Jgwright

Thomas

I second Rogers comments. It is just such a huge amount of work on such a complex aircraft. I have loved following this and delighted to see that you are nearly there. There are so few with the skills to tackle a project like this it is great that you have been prepared to share it.

John

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Thanks Roger and John,
it is definitely a big undertaking for just one person. While i am exstatic about having the first fuse, i realize there is still a ton of work left before i will have the "parts" of a kit.

Overall I am very happy with what has come from the molds so far, and i know that all future layups will only get better from here on out. Matter of fact, i have been debating on going ahead and prepping the molds for # 2, but probably wont as there are so many parts to design un CAD, that my time would be better off doing either that or doing the layups on the parts i dont have yet.

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Thomas, what router did you buy?

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

I havent purchased it yet, but it is a chinese CNC6040Z 2013 version. 1.5kw water cooled spindle, ball screws, 16x22 cutting area.

I would have liked to purchase a 24x48 cutting area router, but i just dont have the space at the new home. This one should do. 99% of the stuff i need, and what it wont do, my buddy down the road will

this one will be primarily for cutting ordinance plugs/molds, G10 parts, cockpit components, small wood/ composite parts etc.

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

Coolio!! I am building a new one right now, 24x48 using 8020 extrusion. Should be a step up from my current one.

wojtek

My Feedback: (73)

CNC6040 is a great piece of hardware with horrible electronics ... I would suggest highly buying the frame only, and purchasing the electronics ( stepper drive, PC interface, and, control box , etc ) separately .. The Geckodrive G540 is very good. I ended up swapping my S80 controller out with one of these ..

the cheap CNC electronics will skip steps, lose axis, etc .. can even damage the router not to mention job being worked on .. the cabling is also cheap and not even grounded correctly :\


try this :

http://www.carving-cnc.com/accessori...-mainbody.html

they also sell the water cool spindles by themselves ..


then get this electronic set up
http://www.cncrouterparts.com/3-axis...-kit-p-74.html

make sure to set up limiting switches
http://www.cncrouterparts.com/limit-switch-p-66.html

and also, the MACH3 that comes with the 6040, is only the demo limited to 100 lines of code .. you will need to purchase that ( i had not realized that .. but no biggie )



lastly, you can also increase the Z axis to more than 10CM ..

http://www.cncrouterparts.com/ballsc...xis-p-238.html



With my set up complete, we have milled aluminum, routed carbon, etc ... its a very durable machine. I have the 4-th axis rotary unit for this also, and works well also.

Voy

Justflying1

Excellent work. The work involved is phenomenal.
What type of actuators are you using?
Brand, stall rate, gear ratio etc.

Wap4life

My Feedback: (3)

Congrats Thomas! Can't wait to see it fly. I'm sure a few of us in Houston will have one!

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

That is the eventual plan. The 2013 updates version seems to have pretty good reviews on its longevity and usefullness right out of the box. If i had the cash for a top of the line stuff, i would do so, but right now i am just going to go with the stock RTR setup and gather the parts along the way. Currently i have bob cad/cam, mach 3, cut 2D and 3D and solidworks, so i should be ok in the software side of things. I also have a power supply for a gecko 540 controller already and will upgrade the controller and steppers as funds allow.

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

You'll have to buy one (kit) to find out. . Needless to say, the stall force is around 50lbs each.

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Rudder control arms are ready.. they consist of a hardened 1/4" steel shaft with grade 8 4-40 anti-rotation pins that slide into a pair of bronze bushings. These bushings are hysoled into a hard balsa block in the rudder so as the keep the pins nice and tight so no slop develops.
Then on the opposite end, is a 4/40 setup that puts the ball links 5/8" from the shaft C/L. This entire assembly will also ride in G-10 bearing assembly that will be hysoled to the fuselage skin so it does not vibrate around.

ianober

My Feedback: (12)

The G540 is solid, thats what I am running in my current machine and will be using in my new one.

Justflying1

I didn't realise it was such a big secret otherwise I would not have asked.

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

It was a joke . Its not that it is a secret; its that they are unproven as of yet, so i dont want people to go out trying them on other things. They are commerciall available from firgelli

Justflying1

LOL that's fair enough. I guess the joke is on me then

ticketec

My Feedback: (2)

not if you buy one

Thomas Is thinking of moving to Oz, so shipping wont be such a hassle then

Looking awesome there Thomas!!!!! I know you were saying that you had almost run out of steam with this project again, but this new progress must really fire you up again.

