Micro Indoor Flyers - Re-Purposed Designs

[localfiend]

Micro Indoor Flyers - Re-Purposed & Profile

Thought I would make a thread separate from Nerdnic's Manic Micros. One of his criteria is clean lines and no exposed electronics, and I don't want to muck up his thread with some of the micro stuff I've been messing with that doesn't fit there.

Lot's of people wanted something smaller than the current Mighty Mini Series for flying indoors and in tiny lawns. Rather than re-invent the wheel and create completely new designs (though I am doing that as well), I thought some of the current flight test offerings could be scaled down with minimal effort. I wanted to keep the FT strength and build speed, as well as use a full size receiver. Makes the build that much cheaper.

Here's my first offering:

The Micro FT Flyer: (and after some searching, I'm not the first one, this has been done several times)

All Up Weight 70 grams

~16" Wingspan

10 Minute Flight times with 260mah 2s

6.4g HD1610 3400kv Motor
6AMP Plush ESC
3g Servo x2
Full Size Receiver (Cover Removed)
Gift Card Firewall and Servo Horns
180-260mah 2s (Actually, the plane has a ton of power, it'l haul a 500mah 2s just fine and fly for a long time)

Plans: http://www.lfarmory.com/webapps/RC/Plans/MicroFTFlyer/Micro_FT_Flyer_Plans_v.1.pdf

Once the Manic Micro Power Pod size is decided on, I will make this swappable with those.

Carbon Fiber Rod to steel z bends. Just use a bit of heat shrink and some CA. This is really light, and also allows you to get your control rods the proper length almost as easily as mechanical linkage stoppers.




I removed all the paper from one side on every part in this build. I wanted to keep some for the strength (removing both sides without adding something like tape makes for really weak wings), and to test if it would fly like this. I really wanted to keep the speed aspect of the build intact. Removing the paper from the wing bottoms also gives a cool birdlike bend to them.




Here's the guts. I actually fitted the receiver a little deeper in than shown to make more room for the wing when it gets glued in place.



Weight:

 

[localfiend]

Mmm, dual elevons.....

 

[localfiend]

So, the reasons for not building myself a heli-carrier keep getting smaller and smaller.....




Here's a guestimate at final weight with all paper. I imagine that after glue and control rods I'll be just slightly heavier than the FT Flyer. Still trying to decide if I want to try this with 1.7g servos. I think I'll probably wait for some more 3.6g servos to be delivered.



Either way, I think this thing will be a bit of a rocket with the current power setup. However, I think that with the huge control surfaces, it should be able to slow way down and still be controllable. I'm hoping for flight characteristics similar to the FT Flyer in the video above.

Here's the Beta Plans if anyone feels like building one before I get my electronics:

http://www.lfarmory.com/webapps/RC/Plans/MicroF22/Micro_F22_Beta_Plans_LocalFiend.pdf

 

[wlouisharris2000]

Good job on the micro FT Flyer. Great way to give a great design a chance to be a mini.

 

[Capt_Beavis]

is that really a split elevator? how is that going to work? Other than that it looks great.

 

[localfiend]

Good job on the micro FT Flyer. Great way to give a great design a chance to be a mini.

Thanks, the design is so simple and so well done I didn't really have to do anything. Move a line here and there and remove a bit of weight, and poof, it flies just like it's older brother.

is that really a split elevator? how is that going to work? Other than that it looks great.

Dual Elevons, and only 2 servos for the whole plane. Single push rod, 3 wire ends bent with a pair of pliers, shrink tube & CA. Works like this:



I had to cut a slot in the forward elevon. I forgot what I had originally planned in my hurry to get stuff done before dark. If I put the push rod on the other side of the horns next to the fuse I wouldn't need the slot. I wanted massive control surfaces so that It could be guided around in high alpha with no problem.

Just did the maiden and recorded some of the second flight. Video is processing now.

 

[localfiend]

All in all, I'm very pleased with how this turned out. Flight characteristics were exactly what I wanted, though the roll rate is higher than I was expecting. Flies fast, flies slow, I'll get some better video up if I get a chance to fly some more tomorrow.

Plane was a bit nose heavy on this flight, it does even better with the CG moved back further. Design is a mashup of a lot of F22 designs. The giant tail feathers have been on several standard size F22 designs that were meant to fly slowly. The dual elevon idea I got from twisted hobbies F22. The underside supports are essentially how flite test did them, just smaller and without the scoops.

Took a good bit of finagling on the plans to get everything to fit. It was designed around the size of the prop. I knew the plane would probably end up being tail heavy. DTF is not light, and there's a lot of it in the rear. I had to put the motor really far forward, enough so that I was a bit worried about the plane being weak and breaking in half. However, the support bars underneath seem to be doing their job, and the paper helps a lot. No flex, and no sign of breakage after a couple crashes into trees. (Inverted high alpha is just about impossible when your plane is nose heavy....)

I have a few minor changes to make to the plans and then I'll post a slightly more final version. I think I just got lucky though, it's pretty much where I wanted it on the first try.

If you're thinking about designing planes, micro stuff is a good place to start. It goes incredibly fast (I only started this yesterday), and this is only my 3rd designed plane. One of which isn't done, and the other is the Micro FT Flyer that really didn't take much input from me.

