Crash90

My Feedback: (17)

I have built a few kits and still have not come up with a good way to mount the battery and Rx. Some ideas and pics would be helpful.
Battery. I have ben mounting a 1/2" x 1/2" x 5" block of balsawith little feet wherever I can find room. I then use plastic zip ties to hold the battery to the block..

Rx. I just stick a piece of 2 sided servo tape to the bottom and stick it to a flat surface in the plane.

Do any of these sound ok?
My biggest concern is that there is no foam padding around them,

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Crash:
I've gotten to using a small slab of 1/4" styrofoam, about the same length and width as the battery pack, then using RTV glue the battery to the foam, and the foam to the floor inside the plane. This is where I have a lot of room inside. If the plane is cramped, I'll still wrap it in foam rubber and stick it where ever I can with balance considerations in mind.

Quote:

Rx. I just stick a piece of 2 sided servo tape to the bottom and stick it to a flat surface in the plane.

Bad idea, unless it's electric or a glider. The double sticky will give some vibration insulation, but not a lot. What ever you have to do, try to have at least 1/4" of foam rubber isolating it from the plane.

HTH.

Bill.

Crash90

My Feedback: (17)

What method do you use to secure the receiver to the plane after wrapping it in padding? I am finishing up a gp ultimate bipe and I just cant seem to find a way to mount them that they can't move.

CafeenMan

Look at the picture in the Radio Control section of this page.

http://www.airfieldmodels.com/model_building_tips.htm

If you have excess room in the fuselage then fill it with leftover scraps of foam to keep the battery and receiver from moving around.

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Crash:
If you have that plane with minimal space, just stuff it in with enough faom to fill whatever extra space there is.

On the one with lots of room, just cobble up a couple of hooks - wire, plywood, whatever - and stretch rubber bands over the hooks to hold the radio. You can also secure the battery with the same hooks, if balance will let you put them in the same place.

HTH.

Bill.

NOVAflier

My Feedback: (21)

I put the battery in my LT-40 WAAAAYYYY in the front, as it was tail heavy. I put the receiver in one of those Great Planes boxes, and mounted it. I am trying to attach a pic but it is not working...

beardking

My Feedback: (4)

Crash90, on page 40 of the Ultimate's construction manual you will see a picture like the one below. In the servo tray, there is a space at the tail that is spacious enough for your receiver with 1/4" foam wrapped around it to fit. to hold it in you use 2 rubber bands that attach to the little nipple portion and 1 goes through each hole and then back around to the nipple. This will get rid of pretty much any vibration you could have because it is essentially suspended in air. This is how I have my radio installed and other than being a serious pain at first, it works perfectly. Have fun flying this plane.

NOVAflier

My Feedback: (21)

Here is how I did it, a little blurry but you get the picture..

BillHarris

That is a good discussion of securing the avionics in a model.

The first few planes we build are trainers and the practice in these planes in to wrap the battery and RX in foam and cram them in under the fuel tank. This works, but there are other ways of doing this.

In my 4*60, I put in a cross member ahead of the servo tray and secured the foam-wrapped RX to this cross member. I got a piece of urethane foam and carved it to fit snugly in the space under the fuel tank. Cavities for the battery pack and balance weights were carved in the urethane foam and this foam assembly is inserted under the tank.

Other planes use an avionics rack made of lite-ply that holds the padded RX and batteries and is secured in the nose or under the servos.

Placement depends on how the plane balances and the imagination.

Crash90

My Feedback: (17)

I am building the ultimate also. I thought the Rx tray seemed a little flimsy. Also it didn't leave any room to install the battery. With an Os 50sx i don't think I'll need the battery up under the fuel tank. I cut the back of the tray off and installed the Bat and Rx onto the turtledeck. I took 2 sided servo tape and stuck together 3 layers. Then stuck them to the deck. Hopefully this works. You would think that by now all planes would have compartments designed specifically for this.

Also I thought of an idea. Why cant they make the pipes on the pitts mufflers removeable. I had to cut away 3/4 of the underside of my cowl so it would slide over the pipes. Something that can be unscrewed would make this job alot easier. Just a thought.

Highlander

I take a piece of foam rubber , cut it to fit the area where I want to install radio reciever and battery pack , I then cut a slot type pocket for each and install them in there respective areas ,

takes all vibration out and with the added bulk of the radio and battery fits nice and snug ,

Highlander

pinball-RCU

For the receiver, I would suggest velcro tape rather than the servo tape. The velcro won't transmit vibration in my opinion. (I don't have any science behind it, but it seems to me if you WANTED to transmit vibration between two object, the worse way would be velcro tape.) In a severe crash, the velcro will let loose, perhaps before the receiver is damaged, but hopefully after the plane has slowed enough that the receiver doesn't fly into a bulkhead. Anyway, it's worked for me so far, through quite a few crashes!

For the battery, I also like velcro, but I use the straps with hook on one side and loop on the other. I glue in a piece of balsa with a slot for the velcro, and strap it in.

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

pinball:

Good one. Velcro is my method in electrics, but my smallest twin, the "Tiggerkitty," has its Hitec 555 on velcro at the bottom, and there is a block of foam on the hatch that pushes down on the top. Securely mounted and still in an anti-vibration mounting.

Bill.

BillHarris

So, what sort of foam is best to use to isolate the RX and battery pack from vibration?

There are three type of foam that I've used: the firm urethane foam (like the sort used in a sleeping bag pad) about 3/8" to 1/2" thick, and the "standard" soft latex foam (sold by Sig) and the thin cloth-backed neoprene foam (like the foam supplied with Hitec RXs).

I've never done measurements (like putting a microphone/transducer on the foam pad) of the vibration attenuation with the various foams so I have no concrete basis for an opinion.

Hmmm, next time I run in an engine on my test stand, I'll mount some samples of foam on the stand and do a rough comparison by listening with a mechanic's stethoscope. The old "TLAR" engineering approach...

Unless someone already has the answer, then I won't reinvent the wheel.

William Robison

My Feedback: (3)

Bill:

I have used firm and soft foams, with no apparent difference in results.

So, go ahead and "Reinvent the wheel," your result will be interesting,

Bill.