Winding

[OpticsNerd]

Does stretching the rubber more before winding affect things like how many winds the rubber can take and how your plane flies?

[Crtomir]

There are two things: stretching before winding and stretching while winding.

You should always stretch while winding. Typically, for the rubber we use for Wright Stuff, our students like to stretch the rubber to about 4-5 times the loop length while winding and then slowly walk it in as they wind. You can feel the tension build up as you wind, so you just practice getting that feel.

Stretching before winding. We always stretch our rubber motors to about 7 times the loop length for at least an hour. This pre-stretch does allow you to put more winds on the motor than if you didn't pre-stretch. However, you will find that if you wind to a near maximum torque for the first wind after pre-stretch, that you will have to use more winds to get to that same max torque on the second wind after pre-stretch. That means the rubber motor is still getting stretched during the first wind to max torque after pre-stretch. That means that the pre-stretch does not fully stretch out the motor. But that's okay. You will find that after pre-stretch, you will want to use your motor at near max winds for only 3-4 flights. After that, it gets weak.

[Crtomir]

So, yes, stretching the rubber motor before winding (or during winding) does affect how many winds you can put on and that, in turn, affects how long and how high your plane flies. In short, the number of winds affects the flight time and the torque on the motor when you put it on your plane affects how high your plane climbs.