Dan;
I took some fairly high resolution photos of that side of the tail vane. You may be right. There is some scuffing on the tail vane. it seems there is not a stop other than the slot in the tube.
Here are the photos of the tail from the side that would hit. Kind of big photo for detail so just a link:
http://www.anotherpower.com/gallery/album50/100_0365?full=1
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http://www.anotherpower.com/gallery/album50/100_0368
I just realized that as the tail furls it also tips the lower edge in so that ding on that lower front edge of the horizontal part may be from a blade strike.
It seemed to be furling somewhere around 20 MPH or so and could hold a steady 15 amp output with bursts up to 30 or so while I watched. I will miss the power even after only flying a short while.
Just wanting to share the info so others can learn.
I think Dan has modified his designs a good bit since he gave me this unit in January of '04. It just took me this long to get it up[ ands flying.
Supposed to warm all the way up to 40F Saturday so hopefully I can go up and look close and come up with a plan. Not too inclined towards outside work on those single digit windy days especially at 60 feet up.
Just keeping you posted.
On another note, I gotta say that my Zubbly conversion is as tough as a nail. It has flown head on with no furling in winds that were said to be well above 35+ MPH in this area since I moved it up there a couple months back. It goes scary fast and can pump an occasional sustained output of over 250 watts. Long ago we determined that this motor conversion was less than optimal due to coil size / location. My main point on these is they are just plain tough as Zubbly builds them.
Just had to temper the failure report with a success report.
Ok thats it for now but more when I get the info.
Cheers.
TomW