nzphil

Hi Guys,
Now with a working canopy frame, thanks Sean I spent a little while thinking how to hide switches/air connections to keep the Corsair more scale like.
Somewhere in a forum somebody showed how they fitted the main switch to an aerial stub. As I wanted to have an aerial but removable to save damage in taking it in & out of the car I decided I could achieve both wirth a bit of thought.
First I made a layup over the outside of the fuse roughly where the aerial would be.
I then cut a bit of previously made flat to fit to house the switch & drilled & tapped the switch arm 2mm
That was the easy bit.
I then got two brass tubes, that fitted inside each other, & cut off about 3 inches. Putting them together but with about 1/2" of the inner one proud of the other I 'shaped' them using a vice to roughly like the steamline tube section.
A little adjustment with fine wet & dry on the inner gave a good fit that didn't need much force for it to slide out of the outer. I cut a 1mm wide band off the outer to use as the stop when the aerial was in far enough.
Once the length was worked out Iput both tubes together & with a piece of flat Ali on the narrowist part of the tube made an indent with a blunted nail about 1/8th from where the aerial tube stopped. This transferred to the inner & although you can still pull them apart there is a nice 'click' when the stop point is reached.
The aerial was made from hard balsa & fitted on the aerial tube before the bottom of the aerial balsa is pocketed to house the switch activating rod.
I think the following pictures might explain it better[sm=72_72.gif]

Brad-C

Hi,

I know this thread dates back a few years and has been idle for a little while but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who posted information on this tail wheel design. Very impressive and scale looking, and the fabrication method is very creative. I would never have come up with this on my own so this thread has been extremely helpful.

I'm planning on doing the new ARF version of the TF 60 Corsair when it comes out and one of the upgrades is going to be this tail wheel. I'm fortunate enough to have a 3D printer at work so I've modified the design a bit and have built the first one to play around with. I'll have to modify this a bit to fit the plane I'm sure but this first one is based on the latest version from this post. Works great so far and I'm pretty confident it will be strong enough. This plastic has very similar properties to ABS and I've reinforced it in a few places with cf rod inside. When I finalize the design I'll CNC the linkage arms out of FR4 for strength but for now the printed material works ok. I'll be painting it too of course. Here's a few pics of it.

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

Beautiful work Brad. Be sure to let us know how it holds up in actual operation. Aren't 3d printers great?!!!!

chilie

That looks pretty friggin sweet if you ask me.

I bet there would be more than one person who'd be interested in buying one from you if that material is strong enough. I know I would consider it if the price was right.

Since you've obviously cleaned up the geometry, can you export out that whole part into individual parts that be cut out by other people? I know some of the advanced 3d modeling programs out there can make a 2D "cut layout" for indiviual parts.

Brad-C

Hi,

Thanks for the comments. Yep, I'll share everything on this. When I get to work tomorrow I'll post up the 3D CAD file along with a link to a free viewer. You can take measurements from it and see each part. As for 2D drawings I can certainly do that but some of the parts won't be right by themselves. I started by taking the PDF posted earlier in this thread and converted it to DXF. I then made the 3D parts from that and assembled it similar to how everyone was doing it by soldering the cut parts. Then I added new parts as an interference fit in the 3D model and then cut away overlapping sections where needed. I'm sure I can come up with something that would help though. Any particular format you would like it?

As for making these to sell, it would be a conflict of interest for me to sell them for profit since my company owns the printer. It would actually cost a few hundred at a prototype shop to do this but it probably costs less than $25 bucks in raw material. I can use the printer for personal stuff though so what I can do is make some parts and charge only for the parts I make on my home CNC. So that's basically a "cover my arse" way of saying that I can make a few of these for those interested. A lot of the parts were ordered from McMaster Carr too so those I can just list out.

smkrcflyer

Wow very nice. I work for an electronics component company and I do CAD design in both 2d and 3d. I have the large TF Corsair kit to build next. I wonder if this could be scaled up for that plane.

dionysusbacchus

My Feedback: (25)

Looks very nice! Don't forget the tail hook, for some reason most leave that off and it is very simple. Just make the tail hook out of aluminum tube and shape a balsa hook.

I would think without having a chance to actually hold the tail wheel that it will hold up for a smaller and lighter .60 size Corsair. But I doubt it would be strong enough for anything bigger.

What is the weight of your plastic tail wheel? That would be the real benefit if it is significantly lighter than my originals, I can build one out of PC board right around 2 oz. Also not to mention the benefit for those that find it difficult to work with PC board.


Luke

Brad-C

It can be scaled up. The 3D printer I use can scale by percentages but the problem with that is the geometry made for off the shelf parts will be scaled up too and wouldn't necessarily fit right. It has some nylon bushings at the joints. It really would need to be done with the CAD model to keep the clearances right. What CAD package do you use? This was done in SolidWorks and I'd be happy to share the full model if you want it.

