On Jan 26, 9:07*am, "Dan Marotta" wrote:
EXCELLENT! *I can't wait to see it in operation and wish we had something
similar (or the skill to build one).

Assuming this works out, one insight will be that not much "skill" is
needed to build a winch. Much research was required, and structural
analysis was done by gliding buddies who are engineers. The frame
tubes were cut by the steel yard, and most of the other steel parts
were laser cut. We hired pros to do the welding and the small amount
of machining needed. The rest is being done with a cut-off saw ($60
on Craigslist), a drill press, and a bit of scrounging. My one
relevant skill is that I spent some time writing CAD software for a
living. Now, anyone who needs a drum, fairlead, clutch, etc., for
their winch project just needs to ask for the DXF files and machining
diagrams...

Marc