256 replies to this topic

[Aerochic]

I'm currently working on a prototype of something that is attached to a stake that is already owned. (like the winderfull one I bought from you C.)
Picture will be soon.

Ken

Cool! I'll be interested to see what you came up with. I'm really glad that you're enjoying the stake as well! They're not as sexy as Walt's but I like them. I just finished another batch recently. I have to get them up on my website...

[Mitch]

My favorite "icy ground" kite stake. It's an 8" spike, the like of which any hardware store carries to bang together rail retaining walls. I put the bend in it, but since found that the head of the spike is enough. It came by the dirt on the shaft honestly. Around here you have to bring little mallet or find a rock.

[kitefantex]

Mitch
Where do you fly in St Louis? I have a son there and will be stopping in there at the end of April on the way home to Ohio.

[SynTaks]

My favorite "icy ground" kite stake. It's an 8" spike, the like of which any hardware store carries to bang together rail retaining walls. I put the bend in it, but since found that the head of the spike is enough. It came by the dirt on the shaft honestly. Around here you have to bring little mallet or find a rock.

That actually makes me think of something else we usually carry around when the ground has thawed. Its over in the rebar section and they use it in concrete and surveying, but its 1/2" diameter steel and has small holes drilled through it every inch or so. Worked great for a stake for a flag pole. Some of the single line guys figured out how to attach a beaner to it for an anchor. I've used screwdrivers in the same way as your railroad spike too. Oh, something else in the rebar section you might find useful, a rebar cap. Its a bright orange piece of plastic that fits over the rebar that sticks up out of concrete that might be handy to protect the top of your spike and make it visible.

[--Pete]

I find these useful for windy days.

The regular stakes are drill-press handles threaded onto 12" spikes with a 5/16-18 thread cut onto the end. The "T"s are 1.5" x 1.5" structural aluminum t-section. Very handy in loose soil, but you need a sledge to get them into hard turf.

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[awindofchange]

Pete,

Welcome to the forum! The aluminum stakes look very interesting. Do you use the hook to hook onto the handles?

[--Pete]

Do you use the hook to hook onto the handles?

It hooks to almost anything. (I confess to flying more than my 1989 vintage Rev.) There are some pics in my Gallery (1984 - pre-Rev.)

It's been about 18 years since I did any serious amount of flying, but I think I may see my way to getting some air time in the foreseeable future.

Edited by --Pete, 15 October 2010 - 01:45 PM.

[Mitch]

I mostly fly on turf in parks and so on. I've taken to using multiple stakes. When I'm flying revs, I put down my bag and plant two stakes about 3 feet apart. a handle goes over each. I find fewer tangles and can separate twists easier with the handles separated. I just leave them there. Bright orange golf ball or painted wine bottle cork, or whatever is on top of the stake. It's my home base and easy to find. Then I carry around a 6 or 7 inch piece of carbon fiber tube with a nurf ball (firm foam ball used in kid's toy guns) on the end. They come in findable colors. I've plugged the hold in the sharp end with epoxy and filed it at an angle. It weighs virtually nothing, is not very sharp and fits nicely in my pocket or stuck in my belt without any kind of scabbard. I use this to stake if I'm far from "base" or, more usually, for the walk of shame. It can't poke a hole in my pocket (or the parts of me that are next to my pocket), and is always where I need it. It's the only one I use when I'm flying duelies...like my new Prism Zephyr. Thank you Kent. Wouldn't hold against a gale, but heck...this is St. Louis.

[Madquad]

Received my new stake/sleeve today , very nice piece of work.
Thanks Walt.

[Remmie]

Very nice Marc

[O2bkytn]

Here's a couple more I put together this afternoon.

I modified the design, you can see I removed the nut and washer for a smoother finish. I measured how many threads would go into the beer tap and then cut the bolt so it only had that many threads. Then I coated both the internal threads on the beer tap and the threads on the bolt with thread lock.

I like the results.

-Alden

Well, well. I have been wanting to make a couple stakes using beer tap handles, and recently scored a couple.
Can you please tell me what type of bolts you used and where you found them?
I'd like to make a couple for Christmas gifts.
Thanks!
Bill

[goestoeleven]

At first I was all:




Then I was like:



Kite stake!

I made that one for fun with a 4 inch stone marble ball, and 1/2 inch diameter steel rod. I've since modified the rod by having a friend weld a ring to it so that I can use it to stake off my big SLKs. The marble isn't actually attached so that I can use a big hammer to pound the stake into the ground.

[Mitch]

The length of it would make it pretty good for sand, I imagine. I'm currently in Antarctica and there is simply no soil. It's ice I can't get a stake into or rocks. I use a "sand anchor" (or snow anchor) and put a stone in the pouch. It works OK but not great. I have to MacGyver a better hook to keep the handles from getting tangled. Ideas?

[RevWizard]

Where are you located in Antarctica?

[goestoeleven]

The length of it would make it pretty good for sand, I imagine. I'm currently in Antarctica and there is simply no soil. It's ice I can't get a stake into or rocks. I use a "sand anchor" (or snow anchor) and put a stone in the pouch. It works OK but not great. I have to MacGyver a better hook to keep the handles from getting tangled. Ideas?

Pictures please! Add them to the "flying your rev in famous places" thread. I'm pretty sure there are no other shots of Revs in Antarctica.

Could you sew a velcro loop onto the anchor bag, and then loop that around the ends of the handles? You can get velcro at your local Walmart . . . oh wait

Just kidding. Got a carabiner? I sometimes clip the handles to my kite bag with a carabiner if I don't have a stake handy. If there's a handle on the anchor, you can clip the carabiner to that.

[Kitelife]

Mitch was at McMurdo, but is now at Palmer Station.

Been dying to see photos and video myself.

[O2bkytn]

Whew! Done just in time for Christmas! :)src="http://www.revkites....ult/smile.gif">

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