Cedar Park - Cedar Choppers -- Photograpic Pflying Robot -
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http://www.inetport.com/~davisele/fc.html
OK, well last week I wrote some code for the gps to communicate with the
bx-24 - This week I worked on the test vehicle some ( I took a class in
mechatronics - didn't know that I would ever use the stuff !)
The vehicle of choice (an airplane that has been hanging in my shop for
about two years) is a ARF by Global called a Tornado. A friend gave it to
me and the plane is in pretty good shape. It already had some cheapie
airplane servos in it, I used a Hi-Tech mini FM receiver fresh back from
the factory. The battery is an old 550 ma pack that likes to have a cell
occasionally fall flat. It was OK for the test flight. During extended
computer controlled flights I plan on using a bigger new pack (At a local
radio shack I saw an entire case of their r/c car batteries for about $7.00
for a 7.2 volt 1300 ma battery. I really wanted a 8.4 battery so that my 5
volt reg would work better).
My selection of airplane engines was rather limited. Extremely limited. I
had a ASP .75 that had a broken flange where the muffler mounted. I mounted
the engine in my mill and flattened the damaged area out so that the muffler
had a good flat machined surface to seal against. I also had to dill out the
threaded muffler bolt connection and tap threads deeper into the crankcase
(careful not to drill into the case). The ASP muffler was destroyed in a
previous crash several years ago but the engine still had good compression.
The carb also got busted up so I had a spare OS 6B carb that fit fine. I
also had to "persuade" a S.T. muffler to bolt up properly. just to be sure I
used red high-temp RTV silicon to seal up the connection. I wouldn't want to
crash miles away from home waypoint because I lost muffler pressure due to a
bad muffler connection. I also cleaned the threads and used Loctite, and
also used lockwashers on the mechanical connection.
The airplane seemed a little nose heavy - and since it is difficult to
eyeball the balance on a tapered wing - what the heck - it was decent flying
weather and I wanted to fly rather that do calculations.
Typical inverted engine - flooding the carb problem - got the engine
adjusted - Blast off.
I was in a grass field at my city park - I had about 100 yards of freshly
mowed grass - clearly more than what was needed - the problem was that the
lake was at the end of the 100 yds!
The test plane leapt into the air in about 10 or 20 feet. Climbed to about
200-300 feet at 45 degree angle. Throttle back, more, more , more. I was
comfortably flying circuits at 2 to 3 clicks above idle !!!
The engine was waaaay to freaking big. I verified that this morning when I
found out that the Tornado is a .40 sized trainer. Heck ! it looked like it
was a .60 sized plane. If I take the stick-on lead out of the nose then I'll
bet the balance will be right on. Any one know where this plane should
balance ?
Bottom line is that I still remember how to fly a model plane after about 2
years of heli only! Also that the test vehicle flies OK and that it has
enough room for gps and computer. I suppose that one can make an argument
that it will get good fuel economy based on cruise configuration it is at
the 10% power setting! I really wanted to use a 4 cycle but my friend that
said I could use one of his 4 cycle engines hasn't made it available, yet.
I guess this week I'll make progress on making a servo move based on what
the gps is telling it.
later
richard
OK, well last week I wrote some code for the gps to communicate with the
bx-24 - This week I worked on the test vehicle some ( I took a class in
mechatronics - didn't know that I would ever use the stuff !)
The vehicle of choice (an airplane that has been hanging in my shop for
about two years) is a ARF by Global called a Tornado. A friend gave it to
me and the plane is in pretty good shape. It already had some cheapie
airplane servos in it, I used a Hi-Tech mini FM receiver fresh back from
the factory. The battery is an old 550 ma pack that likes to have a cell
occasionally fall flat. It was OK for the test flight. During extended
computer controlled flights I plan on using a bigger new pack (At a local
radio shack I saw an entire case of their r/c car batteries for about $7.00
for a 7.2 volt 1300 ma battery. I really wanted a 8.4 battery so that my 5
volt reg would work better).
My selection of airplane engines was rather limited. Extremely limited. I
had a ASP .75 that had a broken flange where the muffler mounted. I mounted
the engine in my mill and flattened the damaged area out so that the muffler
had a good flat machined surface to seal against. I also had to dill out the
threaded muffler bolt connection and tap threads deeper into the crankcase
(careful not to drill into the case). The ASP muffler was destroyed in a
previous crash several years ago but the engine still had good compression.
The carb also got busted up so I had a spare OS 6B carb that fit fine. I
also had to "persuade" a S.T. muffler to bolt up properly. just to be sure I
used red high-temp RTV silicon to seal up the connection. I wouldn't want to
crash miles away from home waypoint because I lost muffler pressure due to a
bad muffler connection. I also cleaned the threads and used Loctite, and
also used lockwashers on the mechanical connection.
The airplane seemed a little nose heavy - and since it is difficult to
eyeball the balance on a tapered wing - what the heck - it was decent flying
weather and I wanted to fly rather that do calculations.
Typical inverted engine - flooding the carb problem - got the engine
adjusted - Blast off.
I was in a grass field at my city park - I had about 100 yards of freshly
mowed grass - clearly more than what was needed - the problem was that the
lake was at the end of the 100 yds!
