Fractured Axel

I'd agree with Jason the Psycho LE ferrule is in exactly the wrong place and as a consequence breaks infuriatingly often (I doubt whether mine has an original piece of carbon left in it but it has been thrashed). I'm thinking about building a new Psycho using Icarex P31/38 with a sigle piece LE of carbon K and perhaps a reversed Turbo bridle. A lot of effort for an old design but it was the kite I learned to trick fly with so I have a soft spot for it.

Have you plugged the spar ends with 2" bits of 4mm rod? I cant remember the last time I broke a Psycho spar - I've snapped several ferrules, but with the ends plugged the spars dont break.

PS chamfer the ends of the plugs with a pencil sharpner to avoid creating a stress point at the end of the plug and use a gap filling adhesive like araldite rather than CA.glue.

Jason had it right about replacing the LE's with one complete length of 6mm carbon and doing away with the ferrule.

However, I've got 2 Psycho's one ferruled and one non-ferruled, this is so I can take one on holiday. You can pop the bungee elastic off, release the sail tensioner & pull out the LLE's from the ferrule and then it fits in your suitcase. Don't forget to take a spare LLE though!

Have a look here for mods although you may have to register first.


http://www.gwtw-kites.com/forum/topic.a ... rms=psycho

I think one of the upper leading edges and the upper spreader are original on my Psycho.

In my continuing quest for instant gratification I have begun using a hot-melt glue gun to fix ferrules and inserts as it sets much quicker than Araldite and seems to do the trick.

Incidentally, I broke an upper leading edge on holiday this summer and only had spare lower leading edges/lower spreaders (these are longer than the ULE but I had no hacksaw). I found that the kite remained flyable when the ULE was repaired with duct tape. When I later acquired a greenstick fracture in one of the lower spreaders I repaired that with duct tape as well and managed to keep flying!

P.S. I use Elli's mods to the bridle and weighting of the Psycho, plus a Fury-style yoyo line, and they work a treat.

Hmmm I've flown mine with several breakages and apart from ground work it seems to fly just a well with broken LE's. Although do it does tend to look more like an Alien.