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Vertical sleeves - any use??


portlandflyer

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I just saw a new idea by LHSK offering sleeves of fabric to cover the vertical rods! Their claim is that the cloth to cloth contact will keep you from wearing little horizontal "cracks" in your sail! I'm asking if this is effective or not. I had believed that those cracks were from the sail flexing and unflexing against the rod and not from wear against them. I've made my own "wear strips" from insignia tape, just like Bazzer does, if you order wear strips on your Pro from Rev.

Now I'm wondering which is more efficient?

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Dave Ashworth does this too, but his efforts are more to lock the sail/framing combination together more rigidly, rather than worrying about stress cracks in the fabric.

If you frame real light (he's the king of "stand on 1 foot & fly" kite builders) then the sticks can flex under extremely demanding control motions. Dave addresses these concerns by using a long bridle, sometimes a restrictor lines between the two wings too, depending on the design.

His efforts at adding fabric loop sleeves on the sail are quite common as well. They have to be incorporated into the design visually but they don't have to run the whole length of the spar to be effective.

You just catch a couple inches of down-spar at the top and bottom of the sail in mini-sleeves, plus a nice hunk (6-10 inches) in the center too.

I believe Eliot Shook is now crafting his masterpieces with this same insignia tape technique. Both Bazzer and Shook are adding additional reinforcing tabs onto the leading edge sleeve on the high-end efforts.

We all learn from each other and the sharing of design concepts and techniques of construction is wholeheartedly promoted in the family.

I used to build my own kites, but I cannot do it as well as the current crop of experts! Luckily, they still allow me to influence their efforts and get what I need (if not exactly what I want or ordered ~ HA!~)

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Interesting topic/problem I find the solution strange.

Adding insignia tape or.another layer of fabric may work, sadly it is butt ugly.

I was going to add tedlar to my 1.5B full sail. It does not show on the sail.

Shook weaves use a thin black strip of fabric. This is an elegant solution as it disappears against the vertical rod.

surprised Revolution does not develop a smoothed rod like the skyshark black diamond rods. These rods are sanded and a smooth glossy finish applied. They are used for the lower spreader on high end kites to reduce bridle wear during tricks.

This would be another revenue stream for Revolution and a simple solution for a few extra bucks for us flyer wanting to extend their sail life. I guess the next best option is the fabric covers. More work to sew them but they are not that butt ugly thick fabric strip.

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That will work well for the p series which is the straight tube as it is smooth.

The tapered skysharks are like the rev tubes with a raised ridges from the manufacturing process. The ridges are sanded down before the clear coat is applied. Can be done, just extra work.

I would rather pay rev to do this.. Guess I'm lazy,

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The roughness you are seeing on the outside of the Revolution rods is only resin and not carbon. It is caused by the cellophane tape that that holds the carbon wraps to the mandrel (metal core) they are wrapped around before they go to the oven. When the rods come out of the oven and have cooled the cellophane is removed which leaves ridges in the resin. This can be sanded off. If you do sand them check that the dust on your rods always stays white. If it start to turn black you are cutting into the carbon.
You can get the ZEN rods for the REV 1.5, at least you could. These are smooth and appear to me to be sanded.

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I guess I'm not expressing my opinion correctly.

Love the rev rods, Zero interest in using skyshark black diamond rods just because they are smooth.

Little interest in a DIY project on the current rods. My WALLET IS OPEN for purchase of smooth high gloss vertical rods.

I could see Revolution also selling these as a PROFESSIONAL FRAME SET. Two high gloss verts and normal 3 piece leading edge.

Most Rev flyer would not pay extra for these rods, but many of us would. More that enough to create another profitable produce line. IMHO.

plus this solution just looks better than adding strips of fabric to the sail.

Looks like Tedlar is the best option for me on my full sail and future printed sail. My weaves have the built in fabric strip that blends in with the rod.

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As long as you fly over grass, the Tedlar should work. But over sand is a different story! If there is any peeling, ANY, then sand starts sticking and keeps the peeling going!

The insignia tape works well, I'd just like it to come in more colors. Bazzer does white or black, The Kite Shoppe has a dark grey and red available. I wonder if there are more colors out there, just not enough interest to make it commercially viable!

Is Rev going to stock any of these sleeves or will we have to go directly to LHSK?

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the sticks are black, so hiding them in a colored fabric sleeve isn't very visually appealing, it's still a shadow or dark line thru the graphics.

The purpose of this sleeve is to protect the sail, then mount the protection ONTO the sail and don't mess with the frame members at all.

This is a solution, but not in the direction I would travel.

By the time the sail fabric has cracked, the rest of the kite is beat-up as well. Why bother?, this is not going to extend the life by two years!

Reinforcing patches at the leading edge, now that is good use of materials, labor and weight and it will make a difference in life-span on your kite too

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We have been using the rod sleeves for a couple of weeks. A great idea. They do not look ugly (in fact you cannot tell when they are in place). They do not impede the kite in anyway. It is early days but we are delighted with them, particularly if they extend the life of the sail and reduce wear.

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