Refurbish Wingding Handles

[OzBungy]

I have just completed refurbishing some of the handles on my hand wings. I've done the most used handles. I'll probably go ahead and do the others.

The foam inside the handles was too soft. With use the foam squished down to nothing. That was made worse with my first wing because as a beginner I tended to over control the wing and hold on too hard.

With experience I got a much lighter touch. The handles actually worked reasonably well. But because they were floppy they settled into a vee-shape and my little finger was being squashed. I was getting a sore knuckle, possibly made worse by an old injury.

I didn't want to throw the wings out, they work just fine and I have plenty to learn before I upgrade.

I didn't want to completely remove the existing handles. That would have a cascading effect in terms of complexity and things to be unpicked, modified and reassembled.

I didn't want to pay a professional mainly because I wasn't certain of the design. I would hate having new handles that were still crap. Besides I had ideas in mind and wanted to try them out.

I made a prototype handle from neoprene and eva wrapped around the existing handle and held in place with velcro. It worked in that it felt good, but the handle slipped around once it was wet.

I finally went with an earlier idea. I sewed the eva onto the existing handle then wrapped the whole thing with neoprene hand sewn into place. This worked really well and was much easier to do, once you accepted that there was a fair bit of hand sewing. The added benefit is my hand sewing skills and techniques got much better.

I completed one wing and put in a session on it. The results exceeded my expectations. Simply having more rigid handles meant I went from pulling off the occasional sloppy tack to knocking out 7 clean tacks out of 10. The more rigid handles made it easy to roll the wing through the tack.

An added benefit was that apart from $10 for a couple of sheets of eva foam all the parts were made from scraps I had at home.

Following are some pictures of the process.

I cut a piece of eva foam to serve as padding and a stiffener. I covered the foam with ripstop so it could be sewn without tearing.

The neoprene cover has rows of zigzag sewing. The sewing serves as waypoints so I make even and regular stitches when hand sewing. The contrasting colour make for a nice highlight. The total weight of components for each handle is 16 grams/ 0.5 ounce.

This is a fully scrunched handle. It's somewhat worse than it would normally be. I had a temporary repair using plastic tube and self fusing tape and that has crushed the webbing to a very small size. The tube works ok but the fusing tape is not robust.

I smoothed out the squished handle, wet it and clamped it overnight so it would be smooth for sewing. It doesn't need to be smooth but it's easier and anybody who hand sews new handles would want to make them neat.

The handle is nice and smooth and flat.

I taped the eva into position and sewed it with a Speedy Stitcher sewing awl. These things are awkward to use but a little bit of experience and you get really good at it. I used a Schmetz Universal sewing needle and bonded polyster sail thread instead of the thick needles and twine that come with an awl. It worked well.

I tried various stitch patterns but a simple straight stitch rectangle worked best. The outline of the crushed foam inside gave a nice outline to sew along.

I then hand sewed the neoprene cover using a simple lace or baseball stitch. It's important to get a few stitches on then bed the end of the neoprene around the end of the eva foam. That gives a nice finish at the end and something to sew into to lock it all in place. I sewed using a single length of thread with a needle on each end.

This is the end result. I used the stitching awl to sew some stitches in the starting end to lock it into place. I then push as much slack as possible to the finish end and sew that down. A bit of a rub evens it all out and job done.

Side view comparing with one of the less used squashed handles. The most used handle was squashed down to a thin ribbon.

Each handle takes 3-4 hours to do. Start after morning coffee. Sew the eva into place. Have lunch and do stuff. Sew the neoprene into place. Go out for an afternoon session. The actual sewing time is about an hour. It gets easier with practice. Not necessarily faster.

[windmaker]

Nice work!

[consumer]

dude that is awesome!

I wish there was an easy way to mod handles on all wings.

[OzBungy]

PS This is possibly the most useful tip I found for hand sewing. Pass the thread through the eye of the needle. Then pierce the thread with the point of the needle and pull the split thread back over the needle. The thread is secured, the needle won't fall off and there's no knot to get jammed on the fabric.

The video link below shows the process at the 2:00 mark. It doesn't matter which side of the needle you do it.

It's kind of difficult to line the point of the needle up with the thread. I held the thread taut on the bench with 2 fingers, rested the needle against one finger to avoid finger shake, then gently poked the thread with the tip. You develop a feel for the tip and can get it secured in 3-4 pokes. When the tip goes through leave it down on the bench and pull the thread up onto the needle.

[SophyQ]

I have just completed refurbishing some of the handles on my hand wings. I've done the most used handles. I'll probably go ahead and do the others.

The foam inside the handles was too soft. With use the foam squished down to nothing. That was made worse with my first wing because as a beginner I tended to over control the wing and hold on too hard.

With experience I got a much lighter touch. The handles actually worked reasonably well. But because they were floppy they settled into a vee-shape and my little finger was being squashed. I was getting a sore knuckle, possibly made worse by an old injury.

I didn't want to throw the wings out, they work just fine and I have plenty to learn before I upgrade.

