.

The lower cutout is 90mm long. The upper surface of the large APA elbow is just 7mm away from the upper edge of the lower cutout. The large APA elbow is prevented from sliding down the lower leading edge tube by a C clip stopper. Between the stopper and the elbow, the outhaul is tied around the tube.


During disassembly:
The parts in the upper cutout can stay still.
In the middle cutout, the lower leading edge tube slides down and off the ferrule from the rollbar connector. This leaves 38mm of internal ferrule exposed below the rollbar connector.
In the lower cutout, the tube with the large APA connector, outhaul and C clip stopper slides down by up to 60mm so that the C clip stopper is at the lower edge of the cutout. Because the C clip stopper is quite thick, it won't slip into the sleeve below the cutout.

...So on our kite, no need to slip any connector over a stopper.

To check - when folded, the lower end of the lower leading edge tube sticks out beyond the nose? - With our kite, with the upper end of the lower leading edge tube at the lower edge of the lower cutout, the lower end of the lower leading edge is about 23cm beyond the nose.

Haven't had any decent weather yet, it's gone completely british here, rain with rain.

Similar here - days of cloud and showers. A rain shower came and went as I typed the above.
But may go to the Bognor kite festival tomorrow - and the weather forecast is looking promising for a fairly dry day, the first for a week. Fingers crossed.
 
benne
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Re: The trickiest of all tricks (How to disassemble a Deep S

Wed Jul 06, 2016 3:34 pm

I still haven't figured out how to do this, guess I'll just walk to the beach then, it's only 4 hours :D

No idea why I can't wrap my mind around this, normally quite good at this kind of thing, tetrising. Will find a safe way to strap it on the bicycle, for now.


benne^
 
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Re: The trickiest of all tricks (How to disassemble a Deep S

Wed Jul 06, 2016 6:45 pm

There's a Deep Space assembly video on the Benson website - not sure it's possible to play it backwards though. Might be worth a watch to see if it helps.
Keith B
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Re: The trickiest of all tricks (How to disassemble a Deep S

Thu Jul 07, 2016 11:42 am

I just watched the DS assembly video, and it does look like you would need to push the spreader connector over the smaller stopper to be able to fold the leading edge.
Is there not a way you can carry the kite in its longer form, without the extra fold? I think this is how most people do it - I don't even take out the lower spreaders from the connectors on the leading edge, but then I am lazy.
If you are travelling by bike, you could strap it to the side of the crossbar, or make a strap/sling for it so you can carry it on your back.
Keith B

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damp_weather
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Re: The trickiest of all tricks (How to disassemble a Deep S

Thu Jul 07, 2016 2:20 pm

Keith,

Thank you for pointing out the assembly video. (I used a similar Benson video many years ago to assemble my kite for the first time, but I had lost track of where the video was.)

Benne, if like me you couldn't find the video on the Benson website, it is in "TECH" -> "INSTRUCTION". (i.e. not in "MEDIA" -> "VIDEOS", which is where I was looking.)

My recollection is that when I first assembled my DS, it went together as shown in the video, - the only differences being that in the video the lower edge's "large" stopper appears to be a ring that surrounds the tube which is thin enough to fit within the leading edge sleeve, whereas mine is a thicker C-clip, and my lower leading edge tubes do not have a "small" stopper.

In the assembly video, Tim Benson moves the lower spreader connector (elbow) down the lower leading edge tube to the large stopper, trapping the outhaul between the elbow and the stopper. Moving the elbow down allows the tube to be moved up the leading edge sleeve and onto the ferrule.
Once I had moved the elbow down to the large stopper, I found that I never needed to move it away again, even if I folded up the edges. I assumed that Tim supplied the kite with the elbow away from the large stopper and with the out-haul knot loose, not because it allowed the kite to be folded, but as it saved him a few minutes in manufacturing the kite - the customer could do the final adjustments.

...Has the detail of the DS's lower leading edge changed enough in the last ~10 years that now one has to move the elbow away from the large stopper in order to fold the kite??

P.S. - Part of the reason why my DS folds up so easily is that the ferrule end can come out of the sleeve at the middle cutout. Does this work with yours, Benne? If it is very close (say <4mm) whether the ferrule end clears the edge of the middle cutout, then it may be just a matter of time, and after some use the kite will fold up much easier. (I think that my kite got easier to fold with use.)