The Aerostat/Hot Air Balloon Project - Gore Assembly Methods

I've been designing and building hot air balloons/aerostats and there is going to be a tutorial on building them in Hackspace magazine issue 61 (I'll add the link here when the issue drops). There's a challenging bit to the assembly and, as well as some teaser clips of the early flights, this video has a short tutorial on how to assemble the gore panels for correct seam orientation.
Edit! The Hackspace magazine issue with the tutorial article and links to the plans for these balloons is now out, you can buy, subscribe, or download the magazine for free here; hackspace.rasp...

[@AndyCPugh]

I'm looking forward to reading that article. Nicely done.

[@concretedog7427]

Thanks Andy, I've had fun making these. I really like them as a project as they are so affordable to build, I got enough tissue paper for about 6 of the larger designs in the video for £3.80!

[@AndyCPugh]

@@concretedog7427 I've been thinking about getting back into STEM demonstrations/clubs, possibly with my local primary school (although they don't know yet), and this would be a great activity.

[@concretedog7427]

@@AndyCPugh Absolutely... I totally agree, this is a great activity for schools, primary or otherwise. The small design on the bench section is about 75cm in height and can do a short hop in a low roofed room like a classroom, the larger ones are great for a sports hall. I'm hoping similarly that local schools might want me to go and do a show and tell!

[@Phil-M0KPH]

Good stuff. How long do they stay up for?

[@concretedog7427]

Thats a good question.. it's variable! The small one seems to go up an average of 3/4 meters and almost immediately begin to descend. The larger ones quite happily rock up to the sports hall roof, around 18 meters, and then stay there for 15-25 seconds and then slowly descend. Of course, the larger ones are lifting the tether which could be lighter, but its also dependant on the internal temp of the balloon and the external temp of the room. I hazard to guess I could get over a minute of flight with a higher internal temp in a colder environment. I ponder if its possible to put a non flame nichrome heater on them... but weight versus energy would be the issue, may well not be worth the effort! Two heat guns or hotter heat source is deffo an experiment waiting to happen.

[@jamesgullberg2293]

sheeesh