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RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
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Well, I managed to get all the blindnuts into the firewall with an extra long screw. Now how can I get the glue around the blindnuts for the extra security? They are well into the tank area now and I can not get to them with a long stick or finger. Is it OK to just let the teeth of the blindnuts secure them? I mean, when I bolt the motor on they will pull the blindnuts deeper into the wood and I don't see how they can pull out, especially if I use threadlock.
Here are a couple photos of the spacers, without motor for clarity. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
Good job. I wouldn't worry about glueing the back of the blind nuts. The tension will hold them in the wood, and there's not a lot of vibration from an electric motor. You should be fine.
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RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
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I ended up having to cut open a spot on the front to get to the blindnuts. Shouldn't be a problem covering it back up.
I need to know, how does the right thrust and down thrust look to you? Too much? I have four small washers on the top of the mount and one on the bottom? I am thinking maybe remove two of the top washers to give it less down thrust. Also, is there too much pressure applied to the nylon spacers? Should I loosen the bolts a bit or replace with brass? |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
only critique I can offer, next time slow down on cutting. If ou had been a little more neat with the, theres no reason you couldn't have salvaged the top deck and built a nice screw down access hatch with almost no work. beyond some gluing. you can still do it, your just gonna have to work at it now.
Slow down, Slow down, Slow down. I learned the hard way that going fast = ruining and airplane. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
I converted a Sig Little Something Extra (LSE) a couple of years ago. I used similar nylon stand-off's to get the motor to fit with the proper clearance. And, it flew very nice. Only problem I had was remembering to raise the TX antenna.. [>:] You see, I had been flying 2.4 GHz all day with my Venus II and when I finally ran the battery down on that, oh, about 6 flights or so, I put it aside and got out the LSE. I pre-flighted the thing, got all set to fly, then set it down on the runway and pushed the throttle. Up it went, and away it went. Oddly enough, I had throttle but nothing else. So, I pulled back the throttle and watched the thing glide into the woods. I eventually found it, though, with only a broken prop, so I was lucky.
This has nothing to do with the thread, but thought you may enjoy.. ?? reading about how dumb we can be. Anyway, those standoff's look great. I also see the thrust angles follow the firewall, so it should fly very well. CGr. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
To follow up a bit on what was said about a hatch - are you planning for a battery hatch? Or are you planning to remove the wing every time you change batteries? I remove the wing on my Magic every time, but it's a bolt on. It does have a hatch, but it's held in place with wood screws, not magnets, and it's harder to open than the wing.
I did buy a set of magnets, I just haven't installed them yet. The motor installation looks great. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
Yeah, and also allow a path for air to flow over both the motor and the esc. The exit hole should be at least 1.5 times larger than the entrance hole to allo full and free movement of air over these components.
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RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
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ORIGINAL: mclina To follow up a bit on what was said about a hatch - are you planning for a battery hatch? Or are you planning to remove the wing every time you change batteries? I remove the wing on my Magic every time, but it's a bolt on. It does have a hatch, but it's held in place with wood screws, not magnets, and it's harder to open than the wing. I did buy a set of magnets, I just haven't installed them yet. The motor installation looks great. Are you sure the down and right thrust are OK? I think the down thrust is too much. As you can see in the photo it is more than what it was with the glow engine. I am going to remove two washers from the top of the motor mount and check again. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
ORIGINAL: CGRetired Yeah, and also allow a path for air to flow over both the motor and the esc. The exit hole should be at least 1.5 times larger than the entrance hole to allo full and free movement of air over these components. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
You will really need to supply some path for air to flow over the ESC. If that means drilling a large hole in the firewall, and opening up the fuselage behind the wing to allow the air to flow through, then so be it.
Obviously, it (the firewall) won't need to protect anything from spilled fuel or oil from the fuel engine.. so you can find a convenient spot to provide an inlet for air flow. The engine will most likely take care of itself because it IS exposed to air flows. If you don't provide air flow over that ESC, you may.. most likely will, fry that ESC. Don't forget the original part of this thread when we discussed current draw levels (40 amp and so on). The large component are on what are called heat-sinks. This draws heat away from these large components but these things have to be cooled somehow. If you don't provide a way for air to pass through, this will heat up that ESC pretty good and, well, things happen pretty quickly after it reaches a certain temperature threshold. CGr. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
ORIGINAL: CGRetired You will really need to supply some path for air to flow over the ESC. If that means drilling a large hole in the firewall, and opening up the fuselage behind the wing to allow the air to flow through, then so be it. Obviously, it (the firewall) won't need to protect anything from spilled fuel or oil from the fuel engine.. so you can find a convenient spot to provide an inlet for air flow. The engine will most likely take care of itself because it IS exposed to air flows. If you don't provide air flow over that ESC, you may.. most likely will, fry that ESC. Don't forget the original part of this thread when we discussed current draw levels (40 amp and so on). The large component are on what are called heat-sinks. This draws heat away from these large components but these things have to be cooled somehow. If you don't provide a way for air to pass through, this will heat up that ESC pretty good and, well, things happen pretty quickly after it reaches a certain temperature threshold. CGr. P.S: There is already a hole in the firewall that I needed to drill to pass the ESC through. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
Also, you might want to rethink the battery hatch as well. If you look at any of the plane being commercially produced for electric power these days they are all being provided with easy access hatches for battery access. And most all of them are being mounted with magnets so you don't have to mess with screws. While it may not sound too bad to say you'll remove the wing each time, I can assure you that it's going to get real old real quick when you get to flying the plane.
