DIY RC Airplanes from Scratch: The Brooklyn Aerodrome Bible for Hacking the Skies
272DIY RC Airplanes from Scratch: The Brooklyn Aerodrome Bible for Hacking the Skies
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Overview
Discover how to:
- Select the components you’ll need and get them at a low cost
- Build a sturdy deck and secure all of your airplane's electronics to it
- Construct the airframe with the proper trim and center of gravity
- Learn to flyone crash at a time
- Diagnose and repair your airplane
- Decorate your aircraft for dazzling daytime flights
- Illuminate a night flyer with otherworldly effects
- Experiment with unique airframe shapes, including the Flying Heart, the Bat, and the Manta Ray
- Learn the basics of aerodynamics
- Devise, build, and fly your own unique designs
Companion videos available at http://brooklynaerodrome.com/bible
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780071810043 |
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Publisher: | McGraw Hill LLC |
Publication date: | 06/14/2013 |
Pages: | 272 |
Sales rank: | 1,021,306 |
Product dimensions: | 7.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Introduction xiii
Acknowledgments xix
1 Get Your Stuff 1
Introducing the Flack 1
Parts and Materials 4
Flight Simulator Controller 4
Radios 7
Motors 9
Batteries 14
Battery Connectors 16
Chargers and Power Supplies 16
Power Supplies 18
Servos 19
Airframe Materials 19
Tape 23
Cable Ties/Zip Ties 25
Conclusion 25
2 What Do All the Parts Do? 27
The Flight Cycle of a Flack 27
The Pilot 28
The Builder 28
The Airframe 30
The Wing 30
The Elevons 31
The Stabilizers 31
The Deck 32
The Transmitter 33
How the Transmitter Works 34
How to Control the Sticks 35
Mixing 35
Throttle 35
Rudder or Yaw Control 35
Trim Tabs 36
Rechargeable Batteries 37
The Receiver 37
How Servos Get Information 38
What the Radio Channels Do 38
Channel 1 38
Channel 2 40
Channel 3 40
Electronic Speed Control and the Battery Eliminator Circuit 41
Power Limitations of ESC and BEC 41
The Flight Battery 43
The Motor 43
Conclusion 43
3 Building the Deck 45
Tools and Supplies 45
Charge Your Battery 49
The Deck 49
Fabricate the Deck 49
Attach Servos 49
Create the Motor Mount 53
Mount Propeller 56
Attach the Motor Mount to the Deck 60
Solder the Speed Control 61
Power Up the Airplane 69
Powering Down the Airplane 70
Securing Parts to the Deck 71
Conclusion 71
4 The Airframe of the Flack 73
The Airframe 73
Attaching the Control Rods to the Elevons 82
Attaching the Deck 84
Centering Controls 87
Establish Elevon Trim 88
Final Cleanup 95
Conclusion 96
5 Learning to Fly One Crash at a Time: The Splinter Method 97
Safety 97
The Cone of Crashing Potential 98
Trim 99
Adjusting Trim 100
Flight Simulator Setup and Training 100
Incrementally Learning to Fly 100
Get a Helper/Partner/Friend to Help Out 101
Control Sensitivity 101
Crashes 102
Task 0 Approach the Field Ready to Fly 102
Task 1 Launching without Power 102
Task 2 RC on Launch to Landing, No Power 106
Task 3 RC on Launch and Landing, Low Power, Cut Throttle 109
Task 4 RC on Launch and Landing, Increasing Power 109
Task 5 Turning 111
The Wind 112
Overall Good Strategies for Learning to Fly 112
Skill Building 113
Precision Landing 113
Hit the Balloon 113
Fly in Stressful Situations 114
Aerobatics 114
Conclusion 114
6 Keeping You and Your Airplane Alive: Diagnostics and Repair 115
