What we are about to present is one of the most interesting and original home made paramotors ever submitted to The Inventions Page.
Jeff Baumgartner of Wisconsin is a very experienced and mechannically skilled PPG pilot. In the past, he has published other material on The Inventions Page.
Jeff has done a lot of research and improvements on several two stroke engines but his best "invention" is the machine of his dreams: his home built PPG machine.
I had the pleasure to test fly his machine on September 04.2004.
Light but strong, comfortable, with a very responsive throttle, with minimal torque effect, lots of thrust and smooth running engine, with very innovative technical solutions, Jeff Baumgartne'r machine is certainly well worthy the over 300 hours he spent designing it.
Jeff told me that the design is not final and he will further improve his machine in the foreseeable future.
Congratulations Jeff and thank you for allowing me to publish your material.
Alex Varv
With the reputation of the Corsair engine, and the new pull start version on the Cors-Air M25Y/Black Devil, I had to give it a try.
It was the engine that inspired me to put my ideas into aluminum.
I needed a frame to put it on and I had some “different” ideas for a PPG frame that needed some R&D.
The “Tube and wire” and “Bolt and saddle” construction
methods have been around as long as the ultralight industry, but I had not seen it used for PPG construction. It needed to be tried.
The result was a very strong unit that can be easily dismantled, and parts easily changed or modified. I plan to fly this machine in some form for a long, long time.
As with most projects, it started out as more than a few garbage cans full of crumpled drawings. I even tried to learn to use CAD but my computer skills suck.
So, for about $20 worth of pvc tubing, I built several versions of full scale models until I found one I thought would actually work.
The goals I set were:
1) Strong
2) Portable
3) No welds
4) Weight 55 Lbs or less
Goals #1 and # 2 were met while #3 and #4 came close.
The only welds on the whole machine are the small tubes on the outer hoop of the cage and the "sockets" for the radial tubes which are welded to each comfort bar for weightshifting.
The small welded tubes hold the tensioning cable of the netting but truly, their primary role is to hold together tight the 6 sections of the cage.
The dry weight of the whole machine is 58 Lbs.
The next step was to turn my dream into Aluminum. This required a jig and it soon became obvious that for several reasons my utility trailer with a plywood deck would be perfect.
Small blocks of plywood were used to hold the tubing in place. A plywood box was built in the center to establish the correct depth of the cage and to serve as a jig for the Black Devil engine and the Paralite harness mounts.
A roll bender was used to make the nice round hoop and a regular conduit bender for all other bends.
All the tubing is 7/8 6061Twith a .065 thick wall.
The remaining part of the construction was done with bolts and machined saddles and what I called "stubbies" and of course sleeves as well.
Note: The picture above shows the bolt and saddle construction along with the pivotable comfort bars (distance bars) to provide weightshift.
The cage breaks down nicely and the hoop has 6 parts and six radial tubes.
In order to ship the machine, it takes about one hour co completely disassemble to fit in a reasonable box and just about one hour to assemble it.
The hoop sections, cable and netting always stay together.
For this machine I used a Skycruiser harness because I am very familiar with it and I also like the comfort is provides.
The fuel tank is also a Skycruiser one, purchased from Paralite
The picture below illustrates the whole machine.
I flew the machine as seen above for about 5 hours and I decided it was worthy of a nice finish.
To do this, I had to take it completely apart for the powder coating.
I need to note here that without my friend Bob Bieser of Skymaster Powered Parachutes (www.flyskymaster.com) this machine would be nowhere near as it is today. Bob provided all the machined parts, the expert welding and the powder coat finish. Thank you Bob.
The picture below shows a detail of the cable tensioning system that I used ( bottom of cage)
My machine was publicly presented at the last Oshkosh Airshow.
By the time my presentation is published on The Inventions Page
I will have flown my machine for well over 20 hours.
The Black Devil engine performs flawlessly, delivers impressive thrust, it is easy to start and it is also very reliable.
For more info about my construction, please contact me at:
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