Ultralajt`s World of Flying

Yesterday I manage to assemble the parts so far, that there is not much left for tomorrow, when I hope to finish the Lathe.

This are the parts for the tailstock and nuts&bolts for assembly:

And assembly process:

A week ago I was forced to make souple of woodprint carving knifes. To make wooden handles I make a provisory "lathe" using small workshop drill pres machine. I realize how nice is to carve something from a wood stock with your own hand and chisel. It is rewarding and nice feeling doing that. But, as turning object is rotating around vertical axis, it brings a strange feeling.. like world is canted for 90 deg.!

So, I came up with idea to make myself a simple woodturning lathe out of materials I already have in my workshop!

The main keel of the machine is an aluminum square tube 50x50mm. The rest of the machine will be milled out from a 20 mm thick plastic plate. The power source will be a hand drill. Support for the chisel will be driven left/right by turning a wheel handle and threaded rod. This way I will be able to clamp the chisel to the support and drive it parallel to the object axis. It is for ease of perfect diameter all over the object length when needed.

The preliminary design was as follows:

Today I cut some plastic parts on my DIY CNC router and they look promising. They slide well on the aluminum profile, so I guess I choose proper tolerances. I am looking forward to run tomorrow into the workshop and continue to mill out all the assembly parts. I must visit a local hardware store also for batch of nuts and bolts, threaded rods, drywall screws, wingnuts....

These are the first parts, made an hour ago:

This plastic is very easy to mill. Unfortunately I dont know the material name, but it feels smooth and "oily" in the hands. (No, it is not "oilon")

This spring I start thinking of a new sailplane, that will not be "just another glider", but it should look nice in spirit of "Golden era of gliding".

I give her name VESNA after Slavic Goddess of Spring.

So, I start with a hand drawn sketch, then CAD drawings and also for the first time I went to 3D model design and extract then parts from it.

All started with idea to build myself a new glider, possible within RES category (Rudder Elevator Spoiler, 2m max wingspan), but not in the spirit of mainstream where mostly large HLG models are build today as RES, but rather a nicely shaped-curved eyecatching nostalgic model!

I draw a sketch to pour my vision on the paper and then I start to do computer design in 3D model. It was my first real attempt of 3D design of the sailplane that I also finished by building it.

Here are some pictures made while process was on the fly...

Photo above: initial hand drawn sketch of new model.

Photo above: Sketch outined by CAD program and sized to 2 m wingspan.

Photo above: 3D computer design of the structure.

Photo above: 3D structure almost finished

Photo above: making drawings for CNC machine, all white poplar plywood 3mm thick.

What is needed to build this sailplane?

What is needed for building this model beside Short KIT:

- Balsa thickness of 1.5mm to cover wing root, torsion nose and fuselage, TE doublers ................ 4 pieces (100x1000mm)

- Balsa 1mm thick for sheeting the tail surfaces and TE doublers.........................2 pieces (100x1000mm)

- Balsa 6mm thick for the leading edges, rudder and fuselage nose .................... 1 pc (100x1000mm)

- Plastic tube of 2mm outer diameter and the associated steel wire 0,8mm .....2 sets

- Transparent covering film .................................................. ....................... 2 meters

- Colored covering film .................................................. ............................... 2.4 meters

- Control surface hinges18x28mm .................................................. .......... 6 pieces

- The guard of the control wire 0,8mm .................................................. .. 4 pieces

- Round magnet round10x1mm .................................................. ............... 1 pair

- Servo extension cord ~ ​​20cm .................................................. .................. 4-6 pcs

- Wing jiuner, steel rod 6mm diameter, L = 165mm ............................. 1 piece

- Carbon strip 3x1mm L = 1000mm .................................................. ........ 4 pieces

** This costs just under € 40, depending on where you purchase .

Various material:

- Clear adhesive tape for sealing control surfaces and air brake course

- Self-adhesive foil for decoration (white for the inscription, black or blue cabin)

- Metal hook for Hi-start

- The sponge or foam-like material to hold battery and receiver

- Lead ballast approx 200g

- Screw M4 x 40 ............................................. .2 piece

- Screw M3 x 15 ..............................................2 piece

- Nut M4 .................................................. ......... 2 pieces

- Nut M3 .................................................. ......... 2 pieces

- White glue for wood

- Universal adhesive for wood and carbon (Super Glue phatic)

- Masking tape (for fixation of certain elements during glueing)

** This is to be found in any average local hobby shop.

Recommended Radio Equipment:

Receiver with at least three channels, preferably, 5 or more, because we have more choices for managing air brake (mixes, etc ..). If spoilers are connected to RX by Y-cable, an servo reverser must be purchased for a spoiler . Spoilers can be coupled to the throttle channel, or to flaps (3 position switch..flight modes) or on the slider.

