Signup: Inaugural Bringing Back Man-on-Man Slope Racing Event

[Red]

Rafael is on the printing job. The day was spent converting files and refining settings and several test prints. He has them butter smooth and using a better infill with a small 1mm radius where it hits the skins. Compared to the suggested fill it should result in a stronger model with no weight gain. (Rafael is really good at the magic of printing things.) If current test looks good we start printing. Sounds like we will have 6 printers grinding away as the ASA filament needs enclosed printers. It will be a challenge to get them all done by Friday.

Red, we may need to drop you down to just 2 copies to meet the deadline of shipping out Friday. Think that makes the total count 7 prints.

2 now and 2 later works if that helps.

 

[Wayne]

I'm using the sign up spreadsheet for this event to figure out how many planes we are printing. Please look it over if you wanted us to print for you. Right now it looks like 9 planes. I'm ordering the missing carbon now and hopefully can get it here quick enough to ship out to you all.

Thanks all!

 

[OribaSJ88]

Should the event be renamed the “Inaugural MR60/V Slope Race”? It looks like half of the unique entrants are using it in the 60” class. Should be an interesting test of not only the design but its resilience in competition. Hopefully the conditions permit a true evaluation of its potential.

I’ll stick with old faithful, my Genesis. And, maybe a 3D-printed backup.

Ollie

 

[Wayne]

Yeah, we have a lot of printing to do! Rafael and I swap out the prints every 4 hours or so day and night. I'm a bit tired as I can't get back to sleep for a while after a swap.

 

[OribaSJ88]

That's a maximal effort project you guys have going to get all the planes printed before the event. It takes me a bit over 3 days (@24 hours/day) to print a single version of my current design and I'm not printing 24/7. If 3D-printed models become the norm, I'll have to work on a true 60" slope racer design. It would be a interesting challenge .

As much as I enjoy the projects with 3D printing, I'm hoping that there will be a molded option that was designed as a 60" slope racer. They're just more robust when done well. Perhaps Doc's Sessanta? Back in in the early 2000's, it seemed like there was an absolutely overabundance of such designs. No such luck anymore.

Ollie

 

[Wayne]

When I was offering more of the European designs, the manufacturers complained that I mostly bought the little models, and they did not make much money on them. Seems many have completely dropped the smaller models for their lines.

Reality is that the smaller models have always sold best at our store.

 

[Doc James Hammond]

That's a maximal effort project you guys have going to get all the planes printed before the event. It takes me a bit over 3 days (@24 hours/day) to print a single version of my current design and I'm not printing 24/7. If 3D-printed models become the norm, I'll have to work on a true 60" slope racer design. It would be a interesting challenge .

As much as I enjoy the projects with 3D printing, I'm hoping that there will be a molded option that was designed as a 60" slope racer. They're just more robust when done well. Perhaps Doc's Sessanta? Back in in the early 2000's, it seemed like there was an absolutely overabundance of such designs. No such luck anymore.

Ollie

Yep, you are right Ollie - the Sessanta was designed specifically as a fast slpe all-rounder - I e: a 60" racer.

The Genesis was designed by me, and the Magnus is an almost direct copy of the Genesis, just with 2 part wings, so I have done my bit for molded 60's

I'm now thinking of a fast 60" plank since I did a lot of work on a 3M version a lot of which went into the CRG Trinity plank.

But I still have some tricks up my sleeve.

Cheers.

Doc

 

[Wayne]

Funny thing - I had to order a bunch of carbon from another hobby shop (with a decent discount due to the size of the order) as we did not know when our restock would arrive. Well, it arrived in the same delivery truck as the emergency order. Life is funny that way. Plan is to chop up the emergency carbon to the correct lengths and distribute that and the costs to the kits. Sounded like everyone wanted/needed the carbon. We will also be including a set of MP Jet pushrods as those will be better and easier than messing the the suggested carbon rods.

All planes will be V-tail. We just do not have the time to mess around with the cross tail as some parts change between the two. Maybe after the dust settles we can print those parts for folks if they are OK waiting a couple of days before they build their tails.

