Eclipson Model V

qwijibo

Active member
I just had the maiden for my latest 3D plane project today, the Eclipson Model V.

Having previously printed/flown the Model Y and Model T, in opinion the Model V is the best of them. It printed great on my Prusia Mk3 in 'eSun PLA Pro' without any issues, and the final "ready to fly" weight came in just about 1.5 oz. over their suggestion, so pretty spot on. I'm flying it with the suggested SunnySky motor and a 3S 1400 pack...I also added a folding prop.

The only change I made was to use a nylon bolt to hold down the canopy. I didn't really trust just a little piece of Velcro, although I suspect it would have been fine anyway.

On 3s it's not a speed demon, but it's pretty quick. At lower speeds it floats nicely, and I didn't notice any bad stall characteristics, although I only have 2 flights on it so far. The roll rate was a little lazy on the suggested throws, so I upped those, but that's just a personal preference.

In any event, if you're looking for a 3D printed plane, I'd suggest you give this one a try.

2019-10-26 15.38.23.jpg
 

Sero

Elite member
Looks very nice! I've been eyeing up these planes recently. How did you find gluing it together? What adhesive did you use?
 

qwijibo

Active member
Looks very nice! I've been eyeing up these planes recently. How did you find gluing it together? What adhesive did you use?

I’ve built the Model Y, T and now V, and glueing has not been a problem. I put glue on the tabs and along the entire perimeter.

I use medium CA with activator, and although it may be overkill, I also run a small bead on the surface where the sections meet. I’ve never had a seam break, and to be honest I suspect those glue joints are the strongest part. ;)

Just as an FYI, if the wing glue joints are a concern for you, the Model V has channels for carbon fiber rods molded into the wing structure.
 
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LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Nice color scheme! I've been working on printing one of these up and still thinking about what colors to use. Unfortunately, my printer is junk and either needs some hotend work (aka upgrade), or better yet, just a complete printer replacement. Did a TON of fiddling just to get the Fuselage to print, but am not having any luck with the wings because the hotend keeps sucking air leaving random pinholes. (it's junk) Every setting I've tried to counter it just makes something else bad. Below is a pic of how bad the stringing was initially on the fuselage next to the parts that printed OK.
EclipsonVfuse.jpg


I was thinking about using a folding prop too. What did you end up using? I'll be using the recommended SunnySky too.

Cheers!
LitterBug
 
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qwijibo

Active member
Nice color scheme! I've been working on printing one of these up and still thinking about what colors to use. Unfortunately, my printer is junk and either needs some hotend work (aka upgrade), or better yet, just a complete printer replacement. Did a TON of fiddling just to get the Fuselage to print, but am not having any luck with the wings because the hotend keeps sucking air leaving random pinholes. (it's junk) Every setting I've tried to counter it just makes something else bad. Below is a pic of how bad the stringing was initially on the fuselage next to the parts that printed OK.
View attachment 153076

I was thinking about using a folding prop too. What did you end up using? I'll be using the recommended SunnySky too.

Cheers!
LitterBug
Thanks, I was real happy with how it turned out. The red and white were the only filament colors I had enough of at the time, so luckily it worked out. :) . I'd be curious to try the lightweight filament they mention, but it seems to fly just fine using normal PLA.

Sorry to hear your printer is giving you trouble. If you don't mind me asking, what kind do you have?

If I recall it's a 9x6 folding prop. I can check when I get home this evening and verify.

It really does fly surprisingly well, the best Eclipson model in my opinion. With any luck, maybe it'll survive until FliteFest this year. :p
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
I have an XYZ Davinci 1.0A (200x200x200). I put Repitier firmware on it which made a big improvement. Unfortunately, the hotend is just junk for doing single layer prints, even with the direct drive extruder. I have an E3D V6 to throw on it, but need to print up a few parts to make it work. I was going to put an all-metal E3D on it, but that ended up on my MP Select Mini V2 (120x120x120). (too small for the big parts)

I've used several brands of PLA and have thought about picking up a spool of the L-PLA. The silver used on the fuselage is just cheap Inland from Micro Center. So far I've tried PLA, PLA+, and PETG with a wide variety of heat, speed, and retraction settings, but just can't get the pinholes to go away on the wing parts. The long travel seems to be letting air get up in the extruder which then comes out in random spots. Really think it's time to just get a "good" printer. :-D I'm Looking at going big (300x300x400) with the MonoPrice MP10, or going really good with the Prusa Mk3 (250x210x210).

I have a folding spinner that I'll have to check for fit. Originally bought it for a 3DLabPrint EasyMax001 which I printed three years ago, but never flew.

