Dean,
Are you going to have some pictures of the V-2 finishing process?
Thanks
Greg Grigsby

I will Gregg. I should have time this week to do final prep on the plane. I only have to do the wings, stabs and rudder. I have enough of the Carbon Tissue on hand and all the painting supplies.... I was also going to wet sand the clear flush on the fuse and do a second stage of paint work on the fuse. I've got time to do the prep work, it's been raining almost everyday and cold.

Man, when am I going to bite the bullet and buy and try one of these Vf3's. I keep waking up in the middle of the night and ask myself " Should I order one tomorrow from my buddy Mike or No??" Then the next day comes and the next day and the next then sure enough it hasn't happend yet.

I am watching closely. [>:]




Matt L.

Matt,
Come on over, the love fest is wonderful. My son Chris and I did and we love it. I'm finishing my first V2 build and then I'm going to build a matched set of VF3's for Chris with a whole new "Monster" scheme.

Larry
Team Black Magic
aka: Gandolph the Fat
Team Broom Chucker

My mane plane is the Pass Port which has lead me to victory this year and I will continue flying it, but I was thinking of buying a VF3 for 3rd back up plane maybe.



Matt

Well you can't go wrong with the VF3,...I flew Mike's at the contest last year. The plane is just AWESOME,...wish I had more time to fly it throught the P and F stuff. I was extreamely impressed on how well it locks lines and the feel in flight is incrediable. And the new anhederals from what I understand makes it even better.




Regards,
Bill H.
TF

Could someone post detailed pictures of their aileron servo mounting setup? I have the pre-sheeted wings from Mike and the hole put there is much bigger than a servo. I would have done it differently so please show me some of your guy's setups so I can get back on track.


Thanks!

Maybe the hole is supposed to be lined with balsa to suit your choice of servo, hence it being oversized perhaps?

Sorry forgot to add pic's,

The servo bay should look something like this when completed.

Regards,

Andy.

Cut it out, and line it with balsa...then stick the servo in....unless you're using a micro, it's about perfect. 1/16 or 1/8, doesn't matter as long as it's light.

You don't want a tiny servo on this aileron. A JR9411SA is minimum. And it fits with enough room on the side for a wire. If it's too tight, the wire binds and rubs, and that ain't good.

-Mike

Here is a picture of what I am looking at. I would like to keep the weight down but I get the feeling I will need to add more material to have the strength/durablility necessary for a high quality aileron servo setup. By the way. The servo in the picture is NOT the servo I plan to use but only being used during construction as it is the standard size servo like the better one I plan to pull out later.

I don't see the problem with it...

By the time you line the cut-out with balsa it should be a nice fit. No doubt the cut-out allows for the Futaba S9150 style servos which are a little different to standard servos.

Just my $0.02 worth...

Cheers
Jason.

When you guys are saying line the opening with balsa I am picturing 1/16" sheeting. Sounds like it will need to be as thick as it needs to be to accomodate the servo of choice.

Chris,

One would think that lining the servo cut-out with balsa was a standard practice? It certainly stiffens the whole area up. Which is what I think you're after.

I would use 1/16" balsa to line the cut-out and then make a small servo tray out of 1/8" ply. If you wanted to you could then use some balsa on top of the ply plate to fill any gaps for a neat fit around your servo and sand flush with the skin.

Probably many ways to skin the cat and this is probably why Mike has not said too much about it in his manual...

Cheers
Jason.

Chris, it isn't that critical...at all. Line it with 1/16 balsa first. Don't worry about strength, that hole could be 4 times that big and still fine.

Next, put 1/4" x1/8" lite ply or basswood or whatever rails in, and check again. On any standard sized servo I have ever used, it's perfect. On some, it's TOO small.

This gives plenty of clearance for the wire exit from the servo without chaffing. if you've had one chafe and go out before, you'll ALWAYS give plenty of clearance in the future. This is cut with the same template that I use on my own wings. it's not an accident.

-Mike

Or err what Jason said...LOL

-Mike

And yes...you can mount them sideways, use 6 different sizes, aluminum rails (I wouldn't suggest it) and that's exactly why I don't go into a lot of detail about stuff like this. Don't make the mistake of over-thinking it. Keep it simple. Light, and simple. Don't add too much stuff, as the plane will get heavy, and doesn't need it. That is a THICK wing for instance, and it would take a lot to snap one. To date, I have sheeted over 200 VF3 wings alone, forgot how many V2s and before that a zillion more, and have never heard of one snapping, ever.

