Anyone here have any experience with a folding mast?
Any opinions ether good or bad?
I am thinking about adding a Sportcopter folding mast kit to a gyro
that I am working on.

What about the so called "magic bushings any thoughts?

Any of you guys have any close up photos of a folding mast.
I am also considering making my own from scratch.

Marc

I have never heard anything negative about them. They have been around and apparently work well. I don't have any pics though.... Can't remember who had a SportCopter with a folding mast that was reconditioning it and put pictures up on the other forum years ago!

My RAF2000 had a folding mast. You could adjust your cg with 4 slightly different angles the mast could be set at. Handy for moving it into my shop.

The only negatives I can see is the additional weight and complication. Where a fixed mast the control rods are never interfered with.... if you have to undo the rod ends to fold the mast, you are adding something to be aware of in your preflight... to make sure it is reconnected correctly and pinned.

Any negatives (unless it is far too heavy and complicated) are far outweighed by the fact you can now store your machine in a normal garage easily. A tall tail makes them impractical. You also have to make supports for the rotor head, so it doesn't flop around and wear things like pivot bearings from flopping about and keyholing bolt holes.

I didn't make this one, it is quite heavy. It looks like it should work, (the design) but whoever made it did an awful job

If you need one, you need one... but it is not something I would want on a gyro 'just in case'

I have one, A sportcopter folding assy. I may be able to get some pics in the next few days...I will try.

Yep I think the folding mast is probably the best way for me to go. Right now getting the thing
out of my shop would be a PITA and I still don't have the rotor head on it.
I would also like to have a enclosed trailer for it but the wind load on something that tall
would be a bit nasty.
There is no hanger space at my local airport so I think that the enclosed trailer is a must have.

WOW that one that you have photos of does look super heavy Muz.

I would like to see what several manufactures have done before I make a decision as to witch one to
go with.

When you get time I would be really interested in seeing pic's of the sportcopter

THANKS everyone.

The sortcopter folding mast works great, it also makes the gyro much smoother in flight.
I changed mine from a solid to folding and the difference was very noticeable.
Well worth it.

Yes, those cheek plates on the folding section are 1/4 steel plate ... the locking part is 2" x 1 1/4"solid bar Alloy or steel half the thickness would have been fine...

I personally would rather have a trailer and put a 'sharks fin' in the middle for the rotor head and mast to fit in, rather than a folding mast.... I just don't like having to interfere with the rods/controls and undoing/ doing up the bolts all the time.... but that is just my personal idea...

I am looking forward to seeing other folding mast ideas

I want to try and use one of these

THANKS GUYS

After reading all that you folks had to say and then searching the
Internet one end to the other finding more opinions and some photos
I decided to have a talk with the folks at Sport Copter and giving
thought to several others I decided to go with Sport Copter.

So far all that I can say is FANTASTIC customer service fair
pricing and almost instant shipping Nice people!!

I would have built one from scratch but there were several points about
attaching the urethane bushing that I was unsure about not to mention
the durometer of the urethane. The folks at Sport Copter have had years
to debug and perfect the system and from what everyone says they have
done a great job of it.
I got a kit on order and it should ship Tuesday or Wednesday.



Marc

Excellent choice Marc. Jim has a great product line that has been time proven and people who own them are happy campers.
When I hear people complaining about prices I always ask them what they would think 1000 feet above the ground hearing cracking noise coming from the machine?
How much would they pay in an instant to make that cracking noise stop as if had never happened?
Can't put a dollar figure on safety. But that's just moi.
PICTURES Marc or it ain't happening

I will get you guys some pictures soon. I have been wanting to start a build thread
for almost a 2 years and will soon if the manufacturer ever sends enough parts
to make a build thread worth while.

Marc

The folks at Sportcopter had a bit of a delay because of Trenna going on vacation
but my folding mast kit shipped yesterday I will post some pics when I get back from
my next business trip.

I am leaving Thursday morning at 4 AM and will probably go straight from
Chicago to Mentone

So it will be a while but I will get to it.

Marc

Good deal! I like their stuff!

We've had two Aviomania customers that needed about 1 foot to clear a trailer entry for one and his garage door for another.
Nicolas's solution for them was to just have them remove 3 of the 4 bolts of the top mast cheek plates leaving the bottom back bolt loosened and tip the rotor-head forward making the new height only the mast height.

You may wish to measure your mast and see if this method will work for you?

Not a bad idea but I looked into that a while back it will not buy me enough room.
No offense to you John but does Nicolas have a handy solution for his ridiculously
slow delivery? 2 months has turned into 2 years!!! He has had payment in full for
over a year!!! Wow all he had to do was put the stuff in a box and ship it he said.
That was about a month ago I have not heard another word from him since.

I wont even go into the rest. I will admit he does nice work but some body please
teach ol Nick to use a time keeping device of some sort. Well at least I have gotten
half a gyro from him.
I am waiting to see how much I like the fold over mast kit. If Sportcopter does as
nice a job as people say I will go ahead and order a rotor head from them meanwhile
we are gathering up some mold making supplies to build the front cabin and fuel tank.
BTW you may want Jim Vanek explain to ol Nick what customer service is.