We should have the first 5 kits ready to ship tomorrow afternoon. Maybe a couple of more. The balance of the kits will go out Monday. Shipping logistics to get enough ASA to print this many slowed us down. (We don't stock much ASA for our own uses.)

Only Red, Jonathan and myself have shown proof that the have bought the airframe files from Geode. This is a requirement before we can ship to you. Please email a copy of the confirmation email to contact@alofthobbies.com. And you better send us your mailing address in that email too. (Don't forget the discount code listed earlier in this thread.)

Total cost? Well, we are producing 10 models. We have $451 in carbon, $327 in filament and $50 for pushrod comes to $828, divided by 10 planes: $83 in materials. I'd like to cover some of Rafael's time for the printing. Are you all Ok - with $120 per plane. This is a one time racer deal. (If you don't show up at the race with your shiny new plane, you owe me $50. The average print time per part is probably close to 3 hours. There are a lot of parts!

We can offer a discounted price on radio gear for these models if you like. I'm going to fill mine with some fancy FrSky servos. https://alofthobbies.com/collection...651h-4-8kg-66-6-oz-in-0-05-sec-10g-wing-servo
These are over kill for the project, but I have been wanting to play with them some more. This is by far the best servo when it comes to voltage range, torque and speed.

Next spendy option is the AGF A06CLS. Again total overkill and budget killer choice.

AGF A06CLS V2 3.0 Kg (41 oz in) 0.052 sec - 7g

Aloft Hobbies is excited to finally find what looks like an outstanding little servo for a great price. So far very pleased with the quality on these. The AGF A06CLS V2 is an excellent option for those looking for a less expensive, yet high quality all metal 8mm width servo. Inside the CNC...

alofthobbies.com

Next up is the Emax 3352 or 3352HV.

Emax ES3352 HV Thin High Voltage Digital Servo - 2.4Kg (33.3 oz in), .13-sec - 12.4 Grams

Emax delivers a quality thin wing servo with a great price!

alofthobbies.com

Emax ES3352 Thin Digital Servo - 2.8Kg (38.88 oz in), .10-sec - 12.4 Grams

Emax delivers a quality thin wing servo with a great price!

alofthobbies.com

These are a good choice. The problem with the 3352 is just the voltage range. I think someone reported they run fine on 2S 18500. I have not tested this. If that is the case, then a perfect choice. (We sadly only have about 5 of the HV versions, and I think the normal 3352 has a little better specs if they can actually run on 6.6 volts.)

And a very similar choice is the Eris:

Orbit Eris Digital Servo - 4.7kg (65oz/in), 0.10 sec - 8.5g Metal Gear

Why Orbit servos make so much cents... and dollars Orbit has something unique to offer to the servo market. If for any reason you decide to replace your Orbit servo, you can do so for a very low price! Just mail us the old servo and you can purchase a replacement for a great price! You can do...

alofthobbies.com

These are a tiny bit thinner than the emax, and have better torque and similar speed, but they get hot at anything above 6 volts, so you would need to drop your voltages to use these.

The Eris and the 3352 have almost the same size case. We will be including servo trays for the 3352 servos. Think they will fit the Eris pretty well, but the servo arm will be slightly higher as I recall. Don't think it is enough to alter anything.

To place your order, please email us at contact@alofthobbies.com Just let us know your shipping address, and any other items you would like and the crew will get the numbers together for you.

Thanks!

 

[Doc James Hammond]

Wow! That's a lot of great help for the printed '60'ers!

Doc

 

[Wayne]

Hey all, I forgot, we have premade wire harnesses that might help you out. I need to double check that they will fit. Think they will be a little on the long side:

Painless Wing & Fuse Wire Harnesses

Making your own custom wing harnesses is a rewarding experience, especially with the first few; after that you become acutely aware of how much time is consumed creating them. That is why we designed this custom "choose the size that best fits your plane" collection of wing harnesses.Using the...

alofthobbies.com

I'll follow up on this tomorrow to confirm they can be used or not.

