*Unofficial* FT Dart
- Thread starter SP0NZ
- Start date
barukatang
New member
mine is in transit, im stoked, first wing and another reason to get fpv goggles. cant wait to use this powerpack on a micro seaplane
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Mine arrived yesterday, I got the electronics all wired up and tested good.
I got a 25/100/200mw VTX with minimal OSD off Amazon for this build too. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077978H6T?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf
Printed them up in Nylon (Taulman 910) Yesterday...with 3 perimeters and 5% infill they basically printed solid coming in at about 5g each. Being Nylon I suspect I could drive my truck over them without damaging them:
And aside from the higher strength and lower density than other 3D printable materials (which means lighter weight for the same print settings) one of my favorite things about Nylon is you can dye it any color you want...so same mount after a dye job:
I printed out two sets, one for me and one for a friend...then stopped and figured I should test fit them.
Uh oh. I posted a comment on your thing but you may want to double check your dimensions. The foam pod is 20mm OD and your 3d printable mount is only 17mm ID (I checked the STL itself to make sure it wasn't just my print settings.) So...it didn't fit
I fired up OnShape this morning and made my own version because I'm both lazy and impatient and didn't want to wait for you to adjust yours: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2832409
The OnShape design is here if anyone wants it:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/f...175bcd358fd2ba78f8/e/4763e647dfd028791159db53
I actually started working up a version that would replace the foam pod as well....but then decided I didn't see much point in it. A 3D printed version would almost certainly weigh more...and even without the pods I can't quite squeeze the design onto one sheet of foam. So that work is in the OnShape project but only half completed.
New one looks basically the same...but is a nice snug but not too snug fit on the foam pods.
The one issue I'm having is that this design is a warp monster....Nylon is usually bad about warping but Taulman's 910 is supposed to be less prone than other nylons. Even so I keep getting the corners pulling up. I'm just using hairspray right now though and PVA glue usually works better so I'll give that a go this evening. But if you print these in ABS or Nylon probably a good idea to use a brim to help keep it stuck until it cools. PLA shouldn't be as bad...but PLA is heavier than ABS or Nylon and more brittle so I'm not sure how well it would hold up in crashes.
Hope to get my dart assembled tonight now that I've got pods!
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Mostly assembled my stores build kit.
I have found a few issues that could hold up newer builders. The first was that the spot that is cut out for the PDB was not big enough for the PDB in the Hospital power pack. I had to expand it about 2mm on all 4 sides. Here is pencil outline before I expanded it.
There other issue was that the Gemfan 3035 props are supposed to be packaged as 2CW and 2CCW, but all 4 of mine were the same, 3035R. I emailed FT to let them know.
I have found a few issues that could hold up newer builders. The first was that the spot that is cut out for the PDB was not big enough for the PDB in the Hospital power pack. I had to expand it about 2mm on all 4 sides. Here is pencil outline before I expanded it.
There other issue was that the Gemfan 3035 props are supposed to be packaged as 2CW and 2CCW, but all 4 of mine were the same, 3035R. I emailed FT to let them know.
mrjdstewart
Legendary member
just finished mine.
i am lucky enough to have Rasterize as a club member and a friend. when i texted him the other night asking if he could make some skins for the Dart. his first response was, "How about a Steampunk version?" sounds great to me i said. few days later i had the kit and skins (pretty sure the skins are posted) and i just finished my build.
thanks to Steven and FT for the build.
made a few mistakes. totally messed up the first PDB when soldering. got + and - puddled together. found another PDB at the local shop and made it work. fast forward to last night, rushing ahead because i wanted to fly it this morning and i glue the power pods on upside down. duh! i assume all is lost and begin to hack one up to see if i can save the balsa. no go. at this point i stopped, unplugged the glue gun and went to watch a movie.
i flew this morning and had a blast. maidened a done up FT Vector, it flew awesome both times. crazy high alpha and the funnest loop you can imagine. flew the mini-arrow 2x, the Wacky Waco (used to be a bi-plane) 2x, but the whole time i was thinking about the dart and how i could make it work. it is so new, parts aren't even available (until of course i check here and find stl. files) and after all the work i couldn't just walk away.
soooo.....i cut some balsa, pieced it in where the pods should have been, and glued it it. the other pod that i had hacked up the night before needed a little more attention...
