bracesport DLG

[bracesport]

luckily I did not forget to glue the wing mounts!

 

[bracesport]

The boom came off the mandrel (finally) - the secret seems to be leave it alone to cure more - then it detaches from the cling film easily - the weight out at 19g un-sanded and you gotta keep moving, so I glued it into the main fuse to dry overnight - I used epoxy with a bit of micro-balloon filler and chopped carbon fibre - I hope it will form a nice gap filling joint (hard to see down in there) - I will also do a top wrap fillet once dry.

 

[bracesport]

I have my BAMFzilla back together after losing its nose on a full power launch - the nose is my own carbon build grafted onto the front with an AUW of 253g - I am pretty happy with the look and feel and hopefully will be robust enough - I may still need a gram or two of balance weight in the nose!

 

[bracesport]

This morning I assembled the fuse - the un-sanded weight (and the boom needs trimming) is 76g - a light sand of the boom reduced it to 73g so overall I think I will get to my final target of <68g - it feels sturdy and I am happy with the design - I have added an external wrap of carbon fibre to further support the boom joint and to feather the transition - it has a wider body on purpose in case I decide to go inboard with the pushrod arms for the flaps in the style of the 'YODA' - the nose cone fits well, so I am happy with how the moulds performed!

View attachment

 

[bracesport]

I will tickle up the boom and post some before and after pictures!

For the DLG build I am researching my options for connecting the flaps (inboard vs in wing) - it would make sense to go onboard as this will make better use of the servo weight distribution - the Yoda and the Vortex have make and break links for easier wing removal compared to the BAMF - inboard would also be nice and neat aesthetically - the ailerons will be using the servo in the wing with a top mount connection like our Japanese friend uses.

It could all end in tears if the wing build goes wrong!!

I have the vertical stabiliser and mount for the horizontal stabiliser on a previous boom so I plan to graft that onto the new boom rather than stripping and refitting them - this will be a simple path and can be rotated when glued for perfect alignment.

 

[bracesport]

I built some geometry for an inboard push rod system for the flaps - something to ponder over the weekend.

 

[bracesport]

version two - the flaps rods (orange) will drop into a hinged sleeve in the fuse body - the hinged sleeve will be rotated by the pushrod with an attached clevis - the sleeve is 3mm CF tube (so all quite small)!

 

[bracesport]

further tweaked - this pushrod geometry option allows for a straight run from servos to flap horns - I plan to add the flap horn wires during the wing construction - I will build the hinged horns and mounts before the wings to get the alignment correct - possibly I will need a jig!

 

[bracesport]

I made a start on the foam blanks for the wing - the foam cuts very well - most of you guys who have done plenty of foam cutting will not be interested in this part, but it is a new skill for me!

 

[bracesport]

jumping around a bit, but I am experimenting with the hinged horn mounts I was drawing up over the weekend - once the first layer of epoxy cures I will see about reinforcing the joint.

 

[bracesport]

I am chipping away with my hinged horn mounts - the next step was to fabricate the blade for the clevis to connect to - I used some 0.8k carbon that I made into epoxied sheets - very thin - first I made a wrap around the post as an anchor - next I thickened the faces to about 1mm with sections of sheet cut and CA glued onto the wrap - finally, I did another wrap to further connect and sandwich the blade.

 

[bracesport]

for the second half of the hinge I made a jig to position the hinge tubes - first I ground out the slots - then I placed in some FG as a supporting bed in the slot - next I added the hinge tubes (also adding a top layer of FG - not shown) - the centre end of the tubes is stepped to locate on the fuse body - taped it up for curing.

 

[bracesport]

I started the hot-wire cutting of the wing panels - 3D printed formers with paper tape on the top surfaces - so far I have done the two outer panels on both sides and they are looking good - these two panels had a shorter wire arc whereas the inner panels are 4.5m in radius so I need to setup for that.

 

[FoamyDM]

Wow! how do the guides hold up? do you need to replace the tape?

 

[FoamyDM]

first batch of fuse mould prints went well - 20hrs!

View attachment 200734

Do you mind me asking your setting on these. are They 100% infill? 0.16 layer height? PLA/ABS?

 

[GliderFlyer]

Pardon the intrusion, but you all have to see this.

Is it not the coolest mount ever?

 

[bracesport]

Yes, awesome - so much easier with wing mounted servos!

Pardon the intrusion, but you all have to see this.

Is it not the coolest mount ever?

 

[bracesport]

yes, with use the tape gets replaced - they are holding up OK at the moment! I printed them @80%fill and .20 layer height - ABS (handles heat better than PLA.

Do you mind me asking your setting on these. are They 100% infill? 0.16 layer height? PLA/ABS?

 

[bracesport]

finished cutting the cores this morning - time for a tickle up!

 

[bracesport]

progress is progress - starting to lay up the base moulds onto the poly jig - so far everything looks reasonable, especially the TE camber.