FrankenStick - Wing (Lightwing) foam hybrid

Description

First to say is this is made up of various sets of parts, body, tail, wing etc. I have put links to the other parts on here at the bottom of this writeup. Use part, all (or none) as you see fit. This paragraph is on all sets of parts to explain what they are part of. This is all part of an idea I had to make a modular plane based on being able to assemble different wings / tails based on a 25mm round or 22mm square tube 'stick' body. Ideal for anyone wanting to play with different configurations. Based on the idea of a 'stick' plane being an actual stick. I used 25mm plastic conduit but CF tubes would be lighter. Each one has a PDF file with photos to help visualise things plus more info and instructions. I used 3mm and 4mm threaded bar a lot, you could glue CF rods but I liked the idea of just unbolting to replace any damage. Adds weight but not a massive amount. Some of the photos may be slightly different to the STLs as they evolved a bit. This makes the plane in the photos, Wingspan 110cm, Length 90cm, Front of wing to Prop centre 20cm, Wing trailing edge to front of tail 32cm. All sizes are not fixed, just recommended averages. CG is about 1/3 from leading edge of the wing but make it closer just in case, again play around, this is meant to be a chassis for whatever you want to do. Weights are Wing 365g and rest of the plane with motor, servos, nose weight and undercarriage (basically as in photos) 650g. Battery is extra, weight is with PVC conduit 'stick' CF would be a bit lighter. If I make any changes / updates in future I will add them here. If you modify or upgrade any parts (feel free) just link them back to here. Updates – None. So, this is the - Wing (Lightwing). Inspired by the RCgroups forum thread as regards weight reduction. Based on covering with foamboard or foam sheet + wing tape. Basically these are airfoil sections and accompanying aileron and servo bits. These will fit on the Body lid using the dihedral parts in Body section, or just elastic bands etc. This uses foam, I used 3mm foam with wing tape, see photos, loads of info on taping online. You can use thicker foam if you like. 3mm foam gives a 20cm chord, 4mm will give a longer chord unless you reduce the airfoil size. Slicers can increase / decrease the airfoil size in any or all dimensions. So you can make longer or shorter chords. The wings here are 50cm each so with a 10cm wide Body Lid as their centre gives a 110cm span. See pdf file for instructions. The trick here is all slicer based, the airfoil sections have various perforations for struts but are printed using the following settings. Print flat on the bed, outer wall 0.7mm, no top or bottom layers and most important infill of grid with Infill wall multiplier = 3-4. What you get is a solid outer with an X support grid, see photos. This would work for any airfoil STL to give a ventilated structure inside the airfoil section. No need to spend ages designing bracing the slicer will do it for you. Allows fitting of struts and you can run wires etc through it. The ailerons are as shown in the pdf and mainly just foam sheet covered in wing tape. They have slotted sides so the wing can be built then the ailerons added later. Photos show how it all goes together. Hinges are 3mm CF rod (or similar) and they pivot in the centre not top edge. The servos are mounted in the wing between airfoil sections, see pdf and photos. Ailerons have a control horn end and a plain end, these can be made to line up with the servos. Ailerons wing recesses have a printed front section to allow foam sheet to be glued and cut neatly. Note- The Body lid offers a single servo slot so if you want to use Bowden tube controls you can just use that. In keeping with my love of slicers to manipulate things I may try a glider wing (much longer) at some point. I can try the EDF holder (in motor section) power to get it in the air. To taper this wing just print the airfoils smaller and smaller to give the taper. So to reduce chord to 50% is easy. When you resize in a slicer it will tell you the length of the chord. So you just need to reduce this by typing the new value into resize. So chord 20cm, reduce to 50% is now 10cm and if you want one in the middle it will be 15cm etc. The holes for the struts will not match but you can put them through the X sections of the airfoils I am sure. The parts with names starting Airfoil Centre are notched to fit the Body Lid. If you use the wing for something else you don’t need these. That said the Body Lid can probably fit most projects. Other Franken Parts – Body https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3708532 Battery https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3708528 Motor https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3708547 Tail https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3708553 Undercarriage https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3708558 Control parts https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3708544

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