Receiver battery AA size, flat, 800-2700 mAh

Switch on / off (optional)

A receiver battery voltage indicator (optional)

Spoiler servomotor ................................ 2 pieces (or equivalent)

Elevator and rudder servomotor ................. 2 pieces (or equivalent)

Proposal for tailoring the film to cover the model:

Legend:

Blue: sheet 60 x 240 cm; white

Red: sheet 60 x 200 cm; transparent

The big day arrived!  I maidened Vesna. She was a bit nose heavy, so yesterday I already remove some nose ballast and test it in the flat field. It was amazing change! Now I am waiting a good day to went on the hill again and fly her.

Till then, I can show only videos from her first flights (nose heavy), one from ground camera and another from on board camera.

There will be a Short KIT for this Sailplane model available soon in my webshop!

In my country, for centuries, farmers store hay in very unique hayrack buildings, made totaly from wood, without any metal piece involved in the structure. Usually they were thatched roofs, but in late last century they use tiles.

As modern way of farming dont need hayracks anymore, as grass is stored in silo, such wonderfull wooden objects slowly dissapear from our country scennery....

As explained at Land of hayracks Museum :

"A hayrack is a structure for drying crops standing independently or leaning against another outbuilding. Most frequently made of wood, a hayrack is situated at the homestead or separately on the field or meadow. Grains, hay, corn, flax, hemp, legumes, cuttings of tuberous plants and fern were dried and stored in it. A double hayrack is a particularly suitable place for storing tools, agricultural machinery and wagons as well as other building material and modern vehicles."

I made a small "semiscale" model of such hayrack as an decorative object or just as an chilldrens toy:

And another photo for size reference:

Model is build entirely from 3mm thick poplar plywood on my CNC router.

A teaser.....

Here is a video of my morning flights. I really enjoy this model. It has very plesant flying behaviour.

As I told, Short KIT for this MARABU II. model is availabLE in the Webstore.

I finally managed to write assembly manual for my newest model MARABU II.

I also prepare SHORT KIT and it will be availale soon in my Webstore.

It is an upgraded model Marabu I build couple of years ago. This time, model is constructed mostly from white poplar plywood cut on my new CNC router.

Machine is working now for about a week. I need to rfine some details that are not cruical for its actual run, but they are desirable. Dust collection and cyclone dust separator, linear rail ust protection (covering), material hold down to the table elements, Led light on the gantry, ceiling rail for routing the dust collector tube from the machine to the cyclone....

A short video of milling thin plastic:

As you can see tiny shavings fly all around the router and electrostatically stick to everything. A dust collection is a must!

Dust collector:

Photo above: Dust collector attached to the spindle holder.

After having thin dust all over my workshop I decided to make a dust collector. I use 3 mm thick plywood and cut multiple sections, that were then stacked one over another and glued together.

Photo above: dust collector is easy to install or remove by means of two vertical pins and arresting bolt with a knob.

Photo above: Milling dust collector parts from a plywood.

Photo above: dust collector parts prepared for stacking them one over another to get one solid part.

Photos above: Glued and painted dust collector. Attachment pins and pvc skirt is next to attach on.

Today I finally be able to make some test runs of the mill bit trough 3mm thick white poplar plywood. I am sure now that soon my machine will be fully operational.

Video of the first test on the material:

 I need to make proper wiring of the motors and end switches in next days. Also I need to install ust collecting system, and a strong baqse frame for macnine to stand on. Of course, I need to fine tune the machine (motor tuning.. speed and accelerations..)

Unfortunately I was unable to make 3 axis TB6065 control board to work. I use settings as they came with the board on a small CD, but it wont work. As I knew other buyers of this controller solve problems in various aproaches, I try to use pin and ports settings as found on various Internet sites for that board. It didnt work for me...  I was playing with settings whole yesterday and today I finaly loose patience.

O.K., the board cost me only 35€, so no big deal...but it is a bitter taste anyway throwing away 35€...

