Introduction: DIY Electric R/C Airplane

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About: Being a science student i love to indulge in projects related to engineering as i love to learn things practically...

This is my frist scratch built remote control Airplane powered by an electric motor.In this instructable in which i am going to show how to scratch built an rc airplane in a limited budget.

The basic goal is to use locally avaliable materials and to keep the design as simple as possible .

If you like this built then dont forget to vote my project in "Things That Fly"

DESIGN CONCEPT:

As the name of the plane tell that Crazy Stick ,the plane is based arround a simple aluminium square pipe ,it couples all the equipment from wing,tail and all the radio and propulsion equipment.

High wing design is selected for its capability of stable flight.The reason to use a hollow aluminium square rod is avoid making the fuselage and so to reduce the design complexity and aluminium have a known capablity of being highly ductile so if a crash occours the i wont end up loosing the wohle base of the plane.

all the components of the airplane including wing ,wing stand, motor mount,horizontal & verticle tail adn both the rear and front landing gear.

The major construction was based on locally avaliable Simbol ply wood sheets (3 mm) and the beading sticks .

EQUIPMENT USED:

The major construction was based on
locally avaliable Simbol ply wood sheets (3 mm) and the beading sticks .

BASIC DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS:

  • Type: High wing.
  • Propulsion : Electric powered.
  • Landing gear type: Tail dragger.
  • Main wing airfoil type: Modified flat bottom ( Clark-Y )
  • Total weight: 1.5 kg
  • Fuselage length: 40 inches
  • Wing span: : 48 inches
  • Wing chord: 12 inches .
  • Width of Horizontal stablizer : 18 inches
  • Width of vertical stablizer : 12 inches bottom.

LIST OF THE MATERIALS USED:

  • Simbol plywood sheets (3mm).
  • Aluminum square pipe (12 mm).
  • SS cut screws (1 inches)
  • Hobbyking covering flims
  • coloured sticker strips.

LIST OF THE ADHESIVES USED:

  • Two parts epoxy.
  • Elfy.
  • Magic clear epox.
  • Fiber tape.

LIST OF THE TOOLS USED:

  • hand saw.
  • Drill machine.
  • Drill bits (various sizes).
  • Metal Grinder.
  • Electric hand held jig saw.
  • Heating iron.
  • Screw drivers.
  • Allen keys.

LIST OF THE EQUIPMENT USED:

Step 1: Building Fuselage and Motor Mount.

In this project i have started building the plane without working on the plans as i like to just get envolved in the building process rather than doing the paper work.So the built was started by using the aluminium pipe as the central part and then built the motor mount,wing stand and the tail of the airplane.After that all the components were placed on the body of the airplane.The material used for building the wing stand and the motor mount is 3mm plywood sheet and multiple sheets are glued for more strength.

First i have cut down the aluminium tube and started working on motor mount ,which is made by stacking up multiple sheet of plywood to gian strength.

Step 2: Building the Tail, Wing Stand and Mounting the Radio Equipments.

TAIL:

Both the horizontal and the verticle stablizers were made using the wooden sticks and the elevator and the rudder flaps were using the same wooden sticks and the joined together with the help of X-Ray sheets.This is a quick,reliable and cheap technique and seems to hold up the flaps very well.the tail was later covered by using the white covering flim and then stickers were applied on it.

WING MOUNTING:

In order to attach the wing to the body of the airplane, a wing mount or a stand is need so that both the parts can be coupled as well as it is also used as the platform for mounting the servos for rudder and elevator,mounting the reciever and its switch,while the ESC (motor's speed controller ) is mounted on the aluminium tube to sink its heat down.

MOUNTING THE RADIO EQUIPMENTS:

Wing stand provided a great platform for mounting the servos for elevator and rudder and also mounting the reciever.Still there is enough space to accomodate the mounting of ESC but i prefer to mount the ESC on the aluminium body pipe from the back plate to sink the unwanted heating effect.

Step 3: Landing Gear ,Battery Mounting and the Battery Connecting Leads

LANDING GEAR:

Iopted for the tail dragger design to have the scale flying look of the airplane :) .Both the front and rear landing gaer was made using the plywood sheets and then strengthen using the thick wooden sticks to ensure the rigidity of the landing gear for worst landing senerios.

BATTERY MOUNTING:

In order to maintain the Center of Gravity it is necessary to mount the batteries asclose to the motor mount as possible.I have used two 11.1 v 1600 mah batteries in parallel connection to power the motor and have a good flying time.

The battery mount was made by using wooden sticks and plywood sheet to enclose the box to ensure the safety of the batteries as Lipo batteries are very sensitive to both physical and electrical missuse.

BATTERY CONNECTING LEADS:

to deliver the power from both the batterie to the ESC ,i have made a custom wire lead by using 16 gauge wires and the great XT-60 connectors.

Step 4: Main Wing Construction.

MAIN WING :

At first i tried to make a foam wing but the end results were not good enough so i then built the wing using the rib sheeted technique.All the ribs were made using single 3 mm plywood sheet.Three wooden sticks were used as the beam of the wing and latter the wing is sheeted using a very thin and fine wooden sheet that is almost 0.4 mm thin (it is used to sandwich plywood sheet).It gives the wing a good strength and maintained a good airfoil shape.The flaps were made using plywood sheets and then the whole flaps and the wing was covered using the white covering flim and then latter i applied the stickers to give the plane an attractive look and the name of the plane "Crazy Stick" was written on the wing using a hollow paper and a black paint spray.

Two 9 grams servos are used for the aleirons.Almost 12 ribs are used and the distance between the ribs is 4 inches in the centre and the edge ribs ,while inches in the middle ribs.In the center of the wing two mounting beams were made by using multiple plywood sheets.

PROJECT COPLETITION :

Just after finishing the main wing ,I have covered and decorated it using some stickers and assembled the wing on the main body of the airplane.Later on the final finishing was done on the plane and the first test flight was made and the plane was capable of flying in gusty winds.The flight time was almost about 7-10 min at a good amount of throttle.

This project tought me a good amount of knowledge of how airplanes fly and the joy of building one with your own hands is out of this world.

Please feel free to give suggestions and if you have any questions regarding the built then let me know.

If you like this built then dont forget to vote my project in "Things That Fly"

Regards.

Abdul Samad.

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