anyways. this is what we got. it balances perfectly with a 3S-400mah turnigy stuffed all the way up. programing was easy due to Josh's wonderful screenshots in the build video. all seems good.
one little thing it kinda bugging me though. in the build video and in my own version. it appears as though one motor is farther out than the other. am i crazy? did i mess something up? or is that intentional?
laters,
jason
i am lucky enough to have Rasterize as a club member and a friend. when i texted him the other night asking if he could make some skins for the Dart. his first response was, "How about a Steampunk version?" sounds great to me i said. few days later i had the kit and skins (pretty sure the skins are posted) and i just finished my build.
thanks to Steven and FT for the build.
made a few mistakes. totally messed up the first PDB when soldering. got + and - puddled together. found another PDB at the local shop and made it work. fast forward to last night, rushing ahead because i wanted to fly it this morning and i glue the power pods on upside down. duh! i assume all is lost and begin to hack one up to see if i can save the balsa. no go. at this point i stopped, unplugged the glue gun and went to watch a movie.
i flew this morning and had a blast. maidened a done up FT Vector, it flew awesome both times. crazy high alpha and the funnest loop you can imagine. flew the mini-arrow 2x, the Wacky Waco (used to be a bi-plane) 2x, but the whole time i was thinking about the dart and how i could make it work. it is so new, parts aren't even available (until of course i check here and find stl. files) and after all the work i couldn't just walk away.
soooo.....i cut some balsa, pieced it in where the pods should have been, and glued it it. the other pod that i had hacked up the night before needed a little more attention...
anyways. this is what we got. it balances perfectly with a 3S-400mah turnigy stuffed all the way up. programing was easy due to Josh's wonderful screenshots in the build video. all seems good.
one little thing it kinda bugging me though. in the build video and in my own version. it appears as though one motor is farther out than the other. am i crazy? did i mess something up? or is that intentional?
laters,
jason
Last edited:
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
one little thing it kinda bugging me though. in the build video and in my own version. it appears as though one motor is farther out than the other. am i crazy? did i mess something up? or is that intentional?
laters,
jason
I think it's just an optical illusion. Just put mine on my cutting may and lined up the fuselage to make sure it was squared, both pods are aligned.
I noticed that in the build video as well. Josh actually messed up (happens to the best of us) and missed the alilgnment slot on the second pod when he was gluing it in place. At 1:17:15 in the video you can visually see it's off by about 1/2 inch (half the length of the tab and slot).
SlingShot
Maneuvering With Purpose
Fancy! That looks sharp :applause:
Yawnsky24
Member
Those skins are awesome!
Jason, SPONZ,
Those skins look amazing. Finished my Dart from plans last night. Worked on cutting the firewall/motor mounts but was not happy with my results so I just made a couple of inside out mini type power pods. I figure that these may give me some easily replaceable parts for the inevitable crashes. Also enlarged the battery pod to accommodate my 610 3S batteries. Can't wait to maiden but mother nature needs to be a little more cooperative.
Pics are below:
Build as per plans with the following changes:
- no skewer in the wing leading edge
- modified to power pod style motor mounts
- changed pod so that there is no gap for the 3/32 ply
- built small swappable style power pod to mount outside of the motor mounts
- enlarged battery pod
- AUW with 610maH 3S battery is 228g/8oz
And no, it's not your eyes, the tape on the bottom does not align between the right and left sides.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Regards, Jan
Jason, SPONZ,
Those skins look amazing. Finished my Dart from plans last night. Worked on cutting the firewall/motor mounts but was not happy with my results so I just made a couple of inside out mini type power pods. I figure that these may give me some easily replaceable parts for the inevitable crashes. Also enlarged the battery pod to accommodate my 610 3S batteries. Can't wait to maiden but mother nature needs to be a little more cooperative.
Pics are below:
Build as per plans with the following changes:
- no skewer in the wing leading edge
- modified to power pod style motor mounts
- changed pod so that there is no gap for the 3/32 ply
- built small swappable style power pod to mount outside of the motor mounts
- enlarged battery pod
- AUW with 610maH 3S battery is 228g/8oz
And no, it's not your eyes, the tape on the bottom does not align between the right and left sides.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Regards, Jan
Attachments
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Jason, SPONZ,
Those skins look amazing. Finished my Dart from plans last night. Worked on cutting the firewall/motor mounts but was not happy with my results so I just made a couple of inside out mini type power pods. I figure that these may give me some easily replaceable parts for the inevitable crashes. Also enlarged the battery pod to accommodate my 610 3S batteries. Can't wait to maiden but mother nature needs to be a little more cooperative.
