Hi Tom,
Looks like a great project with a brand new material that will keep the Balsa
wood trees safe. My class of kids 8 - 17 year olds built and then I flew a
flying wing biplane hang glider in the early 1980’s . It was aluminum bits
held together with pop rivets and covered in plastic “Visqueen”. It had tip
rudders for turning and used weight shift for pitch. It was very slow to turn
and very fast to pitch down and up. The design was featured in the movie
“Flyaway Home” about a father and daughter flying ultralights to teach birds
where to migrate.
What is the wingspan of your new plane?
Richard P.
On Mar 26, 2020, at 10:09 AM, Tom Speer <me@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Nope. It's a biplane - sort of. It's tailless - sort of. It's a powered
glider - sort of. Simple controls - throttle plus only two servos for
elevons. Hand launch, but it has a single belly wheel for landing, so I'm
using a folding prop.
I purchased the print files, but I'm doing it in a new material called
light-weight PLA (LW-PLA), by the Dutch company ColorFab. If you print it at
normal temperatures, it comes out pretty much like regular PLA. But above a
certain temperature, it foams as it prints, reducing the density. At the
temperature I'm using (245C), the density is half the weight of normal PLA.
It's not as strong or as stiff as PLA when foamed, but it's not as brittle,
either. In fact, it can be bent quite a bit without breaking, so it's more
damage tolerant. Couple it with carbon tubes for spars, and it should be a
strong, light plane. The surface has a matt finish that looks and feels a
lot like paper.
It looks to be my go-to material in the future. I'm thinking of combining
LW-PLA parts with foam, like I did with the Apprentice wing. I can do a
thick wall LW-PLA leading edge for the same weight as thin-wall PLA, and have
a tough, accurately shaped leading edge. The foam in the middle is easily
shaped. The whole thing can be skinned with brown paper, glass, or Textreme
carbon cloth. LW-PLA will also be great for fairings and fuselages.
Cheers,
Tom
On 3/26/20 8:06 AM, kenneth maguire wrote:
The Spruce Goose ,Tom?
Ken
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy A10e, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: Tom Speer <me@xxxxxxxxxx> <mailto:me@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 3/25/20 10:57 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: ORCA Chat <orcachat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> <mailto:orcachat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [orcachat] New Build
I have a new build in progress, too. Here's a pic: