FT Slow Stick S250
- Thread starter makoman1860
- Start date
scottyorr
New member
Thanks! I 3d printed the wheels. The tires are pipe insulating foam tubes from the hardware store. (for 1 inch OD pipe - the tubes are a little over 2 inch OD).
I flew it this morning - it ROGs nicely and flies great!
scottyorr
New member
You may have noticed there are no rubber bands holding my wing down. I really didn't see the point in holding down the front (with the slot to hold the wing). I was going to design and 3d print a special clip to hold down the rear of the wing, but my partner (who does quilting) said "hey, I've got some little clips that might work for that!" Introducing the "Wonder Clip". It actually works great! (And she even had orange ones!)
Gilwo
New member
I am having three problems with the FT Slow Stick.
1. The motor mount plastic was soft enough that the 2 motor mounting screws pulled right out in midflight - twice. I am building 1/8 thick aluminum disks with holes to hold the motor screws and holes to pass a wood screw back into the mount plastic.
2. The servo guide was too far forward and the elevator pushrod bowed instead of pushing the elevator down. I've added a new guide of bent wire around the arrow just in front of the tail feathers and keeping the pushrods from bowing.
3. I used 1/16 wire for the landing gear and it will not lock. It rotates and messes up the landing gear to a fair-the-well. I will look for 2mm carbon shafts and see if that will fit.
I wish I'd read the suggestion to use O rings to keep the two mast supports in place. I used CA on the forward one and now wish I could move the guide further back. Or I could have used tape temporarily. I can't loosen the CA glue.
My Walmart arrow measures 7.6 mm (0.193 in) diameter so I had to use a drill bit clamped in a vise to manually turn all the parts to enlarge them enough to take the arrow.
1. The motor mount plastic was soft enough that the 2 motor mounting screws pulled right out in midflight - twice. I am building 1/8 thick aluminum disks with holes to hold the motor screws and holes to pass a wood screw back into the mount plastic.
2. The servo guide was too far forward and the elevator pushrod bowed instead of pushing the elevator down. I've added a new guide of bent wire around the arrow just in front of the tail feathers and keeping the pushrods from bowing.
3. I used 1/16 wire for the landing gear and it will not lock. It rotates and messes up the landing gear to a fair-the-well. I will look for 2mm carbon shafts and see if that will fit.
I wish I'd read the suggestion to use O rings to keep the two mast supports in place. I used CA on the forward one and now wish I could move the guide further back. Or I could have used tape temporarily. I can't loosen the CA glue.
My Walmart arrow measures 7.6 mm (0.193 in) diameter so I had to use a drill bit clamped in a vise to manually turn all the parts to enlarge them enough to take the arrow.
Gilwo
New member
I don't see how I would use nuts. The back of the motor is threaded for two 2mm Allen head bolts. The bolt passes through the 3D printed motor mount. The holes are initially large enough to accommodate the head of the bolt. Then it narrows down to fit only the threaded part and then into the back of the motor.
I suppose that if I had a long threaded 2 mm rod, I could thread it into the back of the motor and back through the motor mount and put 2 mm nuts onto the threaded rod but I fear the nuts would be barely larger than the head of the 2 mm bolts. It might still pass through the motor mount.
I could get the same effect with washers the right size but they would have to be larger diameter than the bolt heads. And my local DIY stores don't stock bolts, nuts, and washers down to 2 mm.
Obviously you have something in mind with the suggestion to use nuts but I haven't tumbled to see what you were suggesting.
My hope fabricating aluminum disks is that the holes for the 2 mm bolts will not let the bolt head pass through. I can either use epoxy or Welder's cement to fasten the disk to the front of the motor mount. Aluminum is lots stiffer and stronger than the 3D printed motor mount. I have two lengths of 2 mm bolts so if needed I can use the longer bolts to make up the extra thickness of the aluminum disk.
I put one of these together. It’s so much fun. The previous tips have been super helpful - I used a 20cm high foam board support to get the camber looking right, and the zip tie tail skid (with a triangle foam board support), and sewing clips instead of rubber bands. I also taped 2 bits of popsicle stick on top of the trailing edge, over the length of the rear mount, to keep the clips from digging into the foam. Unless I crash hard this thing should hold up a long time.
At the end are links to the parts I used, most of which I had lying around. The motor in particular is great, and a real bargain on sale for $6. I got the CCW version before it went out of stock, but I’m sure you can just use the CW in reverse. Or get a CW prop…
Together with the gem fan 6042, it’s very quiet, smooth and has plenty of power on 2S. Big graceful loops. Maybe unlimited vertical - haven’t really tried yet.
