Transcript How to make the twisted box kite

How to make the twisted box kite
By The Aerodynamaster
Kite-specific materials
This kite has some different materials that most do not have,
but they are cheap and probably also in your home.
•
hot glue (sorry, but normal glue types do not dry fast enough
for certain parts of this)
• 2 fishing swivels, preferably the largest you can find.
• Twine. Pretty important.
Note: You can get very large kite- specific swivels from kite
stores- but I didn’t bother.
Spars
Eventually, four of the five long spars will be curved. However,
don’t worry about that now. That actually comes in naturally.
Also, whenever I say to use a skewer, I mean a 12” skewer with the
sharp tip cut off to make 11 ½”. Now, glue together:
• 5 spars, made of three skewers each. Cut one down to 33”. Four
of these will be called the long spars, the short one will be called
the central spar.
• Four spars. Cut two skewers (in half)to the size of 5 ¾”, and attach
them to the end of a full skewer. Now, on the ends place two small
pieces of skewer that protrude just more than the width of one
skewer. See the diagram on the next slide. These will be called the
cross spars.
Spars diagrams and pictures
Note: when joining your spars, put two short re-enforcers around the joint,
pointed out by arrows.
Long spar before glued
Cross spar
before glued.
Completed cross spar.
Don’t worry about the
middle now.
End of a cross spar.
Sail diagram and advice
12”
10”
2 5/8”
You can measure out only one unit
and use the same one to outline all
of them. Using new ones can
distort the dimensions.
Make eight units like this
from thin plastic. Don’t
scale this kite up nor
down. This kite was
designed specifically the
way it was for a reason.
Attachment to sails
Grab the four long spars. Attach one unit of sail,
on one of the sides that appear slanted on the last
slide, using wide, strong scotch tape. Put just less
than half the width of the scotch tape on the sail
unit’s edge, put the middle of the scotch tape on
the spar, and attach another unit the same way on
the other side. Your result should match the
diagram. Do this until the rest of the spars and
units are used, and put each end to another.
Do the last steps to the other end of the box.
Make sure the slant on each parallelogram is the
same. What I was trying to say, is that the
diagram on the right side is a flat version of one of
the sides. Now place the cross spars in the middle
of the box (the guide for how to do this is at the
end, just skip ahead then back). Notice how the
spars bend.
After these
steps, put
electrical
tape on the
spar ends like
in the photo.
Each end of a
box kite is
called a cell.
Completing the removable spars
You know that spar I told
you to make a the
beginning of these
instructions? The 33”
long one? Well, here is
what you need to do to it.
Before taking the cross spars out, mark where
they cross on every spar. Remove them from the
kite, and cut four pieces of twine about a foot long
each. Just guess to save time. Put the twine next to
the spar. Cut a piece of electrical tape 3-4 inches
long. Wrap the electrical tape around both the
twine and the spar. Look at the picture in the top
left corner to see what I mean. Do this to all four
cross spars.
You need to, inside of the fully set up kite, mark the central spar
just below where the cross spars cross in the top cell. We won’t get to
the reason for that just yet. Cut a piece of twine about four inches
long. Hot glue about one inch of each end on to the tip of the central
spar, on the end that is closest to the mark you made. Now, cover that
area with electrical tape. Take a short length of flying line. Tie a cow
hitch to the twine loop near one end as show. Get one of your swivels
and tie flying line into the end of the swivel with a fisherman's knot.
Now, about that mark. Cut two pieces of skewer about one inch long
each. Hot glue one piece perpendicular to the spar right on top of that
mark. After that cools, put the other on- perpendicular to both the
spar and the other piece of skewer. Now you are finished with the kite.
Putting it all together
Since this kite is 3-D, and mostly because I want all of my kites to be able to fold
down into a long thin shape, and back up manually. This is also where you can find
out how to place your cross spars.
1. Place your cross spars as shown, hopefully your sails are
very tight. In fact, you might have to cut down the length of
one or two cross spars.
2. Put the central spar in the middle of the kite, facing up,
and with the small protruding skewer pieces just below the
Cross spars.
3. Tie all four of the pieces of twine from the cross spars to the central spar.
Now, attach a swivel to your flying line also, then attach the two swivels.
You are now ready to fly!
Update: Video!