Photo above: wiring on the table. No succsess....

After trying each one setting found for this board i give up... some of buyers made some electronic modifications on the board in order to work flawless, but I dont want to mess with soldering iron on "fragile" and tiny spots on the board.

So, I simply remove complete electronic from my old CFNC machine and I will use it on my new machine.

I connect motors to the control board on the table and it works instantly. It needs just some refined settings for the motor current and the holding power. When 100% holding power is selected, the buzzing noise is not present. Othervise (cee video), the buzzing, somehow annoying noise is present, but it became less loud when a spindle motor is ON.

Video of the first motor test, without any tunning:

So, a decision is made: I will use H! controller and forget about cheap eBay  board that has so many faults....

Machine will be ready for electric wiring and conections in couple of days. Just some minor mechanical work is to be done to finish the machine... as replacing some bolts with proper one (length, head type..), and to finish motor mounts (rounding corners... ect..)

I install all three stepper motors:

Photo above: "X" axis stepper motor. Mounting brackets need to be refined and bolts to replaced with shorter one.

Photo above: "Y" axis stepper motor.

Photo above: "Z" axis stepper motor. Note, inox threaded rod M8 and tubular stubs for the stepper motor.

Photo above: MIlling router bolted on the "Z" axis for size reference...

Today I was working on "Z" axis, its motor mount and "Y" axis threaded rod assembly. It is not finished yet, but roughly assembled.

I need to finish some details and purchase all the bolts of the proper length. Now I just use bolts that lay around in my workshop, so many of them are too long or with inproper head style. Probably tomorrow will replace all these bolts.

And it is a time to order some tiny items for installation of the "X" threaded rod, motor-rod couplers..

Photo above: "Z" axis.... The motor mount and threaded rod assembly need still to be figured out and manufactured.

Photo above: "Y" axis threaded tod installation. I simply clamp the ball bearing into the 30mm diameter rod holder. It was cheaper than any other option I look at...

Photo above: View of the "Y" axis. Some items still missing... a motor/threaded rod coupling obviously not installed yet.

After more than a week being ill I manage today to continue with CNC Router assembly.

Meanwhile I recieved some more items needed for completing the machine:

Threaded rods:

Photo above: Rod end at motor side. Place for the coupler, nut and two row axial bearing.

Photo above: Oposite end of the theraded rod. Place for radial bearing and securing ring.

Photo above: Rod clamps will be used for securing bearings to the machine frame. Upper right two trapeze thread nuts in aluminum casings.

I cut a hole in 15 mm thick aluminum plate to be a holder-clamp for my Router.

Photo above: drilling a 34 mm diameter hole for the spindle holder.

Photo above: working on the Z axis...

Photo above: Spindle on its place. Of course i t will be suported in its upper side also to minimize vibrations. Nore, just few bolts attached as it is assembly in process.. not finished yet. Must assembla and disassemble parts frequently during assembly of the machine.

Photo above: Here the threaded rod will be placed soon to drive the Y axis.

Photo above: Temporary at its place.. Z axis.

While I am waiting for more items to came by post, I attach  the water resistant plywood plate to the machine frame.

Then I prepare a template for drilling holes into the board, where I will screw in the metal inserts taht has inner thread for attaching material on the board.

Photo above: Plywood board attached to the aluminum frame.

Photo above: I "sink" screw heads under the board surface.

Photo above: Drilling holes in the board using aluminum template as a guide. Template was attached to the gantry, to asure proper aligment.

Photo above: metal inserts to be screwed into the holes. Outer diameter 6mm. Inside thread M4.

Photo above: Threaded inserts installed. As I have some more, maybe I will install all of them.

So much for now.

I recieved some of the items ordered from Germany:

Clamps for lenghtwise rails:

Z axis rails:

I purchased also a strong laminated plywood with protective coating for the woking bench..smooth on one side and textured on another. Probably I will place it textured side up.The free height between bench and gantry is slightly over 11 cm.

I also order clamps for upper rail on the gantry (rail on the photo is just a rod for "mockup". I need to order proper rod thesedays:

Today I almost finished the basic frame of the machine. Now it is time to purchase some of the parts I cant make by myself.

For the bench..working table I will purchase a very thick plywood plate and bolt it on the frame. When machine will be operable, It will drill by itself a grid of holes in the plywood. I will insert then metal screw-in inserts with inside threads for attaching material to the bench. They could be used also for attaching a vacuum table on the bench.