Cheers!
LitterBug
 

FoamyDM

Building Fool-Flying Noob
Moderator
It really does fly surprisingly well, the best Eclipson model in my opinion. With any luck, maybe it'll survive until FliteFest this year. :p
good luck with that. (psst, just print out a new one just before FF and we'll never know ;))
BTW Your choice off filament colors is excellent.
 

qwijibo

Active member
I have an XYZ Davinci 1.0A (200x200x200). I put Repitier firmware on it which made a big improvement. Unfortunately, the hotend is just junk for doing single layer prints, even with the direct drive extruder. I have an E3D V6 to throw on it, but need to print up a few parts to make it work. I was going to put an all-metal E3D on it, but that ended up on my MP Select Mini V2 (120x120x120). (too small for the big parts)

I've used several brands of PLA and have thought about picking up a spool of the L-PLA. The silver used on the fuselage is just cheap Inland from Micro Center. So far I've tried PLA, PLA+, and PETG with a wide variety of heat, speed, and retraction settings, but just can't get the pinholes to go away on the wing parts. The long travel seems to be letting air get up in the extruder which then comes out in random spots. Really think it's time to just get a "good" printer. :-D I'm Looking at going big (300x300x400) with the MonoPrice MP10, or going really good with the Prusa Mk3 (250x210x210).

I have a folding spinner that I'll have to check for fit. Originally bought it for a 3DLabPrint EasyMax001 which I printed three years ago, but never flew.

Cheers!
LitterBug
I tend to print with '3D Solutech PLA' for most regular things, and 'eSun PLA+' for planes. I've been considering the EasyMax001, but just have too many projects at the moment. I have printed the Spitfire and P51 from 3DlabPrint in the past though. Below is a video of it's maiden flight...not teh best video, but you get the idea. :p

I can't speak to the Davinci, but the MP Select Mini was my 1st printer...for the price it was a great introduction to 3D printing. I'm currently running a Prusa Mk3, but a larger print bed like on the MP10 would be a great.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
My 1st printer was a kit (don't remember the manufacturer) that was missing all sorts of parts and had mismatched instructions for the parts that were there. Returned that after getting no response from the manufacturer. The Davinci was my first 3D printer that I was able to print with. Should have returned it on day one when it came out of the box with a broken X tensioner, but it was in much better condition than the Kit that I returned for it LOL. Their support sent me an X-belt instead of the tensioner bracket, so I had a buddy print me up a replacement. >sigh< Should have seen the signs. D'OH! Eventually they sent the right part. LOL (long story) Has been a good learning experience. I'll leave it at that.

It's a toss up for me between the MP10 and MK3. I would LOVE to have the extra size of the MP10 at half the cost, but the quality and options for the MK3 are worth the price. Really tough decision. I think the lower cost and bigger print volume will probably win out. I'm expecting more issues and fiddling for the lower price too. :-D Isn't that half the fun?

Cheers!
LitterBug

Edit: FYI, the Inland PLA+ at Micro Center is made by e-sun. Forget who makes their standard PLA.
 
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mach1 rc

Master member
I tend to print with '3D Solutech PLA' for most regular things, and 'eSun PLA+' for planes. I've been considering the EasyMax001, but just have too many projects at the moment. I have printed the Spitfire and P51 from 3DlabPrint in the past though. Below is a video of it's maiden flight...not teh best video, but you get the idea. :p

I can't speak to the Davinci, but the MP Select Mini was my 1st printer...for the price it was a great introduction to 3D printing. I'm currently running a Prusa Mk3, but a larger print bed like on the MP10 would be a great.
I love that spit😍😍😍
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Found a pic comparing the junk XYZ hotend to the E3D I was originally going to put in the DaVinci. Looks like I already have the parts printed to do the conversion. The hotend in my MP Mini V2 burned up because of an incompatibility between OctoPrint and the MP which caused the firmware to lock up with the hotend stuck on. So that E3D ended up going in the mini. The replacement parts for the mini have long since come, so I could put those in the davinci. Similar but it doesn't have a full-metal heat-break.
20180127_190440.jpg


Cheers!
LitterBug

EDIT: ordered an all metal heat-break to use with the left over "new" MP parts. Turns out the MP Select Mini has a LONGER heat break as well as it not being all-metal. So we'll fix that and be good to go. I had to print an adapter to use a "real" E3D on the MP Mini. Hopefully I can extract the temp sensor out of the stock XYZ heat block. Otherwise I'll have to go through calibrating that too.
 
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LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
SWEET! 1/4 through Wing-C and it is looking pretty good! (for this printer anyway)

I don't usually like making more than one change at a time, but doing the one thing at a time, then waiting for 20-30 minutes of printing to see if it worked was getting REALLY old. So I did about 5 changes this time, resetting quite a bit back to what worked for the Fuselage parts, looking at all the parts and what I had done with those results, then making a best guess... and the pinholes are gone! Could probably use a good PID calibration run on the hotend. Seeing some variance from layer to layer that could be related to heat swings that I see in OctoPrint. (+-2 from setpoint) At some point I will swap the stock hotend for an E3D V6. Will get as far as I can with printing the Model-V. Otherwise I'll have to go through another round of tuning just to continue on. :-O I'm a bit concerned that I may not have pre-heated the hot-end long enough since the Pre-print skirt didn't adhere very well, but the final ring was intact, so maybe it will all be good in the end.