Oh yeah I got my tail art finished and it looks great on T shirts. As I said
a Month ago

GAME ON

The handles here are confusing Bro I did not even know I was responding to a good friend. Say hi to Cathy for me.

No as you and I have been talking on the phone all the time and we have been complaining to him the whole time the only thing I know is that every time he makes a change customers have to wait like the 1st customers when he upgraded the 8 gal fuel tank to the 10 gallen tank Stan had to wait too for the tank.
He as only told both of us that he wants to give you the knew enclosure for free as he did with the fuel tanks.
I suspect that he is making a convertible enclosure like he did for the single place and flight testing must not be going well on the 1st attempts as we have delivered two single place rides in less than two months this year.

I've told him he needs to send me a single and a two place kit to keep in inventory or I must tell customers that it could be a year if he make a changes. Or tell them not to wait for the new improved parts and ask for the old style as he offers us for your ride over a year ago.

I'm going to send him the picture and hope it helps him get his act together on your ride.

John Like I said nothing against you personally I know that you
have done your best. But there is ALWAYS an other delay. It
always seems that it will only be another 2 or 3 weeks. after
another month or 2 not a word from ol Nick. Not so much as
there a email to say has been another delay. and here we go again.
As far as flight testing or what ever. it was almost a month ago
when Nick said all the parts were finished had gone to the painter
would be picked up the following week and shipped.
He did not say anything about flight testing or any other setbacks.
He said done. Ready to ship.Just had to pick it up at the painter and
put it in a box Do I need to post the email here.
Or better yet do I need to post the last 2 years of emails here?
When I sent the 50% down payment He did not say that it was a
work in progress. I was told that they did not make the GS2A anymore
and that all that was being produced was the GS2B To me that
strongly implied that was a finished working model. It seems to me
that it may have been in a prototype stage at best. I thought I had
been patient.
Did I bitch when 2 weeks turned into 2 months? What about 6 months?
8 months? 10 months. I did not really get upset until it had turned into
13 months!!!! Only in the past year have I complained that there
has not even been a email to say that there has been yet another delay.
Hell after this long Nick can not yet spell my name correctly.
IT IS MARC NOT MARK is that really so difficult? Do you know how
many times I have been told almost ready just another few weeks.
Do you know how many times I have drug a trailer around the United States
because I was told it would be shipping soon and thought I would be able to
pick it up in Chicago, Tulsa or where ever. There are a lot of city's where it is
a PITA to find a place to store a trailer for a month where it will not get stolen.
All this because Nick can not even have the common courtesy to send
a email saying that there will be yet another delay.

To put this in further perspective as best as I can tell from posts on
that other forum I put in my order for what I understood to be a
production model bird just one month after Heath placed his
order for for a one of a kind model that was not even shown
on the web site. But Heath received all his parts about a year ago.
As I remember Heath made a post saying that he had GREAT
communications with Nicco.
Am I starting to feel like I have been shit on from day one. YES
Tell me is it wrong for me to feel that way?
Did you and Nick not receive fair warning?
Do you and Nick not remember the very short and simple email
about a month ago saying just
OK GAME ON

AND I will add I am about sick of hearing the liberal candy ass crap excuses.
OH I am on vacation I cant do anything until I get back.
Oh it is independence day in Cyprus's I cant do a thing
we take the whole week off.
I cant even count the times that we have had orders due and
worked through holidays, birthdays, anniversary's, through the night,
skipped meals or worked with a sandwich in one hand while cranking
the handle on a milling machine with the other hand. I can remember
Kathy running mills or lathes with one hand elevated in the air
wrapped with a ice pack. The last time I was out of town working
on a extended job I started very early one morning and injured a
hand and just kept working. Latter in the day after my crew got in they
said that they could track me like a shot deer. I could go on.
Those examples are what is called a work ethic.
Maybe if they understood such things in Cyprus their economy
would not be in a shambles.
If you want to compete in a world class market you
need to have a world class product. I think Nick may have done that.
I will be better able to judge that if I ever get the rest of my parts.
You also need to maintain a world class delivery schedule.
Or the OH this is the time of year that the whole nation takes off for
vacation.
Or the stuff where he is off to France or Germany for a airshow
or getting some European certification so he can sell more gyros
that he can probably not produce in a timely manner.
Prototyping rotor blades.
Why not just stay back in his shop and produce the stuff that

was already sold and paid for in full.

Hi Marc
A PS to installing a folding mast on the G2sa. My concern is that looks like it has some weight to the hing and it is way above the CG.

I'd lower the hing to as close to CG on the mast as possible.


PS:
We just got funding for a used 912 to install in PRA 31's two place and Nicolas has quotes us a 6 week delivery. That will suck for you, if it happens on time, but I'll let you know.

I planed on mounting it as low as possible to get the maximum height reduction that should
also go a long way to solve any CG issues. There will have to be a hang test to iron out any
remaining issues. Meanwhile the race is on. Less than 24 hours before leaving for Chicago
for a month long installation job before Mentone. I am hoping to time it right so that me and the crew
can go straight from Chicago to Mentone and then back to Arkansas.