Two (more) last additions to the wing and I am sure I will be done with drawing it!
I forgot the wing attach on the aft side! I made 1/4 turn cams will recess into fuselage (body) cavities to lock the wing on. Long screws are standard but I hate having to mess with them at the flying field and trying to line up the holes in the wind etc. So I am looking forward to simple 1/4 click and go.
Then the other thing I forgot is the mount for the control surface servo motors. Duh! Well to model a mount I had to model the servo motor. Since this is a very standard servo I will put it in the warehouse.
Since I have tried to keep everything modular all the way, the servo mount is made to fit between two ribs wherever I want to place a servo. The mount âboxâ which surrounds the servo is offset so the output arm is centered and you can flip either the servo or the mount either way depending on which side of the wing it is in. The âboxâ around the servo is where the covering will be applied so only the control arm will protrude from the wing.
As noted in the video the design is from a guy with the website 3dprintlabs.com. I saw one of his videos on Youtube (a p-47) about 4 months ago. That is exactly what got me into this!
So a smart person would buy a printer and buy the files and print one out just to learn right? I am just not that smart. So I bought a printer and started learning SU! LOL
With that said, with my novice skills I stuck to very traditional Balsa wood construction methods for my design.
Now that you have posted the video though, one of the questions I have been intending to ask someday is, can SU follow the design style the fella used? That lattice work of curving internal structure connected to airfoil shaped skins with all the lightening holes is incredible. I donât think SU can even do that and still meet the standards of a 3D printable file.
HOWEVER, there is still so much for me to learn about SU.
I would like to progress to that construction style someday- well at least integrated skins if not the full blown lattice work replacing primary structure.
EDIT - Please donât think I am bad mouthing SU! I love SU! No tool does everything, so wondering if I it can so something with it is not criticism!
I didnât think so but do think you might misjudge SketchUp in its possibilities.
Whether you will be able to recreate that structure mostly depends on your skills with SketchUp.
Yeah, just yesterday I was printing a piece I drew up about a month ago and I was getting some weird deformations in the print and it was not fitting right. I went back to the drawing and with the experience gained in just the last month I was able to see what I did wrong and fixed it.
So imagine what another month of experience will bring.
Dang it! Itâs a good thing I am not an real engineer. We would get the bridge built and realize there was no road leading up to it!
So I am NOT done with the wings yet! I have the aft two thirds of a 68 inch span 3D printed wing on the bench and DâOH! Wingtips! Yeah you gotta terminate that wing! DUH!
The wing is ready for covering. So I swiched targets to the body. I am making steady progress but I did get the Cowling (engine compartment) printed this weekend. I will be doing some serious printing soon as the body design is almost finished!
I spent Saturday getting my butt whopped with a windshield that has a compound curve morphing into an airfoil shape.
I am probably going to have to beg for help on that before it is over but I am trying real hard first!
Oh! On a funny note: After a weekend of heavy SU I got to my work desk this morning. I saw a picture in a news article. I immediately tried to mash the mouse wheel button and orbit around to see the other sides. Oh yeah, that does not work in browsers!
Donâcha hate it when your software is better than your phsyical parts!
For years I have made my airplanes out of balsa wood and hand drilled the motor mount holes. I ALWAYS have a problem getting the 4th screw/bolt in! I ALWAYS assumed it was my sloppy hole drilling! This time I printed the firewall and uses the protractor to draw it to make sure my holes were perfect! Yet the 4th screw did not want to go in
Well what do you know? It was not ME all this time! This that makes this motor mount company needs to use Sketchup!
Due to shrinkage of 3d printed material (ABS) I have gotten into the habit of printing pieces that require screw holes as solid (no fill) then using a drill press to put in precision holes.
I often take a âbrass rubbingâ from mounting plates, then scan the rubbing for import into SU, where I double check all the measurements using vernier callipersâŚ
I decided to assemble the all the longerons first. Since the plane is roughly 5 feet long and the printer, a Taz 6, does 10.5 inches at a time the long parts had to be printed in pieces and spliced together. While I was putting them together on the first try I actually caught myself assembling them incorrectly in spite of numbering them so I went back and made all the parts key one way with the splices on the insideâŚ
This is backwards. Normally a RC plane this size takes weeks to assemble but in this case all the parts are interlocking so I just click it together with glue! Woo hoo!
