My Other Hobby

[Namactual]

We only have a few more hours to work on this until our first competition which is Friday. We had to pull our climber device as we were over weight.

This was my rookie year as the CAD/CAM mentor and I learned a lot these last few months. Now that I have a nice library of parts and a complete robot in CAD, next year should go a lot smoother.

Next year it's on like Donkey Kong!
Wish us luck!

 

[Namactual]

Yikes, our first competition started a little rough.
Our very first match we had a complete manipulator failure. We also had an issue with our encoder wiring and as a result, we had to manually drive the manipulator once we had it working. To add insult to injury, without the position information we had to disable the main elevator on the arm. It has a 900:1 gear ratio. Without any safeguards to stop it from bottoming out, we could have broken the robot spectacularly. Without the main elevator we could not get low enough to pick up cargo reliably.

Our third match we grenaded the swing arm gear box. (Hi-speed + manual control = overshooting and back driving) That was costly, but after we dialed down the arm speed to 30% we did not have anymore breakage. Well, with gearboxes anyway.

Despite the setbacks, by the end of the competition the kids did great considering we had a bot with about 25% functionality.

Anyway, I actually had today off. Mostly to catch up on personal things around the house, but I had a few hours to sit down with the CAD software and came up with this...

This is about 90% complete and after our last competition is over, (in about 2 weeks), I plan to start building. I will make a thread once I do.

 

[Namactual]

Working on simplifying lines, mass average and light planes...

I think I am pretty much finished. I am not quite happy with the underbody, but I will fix that when I bust out the foam fu. The elevons will not have quite the leverage of the Rhino, but it has a smaller wingspan and greater sweep so it should be a little faster.

This will get the full skin treatment like the Rhino. A custom Air Force Vet scheme and a top secret special skin.

I will do actual squadron skins at some point as well.

After I crank this bird out and get my grove back, I plan to finish the Raptor.

 

[kilroy07]

top secret special skin.

 

[Namactual]

^^You will not guess this one brother. And even if you do, I am not tellin'.

This is actually going really quick. I am well into the middle of the foam fu and at this rate I could have the prototype flying soon.

I am going to go against my better judgment and make the nose all one section rather than have the break away like the Rhino. It will be easier to build and look better, I just hope it does not hurt the durability too much. I am also going to try and streamline the build. There will not be those funky hand carved areas like the Rhino's intake filler spikes.

As an aside, I have been meaning to look into the new FT Radial motors but I just have not had the time. Anyone out there know of a FT Radial that would be equivalent to RSII 2206 Race Spec? I really like the power output of those motors and they are great for this size plane.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Namactual]

Well I cranked out the Eagle in a week, lets see if I can do the same for this...

This is just the base for the Army RC-12, the Beechcraft C-12 Huron. I am still working on the base shape, but once I am happy I will add the details like the tip tanks and antennae.

...and no, I do not expect this done in a week.
My hope is to get it done by FF though.

More to come.

 

[Namactual]

I did not physically go to work today, but I spent about 8 hours making this for the robotics team...

One of our biggest issues at out first competition was our encoder wiring. After that quagmire I decided we needed a better way of wiring the motor encoders that did not involve splicing and soldering wire after the fact. That's where this little guy comes in. It's just a housing to hold a RJ-45 jacks and a micro 8 pin ribbon cable break-out boards. All of our connections can be made and tested inside this part, then all we need to do is run straight network cable runs to the encoders.

I started printing this at about 2pm and the slicer estimates put this as a 12 hour print.

Although that gives me time to work on the Eagle, I was suffering CAD burnout and did not feel like working on it today. Instead I took the time to play with my other hobby, video editing.

It's nothing special, but I just put together a little hype video for the Eagle. I have it uploading now, it should be done in the next 30mins or so.

 

[Namactual]

Just look at that...

She's a beauty.

I have to redesign the end plates, I did not make room for the wires/solder on the break-out boards, but everything else was perfect. Those are an easy fix and only 15 minute prints.

I do not have time at the moment, but soon there is going to be a beauty plate that will attach to the top of the housing. That's what those little four holes are for. Probably a school crest or something similar.

 

[Namactual]

I have never spent this much on a new toy before, but it was sorely needed.
My new iMac
It was hard to justify dropping that kind of quid on a new computer, but my current iMac is going on 10 years old. If I can get another 8-10 years out of this one it will be worth it. Not only will this be infinitely faster, but having a 5k P3 display is going to make painting soooo much more enjoyable.

I will be honest though, my heart sank a little when I hit the "purchase" button.

 

[Namactual]

Words can not even describe the difference. This thing is a beast.
Old: 1920x1080
New: 5120x2880
The brightness actually hurts my eyes, I had to tone it down. Colors are insane.
I did a test render in cheetah
Old: 122 seconds
New: 28 seconds

I am migrating files at the moment, but I can not wait to actually put this thing to work.

 

[Namactual]

What happened to this guy?
Big news incoming...

For me anyway.

 

[Namactual]

Here it is, my new back yard.

This is literally right outside of my back door.

This is my first official home. I have been a city apartment dweller all of my adult life, but I grew up out in the country. I have had enough of the city life. My new home is about as far off of the grid as I an get and still have a good paying job with a reasonable commute.

This is also my middle finger to the government.

I wish I could say I was ready to get back into the full time design and build right away, but while the location of this place is perfect, I had to make some sacrifices. Most of my free time for the next year or so will be going into the house itself. It needs some TLC. Still, the potential is there and I am sure I will get some building and flying in this year.

It took a few years to find the perfect property and it will probably take a few more to make it a proper home, but it will be well worth it in the end.

 

[Namactual]

After aviation, cars are a close second interest of mine. If I was rich, I would have all kids of four wheel toys. I still want to get into Solo II someday, but at the rate I am going that may just end up being a pipe dream.

Although, never say never...

 

[Namactual]

I just burned my first two batteries at the new house today. It is so nice just to be able to step out of the back door and fly.

I have not flown in over a year so I just did patterns trying to shake the jitters, but I have two more batteries charging as I type. I need to get some more practice in while I can. I may be able to get a vid in on one of the next two flights.

 

[Namactual]

Here is a short edit of the last battery. I was a little more aggressive on the sticks this time. I had a bit of a rough landing, but no damage. I still have some yard work to do so there are some obstacles out there.

I had a few guests spectators as well. I counted ten of them out by the tree line.
(Its hard to see on the video. My crappy camera is even worse in low light.)

I love it here.

 

[Namactual]

I had an interesting day today.

I was checking my work e-mail this morning as usual when I noticed the wind picking up. Then came the pea sized hail, and the REALLY high winds. I heard some loud pops and crackles right outside and thought, "huh, that can't be good". I took a look out of the window and a very large pine tree was listing at about a 45* angle. And of course the lean was in the direction of the house and propane tank.

There was probably a good 10' diameter chunk of the earth that was heaving 12" or so when the tree would bend. I called my tree guy and he said it would probably be fine and he would take it down tomorrow, but he said he would come out and take a look...
..."yeah, that is not going to make it through the night"
He ran back and grabbed another guy and his equipment and cut all of the branches and top 1/3 off today. He is taking the trunk down tomorrow.

I guess the good thing to come of this is I am getting that massive willow tree out back down tomorrow as well. That will give me a lot more room to land my planes.