Cheers!
LitterBug

Inland PLA+ white
WingCzoom.png
 

qwijibo

Active member
SWEET! 1/4 through Wing-C and it is looking pretty good! (for this printer anyway)

I don't usually like making more than one change at a time, but doing the one thing at a time, then waiting for 20-30 minutes of printing to see if it worked was getting REALLY old. So I did about 5 changes this time, resetting quite a bit back to what worked for the Fuselage parts, looking at all the parts and what I had done with those results, then making a best guess... and the pinholes are gone! Could probably use a good PID calibration run on the hotend. Seeing some variance from layer to layer that could be related to heat swings that I see in OctoPrint. (+-2 from setpoint) At some point I will swap the stock hotend for an E3D V6. Will get as far as I can with printing the Model-V. Otherwise I'll have to go through another round of tuning just to continue on. :-O I'm a bit concerned that I may not have pre-heated the hot-end long enough since the Pre-print skirt didn't adhere very well, but the final ring was intact, so maybe it will all be good in the end.

Cheers!
LitterBug

Inland PLA+ white
View attachment 153125
That's great, glad to see it's printing better for you now. I'd guess that the E3D V6 hot end will help quite a bit as well.

By the way, I just verified that the folding prop on my Model V is a Graupner 9x6 with a 32mm hub.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Wing-C finished with great success and no problem bonding to the bed on first layer! Between some firmware tweaks (acceleration) on the printer itself, and the extrusion, heat, and retraction settings, this thing is starting to print pretty clean. Just got done doing a "M303" auto pid tune on the hotend, and the heat graph is MUCH smoother. The wide red ripples are the 10 samples it used for the PID calculation. To the right is where I was preheatsoaking for Wing-1R. very much cleaner than before. I should probably do a "M303" for the heated bed too (blue line). It used to look better than the hotend. LOL
PIDtuneHotend.png

PID Before
Extr.1 PID P-gain/3.0000
Extr.1 PID I-gain/2.0000
Extr.1 PID D-gain/40.0000

PID After
Extr.1 PID P-gain/7.7700
Extr.1 PID I-gain/0.4600
Extr.1 PID D-gain/33.0300

Wing-1R has been printing for about 30 minutes now, and the PID tune appears to have made a significant improvement in reducing the line layers. Looks like most of the remaining artifacts in the print are actually from the .stl files themselves. :-D These weren't visible before all the tuning and tweaking. I'll get a picture of the before and after tomorrow after this part finishes.

Cheers!
LitterBug

EDIT: Did bed PID tune after Wing-1R. Result: Bed temp is more consistent while printing Wing-1L
PIDtuneBed.png
 
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LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Been busy tweaking and printing. Have all my white, clear, and silver parts done. Been printing the small parts on my MonoPrice Mini V2 in clear. Now working on Red and will probably reprint the two red parts (rear Stabs) I had done before getting everything dialed in.

Probably won't mean anything to people who haven't done a Model-V, but here's my color scheme:
Fuse: Silver
Misc parts: Clear
Wing C/1: White
Ailerons/Ruddervators: White
Wing 2/3: Red
Stabilizers: Red
Wing ServoParts: Red
Wingtips: Black
Canopy: Black

Here's a pic of the first wing-C no gear I printed before doing any tuning. VERY bad. Temp swings causing layer streaks, Under extrusion/air bubbles at layer start and air/bubbles in the middle of outer layers, ringing at direction change, Blobs, internal stringing, etc, etc, etc.
BadPrint.jpg


Here's a picture of the currently printing Wing-2R with a ton of tuning.
GoodPrint.jpg


A short list of some of the changes made and the improvements made (can't remember half of them) :
Printer Firmware changed from stock xyz to Repitier .92 (all around improvement and added adjustability)​
Retraction reduced (air bubble/Blob control)​
Hotend Temp Reduced (stringing, blobs, and air bubble control)​
Hotend PID tuned (fixed layer streaking/inconsistency)​
Bed PID tuned (better all around consistency)​
Speeds increased (less stringing)​
Firmware Acceleration dropped for x/y (gets rid of ringing)​
Firmware Jerk reduced (gets rid of ringing)​
Bed calibration/leveling. (first layer adhesion and consistency)​
Cheers!
LitterBug

EDIT: Found the spinner for the 3DLabprint... Wrong shaft type so ordered the correct one from RMRC. All the parts for the max001 are surprisingly still in great shape. I should glue it all together and finish it too.
 
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LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Right settings for those parts.... Been stalled out trying to print the wingtips all week. D'OH. Different materials, different speeds, Both printers, settings changes galore.... The overhang and reducing layer time is really throwing a wrench into this part. LOL

Once it is dialed in I'm printing the spares NOW. :-D

Really need a parts fan for this to keep the material from retaining heat at the end. Tried throwing a big fan at the printer, but it was cooling the hotend too much and caused even more issues.

Cheers!
LitterBug