The test plane leapt into the air in about 10 or 20 feet. Climbed to about
200-300 feet at 45 degree angle. Throttle back, more, more , more. I was
comfortably flying circuits at 2 to 3 clicks above idle !!!
The engine was waaaay to freaking big. I verified that this morning when I
found out that the Tornado is a .40 sized trainer. Heck ! it looked like it
was a .60 sized plane. If I take the stick-on lead out of the nose then I'll
bet the balance will be right on. Any one know where this plane should
balance ?
Bottom line is that I still remember how to fly a model plane after about 2
years of heli only! Also that the test vehicle flies OK and that it has
enough room for gps and computer. I suppose that one can make an argument
that it will get good fuel economy based on cruise configuration it is at
the 10% power setting! I really wanted to use a 4 cycle but my friend that
said I could use one of his 4 cycle engines hasn't made it available, yet.
I guess this week I'll make progress on making a servo move based on what
the gps is telling it.
later
richard
Comments
first aircraft was a Tower Hobbies 2 meter electric sailplane, I managed to
crash it on my first "Flight" Although it did fly about halfway accross the
10 acre field I was flying in. It kept banking to the left, and not knowing
how to correct, I was panicing, needless to say, it crashed, and has never
flow further than 100 ft again.
Later this summer I am thinking I will get a trainer, and once I can
fly it, I want to hook up a Basic Stamp 1 to the reciever so I can do some
cool stuff w/ LEDs, like say, when I reduce the throttle to a certain point,
some landing lights come on. Or perhaps some sort of auto U-turn function if
I loose radio contact with the plane.
If anyone has any cool ideas on what I can do with my BS1 and a R/C
airplane, let me know.
On Tue, 27 Jun 2000 12:55:04 -0500, basicstamps@egroups.com wrote:
>
> http://www.inetport.com/~davisele/fc.html
>
> OK, well last week I wrote some code for the gps to communicate with the
> bx-24 - This week I worked on the test vehicle some ( I took a class in
> mechatronics - didn't know that I would ever use the stuff !)
>
> The vehicle of choice (an airplane that has been hanging in my shop for
> about two years) is a ARF by Global called a Tornado. A friend gave it
to
> me and the plane is in pretty good shape. It already had some cheapie
> airplane servos in it, I used a Hi-Tech mini FM receiver fresh back from
> the factory. The battery is an old 550 ma pack that likes to have a cell
> occasionally fall flat. It was OK for the test flight. During extended
> computer controlled flights I plan on using a bigger new pack (At a local
> radio shack I saw an entire case of their r/c car batteries for about
$7.00
> for a 7.2 volt 1300 ma battery. I really wanted a 8.4 battery so that my
5
> volt reg would work better).
>
> My selection of airplane engines was rather limited. Extremely limited. I
> had a ASP .75 that had a broken flange where the muffler mounted. I
mounted
> the engine in my mill and flattened the damaged area out so that the
muffler
> had a good flat machined surface to seal against. I also had to dill out
the
> threaded muffler bolt connection and tap threads deeper into the
crankcase
> (careful not to drill into the case). The ASP muffler was destroyed in a
> previous crash several years ago but the engine still had good
compression.
> The carb also got busted up so I had a spare OS 6B carb that fit fine. I
> also had to "persuade" a S.T. muffler to bolt up properly. just to be
sure I
> used red high-temp RTV silicon to seal up the connection. I wouldn't want
to
> crash miles away from home waypoint because I lost muffler pressure due
to a
> bad muffler connection. I also cleaned the threads and used Loctite, and
> also used lockwashers on the mechanical connection.
>
> The airplane seemed a little nose heavy - and since it is difficult to
> eyeball the balance on a tapered wing - what the heck - it was decent
flying
> weather and I wanted to fly rather that do calculations.
>
> Typical inverted engine - flooding the carb problem - got the engine
> adjusted - Blast off.
>
> I was in a grass field at my city park - I had about 100 yards of freshly
> mowed grass - clearly more than what was needed - the problem was that
the
> lake was at the end of the 100 yds!
>
> The test plane leapt into the air in about 10 or 20 feet. Climbed to
about
> 200-300 feet at 45 degree angle. Throttle back, more, more , more. I was
> comfortably flying circuits at 2 to 3 clicks above idle !!!
>
> The engine was waaaay to freaking big. I verified that this morning when
I
> found out that the Tornado is a .40 sized trainer. Heck ! it looked like
it
> was a .60 sized plane. If I take the stick-on lead out of the nose then
I'll
> bet the balance will be right on. Any one know where this plane should
> balance ?
>
> Bottom line is that I still remember how to fly a model plane after about
2
> years of heli only! Also that the test vehicle flies OK and that it has
> enough room for gps and computer. I suppose that one can make an
argument
> that it will get good fuel economy based on cruise configuration it is at
> the 10% power setting! I really wanted to use a 4 cycle but my friend
that
> said I could use one of his 4 cycle engines hasn't made it available,
yet.
>
> I guess this week I'll make progress on making a servo move based on what
> the gps is telling it.
>
> later
>
> richard
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Chris V.
A.K.A. [noparse][[/noparse]ToJ]Picard, [noparse][[/noparse]ToJ]Locutus
"Is that a turtle on your head? or are you a Klingon?" - Unknown
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