Eagerly watching in the background.

Thanks

dave

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Slowly getting motivated again..


I have the leading Edge slat rails drawn in CAD, the Wing flap hinge supports are drawn, the Spoiler hinges are drawn, the CNC Router is ordered, Bob Cad-Cam is here, the new wing pivot brackets and sweep actuator attachment brackets for the wings arrive tomorrow.


I also have all of the stuff ( glass, CF, Core, peel ply, perforated plastic and bleeder) cut out for both wing panels.


So since all those materials were cut out, i laid up the new left wing panel. I am hoping this one will be around 1 POUND lighter than the last one





I also cut out 5 layers of glass for new gear door flange moldings. The last ones in the molds were damages when i pulled them from the fuse, so i have to make some new ones.
Insteas of using the expensive airex core ( that also breaks easily), i am using 3 layers of 26oz tooling cloth. The new flanges moldings will be just under 3 mm thick and solid fiberglass so they should be very dense and strong so as to last more than one fuselage pull at a time.


I hope to layup the right wing skins tomorrow. I also need to import the wing parts into Cad. Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), i am changing the wing structure slightly. The rear spar is going to be moved forward about 2 1/2".

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

The new pivot brackets and the attachment brackets for the wing side of the sweep actuators arrived:






Wing mockup to the fuselage with the new pivot bracket :

dbsonic

My Feedback: (3)

Hey Thomas, what's the reason for the spar location change?

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

To much stuff trying to occupy the same space.. Plus, their is some scale features of the F-14 wing TE that I will be implementing into my competition model that can't be done with the spar in its current location. There shouldn't be any structural issues with it in the new location.

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Slowly working on the second version of the wing internals.







There is a whole lotta confusion going on in this wing.


The triangular looking pieces at the trailing edge will be machine G10 flap hinge supports, which fit into precut notches in the wing sub spar. The sub spar also has notches for the G10 spoiler hinges to slide into. There is also a hole to be cut in the subspar for the spoiler torque rod actuating linkage.


The spoiler torque rod will be a biaxial woven carbon fiber tube that has machine G10 arms hysoled to it. These arms will then have two G10 links that are attached via some stainless steel shoulder bolts to both the torque tube arm and then to one hinge/control horn on each spoiler segment.


Now, remember those G10 hinge supports, well those are the supports for spoiler torque tube as well.


AND a similar arrangement to the spoilers is used in the leading edge slats.


All together there will be Four servo's in each wing panel, and due to moving the sub spar forward , the area at the outer flap servo mount is limited.




So what all is left to so before i can close up the wings?


Machine the G10 flap hinge support parts (10 pieces)
Machine the G10 spoiler hinge parts (18 pieces)
Machine the spoiler torque tube arms (4 pieces)
Machine the spoiler actuator links (8pieces)
Cut the main and sub spars
Draw and cut the wing servo hatch doublers and hatches
Install the wing servo hatch doublers
Design and cut the flap/ spoiler servo mounts
Design, machine , build and install the slat actuator torque tube
Design and cut the slat tracks and sliders


Then repeat all of that for wing #2!

Terry Holston

My Feedback: (1)

Machine the G10 flap hinge support parts (10 pieces)
Machine the G10 spoiler hinge parts (18 pieces)
Machine the spoiler torque tube arms (4 pieces)
Machine the spoiler actuator links (8pieces)
Cut the main and sub spars
Draw and cut the wing servo hatch doublers and hatches
Install the wing servo hatch doublers
Design and cut the flap/ spoiler servo mounts
Design, machine , build and install the slat actuator torque tube
Design and cut the slat tracks and sliders


Then repeat all of that for wing #2!

Could you not mirror these parts and manufacture them at the same time as the ones for the first wing?

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

mostly yes, but i wont be surprised if there is some tweaking necessary for the other wing considering these are hand shaped plugs.

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

A little bit of work is getting done, in between figuring out the CNC router and all that jazz. Things are progressing quicker with that, so hopefully by tomorrow i'll have the majority of the internals for the wings done. I've already got all the files for the G-10 parts for the spoiler hinges done, and the flap hinges, i'm just waiting on some materials to arrive...

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

I haven't posted much, but things are progressing..

The last bit of internal structure has been drawn up in CAD and is ready to be cut. I still have some fine tuning to do to the main and sub spars for the spoiler and slat linkage pass through holes, but essentially everything else is done.

Here's a few screen-shots of all the parts layouts..