Pics are below:
Build as per plans with the following changes:
- no skewer in the wing leading edge
- modified to power pod style motor mounts
- changed pod so that there is no gap for the 3/32 ply
- built small swappable style power pod to mount outside of the motor mounts
- enlarged battery pod
- AUW with 610maH 3S battery is 228g/8oz
And no, it's not your eyes, the tape on the bottom does not align between the right and left sides.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Regards, Jan
That's a cool idea for the motor mounts from foam.
mrjdstewart
Legendary member
well, it was fast, fun, and short lived.
rasta's skins were beautiful but absolutely impossible to keep track of in the air. i had no problems flying it like a normal human being, i knew where it was, what it was doing, perfect response. i have flown many fast, small wings so speed was not the issue. my problems came when i started playing with the diff thrust. it went so crazy i obviously could not keep track of it, then with the skins not helping on visuals, it was just guessing.
first crash wasn't bad. bent a prop a little, bent it back and threw it right back in the air. 2nd crash was the nail in the coffin. i went way high to do a flat spin. it did exactly what i told it to do and went crazy! it was far enough away and with me guessing on orientation again, it went in hard.
thankfully rasta' got some pics and was able to hand launch the first version. he was also there for me to say," hey, i need more color and differentiation." he agreed, so hopefully we will soon have a version 2.0 of the steampunk dart.
new kit is already ordered and i salvaged all the electronics so no big loss. learned a ton, and will move forward. might also put the diff thrust on a switch. :black_eyed:
laters,
jason
rasta's skins were beautiful but absolutely impossible to keep track of in the air. i had no problems flying it like a normal human being, i knew where it was, what it was doing, perfect response. i have flown many fast, small wings so speed was not the issue. my problems came when i started playing with the diff thrust. it went so crazy i obviously could not keep track of it, then with the skins not helping on visuals, it was just guessing.
first crash wasn't bad. bent a prop a little, bent it back and threw it right back in the air. 2nd crash was the nail in the coffin. i went way high to do a flat spin. it did exactly what i told it to do and went crazy! it was far enough away and with me guessing on orientation again, it went in hard.
thankfully rasta' got some pics and was able to hand launch the first version. he was also there for me to say," hey, i need more color and differentiation." he agreed, so hopefully we will soon have a version 2.0 of the steampunk dart.
new kit is already ordered and i salvaged all the electronics so no big loss. learned a ton, and will move forward. might also put the diff thrust on a switch. :black_eyed:
laters,
jason
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Any pics of the carnage?
Grifflyer
WWII fanatic
nevenelestate
No Agenda FPV
Just wanted to post up saying a huge THANK YOU to the whole FT team. I contacted them about the Gemfan prop mix up and Jen had new props in the mail to me the next day. Such great people and great customer service!
the_teacher
New member
Alright, I had the dart sitting in my cart for a while and I finally got one! This will be my first ever wing and FT foam core build. I've been flying mini quads for just over a year now, so my goal is to go full FPV from the get go on this guy, but I do have a few questions. This is going to be a great spring break project (and yes...I'm a teacher).
Any special/specific tools you'd recommend for this build?
To paint/seal/etc. what's best?
Other than the build video, any other building tips/tricks I should know beforehand?
Any special/specific tools you'd recommend for this build?
To paint/seal/etc. what's best?
Other than the build video, any other building tips/tricks I should know beforehand?
mrjdstewart
Legendary member
i am also a teacher, bless you. today was my first day back from spring break and it was rough day.needed another week...
as for the build. first if you have built quads then the PDB may be old news for you. for us airplane guys it was a change. if your solder skills are up to par then you shouldn't have much trouble. you will find that building with foam is very forgiving and using hot glue allows a good deal of time to fix any mistakes. even if you make a mistake, which i made many, chances are it's still gonna fly. this was a simple build other than the electronics and should be done easy peasy.
good luck,
jason
the_teacher
New member
Yeah, the soldering/power setup is nothing too different from quads. I do have one question. How necessary is the servo tester? Is it needed? I've never done any wing stuff, so this is a new adventure!
Thanks!
Thanks!
