31 replies to this topic

[Downforce Fighter]

I guess nobody would question the use of Kevlar in the first place.
But Designs can always be improved. Just look how the Rev Kites evolved in the last 2 decades.
There might come a day where white, or colored kevlar or dacron will be readily available, which could indeed well improve the design even more.
And if not, well we can always dream, can´t we?

Mike

[RevWizard]

I do believe at least three of the key persons responding to you, have quite a good knowledge of Europe and rev kite scene in Europe.
One was born and raised in Europe. Another lived there over 30 years. Another was very influential in creating quad teams in Europe and has been there a number of times.
I can personally tell you that I have seen in Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and etc and/or heard of quite a number of home made revs ripping in the center because they were not reinforced. I am very well known in the scene there and I have talked to quite a lot of rev fliers and competitors. You are most likely not seeing them because they are not usable anymore.
All you need is to get one of those rev copies, that are not reinforced, in a strong gust or the brutal fall wind of the northwest coast of France and it is likely to rip.

As for white Kevlar, could you lead us to a site that offers it?

Dacron was another possibility, however I have seen it rip on the V.

[chewbaka]

As for white Kevlar, could you lead us to a site that offers it?

kevlar

sorry, just a german page. should be available in the US as well!

[RevWizard]

kevlar

sorry, just a german page. should be available in the US as well!

The German language is not a problem for me.
There are a number of interesting materials on that web site, however I am still searching for a white version of kevlar or one of it's close relatives Nomex, Technora, Twaron and etc.

[Kitelife]

Chewie, do have a specific link to the colored kevlar?

[chewbaka]

another link to interesting fabrics, gauze, ribbons:
extremtextil

nomex, kevlar etc:
i think, duPont might help to find the right product.
nomex is a brand by duPont:
duPont nomex

kevlar by dupont:
duPont kevlar

interesting ribbons made of glas-fibre: (also fabrics)
carboplast

belt & tapes (kevlar, fluor etc.)
polyfluor

thats what i could find for this moment.

[beach]

Hmmmmmm, I have heard you and thank you for all of your inputs and now here are some answers for the other materials.....

We have looked at colored kevlar and the dog yellow as Bazzer called it, in our own testing over 20+ years we've found it is the only one that does not get destroyed when exposed to salt water or lose integrity after such exposure, and is the most UV resistant which are issues this kite faces daily, also I'm not bringing into play melting factors which is a whole issue in it self..... I do understand the look but until I find a product that I trust this is what will be, so you all know do I like it "NO" does it last "YES"......

As a side note Dupont does make a kevlar I really like but it is not a sticky back so that won't work for our application in the factory, and so the entire world knows this kevlar is also used in other products we make and if I changed I'd also have to change this product which has a world wide standard for manufacturing or carry both types of kevlar, hmmmm more company money tied up plus more storage, we have to look at the whole picture otherwise if I listened to every single suggestion we would be out of business in a month......

There's alot going on behind the scenes with manufacturing that never gets seen by you or factored in when folks think about things but I ask you to look at the entire picture before getting upset..... Also I will always listen and if it's a good idea I will use it but on this issue until I have a kevlar that I know works I will not take chances cause in all honestly I don't want to deal with world wide failures of Revolution kites when what I have works up to and past what it needs too, " if it's not broke I won't fix it" in this particular case.......Ben

[RevWizard]

If you happen to know who might offer white Kevlar in sheet form with adhesive on one side, I am sure there are people here that would like to know who has this. Materials of lower melting points are not acceptable. Common materials falling in the low melting point class are nylons, polyesters, Dacrons, Rayons, Spectra, Dynema and etc.

[chewbaka]

If you happen to know who might offer white Kevlar in sheet form with adhesive on one side, I am sure there are people here that would like to know who has this. Materials of lower melting points are not acceptable. Common materials falling in the low melting point class are nylons, polyesters, Dacrons, Rayons, Spectra, Dynema and etc.

self-adhesive nomex:
4ptfe

maybe it helps, if you can translate the german word "kantenverstärkung".
must be something like "edge-reinforcement". my dictionary does not help.
this is the word i use for searches at google.


for non adhesive materials i always use the usual "doublesided-adhesive-tape".
its easy to handle and very cheap. availabel in every kitestore.

for a "low to zero-wind-kite" kite, a ribbon of stiff polyester, available in hundreds of colours is imho
absolutely OK.
trailing edges of my kites are always folded two times. so the ribbon is "wrapped" two times in icarex.
with this simple technique and cheap material, you can find hundreds (or thousands) of kites in europe.
none of them is suffering, because of NO KEVLAR !

[RevWizard]

self-adhesive nomex:
4ptfe

maybe it helps, if you can translate the german word "kantenverstärkung".
must be something like "edge-reinforcement". my dictionary does not help.
this is the word i use for searches at google.

That is a quite good and understandable translation.
You could also check out Leo and see what is said there.
For those not familiar with Leo, Leo is a word or short phrase translator between German and other languages. One of the languages has to be German. It works somewhat like Wiki in that the users create the translations. I think it was created by the Technical University of Munich. It is particularly good for technical words.
It is not a sentence or paragraph translator. It is meant for those who already have a good knowledge of both languages they are working with.

for non adhesive materials i always use the usual "doublesided-adhesive-tape".
its easy to handle and very cheap. availabel in every kitestore.

You have to consider that this would be used in a production environment. Every extra step costs time and money.
For a one off made at home the extra time is of no importance.

for a "low to zero-wind-kite" kite, a ribbon of stiff polyester, available in hundreds of colours is imho
absolutely OK.
trailing edges of my kites are always folded two times. so the ribbon is "wrapped" two times in icarex.
with this simple technique and cheap material, you can find hundreds (or thousands) of kites in europe.
none of them is suffering, because of NO KEVLAR !

No Kevlar at kite festivals in Europe refers only to kite lines.
Look at the V of the REV again. You can't two fold at the V because it is cut there. That is one of the reasons for the Kevlar.
Using other low melt point materials such as dacron, wrapped icarex create a weak point. All you have to do is slide down a single kite line at the V and it starts to cut the V.
The original Revolution made kite is built very robust, unlike any other kite I have every seen.

[nobodyspecial]

I miss out on all the fun stuff here. As usual Ben is the voice of reason.

[Kitelife]

End of the day, I think the consensus here is that most of us don't care if the kevlar is p*$$ yellow as we don't hang it on the wall, we fly it up where such things aren't a factor.

I know I can't pick out a such a small color difference at 25' to 120', which is the usual length I fly on.