Behind the scenes of Skyaak R&D

Lest I get convicted for IP theft, please let me make it clear from the outset that the artwork on the left is of unknown origin, other than I found it at today’s Google search engine.

I am posting it as a very warm compliment to Google. They have extremely good taste in this instance. I love the image of  a maker intent on his task of creating strange shapes and widgets at his work station.

Very very cool!

Obviously a billion or so sets of eyes have already seen this enchanting artwork.  Wish I knew who the artist is.

Oh Gooooogle…

Who is it by?!

I am going to blow it up a lot bigger and look around for a sig.

(-nal?,- nature?,-nificance?-)

In the same light, Skyaak developer Dylan Cooke zooms in on an  ‘Ultra-Glow’ LED hack that he created.

The third hand makes the delicate and precise work possible.

We can’t go into the proprietary details other than to say that there are many steps and it is quite the process to fabricate the complete LED array hack that includes front LED facing to the rear of the unit through the clear shaft, with a second LED at the rear that faces forward inside the shaft.

Dylan worked out all of the electronic engineering to accomplish a glowing shaft that makes it feasible to throw the unit back and forth over a distance of thirty to forty feet in the pitch black. With almost 100% completed throws and catches!

Dylan tests the ricochet LED prior to installation in the front of Ultra-Glow unit

Dylan made a special request that we show only certain details of his hack..sometimes less is more.

As the inventor of Skyaak, Canadian ring-wing glider it is a real honor, privilege and total rush to collaborate with a guy as talented as Dylan!

Among others, Dylan has been a long-time Skyaak enthusiast who has had a huge impact on R&D.

Before Dylan installs the LED into the sealed shaft he tests each unit.

Dylan presses on the mechanical on/off switch that will soon be inserted into the rear of the shaft.

I like the way the light of the LED in combination with the ambient light create interesting-shaped shadows and secondary highlights in this picture.

After the unit is fully assembled, Dylan gets first dibs on pointing out the on/off switch.

In this case we installed blue LED units in both the rear and front of the Ultra-Glow.

My friend Fred sent us a brief video clip of of couple of his buddies tossing an early prototype Skyaak Ultra-Glow around at Berkely Campus. Thought it would be a good time to introduce you to this, with all the chatter about the Ultra-Glow.

It was super-exciting to see the video emanating out of  California. It is short and sweet, with beautiful resolution.

Fred wrote, “Here’s a little bit of night flight with my new Skyaak Model 3 with the light kit. Flight is great, but more than that,, this thing looks great at night and was surprisingly easy to catch (especially for people that had never thrown a Skyaak before).”

Behind the scenes of Skyaak R&D

Lest I get convicted for IP theft, please let me make it clear from the outset that the artwork on the left is of unknown origin, other than I found it at today’s Google search engine.

I am posting it as a very warm compliment to Google. They have extremely good taste in this instance. I love the image of  a maker intent on his task of creating strange shapes and widgets at his work station.

Very very cool!

Obviously a billion or so sets of eyes have already seen this enchanting artwork.  Wish I knew who the artist is.

Oh Gooooogle…

Who is it by?!

I am going to blow it up a lot bigger and look around for a sig.

(-nal?,- nature?,-nificance?-)

In the same light, Skyaak developer Dylan Cooke zooms in on an  ‘Ultra-Glow’ LED hack that he created.

The third hand makes the delicate and precise work possible.

We can’t go into the proprietary details other than to say that there are many steps and it is quite the process to fabricate the complete LED array hack that includes front LED facing to the rear of the unit through the clear shaft, with a second LED at the rear that faces forward inside the shaft.

Dylan worked out all of the electronic engineering to accomplish a glowing shaft that makes it feasible to throw the unit back and forth over a distance of thirty to forty feet in the pitch black. With almost 100% completed throws and catches!

Dylan tests the ricochet LED prior to installation in the front of Ultra-Glow unit

Dylan made a special request that we show only certain details of his hack..sometimes less is more.

As the inventor of Skyaak, Canadian ring-wing glider it is a real honor, privilege and total rush to collaborate with a guy as talented as Dylan!

Among others, Dylan has been a long-time Skyaak enthusiast who has had a huge impact on R&D.

Before Dylan installs the LED into the sealed shaft he tests each unit.

Dylan presses on the mechanical on/off switch that will soon be inserted into the rear of the shaft.

I like the way the light of the LED in combination with the ambient light create interesting-shaped shadows and secondary highlights in this picture.

After the unit is fully assembled, Dylan gets first dibs on pointing out the on/off switch.

In this case we installed blue LED units in both the rear and front of the Ultra-Glow.

My friend Fred sent us a brief video clip of of couple of his buddies tossing an early prototype Skyaak Ultra-Glow around at Berkely Campus. Thought it would be a good time to introduce you to this, with all the chatter about the Ultra-Glow.

It was super-exciting to see the video emanating out of  California. It is short and sweet, with beautiful resolution.

Fred wrote, “Here’s a little bit of night flight with my new Skyaak Model 3 with the light kit. Flight is great, but more than that,, this thing looks great at night and was surprisingly easy to catch (especially for people that had never thrown a Skyaak before).”

About the Skyaak DIY deuce ‘finger flicker’ advantage

You can just throw your Skyaak DIY deuce exactly like a dart and get pretty good results, or you can introduce the ‘finger flicker’ advantage that increases your torque with less exertion. It’s true. When you place your index finger behind the finger flicker, and flick the unit with your finger just as you toss it you will notice a turbo-boost in the power of the flight. Your deuce will rocket ahead at fast scale-speed. Remember to hold the nose up a bit-about 10 to 15 degrees- above level when you are launching it.

The cool thing is that the more thrust you give it (w the catapult power of your index finger…a built-in atlatl!) the happier it is and the better it flies. You will see that the ring-wing configuration of your Skyaak deuce produces surprising stability. When it spins naturally on its axis, as it is bound to do, the stability is further enhanced.

Which leads one to ponder: does the ring-wing design create its own vortex as it flies that it tends to ride on like a cushion of air, or maybe a lifting energy?

You will witness this phenomenon by experimenting with the DIY deuce. Watch how it flies as you gain expertise.

Any theories or insights into the aerodynamic properties of the Skyaak design that you may have through your hands-on observations would be welcome. Let me know if you have any thoughts about this.

Grab the Skyaak DIY ‘deuce’ model that you can print on regular 8.5″ x 11″ paper, dope with clear tape, customize, cut-out, build and fly for the one-time cost of $2.00. Make a master copy of your download before you cut it out so you can go on to build a whole fleet if you want!