Delta Kite
Delta is a very nice kite for its beautyful flight and simple construction, it's possible to make it with many materials like paper, tyvek and spinnaker nylon of course.
I collected in this page some typicals and easy to make construction details for spinnaker delta.
Some pictures of my delta kites...
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Delta kite parts (see from below): a) Wing spars |
Plan and materials
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All dimension shown in side picture refer to 2 mt. base-width delta kite. It's possible to make kites of other size upscaling or downscaling all dimensions. |
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To make this delta kite you need:
Spinnaker nylon for wings and keel.
Dacron band for wings and spine
tunnels and for
all renforcements.
Spars and brass tube for joints,
arrow nocks and
end caps.
Sewing thread
Bridle line
Soldering
iron and a working table
Spinnaker nylon
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Fabric rolls are generally 1 or 1.5 meters width and the suitable sizes for delta kite are 2 or 3 m base -width as on the left picture show. This arrangement keeps fabric weft making homogeneous wings deformation and ensuring a more stable flight. |
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It' s very important remember to add 6-7 mm edge around for sewing the pieces togheter and to make the wing trailing edge. Trailing edge can be made also with curved shape like on the 5m delta project. Right side picture show another mode to assemble triangles obtained from fabric square pieces divided by diagonal cut. |
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Work sequence
Cut out all spinnaker
pieces : wings and
keel
Prepare dacron
reinforcments and loops.
Prepare dacron bands for
wing-spar and
keel tunnels sewing end loops (
Fig. A ).
Assemble keel
adding dacron hem and sewing reiforcements on bridle attach point (
Fig. B
).
Hem wings trailing edge
and sew
reinforcements on spreader attach point (Fig.
C)
Sew wing-spar tunnels to
wings and sew
dacron loop for the spreader ( Fig.
C ).
Sew togheter two half
wings and keel (
Fig. E. sez. 1-1).
Sew spine tunnel to the
kite( Fig.
E).
Sew reinforcements at
wing-spar end
inside tunnel ( Fig. B).
Prepare
spars with nocks
and caps end and saw off all spars at right lenght.
Construction details
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Left side picture show the kite seen from below, the keel side. Following pictures show some construction methods for principal kite points. |
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Fig. A show two possible solutions to fix wing-spars to wing-spar tunnel end. On Det.1 wing-spar is inserted in the dacron loop 4) and fastened by a rubber ring 5) made by a rubber water pipe. On Det.1/a wind-spar end with an arrow nock 6) and it get on an elastic cord 7) inserted in the dacron loop 4). |
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At first, for Det.1 and Det.1/a solution, you have to prepare wing-spar ends sewing dacron band doubled for more strenght, as shown on Detail 1/b . You can hem trailing edge of delta kite (Fig. A, sez. b-b) simply folding its edge or adding a fabric strip as shown on detail. The Section a-a in Fig. A show how you can joint the wing-spar tunnels with the wings. At first you have to make the seam 1) on the dacron strip to obtain an assembling reference line and then the seam 2) and 3), taking care to put near the wing fabric to seam 1) |
Fig. B show reinforcement for wing-spar tunnels where spars end.
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Dacron band c) hem all kite wings to the upper end. It's better to place a rubber end cap e) on spar ends. In this point pockets will be closed by seam f) and reinforced with an additional dacron piece b) to avoid spinnaker fabric wearing out. Spar tunnels width have to be calculated according with spar diameter, taking care to foresee joint tubes and end caps.
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Fig. C show a possible solution to joint spreader and wing spars together, wich allow to adapt kite to many kind of winds. At first you have to sew dacron reinforces a) on both wing side, then sewing wing-spar tunnel b) and dacron loop c). Spreader ends with plastic nock d) and get up a cord loop e) ( no elastic cord in this case) . It's possible to adapt the delta kite for strong winds extending this loop. |
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Fig. D show two of possible solutions for bridle attach point. Keel will be made with two fabric folds for best resistance. Det. 2 don't allow to change the kite fly angle; Det. 1 show a solution where three metallic buttonholes a) allows to change bridle attach point. You can use back attach point for light winds and the forward one for strong winds. These buttonholes are on sale on haberdasher's shop and availables in many sizes. This keel point is very stressed and it's important to place here several dacron layers b). |
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Fig. E show how to resolve spine spar attack. At first you have to sew spine tunnel a) with two longitudinal seams, then Dacron loop b)on dacron band a) like for wing-spar ends (See det.1/b).
Spine spar ends with a plastic nock c) and elastic loop d) |
Spar diameters to use
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Kite base width (mt) |
Wooden |
Fiberglass tube |
Carbon fibre tube |
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1 |
Wing-spars : 6 mm |
Wing-spars : 5 mm |
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2 |
Wing-spars : no |
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Wing-spars : 6 mm |
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3 |
Wing-spars : no |
Wing-spars : 9x1 mm |
Wing-spars: 6 mm |
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5 |
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Wing-spars: 12x1 mm |
Wing-spars : 10 mm |
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2004 by |
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e-mail : kites_webmaster@libero.it |