For completing the machine I need urgently to purchase steel rod clamps both for X and Y axes. Next I need to purchase rails with bearings for Z axis, stock aluminum plates for Z axis assembly, trapeze threaded rods and nuts for all axes, axial and radial bearings....

I am looking forward to complete machine as soon as possible.

Work on the basic frame continues.

Today I assemble rough frame of the gantry:

I start assembling the aluminum structure that will support the working bench of the router:

I started to do some actual work in the workshop on my new CNC router last evening. I was working on the main frame basic elements. There was a large cross section aluminum profile to cut. It was not an easy job, as cross section is ~50x150mm.

But first, some general data for this new machine.

Awerall dimensions: 1750 x 920 x 620mm (L x W x H)

Working space: 1430 x 500 x 100mm (L x W x H)

This router will be mostly used for 2,5D carving of thin plywood, balsa, solid wood  and thin aluminum.

Probably the finished machine will look at the end different as on these renderings, as it is possible that I will change my mind on some details while building it. Also on the renderings there are a lot of details I simply did not modelled as they will be solved on the fly while assembly the machine. I didnt have time nore will to model all tiny bits on the computer. I need to assemble this machine as soon as possible, so fiddling with vitrual parts that are not necessarry I simply left alone...

The largest profiles are extruded profiles specially made for industrial usage (meat processing-transporting rails) , while smaller profiles are commercially available at hardwerstores.

Some shots from my workshop:

Photo above: it was not so easy to cut these profiles with handsaw.

Photo above: drilling big holes (73mm diameter) trough both vertical members of gantry assembly to accept main linear bearings.

Photo above: nice and clean cut trough a 3mm thick aluminum wall.

Photo above: these linear bearings for an 38mm diameter rods will be firmly installed on these vertical gantry stubs.

So much for now.... will be continued...

Sometimes it is not bad to put a project aside for a while if you feel that you are going anywhere with plans&drawings. Feeling like a dog who is chasing his own tail, just runing in circles! 

So, after a short break, I terurn to my Galeb (Gull) vintage Sailplane project. I can se clearly now and decided to make some changes in the structure of the model design.

On the rudder I thined the lower part of the "spar" area as torsion is resisted by diagonal ribs at this area. On the horizontal tail I change the solid planking of the stabilizer. I discover, that the real one was not sheeted over entire surface. Fuselage will not be made complete at once on the "heling", but rather on the straight bench (board) left and right halve separately. I will simplify some details and try not to compliocate on the newest one.

3D PRINTED CASING FOR HOBBY KING HD WING CAMERA II

Quite a while ago, I purchased HD Wing Camera II - Full HD 1920x1080P 30FPS.

As I use it for aerial video and installed it on the gimbal, I often find very hard to operate the micro buttons, that are covered with a heat shrink plastic, that camera is encasing with, not to fell appart. Of course, that heat shrink plastic instead firm solid shell was the reason of that camera affordable price.

DOMESTIC 3D PRINTING

As 3D printing became more and more affordable thesedays, I decided to design a casing and ask my nethew, who own a 3D printer, to make me a prototype.

Prototype came out pretty satisfactory and within a budget:

Photo above: 3D print (DaVinci)

Photo above: functional prototype.

That test 3D print encourages me to go a step further!

SHAPEWAYS 3D PRINT

Then I want to try another 3D printing option, and send my design to Shapeways for 3D printing.

After couple of days, postmen ring the bell and a mistery box was in my hands!

Photo above: Parts came in very sturdy paper box.

UNBOXING:

I was surprised with parts as even small details are well done. As I didnt choose polished finish surface (extra price), parts looks and feels a little "sandy", but that is not a problem. One can left parts as they are, while I test smoothing surface with fine wet sandpaper. It is easy doable if you are patient and precise.

Lets look the parts closely:

Photo above: first impression was good..both look and feeling.

Photo above: all parts. From left to right: Rail base for fastening camera on the base (RC model plane, helmet..), sliding clip that fit into the rail base, buttons are connected to the rail as they are so small that they scould not be printed separately, upper and lower camera casing shell.

Photo above: close view on the detail. A microphone hole with some protection mesh. Note step on the material thicknes at the lap joint edge.