Preflight Checklists of Use 115
The Brief Preflight in 3 Seconds: Servos, Up, Down, Left, Right, Power, Launch 115
More Complete Checklist for Aircraft of Questionable Integrity 116
Crash Kit 119
Basic Crash Kit 119
More Complete Crash Kit 120
Kinds of Repairs 122
The Big-Crash Postflight Inspection 122
More Specific Fixes 123
Completely Dead Airplane 123
Completely Dead Airplane: Rebind the Receiver 123
Completely Dead Airplane: ESC Not Sending Power to the Receiver 125
Completely Dead Airplane: Receiver/Servo 125
Completely Dead Airplane: Transmitter 126
Water Immersion 126
Servos Operate But Motor Does Not 127
Evaluating Motor Damage 128
Symptom: Motor Has Weak Thrust 128
Motor Vibrates 128
Motor Gets Very Hot 129
Motor Doesn't Work at All 129
Battery Damage 131
Highly Suspect Battery 132
Check Battery Pack 133
Battery Disposal 133
Servo Damage 133
Servo Not Moving 133
Servo Arms Are No Longer Vertical When Trim Tabs Are Centered 134
Busted Servo Arm 134
Broken Propeller 135
Kinds of Prop Damage 135
Flutter 135
Poor Radio Connection 136
Conclusion 136
7 Make Your Plane Look Good for Day Flying 137
General Considerations to Keep in Mind 137
Examples 138
Mouse: Avery Stick-on Labels and Sharpies 139
Purple Monster: Wrapping Paper 139
Big Pink Angst: Fresnel-Lens Plastic 142
Silver Shark: Plastic Film 2 145
Brooklyn Aerodrome Orange Plane (BAOP) Paint on Foam 146
Blue Angel and Others in Printed Tyvek 148
Flying Heart: Sign Vinyl 150
Firefly: Balloon Film 151
Decorating with Tape 152
Conclusion 153
8 Make Your Plane Look Good at Night 155
Overall Considerations 155
Major Ways to Illuminate Aircraft 155
Color at Night 156
Electroluminescent Wire 156
How El-Wire Works 158
Powering El-Wire 159
Soldering an Inverter for BEC Power 160
Soldering El-Wire 162
Stripping the El-Wire 162
Soldering the El-Wire to Male Header Pins 164
Simple Decoration 166
LED-Based Approaches 168
Single-Point LEDs 168
Strip LEDs 170
High-Power LEDs and Fiberoptics 171
Other Illumination Options 172
Weight Considerations 172
BEC-Powered Lighting 173
Robustness 173
Conclusion 173
9 Other Shapes 175
Inorganic Produce 175
Banana 176
Carrot 178
Strawberry 180
Flying Heart 182
SketchUp Is Your Friend 182
Travel Flack 184
Bat 185
Crystal Towel 186
Semi-Circle 189
Manta Ray 191
Design 191
Evolving the Moving Fins 191
The Radio 193
The Build 194
Flying 195
3D Banana 195
Conclusion 198
10 Aerodynamics for the Hacker 199
Lift 199
Conditions for Lift: Positive Aerodynamic Angle of Attack and Airflow 199
Lift, Part 1 199
Lift, Part 2 200
Pitch, Roll, and Yaw 201
Center of Gravity (CG) 201
Reflex and Flying Wings 206
Reasoning about Lift 208
Drag 209
Glide Ratio 209
Conclusion 209
11 Hack the Flack: Make and Fly Your Own Design 211
Getting the Idea 211
Prototyping 212
A Plank 213
Designing and Building a Novel Design 214
Blinding the Powered Version 215
Scaling Up from the Glider Proof of Concept 216
Structural Considerations 218
Placing Equipment 219
Flight Testing 220
New Shapes by Morphing Old Ones 221
Incremental Refinement 221
Conclusion 223
12 Simulators, Autopilots, Video, and Buddy Boxing 225
Flight Simulators 225
Flying Model Simulator (EMS) 225
CRRCsim 226
Autopilots 228
Copilot CPD4 228
Full Autopilot 229
Video from the Air 230
Passive Video 230
First-Person Video (FPV) 231
Buddy Boxing a.k.a. Student Driving for Pilots 232
Hacking the Transmitters for Buddy Boxing 233
Conclusion 235
Index 237