Ken |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
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Well, consider the amount of air that you want to pass through. A straw sized hole, for instance (1/4 inch or so) is no where adequate. Take a look at the drawing and you will see what I mean for making a hole... and providing no obstructions for the air to pass through and around the ESC. The exit hole should be about 1.5 to 2 times the size of the firewall hole, but that's not a problem, simply put a hole in the fuselage on the bottom. To make sure it does not rip out the covering, put some thin balsa to "support" the hole back there.
CGr. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
As you can clearly see by all the advice, ideas, warnings, and so on, that we've given you, converting glow to electric has a lot of pit-falls and clearly has some hidden problems, issues, that really must be addressed. It is fun, yet at times frustrating, and the end result is usually worth the effort (you get some satisfaction that the thing flys great, knowing that you did it right).
And to add to what Ken said, you get a 10 minute flight, then what.. take the thing apart to REMOVE (yeah.. remove because if using LiPo, it really must be charged outside the aircraft and in a location that is not indoors, in your car/truck/SUV/whatever.. the danger of fire is real with LiPo's) the battery pack for recharge? Ok.. wait an hour (quick charge at 1C will take an hour) to fly again? I don't think so. So you may want to get a second battery pack, and provide a hatch for access to the battery pack to swap it out with the freshly charged pack.. and charge the first one while flying with the second pack, and it goes from there. CGr. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
To back up what CGRetired is saying. Cooling is absolutely essential in these electric planes. Especially since you're on a tight budget. This also includes what we were talking about earlier about having a large enough ESC (which you are getting). When an ESC is overloaded or is too hot you're not going to get any warnings about it. Rather, the ESC is simply going to fry and die!! And then you're going to have to replace it, no if's, and's, or but's. So it's better to take all the precautions now and get a large enough ESC and provide the ventilation BEFORE you start flying the plane.
I've seen many ESC's die in operation. They simply just quit working and the plane is landed dead stick. Ken |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
Worse than dead-stick if using the BEC version of the ESC.. if it frys, well, no servo control and, well, the end result is fillling that trashbag you may have brought with you.
CGr. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
ORIGINAL: CGRetired Worse than dead-stick if using the BEC version of the ESC.. if it frys, well, no servo control and, well, the end result is fillling that trashbag you may have brought with you. CGr. Ken |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
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I have everything together to see what it looks like.
photo 1, 2: full body view photo 3, 4: closeup photo 5: side view to check down thrust photo 6: top view to check right thrust photo 7: radio compartment |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
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With cowl. Remember this was originally glow power, that is the reason for the cutouts on the cowl.
photo 12: I need to trim some more of the cowl, too close to the prop. Now that I have the rough idea of the look I can work on the hatch cover, make the holes in the firewall and fuselage for the ESC. But now with all these mods it will not be a glow plane again, but I don't mind. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
It's looking good. I think you have a bit too much foam rubber in there to allow for airflow.
In my electrics, I just stick the esc and RX to the side of the fuse with double sided tape. They don't need foam for vibration protection like in a glow plane. My RX is probably more vulnerable in a crash, but I don't plan on crashing :D. Maybe you can fabricate a little air scoop to go over the hole you cut in the top of the fuselage. You are definitely getting there. Good job. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
Yeah, I didn't notice that hole in the top. You could put a little scoop to the rear to guide air in there and over the ESC. And, as Mclina said, you should remove some of that foam to allow air to pass through.
You may also be able to re-fabricate a cowl and pretty that up. I've seen some pretty impressive cowl's made from a plastic 1 liter Pepsi (or Coke..ha) bottle. You can cut it to shape, then spray the inside with spray paint.. will look great from the outside and will help cover up that big area over the motor. CGr. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
ORIGINAL: CGRetired . . . You may also be able to re-fabricate a cowl and pretty that up. . . CGr. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
ORIGINAL: mclina It's looking good. I think you have a bit too much foam rubber in there to allow for airflow. In my electrics, I just stick the esc and RX to the side of the fuse with double sided tape. They don't need foam for vibration protection like in a glow plane. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
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Opened up the bottom front of fuselage for the battery hatch. Could not do it on the top as there are too many wood braces I added for strength.
Removed the tank tray as I needed more room for the battery placement. Will now be building up a battery tray, but first lunch. |
RE: CONVERTING KADET TO ELECTRIC
That's fine. Now fabricate something to hold the battery pack in place. Use velcro and a slide-in something or other that you can mount the battery in place.. and DON'T ALLOW IT TO MOVE FORWARD OR BACKWARDS!!! Don't glue anything in to solidly until you are ready to. You want to make sure the CG is right (remember my original post).
About the cowl.. you may be able to get something. Look up the model in Google then go to whatever manufacturer makes the thing and see if they have one. But, fabricating something, such as out of a 1.5 liter plastic bottle.. hey, a plastic milk carton might work too.. same shape.. anything that is light then fabricate it to fit, then paint it from the inside. Remember the vent holes.. :D CGr |
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