Dolly

[Bob Morrow]

Based on some designs that I have seen and used in the past year or so I built a dolly this past weekend. Pretty easy to make if anyone is interested. Just some 1/4" finish ply (many laminations for strength) and some 5/16 threaded rods (4-1 ft lengths), lock nuts and washers along with some larger rollerblade wheels with decent bearings. I used 84mm wheels for now, but I think I can find some that are larger (100mm +) to put on and give a bit more clearance.

I think the wheels were the expensive part of the project, but considering this is for sailplanes that are typoically multi-thousand dollar ships it seems well worth the investment.

I used a basic drawing the I found and then svcaled it to full size, with a bit of adaptation along the way.

The pictures shoudl give a better idea than I can describe in words. It is about 24" long (front to back), 12" wide, and about 14" tall.

I painted it a bright orange/red for ease of visibility on the field.

Bob

[Wilgaman]

Hi Bob,
Great looking dolly! I like it!

I think it needs a slight modification. It might be a good idea to strengthen the area where the axle is attached to. Making it thicker in those spots will prevent it from wearing out the surrounding wood. Also, adding wider front wheels will add stability over grass runways


Mark

[Davidjensen]

For a rough grass runway, larger wheels may be an advantage. Also if the front wheels are independently stearable it adds stability. They don't need much stearing range but it helps.

[Bob Morrow]

The wheels that are on it right now are 84mm, but I have found some 150mm and 180mm wheels that should work very well. Have to get them and then get the dolly out for some tests at my local field here.

[oldybutgoody]

Bob,
Thanks for the info on your dolly. I have a small 2.5 mtr. Blanic L23 that would love the safety of your dolly. It'd so small (wings close to the ground) that wingtip catchs in the grass are nearly a certainty. Could you share your source for the larger wheels?

Larry

[Bob Morrow]

I found a company call LandRoller:

http://www.landroller.com/

I haven't ordered the wheels yet, but they look like they might be just about perfect for the application. I am planning on ording them this weekend and hopefully I will have them sometime next week to take a look at and try ion the next few weeks.

Also, the drawing file for the dolly is available in PDF form from rcgroups from the designer that I copied. Cooper998 I think is his nickname there. I am certain that I have probably met him at one of the aerotow events here on the east coast, unfortunately I am bad with names and faces though. Many thanks to him for developing the drawing and making it available. Here is a quick link to the thread for that particular file:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...ailplane+dolly

Hope these links and ideas are helpful.

Bob

[Bob Morrow]

I have been continuing to search for other wheel options and found that the Razor Scooter wheels are also avaiable, at about $15 per pair:

http://www.razor-scooters.com/_Pair-...RZR324-125.htm

These might also be an option. These are about 4 7/8" diameter instead of the 150mm (5 7/8") or the 180mm (7 1/16") wheels.

I am not sure which would be best, but I am thinking around the 5" diameter (125mm) size should work with the majority of field conditions, giving a large enough wheel to roll through the grass, yet have a narrow enough cross section to reduce the possible resistance as the dolly rolls.

Bob

Edit: I looked through teh site a bit more where I found the Razor wheels and they also have other colors in 125mm......tranparent, and transparent blue.........you can color coordinate your dolly colors and you sailplanes !

[Len]

Very nice Bob

LEN

[Bob Morrow]

I received the larger wheels yesterday for the dolly. These are 125mm size that are designed to fit a Razor. They seem to be about right, but I did have to change the position of one cross brace for the wheels.

The set of 2 pairs was about $30 and I think will work very well.

See the attached pictures.

[Len]

NEAT...

Let us know how it works.