Digital plans

Drew 12345

New member
I have started designing and scratch building my own RC planes. Are there any resources that are cheap and easy to use to create digital plans?
 

DamoRC

Elite member
Mentor
I have started designing and scratch building my own RC planes. Are there any resources that are cheap and easy to use to create digital plans?

Excellent!

Sketchup free makers version for design. Two plugins (both free) to unfold and then export as a dxf file.
DoubleCAD XT (free) to process the DXF and print it through CutePDF (free) to create a PDF file.
 

Jaxx

Posted a thousand or more times
You can also try Inkscape. It's a free, open source vector graphics program, similar to Adobe Illustrator
 

tbird

New member
Excellent!

Sketchup free makers version for design. Two plugins (both free) to unfold and then export as a dxf file.
DoubleCAD XT (free) to process the DXF and print it through CutePDF (free) to create a PDF file.

Which plugins? The automatic one butchers some of my shapes, and the one from the old video tutorial doesn't work with 2017 version.
 

bracesport

Legendary member
I would check out https://www.onshape.com there is a free version if your happy to have your CAD in the public domain. Actually is perfect for sharing and collaboration. Onshape is a full blown cloud based CAD system that can do anything! We swapped from Solid Works to Onshape for all our RnD work.

I am happy to help anyone with the how to’s for this system. In my latest build thread for the DLG you can see some work from Onshape CAD.
 

TEAJR66

Flite is good
Mentor
I’m away from my PC for a while. I know the unfold and flatten plugin that works with 2017 can be a little wonky.

Try orienting faces before unfolding and flattening.

Do as few pieces at a time as possible. Like the side of a fuselage, then the top, and then bottom. Save a flatten by copying and flipping the side to make the opposite side. Layout the pieces together again.

Only flatten outer surfaces, not the fully thickened piece.

When I get back to my PC, I can give more specifics.
 

TEAJR66

Flite is good
Mentor
Have we made any progress with this?

Does anyone still need help?

I'm back at my computer for the weekend.
 

TEAJR66

Flite is good
Mentor
It is possible but your scale will only be as accurate as what the scan produces.

What plans do you have that are only available on paper and need to be scanned? Just curious because most plans out there exist in a digital format already.
 

Mark P

New member
I have one more question; is it at all possible to take paper plans and use them to create digital plans?
Yes, it is. All you need is a desktop scanner, a computer, and the plans. Hook up the computer to the scanner, scan the paper plans with the scanner, and then save the scanned image of the paper as a PDF.
 
It is possible but your scale will only be as accurate as what the scan produces.

What plans do you have that are only available on paper and need to be scanned? Just curious because most plans out there exist in a digital format already.
Stumbled on this. Are you saying that I could have scaled up a not so tiny trainer digitally??
 

TEAJR66

Flite is good
Mentor
Stumbled on this. Are you saying that I could have scaled up a not so tiny trainer digitally??

That’s not what I am saying.

But, you can print FT plans at whatever scale you want. Just remember that the foam does not scale up. So score cuts for “A”, “B”, “C”, and “D” folds have to be adjusted by measuring once the plans are printed. Slots and tabs also need to be adjusted.

Now, to digitally change the FT plans (works best with Sponzified plans), you can import the PDF into Inkscape, save as a DXF or SVG and open in DoubleCad, do your editing then save as a PDF. Big hassle.