I have a question to anyone who used Hobbywing UBEC. How dependable is it?

I decided not to use BEC connector from ESC and separate power feed to the motor and radio.

Since I'll be using MKS servos with a lot of torque that make them power hungry I think 5A UBEC (instead of 3A BEC) will deliver a better performance.

Optima receiver is fed directly from the 3S Lipo battery for telemetry to work (it shows the on-board battery voltage on Aurora 9 transmitter screen and low voltage buzzer will alert me on-time).

Any input regarding Hobbywing UBEC (good or bad) will be greatly appreciated!

I removed a switch from UBEC to avoid confusion with power-on procedure - so now it powers right-up when plugged-in.

cheers,

Mark

(in reply to aeajr)

Price is good, but I wish I have ordered MKS servos from US supplier for a little more money.

(in reply to longsoar)

(in reply to longsoar)

(in reply to longsoar)

Finally after long wait I got my hands dirty again!

Did all four servos frames with third ball bearing. When epoxy set I verified - the whole setup is light, rigid and servos are easy to install and remove. Servos just slide-into the third bearing and then screwed to the frames.

As for comparing KST and MKS servos. MKSs work smoother, zero slop, absolutely amazing centering. MKS-es I have do not buzz while KSTs are. One word: AMAZING!

I know what I paid for extra $208 for four MKS-es.

4 KST servos: $96

4 MKS servos: $304

 

Here some pictures from yesterday's work. I used silicone (Rebound 40 from Smooth-On.com) servo's mock-up with mark-up on it to properly set frames in-place.

Silicone is completely neutral to any epoxy or fiberglass resin so can be safely removed when epoxy is set and it leaves nice servo impression.

 

(in reply to aeajr)

Hey everybody!

Finally, after a long wait on parts (servos) finally project came to an end and She's ready to fly.

Reinforced a bit aileron horns (images attached) by creating a carbon fiber extension which supposedly even-out a load on a copper horn.

Also I used 4-40 rods instead of 2mm supplied.

I just want to add a note on frustrating conversation with servo frames Honk Kong supplier who did send me a wrong parts in the first place, did not bother to hurry-up and replace the parts and was really surprised when I placed a charge-back on a credit card payment. The guy just did not want to understand technical issues and blamed me for stealing his stuff. I offered to send frames back on his penny. Bad business and I lost a lot of time.

 

Anyways, back to Graphite. Apparently CG came-out right on a money without any extra weights added (110mm from the front of the wing root). With light B40 12S Hacker and 2650mAh 3S LiPo.

I also bought Hitec Optima 9 receiver for Graphite. GoPro 3 Black with 64Gb SDXC card is on back order with B&H Photo.

Hope I can post some good video soon when weather clears.

Cheers,

Mark

(in reply to aeajr)

I maidened my Graphite 2E Today!

In short - stunning ship! I'll post YouTube ground video later-on. For now a bit on how it flew.

At the beginning it was trimmed nose-up a lot - had to take care of it.

Power was right what I expected - not a space ship but has enough power. All power components were not even warm at the end of the flight.

Controls are very very responsive and thermaling flap settings help center thermal very easy and fast (yes, I caught a thermal on a first flight).

Butterfly is very effective (I mean very-very effective) but I have to work-out the correct elevator position for it (apparently 35% down was not enough).

I did not try everything on a first 10 minutes flight but I fell in-love with this ship. It is responsive, forgiving, fast, great soarer with big speed range and very small turn radius while thermaling.

Money well spent!

 

Some Aurora 9 settings:

Speed: Ailerons - 0.4, Flaps - 0.6 - creates smooth control and greater soaring aerodynamics.

I'll post YouTube link once video is uploaded.
Cheers,
Mark.

(in reply to longsoar)

(in reply to longsoar)

(in reply to longsoar)

(in reply to longsoar)

You will not believe it but in my real soaring times we did catch stronger thermals in a Winter times, and more of them than in a Summer.

This is due to the fact that surface in a Winter is cold and sun creates high contrast in temperatures real fast on a cold days. Therefore thermals are really strong. Many times I did catch 2-3m/s on final flying Blanik at about 30-50 meters and once was permitted to keep-on flying.

 

Although I have to say - Graphite has very small sink ratio in addition to other things and it grabs just about anything it passes. Flaps and all control surfaces are really effective. Properly sized tail fin and ruder keep glider straight and in full control.

In fact it's my first RC glider where I use "stick and rudder" very similar to a real glider in thermals spinning it with the rudder and control banking with ailerons, when more often than not they go in opposite directions .

 

Negative flaps let it penetrate air real easy. I just love this bird! So much fun to fly! It sounds like a real glass ship in the air - no extra noise.

Can't wait to get my hands on back-ordered GoPro3 Black to put it onboard.

cheers,

Mark

 

(in reply to Brad330l)

(in reply to longsoar)

(in reply to aeajr)

(in reply to longsoar)

(in reply to longsoar)

(in reply to Brad330l)

(in reply to longsoar)

(in reply to longsoar)

(in reply to longsoar)