Brad-C

Hi Luke,

I didn't want the tail hook on it but yes it could be done easily. Agreed on the strength concern for larger planes. This stuff is fairly strong so with some extra thought and reinforcing here and there it could maybe work. I've been doing some high tech validation work by slamming the one I have down on the table pretty hard and so far it's fine. The cool thing about the 3D printer is that you can make geometry that you could never do on injected molded plastic or casting. It can do multiple hollowed out sections to take carbon fiber rod for reinforcement like I did on the lower i-beam struts and on the shock piston. It's probably close to par with yours on the weight - maybe a little lighter but not much. The weight as shown in the pictures is 2.1 oz but the rubber on the tail wheel is pretty dense and heavy as rear wheels go so that's part of it. I'll probably change the wheel out for the final version, it was just one I had laying around.


[quote]ORIGINAL: dionysusbacchus

Looks very nice! Don't forget the tail hook, for some reason most leave that off and it is very simple. Just make the tail hook out of aluminum tube and shape a balsa hook.

I would think without having a chance to actually hold the tail wheel that it will hold up for a smaller and lighter .60 size Corsair. But I doubt it would be strong enough for anything bigger.

What is the weight of your plastic tail wheel? That would be the real benefit if it is significantly lighter than my originals, I can build one out of PC board right around 2 oz. Also not to mention the benefit for those that find it difficult to work with PC board.


Luke

Brad-C

I guess the forum tool here won't let me upload the CAD file as it doesn't recognize the file type. If anyone is interested let me know and I can email a version of the 3D CAD model that you can view with a free viewer. You can download the eDrawings viewer here: http://www.edrawingsviewer.com/ - make sure to pick the right version, there are both 32 and 64 bit. You can take measurements and view each part by itself but you can't actuate the linkage unfortunately.

Scale Specialties

Brad,
Is that an Objet part by chance or SLA?

Brad-C

The machine is a 3D Systems HD3000 Plus http://printin3d.com/3d-printers/pro...nal-3d-printer . It's a heated plastic resin that's cured by UV light. It lays down the resin layer by layer and fills gaps and overhangs with a wax material. When it's done you melt away the wax in an oven. I'm not too familiar with Objet but this is a lot stronger than SLA and doesn't require any post process sanding or other finishing to make smooth curved surfaces. It can do down to 0.0006" thick per layer so you don't get the stepped surfaces like some SLA and FDM type machines.

Firepower R/C

My Feedback: (10)

I had an FDM machine from Dimension Engineering and I really liked it, but these parts look oh so much better! I hated sanding my parts, but it sure did make some cool stuff. Congrats on your tailwheel! I would love to have one, having just bought the Top Flite ARF.

Very jealous!!

Jafa

I could use some help with Luke's tail wheel....  I have cut and shaped the parts but they seem large to me to fit on the Top Flite 60 size Corsair.  Does his plan need to be reduced for the 1/8th scale?  I noticed earily in this threat that Luke shows the building of a 1/6th scale wheel.  Can someone tell me how large the parts should be?  Printing off his plan brought part "B" to almost 4" and when building his wheel to 1/6th scale he said to enlarge it to 4 5/8".  How long some the tubing be for the tail hook and for the other brass tubings?  Thanks, Todd

Aucklandmodeller

Brad-C
I realize this post is a few years old now. Are you still around to be able to email your 3D CAD model?

G-JIMG

Man I love my CNC machine!

LethalGTO

Created Word document with the instructions and pictures attached here as PDF.

A few updates are needed, some of the sizes/measurement values in some of the posts became cryptic. As I am not a machinist, the type of aluminum bar stock alloy should be acquired was never specified; 2011, 2024, 6061, 6063, 6262, 7075? I am guessing "6061-T6511 Round Bar, Extruded" as can be found at onlinemetals web site.

dionysusbacchus

My Feedback: (25)

Man, an instruction manual, I agree I could do a better job with the explanations on some things. The tail wheel holds up great, I still have my 1/8 Royal F4U-1D, keep it in flying condition at all times. Converted it to electric, now I don't fly electric that much anymore.

Sorry for not being clear, hope everyone had success with the tail wheel that set out to build one. I have not built a tail wheel in a long time, I started this project when I was 39 years old and now I'm 54! lol! It's just a number!

Some inspiration shots!

flass1

Hello all, I know this is a shot in the dark but does anyone have the drawings or make a kit or complete tail wheel assy. Just acquired a Top Flite .60 Corsair ARF. Thanks.

Fred

G-JIMG

See post #134 by smchale in this thread, it has a pdf of all the drawings you need.

flass1

To G-JIMG, thank you very much. I don't suppose I can get a set of your CNC parts sheet?

Fred

G-JIMG

Sorry Fred, I'd like to help but I don't have the CNC programme anymore or any of the Copper sheets, and I don't have the time to rewrite the programme.
However, the parts are not difficult to make by hand and the instructions at post #167 are easy to follow.
Jim.

flass1

Thanks, I will have to build it myself. Will post pictures during construction.

Fred