Guinea Pig EDF 80mm Conversion

[dberg97]

I haven't gotten around to building a Guinea Pig yet, but didn't want to purchase any new electronics. I've had a pair of 80mm EDFs that have made their rounds in other aircraft, so I decided to do a conversion for the GP. Instead of winging it, I planned what I am going to do in Onshape. I designed the nacelles to fit the fan and motor from a the Flycolor EDFs. The nacelle will mount and super glue to the 3d printed wing formers after the wing is fabricated. The ESCs will be mounted internally in the fuselage and I'll add a couple of cheater vents forward and one aft for cooling. For wing spars I'm using 2 carbon fiber arrows. I have the nacelles and formers printed, assembled, tested, and ready to go. I also plan on doubling the horizontal stab and add a 3D printed support on the elevator so it doesn't deflect from the thrust. I'm also going to print the wheel pants and landing gear assembly. The only thing left before building starts this weekend is to design the steerable front nose gear. This should be fun!

 

[Mr Man]

I haven't gotten around to building a Guinea Pig yet, but didn't want to purchase any new electronics. I've had a pair of 80mm EDFs that have made their rounds in other aircraft, so I decided to do a conversion for the GP. Instead of winging it, I planned what I am going to do in Onshape. I designed the nacelles to fit the fan and motor from a the Flycolor EDFs. The nacelle will mount and super glue to the 3d printed wing formers after the wing is fabricated. The ESCs will be mounted internally in the fuselage and I'll add a couple of cheater vents forward and one aft for cooling. For wing spars I'm using 2 carbon fiber arrows. I have the nacelles and formers printed, assembled, tested, and ready to go. I also plan on doubling the horizontal stab and add a 3D printed support on the elevator so it doesn't deflect from the thrust. I'm also going to print the wheel pants and landing gear assembly. The only thing left before building starts this weekend is to design the steerable front nose gear. This should be fun! View attachment 253247 View attachment 253248 View attachment 253249

Wow, that’s a really cool idea! Watching this one for sure!

 

[dberg97]

Wing went together perfectly. The wing doesn’t flex at all. Hooked up the receiver and gave it a test. I’m really happy with it so far.

 

[Mr Man]

Cool!

 

[L Edge]

Point to be made. Try to get your main gear out as far as you can. Reason being, a cross wind that get under the wing will flip it so the tip of the other wind will dig into the grass. I ended up putting 2 wheels on each side(even the nose wheel) and it reduced the chances of wing edge digging in. Move it from 6" to a 10" wheel base.

 

[telnar1236]

This looks amazing. I'll definitely be following this project. What kind of batteries are you thinking of flying with?

 

[dberg97]

This looks amazing. I'll definitely be following this project. What kind of batteries are you thinking of flying with?

6s 5000

 

[dberg97]

Point to be made. Try to get your main gear out as far as you can. Reason being, a cross wind that get under the wing will flip it so the tip of the other wind will dig into the grass. I ended up putting 2 wheels on each side(even the nose wheel) and it reduced the chances of wing edge digging in. Move it from 6" to a 10" wheel base.

I designed some 40mm wide rear tires and am printing out of TPU.

 

[dberg97]

Need to hook up the control horns, mout the ESCs, add vents for the ESCs, and attach the gear. If the weather is conducive, she may fly tomorrow.

 

[L Edge]

You might think about differential thrust on the EDF's. Will help, if you like to fly in windy conditions.
With the 80's, it ought to act as a STOL transport.

 

[dberg97]

Ready for maiden

 

[dberg97]

Finally got to maiden it last night. It required a lot of speed to generate the lift required to get and sustain flight. The good news is that it had plenty of thrust and had vertical capability. The bad news is that it had a high stall speed. It sounded awesome in flight and with enough speed it flew straight and stable. As soon as you dropped speed below half throttle it wanted to stall. We had it coming around for a show pass and it threw an EDF blade. Without both EDFs functioning it was not flyable and turned into a pile of debris. If I was to do it again, I would increase the wing size 50% for more lift. The wing design worked fantastic and was the only thing that survived the wreck.

 

[telnar1236]

That's a shame - the wing didn't look too small for the plane but I guess EDF systems are just heavy.

 

[Michael9865]

Ouch