FT Slow Stick S250

[Foamforce]

I guess this is gonna be a swift stick, especially since I'll be using 9g servos...

The motor apparently weighs about 14g more, and 8g more for the servos, so +22g. That adds about 9% to the all-up weight of 250g. It won’t be Swift, but maybe a Slowish Stick? 😀

 

[Oldrover TJ]

The motor apparently weighs about 14g more, and 8g more for the servos, so +22g. That adds about 9% to the all-up weight of 250g. It won’t be Swift, but maybe a Slowish Stick? 😀

I mean.... I'll take it especially since I've got all those parts just laying around. I can always increase the wing span if I want.

 

[LitterBug]

I had troubles getting the old used 2206 to mount up. The bolt holes are small and my bolt heads are large. I may have to mod the motor mount as others have done for the arrow shaft.

Now to cut out the foamboard.

LB

 

[Linkster]

Good suggestion, but it looks like none of my local libraries do it. One of them apparently tried out several years ago but stopped. Probably difficult for them to keep it running.

I saw somebody post a link to the Ender 3 Pro on sale for $200. Is that a good printer for what we mostly do here?

The guys at the public library in Xenia OH, suggested getting an Ender 3v2 as a noob.

I fired up my Ender 3v2 and printed the parts.

It was actually the first prince that I ever did on the second hand Ender.

Perfect prints...then I yeeted the the printer settings file that the last owner had dialed in.

It was a good way to force myself to to learn everything about calibrating a 3D printer.

I also have an auto leveler added on, but if you know how to level a printer it's not that bad and there's ways you can dial in the leveling before you print.

Back to the parts...they required a lot of filing to fit the arrow in... I think the four channel servo tray broke because it was flimsy AF.

I'm frankly building a new set of all of the parts except for the motor mount and wing holders in Fusion 3D.

I'm taking off a bunch of unneeded weight and adding it back into where it's useful.

I'm happy to share my stl's when I get it done but I can't say when.

I'm also adding 4-in balloon wheels to make my slow stick a bush plane...because adding big wheels to anything makes it a bush plane, no?

 

[Linkster]

Besides enlarging the diameter of the hole to 8.2mm (8.3mm on the tail part) I also made another piece to help support the battery and I printed two esc holders. One for the esc and another for the receiver.

I printed everything in Polymaker PolyLite LW-PLA. The pre-foamed LW-PLA with the same settings I use for PLA. I haven't cut out the foam yet, but I'm thinking I'm going to go for an "Ultra" Slow Stick look. I might even put some LEDs in it.

View attachment 237188
View attachment 237189

How much lighter is the LW PLA vs PLA and how's the strength and durability compare?

 

[Linkster]

No the bad news.. Printer does NOT have the silent motherboard so that's a few more bucks to shell out, but the print quality is there. Ordered the new motherboard, better springs and CR Touch. Should be all upgraded in a few days depending upon shipping.

Don't forget the direct drive extruder, if your spending the money on the other upgrades...

 

[Racer649]

The Slow Stick S250 is the name of the plane/plans from the flying arrow vid.
You can get the plans on FTCA.FliteTest.com

Having trouble getting the slow stick to balance without adding a lot of weight or move the wing pretty far back. Any ideas? Using the recommended FT motor

 

[Foamforce]

Having trouble getting the slow stick to balance without adding a lot of weight or move the wing pretty far back. Any ideas? Using the recommended FT motor

That’s the nature of the plane. The wing goes further back than it looks like it ought to. The tail is fairly heavy and the motor and electronics are fairly light, so the whole package wants to be tail heavy. I noticed that WalMart had some slightly longer arrows and that would help by moving the battery and motor a couple inches further forward.

 

[luvmy40]

Had some decent weather this morning so I took the Slow Stick out for the maiden flight. I thought I had the CG pretty good. Just slightly nose heavy. It flew like it was way tail heavy. I managed to keep it up and trim it, kind'a. Any throttle change had an immediate effect on attitude and it porposed badly when throttling up. I had not shimmed the motor at all and I made no modifications to the printed parts. At the end, I nosed in from a fairly low altitude and snapped the front wing mount at the base. It's fixable. I am going to see if I can get the wing mounts unglued( I used a little too much CA me thinks) and move the wing back an inch or so. I'll also add a little down and right thrust to the motor mount with washers.

I was flying on an F-Pack motor with a 2S 650 battery. The little time I had actually in controlled flight makes me think this will a great plane for getting my grandson into 3 channel from his EZ Freighter start.

I may just start new.

 

[Aslansmonkey]

Finally got a chance to maiden my Slow Stick, now that the water has dried up enough at the local park I fly at.
In this short video of the maiden I've handed the controls to my 30 year old son who has almost NO flying experience. Ok, he crashed my tenet into a tree last year but that's about it.

I build this as a trainer for him and others to use, and it looks like it will do an excellent job at that.