Photo above: tiny depression in the joint allow bottom and upper shell to "click" together. Of course, glue is needed for permanent joint of both shells.

Photo above: some "fancy", slightly unnecessary details on the casing, just for good look and for testing of the printing process ability.

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS OF THE CAMERA AND CASING:

Preparing the casing parts

Tools needed:

Photo above: tools needed are cutting pliers or mall nail scissors, nail file and a medium sandpaper. Wood block optional...

Firstly, camera buttons should be free of the larger part. You can use scissors, cutting pliers or even a hobby knife.

Photo above: cut buttons away from a large part.

Photo above: clean buttons of joining sticks as nice as you can.

Clean buttons perimeter.

Photo above: use sandpaper or nail file to clean button perimeter at points where they were connected together with each other and another parts. Take care not to loose these small buttons! You need all of them!

QUICK RELEASE CLIP (this part is optional)

Now clean the rail and its clip.

Photo above: clean the edge of the clip, where buttons were attached. Use sandpaper or nail file....

Photo above: clip will not fit into the rail!  Rail must be prepared. Just sand away tiny bulges at both sides.

Sand off both bulges on the sides:

Photo above: sand away both bulges on the sides to free tounges inside the part.

Now test how parts fit together.

Photo above: check how parts fit together.

You will see, that tounges are pretty gentle (depending on the material used), so if you feel that joint is not as secure as you wish, you just glue some adhesive tape to the rail surface to create some aditional friction between rail and clip. You can also glue tounges at the middel of their length. So their lever will be shorter and they will bend twice as harder.

If you opted to use that clip, use two small screws (2x5mm) and screw clip on the bottom camera casing. Screws are not included in the package.

Photo above: proper orientation of the mounting clip.

Photo above: two screws (2x5mm) for attaching mounting clip to the bottom of the lower camera casing.

INSTALLING THE CAMERA

Preparing of the camera

Carefully cut the heat shrink wrap off the camera. Pay attention not to cut, bend or damage any of the camera electronic and mechanical parts! On some places, shrink wrap plastic can be glued to camera electronic board. Be very careful at these points. Do slowly and precise.

Photo above: cut shrink wrap and remove.

Photo above: camera released from its shrink wrap. 3D printetd parts are waiting to accept camera.

If you will use quick release clip, then screw on the clip part on the bottom camera casing as already shown above. Screws 2x5mm are not part of the printed package. You must buy them or find for yourself.Often they can be found on some broken domestic gadges (old cell phones, calculators...)

Now lay down buttons into the openings of the upper camera casing.

Photo above: insert buttons in to the elliptic holes.

Photo above: insert camera into the upper camera casing. (NOTE: camera battery omitted in this photo for clearity!). Camera lens should nicely fit, also the tiny spikes on the casing should sit into the holes at each corner of the camera circuit board.

Pay attention to tiny electric motor (vibrator)! It is glued to camera printed circuit..on each sample at slightly different aligment, so check how it fits inside your camera casing. Rotating part should not touch the casing. If it does touck, unglue motor and place it so, that it will be free of obstacles.

Photo above: electromotor-vibrator-buzzer. Unglue and place it to proper place. Glue it if necessarry. Rotating part (eccentric metal at its shaft) should not be in contact with no other part when rotating.

Photo above: camera sit tightly in the casing. (NOTE: camera battery omitted in this photo for clearity!  You should not remove battery from your camera!)

Test if camera buttons work as they should. You must hear "click" sound and feel it. Also some freeplay should be present. If no, then just sand off some of the material at the buttons bottom using sandpaper and check again. Repeat if necessarry.

Photo above: test all three buttons for functionality.

Now put bottom camera casing and close it until you hear "click" at all 4 corners. Hold casing firmly tohether with fingers and check buttons again. If all works, use some glue at four edges of the camera casing to permanently lock them in place.  Use just minimum ammount of glue, as it will came a day, when you wanted to open the casing. It will be hard to open if complete joint around the casing is glued.

OPTIONAL

You can order smooth finish of surface parts or sand them by yourself. You can order colored plastic, or paint it by yourself. You can even use CD marker to paint engraving in the camera as I did, to higlight button functions (on/off simbol, R as record and M as Mode).

I bet, you will do better than me:

Photo above: "pimp my camera casing"

Camera casing is available at SHAPEWAYS.COM

Enjoy your newly dressed gadget!