A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

Its true to say I'm starting this thread as its a topic currently dear to my heart ;) but I have spotted over the months threads about all sorts of neat ideas and accessories which make our instals that little bit easier and fun.
As these ideas and product finds are scattered all over the forum I though maybe by starting this thread we could keep them all in one place for easy reference.
So I will kick off with tonights result of a few hours with my cnc guru..........

The UATD or Universal Air Tank Dock, another idea in the 'dock' line-up!

The accessory is a very simple and light product designed to make the fixing of almost any sized air tank simple and secure. The frame is cnc cut FR4, and once slotted together is fixed by a little cyano. Four small rubber U section dampers slot into recesses in the two outer rails to add grip.
The centre rail has two pads which provide screw fixing options should the device require to be removable, gluing can also be an option.
The tank sits on the rubber 'feet' set in the outer rails, one cable tie or length of velcro is passed through pre-machined slots in the outer rails and fixes the tank in place.
The UATD end panels have two thin outer legs which can be easily sanded to match a fuselage contour and allow flush fitting, naturally fitting can also be made to equipment panels and formers etc.

Hope you like the UATD, PM me for more details.

Looking forward to seeing all the great items and ideas .......

marcs

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

This is an excellent idea for a thread. I still consider myself new to turbine jets and it would be great to see those items I may not know about that make life easier. Subscribed.

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

ATD or Air trap Dock, and Jet Cat ECU Dock, should take the frustration away from mounting that UAT, and makes the JetCat ECU mounting into a simple quick release. Ali Machinchy keeps these...

marcs

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

Great accessories Marc. Very clever design as well.
I've submitted the review article to RCJI and it should show up in the next publication.

Another suggestion for you: a PST air trap mount. As you know already, I consider this air trap as one of the best on the market and I believe that it would deserve a nice and light dock of your own...

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

Oli, got one to send me?

marcs

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

Sure, I'll do this when I am back from vacations.
Could you pm me your postal address?

Cheers.

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

Hi Oliver,
PST has just released a dock for their Baby air trap.
Its made up of laser cut ply and the Bottle is held to the wooden structure by O-Rings
Xantos

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

Easy ways to mount stuff is always good. But I would love to buy a tool that would make it easy to center a turbine in its duct and possibly help setup the distance between the exhaust cone and the pipe. <div>
</div><div>Arnaud</div>

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

Hello

Great Idea Arnaud ! I share your opinion !!!! :D

Jean-Philippe

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

Arnaud and jean-Philippe, there is one under way as we speak, its been a drawing for 6 months but we are now starting to look to make it.

marcs

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

I've seen this already. Not very impressed with the design. Heavy and bulky.
I am confident that Marc is going to come up with something much better.

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

While I was fitting the servos to the SG Hawk a while ago it used the same type of system that the HT Modellbau PC21 adopted albeit a little more flexible. The SG hawk uses a pre-cut ply plate which is designed for a specific servo, a rebate is cut so the servo lies on its side and locates int othis cut out, then a glass board strap is screwed on top using bolts which screw into blind nuts under the ply plate. The fix is great, and removes the need to use those fiddly side holes on the servos - makes removal and fitting very easy - so I took this and added a few mods and came up with these plates today.

Not sure if they are useful to you guys, but where you have a servo and hatch to fit out these might be worth thinking about.

The changes I have made to the SG units is to add three 'glue seepage' holes either side on the plate to allow the fixing adhesive to ooze up through these holes to add some extra bite to the security. Then the glass strap was re-shaped. The original just straddled the servo case, but when you tightened the bolts at each end the plate bent in a shallow arc as it flexed a little, the plate we re-made is designed to locate along the mounting arms of the servo in addition to the case, this adds some extra support to the strap and helps prevent flexing when tightened up.

Its easy to make for most servos, so if its worth cutting a few let me know.

marcs

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

Hi Mark,

Would these items be available to buy from you or Ali at jet power.

Chaitanya.

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

If there was interest then yes indeed, the issue is more along the lines of which servos are the most popular, I have done versions for 8411's - 8511's - 8911's and a Hitec HS7955 as these are the servos I had.

marcs

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

I have found these pneumatic couplers that greatly simplify the setup of the pneumatic tubing for the retracts and brakes (or any other pneumatic accessory). And best of all, they are relatively in-expensive:

http://www.poweraire.com/union-strai...be-p-1448.html

http://www.poweraire.com/union-tube-p-1455.html

RE: A Thread of Useful Accessories
 

This unit is made to connect 5 airlines together for wing jointing or internal connectivity say between front nose section and fuselage.
It is a similar method to the BVM unit with one major design upgrade, in the builds where I have used the Ez-Air connectors you have to 'pack' out the main larger plate against the fuselage wing root area as the connectors locate leaving a 6mm or so gap once located, supplied with this version is a cnc cut lite-ply (easy to sand) plate with can be glued to the main plate before fitting to the fuselage, it takes up the slack and leaves in its standard thickness around 1.5 mm for the fuselage thickness. Naturally the unit can be sanded to suit, or left off or whatever is required.

The 5 way caters for more complex connections and there is also a 3 way with the same spacer plate.

You can also specify what tube diameter fittings you require for each hole, 3mm (1/8) or 4mm (5/32) to suit your set up.

PM me if you want more info.

marcs