I didn't want to completely remove the existing handles. That would have a cascading effect in terms of complexity and things to be unpicked, modified and reassembled.

I didn't want to pay a professional mainly because I wasn't certain of the design. I would hate having new handles that were still crap. Besides I had ideas in mind and wanted to try them out.

I made a prototype handle from neoprene and eva wrapped around the existing handle and held in place with velcro. It worked in that it felt good, but the handle slipped around once it was wet.

I finally went with an earlier idea. I sewed the eva onto the existing handle then wrapped the whole thing with neoprene hand sewn into place. This worked really well and was much easier to do, once you accepted that there was a fair bit of hand sewing. The added benefit is my hand sewing skills and techniques got much better.

I completed one wing and put in a session on it. The results exceeded my expectations. Simply having more rigid handles meant I went from pulling off the occasional sloppy tack to knocking out 7 clean tacks out of 10. The more rigid handles made it easy to roll the wing through the tack.

An added benefit was that apart from $10 for a couple of sheets of eva foam all the parts were made from scraps I had at home.

Following are some pictures of the process.

I cut a piece of eva foam to serve as padding and a stiffener. I covered the foam with ripstop so it could be sewn without tearing.

The neoprene cover has rows of zigzag sewing. The sewing serves as waypoints so I make even and regular stitches when hand sewing. The contrasting colour make for a nice highlight. The total weight of components for each handle is 16 grams/ 0.5 ounce.

1 Parts.JPG

This is a fully scrunched handle. It's somewhat worse than it would normally be. I had a temporary repair using plastic tube and self fusing tape and that has crushed the webbing to a very small size. The tube works ok but the fusing tape is not robust.

IMG_2473.jpg

I smoothed out the squished handle, wet it and clamped it overnight so it would be smooth for sewing. It doesn't need to be smooth but it's easier and anybody who hand sews new handles would want to make them neat.

2 Clamp.JPG

The handle is nice and smooth and flat.

3 Flat.JPG

I taped the eva into position and sewed it with a Speedy Stitcher sewing awl. These things are awkward to use but a little bit of experience and you get really good at it. I used a Schmetz Universal sewing needle and bonded polyster sail thread instead of the thick needles and twine that come with an awl. It worked well.

4 Tape.JPG

I tried various stitch patterns but a simple straight stitch rectangle worked best. The outline of the crushed foam inside gave a nice outline to sew along.

5 Sew.JPG

I then hand sewed the neoprene cover using a simple lace or baseball stitch. It's important to get a few stitches on then bed the end of the neoprene around the end of the eva foam. That gives a nice finish at the end and something to sew into to lock it all in place. I sewed using a single length of thread with a needle on each end.

6 Lace.JPG

This is the end result. I used the stitching awl to sew some stitches in the starting end to lock it into place. I then push as much slack as possible to the finish end and sew that down. A bit of a rub evens it all out and job done.

7 Finish.JPG

Side view comparing with one of the less used squashed handles. The most used handle was squashed down to a thin ribbon.

8 Finish.JPG


Each handle takes 3-4 hours to do. Start after morning coffee. Sew the eva into place. Have lunch and do stuff. Sew the neoprene into place. Go out for an afternoon session. The actual sewing time is about an hour. It gets easier with practice. Not necessarily faster.

You did a great job!
Looks really good. For the same projects in the future, I can recommend buying a coverstitch machine. It is right for this kind of work. I have this one https://www.craftyhangouts.com/best-cov ... /#product3 . I purchased it when I was a beginner in sewing and still use it now. With it, you will do the sewing much faster and the stitches will be much smoother.

[Jan:)]

Guess that is the Switchkites V1 wing?

After all that work, you really should fix the connection of the handles to the strut.
The small webbing with the "X" seam in the middle is not strong enough.

Failed on all my wings after about 20 sessions and the handles ripped off.

If you do it before failure, it is a somewhat easy fix.
I took some Aquasure and glued about 15cm webbing perpendicular to the handle, on top of the connection.
In line with the webbing that is on the strut.

If you do it after failure, it is a bit more work to do.

[OzBungy]

.....
You did a great job!
Looks really good. For the same projects in the future, I can recommend buying a coverstitch machine. It is right for this kind of work. I have this one https://www.craftyhangouts.com/best-cov ... /#product3 . I purchased it when I was a beginner in sewing and still use it now. With it, you will do the sewing much faster and the stitches will be much smoother.

I needed to sew very thick things (the 10mm foam through the handles) and do it in place. How would a cover stitch machine be used for this kind of project?

[OzBungy]

Guess that is the Switchkites V1 wing?

....

Yep.

I have about 100 hours each on my 5m and 4m wings and tend to ride way overpowered. Apart from the padding in the handles they're hanging in just fine. With the new handles they're pretty comfy to use.

Having embraced hand sewing as a useful technique I would be quite happy to open up the strut seam and do some serious work. It's very easy to do quality work provided you have some guide lines and holes to work with and get the methodical process. It's meditative and very rewarding when you approach it properly.

That can wait. I'm more inclined to ride the wings to death and buy something new when the time comes.