 

[localfiend]

Here's the completed plans for the F22 Micro:

http://www.lfarmory.com/webapps/RC/Plans/MicroF22/MicroF22FinalPlansV.2.pdf


Updated the Micro F22 plans to add a throw gauge:

http://www.lfarmory.com/webapps/RC/Plans/MicroF22/MicroF22FinalPlansV.3.pdf

 

[nerdnic]

This is an awesome thread. Awesome work so far! Like most of my projects I get really excited in the early stages and then get distracted by some other equally exciting project. The result is many open projects

I love the micro concept and it's great to see others leading the charge!

 

[localfiend]

This is an awesome thread. Awesome work so far! Like most of my projects I get really excited in the early stages and then get distracted by some other equally exciting project. The result is many open projects

I love the micro concept and it's great to see others leading the charge!

I'm the same way. I have 4 planes and a tri-copter I need to finish building. These two designs were my current distraction. I'm amazed they both got finished in a weekend.

 

[TEAJR66]

That is very cool. I just tried something similar last week. The airframe did not last long enough for me to get the power system worked out.

Now there is no need to try again. I can go with what you have worked out. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Flyingninja]

What was the total cost of the electronics?

 

[localfiend]

That is very cool. I just tried something similar last week. The airframe did not last long enough for me to get the power system worked out.

Now there is no need to try again. I can go with what you have worked out. Thank you for sharing.

Cool, great minds think alike. I like the tape. I think for my next build of the F22 I'm going to use tape and see how things hold up. Should lose some weight and along with a bit of strength and stiffness.

Just realized that I should put throws on the plans. Right now I'm using max throws with 55% expo. I should probably work out something gentler for people to start with.

What was the total cost of the electronics?

Looking at my invoice:

Motor $10.42
ESC $6.49
Servos $3.66
Battery $5.05

So $25.62 plus the cost of whatever receiver you decide to use. I put a full size on the FT Flyer, and a Micro on the F22, but either one should be able to carry a full size receiver.

 

[localfiend]

Added a throw gauge to the Micro F22 Plans:

http://www.lfarmory.com/webapps/RC/Plans/MicroF22/MicroF22FinalPlansV.3.pdf

My high rate was a 28 degrees. Halved that to 14 degrees, kept the 55% expo and tried flying around. Very smooth and easy to control. Not so many stupid maneuvers possible, but makes for a gentle flyer.

 

[Capt_Beavis]

I love the way you did the FT micro flying plans with the marks for aligning the pieces. I already have the tail feathers cut out, this seems like a great entry into scratch building.

 

[localfiend]

I love the way you did the FT micro flying plans with the marks for aligning the pieces. I already have the tail feathers cut out, this seems like a great entry into scratch building.

Cool. I always hated trying to line up hard to see edges. Leaving a little bit of overlap cures a lot of sins when you're trying to get things just right.

The real trouble seems to come from when the marking lines are a different color from the main cut lines. Inkjet and even laser printers can be way out of alignment as far as color vs black goes, so overlap helps a lot.

I went even further on the Micro F22, it's essentially all overlap with no marking lines. We'll see if that works for other people as well as it does for me.



Also, just a general FYI. I'm drawing up plans for a Micro Spitfire. I think I've learned enough about shrinking things down in regards to balance and weight management to make it work.

 

[localfiend]

Well, the original Flite Test spitfire plans have been a bit of a headache to shrink. I'm still working on the fuse. Might do a completely different design. Wing shape changed a bit as well. Flite test had to have a straight leading edge since it was folded, but since my airfoil is different I can go with the standard spitfire wing shape.

I think I have finally decided on a size, but I'd like to try something different.

I'll be leaving the paper on this one in most visible places like the Micro F22. And since I'm keeping paper for strength who says the paper has to be the original stuff that came with the foam?



What do you think? Those are my actual plans with decals drawn in within autocad. I'll have a reference version so you can be sure of where to cut, but right now all the actual cut lines, score lines, creases etc. are all a part of the decal. I think I can just pull the paper off the foam board, add a quick spritz of spray adhesive and lay the plans/decals down on top then cut everything up.

This way I don't ever have to mess with tape or minwax, can more easily transfer the plans to the foamboard, and I can use whatever thickness paper I want to balance strength and weight. The edges of the white foamboard can be quickly touched up with paint, or my personal favorite, colored sharpies.

I may have gone a bit overboard, but playing with cad tools is fun.

 

[SheppO]

I like the look of this micro spit a lot !. Interested to see the build... I adjusted the mini speedster plans to come up with a small spit 550mm wingspan - so its more in mighty mini territory but I think I will defo try going smaller ! I kept the flying surface size airfoil and orientation all the same as the mini speedster and just squished the fuse around a bit and reshaped the wing / tail.

 

[localfiend]

Hah! Awesome. That looks great. You picked a much smarter way of tackling this problem than what I'm doing. My fuse and other parts looks very much like that, it just took a long time to get there. Oh well, live and learn. :black_eyed:

 

[Pancho]

You guys are real jerks. Could you please wait until I'm done with my current builds before destracting me with something else I have to build?

Very Nice!