For the shaft, I used a 7mm x 1m tube from Radical Rc. It’s $7.5 and min order quantity 6, but you can mix with other sizes and shipping is very reasonable. These are stiffer than most arrow shafts.
I cut it to ~26” long. This might be on the short side. Plane is very lively on pitch! But easily tamed with expo, rates.
I printed the 3d parts as is. With the above tube, parts had a great slide fit and I CA’ed in place once the CG was right. But your results might vary depending on how your printer is calibrated. The above motor mounts with no effort or finishing required.
I saw the comment about the pushrod routing being too restrictive. I didn’t find this to be the case.
The batt I like too, it’s long and narrow, keeping with the stick look and I get long flight times. The energy density is higher than any other lipo I have.
Flyfun 20a v5 ESC (no link)
For landing gear I used 2mm piano wire, 50mm foam wheels, and 3d-printed elbows I designed for 2mm screws to go in as axles. Happy to share the file. Tried 2mm carbon tube but they broke on first landing. Maybe solid carbon would work and be lighter, but I like the durability of the steel.
Hope some of this is helpful to anyone looking to build.
https://www.buddyrc.com/products/su...hless-motor-cw-on-sale?variant=30735587082326
https://www.getfpv.com/gemfan-flash-6042-durable-2-blade-black-set-of-4.html
https://www.racedayquads.com/produc...h-60c-lihv-whoop-micro-battery-long-type-xt30
https://www.radicalrc.com/category/Carbon-Rod-Hollow-410
At the end are links to the parts I used, most of which I had lying around. The motor in particular is great, and a real bargain on sale for $6. I got the CCW version before it went out of stock, but I’m sure you can just use the CW in reverse. Or get a CW prop…
Together with the gem fan 6042, it’s very quiet, smooth and has plenty of power on 2S. Big graceful loops. Maybe unlimited vertical - haven’t really tried yet.
For the shaft, I used a 7mm x 1m tube from Radical Rc. It’s $7.5 and min order quantity 6, but you can mix with other sizes and shipping is very reasonable. These are stiffer than most arrow shafts.
I cut it to ~26” long. This might be on the short side. Plane is very lively on pitch! But easily tamed with expo, rates.
I printed the 3d parts as is. With the above tube, parts had a great slide fit and I CA’ed in place once the CG was right. But your results might vary depending on how your printer is calibrated. The above motor mounts with no effort or finishing required.
I saw the comment about the pushrod routing being too restrictive. I didn’t find this to be the case.
The batt I like too, it’s long and narrow, keeping with the stick look and I get long flight times. The energy density is higher than any other lipo I have.
Flyfun 20a v5 ESC (no link)
For landing gear I used 2mm piano wire, 50mm foam wheels, and 3d-printed elbows I designed for 2mm screws to go in as axles. Happy to share the file. Tried 2mm carbon tube but they broke on first landing. Maybe solid carbon would work and be lighter, but I like the durability of the steel.
Hope some of this is helpful to anyone looking to build.
https://www.buddyrc.com/products/su...hless-motor-cw-on-sale?variant=30735587082326
https://www.getfpv.com/gemfan-flash-6042-durable-2-blade-black-set-of-4.html
https://www.racedayquads.com/produc...h-60c-lihv-whoop-micro-battery-long-type-xt30
https://www.radicalrc.com/category/Carbon-Rod-Hollow-410
RossFPV
Well-known member
One of those fiberglass handles to keep it lightweight 😂
Carbon Kayak paddle. Go big or go home.
Will keep my eyes open for one. Not going to trash my good one!
klinstifen
New member
I'd like to see the landing gear elbow you created! I'm using 3mm pushrod and some 3d printed wheels I had lying around so I'll def need to modify your design.
Looks like you can’t post 3d files here. So here’s a pic. It’s very simple, you could just design your own and then play with the diameters to get the right fit for the rod + axle screw. The angle should be ~55º.
You might have trouble with 3mm wire on the wing mount, if you’re planning to use the existing holes. I had to drill those out a little to fit 2mm and even at that it blew through a little to the center of the collar. That hole in the 3d part is not well centered.
You might have trouble with 3mm wire on the wing mount, if you’re planning to use the existing holes. I had to drill those out a little to fit 2mm and even at that it blew through a little to the center of the collar. That hole in the 3d part is not well centered.
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klinstifen
New member
Thanks for the reference picture and suggested angle. I'll take a swing at making one myself and let you know how it goes. I had to recreate the wing mount in onshape, in order to incorporate my 3mm wire.
klinstifen
New member
Looks good! I like the gold PLA - "vintage edition" hahah
RickyG
Member
I think I meant 250mm... numbers are hard
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