But if you feel you have to fill it in until the servo is darned near encapsulated, have at it, but don't let the wire bind/rub, and keep it LIGHT.

If there's a pretty open area, as far as not a lot of detail, it's because it probably doesn't matter. Again, don't try and over-think this plane. It's simple, keep it that way.

-M

That looks like all the cores I've gotten from Mike in the past, I've seen the templates Mike uses to cut servo wells, hard points, honeycombing, etc into the cores.

Chris I know it looks like it's big, I usually use 3/32 wood to sheet the servo box and make rails out of 1/8" lie ply.

I am running a JR 9411SA and it's the servo we have been flying, it fits well..

What I do is mount the servo flush and seal the entire opening with vinyl. here is the setup on my new plane. it's clean, but underneath it's just the basic box with servo rails. use 5 min epoxy and a brush on the sheeting wood and 5 min to glue in the mounting rails.

Hi Dean,

Looking at your photos you have the MK ball end on your servo arm and it looks to be at an angle. Could be an optical illusion but I will pass on my experience here. This angle will put a big side load on the pissy MK bearing and will eventually cause it to fail. When the bearing fails it will act like a one way bearing and bind up your control surface. The cage actually collapses causing the ball to run free to some extent. Fortunately the bearing will move in the plastic so it shouldn't cause a crash. I'm speaking from experience here... lol

I had it happen to both ailerons on my Pinnacle. Once I put a small packer under the servo and replaced the bearing all was well.

Regards
Jason.

there is an angle and I'll have to take another look at it, it looks worst in the pics. But glad you mentioned that my friend!!!!

I need a lot less throw all the way around. I am going to move "In" on my servo arms and shorten my control horns. right now I am flying on low rates at 50% or less. I have a lot of trimming to do still. but I am glad you mentioned that. I know the angle it has will be less when I am done.

I'll be doing a bench trimming session now that I've gotten 8 flights on her. I also need to finalize the size of my header tank and check my weight and balance.

thanks jason....

Hi Dean,

No worries mate.

To be honest, I was gobsmacked when I noticed how bad the bearings were. It was a BIG wake up call. I think the ideal situation would be to side mound the servo with those style ball links.

BTW if you shorten your control horn won't that give you more throw?

I'd just move the servo horn end in which will reduce your throw and increase your resolution. I was amazed at how much different it made my Pinnacle feel by doing this simple change. It also slows the servo down a little which makes things much smoother.

Cheers
Jason.

Oooh me rickey!

consider that idea stolen!

Jason I am going to move in two holes on my servo arms, I may need to then shorten my control horns after I reduce the throw.

The angle is around 5 degrees from... It's not too bad right now and I may just fly it as is. I think I may be able to put a bend in the threaded pushrod to reduce the angle coming off the ball link too.

Dean et Al,
Plastic servo arms with ball joints are not a good idea. The ball joint puts a tangential load on the servo arm since it's mounted on top of the arm. This causes it to twist and eventually break. Either use a metal arm or a wheel. Clevis' transfer the control surface load force directly in line with the servo arm but a ball-joint does not. There - you were warned. LOL

cmoore806: You don't want the servo to fit snug in the hole. This will transfer vibration to the servo, even if you're running an electric motor. This should be avoided. That's why servos have rubber grommets. Allow them to work. Just line the hole with 1/16" balsa (orientate the grain vertically) and mount the servo with lite ply or hardwood rails. If you really want to make it bulletproof and neat, make a lite-ply rectangular servo "tray" that fits snugly into the servo cutout while maintaining at least 1/32" clearance to the servo on all 4 sides. Glue this into the servo cutout. Done.

John Pavlick
Team Black Magic, Tech-Aero Designs

[quote]ORIGINAL: BHolsten

And the new anhederals from what I understand makes it even better.








Wait Wait Wait,??? When did the VF3 get anhedral stabs? Of course its been four to five months since I've seen one, but I didn't know Mike had changed them from the straght stabs.

hmm, I need to look at this.



Matthew L.