 

[apriliamille]

Wayne if you have any after that race weekend I might message you about buying one at the normal price. Im loosing my stinking mind trying to get this to print proper

 

[Wayne]

Hey all, I forgot, we have premade wire harnesses that might help you out. I need to double check that they will fit. Think they will be a little on the long side:

Painless Wing & Fuse Wire Harnesses

Making your own custom wing harnesses is a rewarding experience, especially with the first few; after that you become acutely aware of how much time is consumed creating them. That is why we designed this custom "choose the size that best fits your plane" collection of wing harnesses.Using the...

alofthobbies.com

I'll follow up on this tomorrow to confirm they can be used or not.

For the record, the design of this model is going to make installing a prebuilt harness rather difficult. Either it will need to be depinned on the fuselage side, or maybe unsoldered. He did not leave much space for the harness to route through the fuselage. You will probably want to tackle this step prior to any gluing!

 

[Wayne]

OK - we finally shipped out the MR-60 printed planes. Yeah! Glad to have that behind me. We still have one available if anyone is interested.

 

[Twyl]

A bit bummed as I was trying to make this work, but unfortunately my kids schedule trumps my hobby schedule, and I won't be able to attend this weekend. I'm blaming the schedule, but in reality I've also been stretched a bit thin and haven't been able to print my M60 or revive my gutted Genesis so I wouldn't have anything to fly yet either. I know it's a bit pre-mature, but are there any tentative plans/dates yet for round two?

@Wayne when will you have wire harnesses for 1.5m planes back in stock? I've been warned against re-using the wire harness that was in my Genesis when it took an ocean dip at Fermin 12 or so years ago. I don't see corrosion on the main plugs, but most of the servo plug ends have some corrosion. I have some crimps arriving on Wednesday and may try to redo the ends (assuming corrosion doesn't seep into covered wires).

 

[Red]

A bit bummed as I was trying to make this work, but unfortunately my kids schedule trumps my hobby schedule, and I won't be able to attend this weekend. I'm blaming the schedule, but in reality I've also been stretched a bit thin and haven't been able to print my M60 or revive my gutted Genesis so I wouldn't have anything to fly yet either. I know it's a bit pre-mature, but are there any tentative plans/dates yet for round two?

@Wayne when will you have wire harnesses for 1.5m planes back in stock? I've been warned against re-using the wire harness that was in my Genesis when it took an ocean dip at Fermin 12 or so years ago. I don't see corrosion on the main plugs, but most of the servo plug ends have some corrosion. I have some crimps arriving on Wednesday and may try to redo the ends (assuming corrosion doesn't seep into covered wires).

We will be looking at getting another date on the schedule soon. Sorry you won't make it, you will be missed.

Red

 

[Wayne]

We have our wire stock on order and am told it will be shipping out in about a week, but it is coming via sea.. So, 5 weeks?

 

[Wayne]

We are all building up our 3D printed planes for the race.. I'd like to say the following:

I hate sanding carbon fiber strips!

I don't know why but my plane needed more sanding than the others. What an itchy bitchy task. I also sanded all of Raphael's as he has an allergy to the stuff.

Jarron and Konrad did the epoxy thing, Rafael and I are using cheater holes and thin CA. It may not be as strong, but it is a lot easier and cleaner. Good enough for me.

 

[OribaSJ88]

We are all building up our 3D printed planes for the race.. I'd like to say the following:

I hate sanding carbon fiber strips!

I don't know why but my plane needed more sanding than the others. What an itchy bitchy task. I also sanded all of Raphael's as he has an allergy to the stuff.

Jarron and Konrad did the epoxy thing, Rafael and I are using cheater holes and thin CA. It may not be as strong, but it is a lot easier and cleaner. Good enough for me.

I've seen many reports that carbon fiber dust is really nasty stuff. Be careful. I cut pultruded carbon with water and sharp file rather than a cutting wheel. It's slower but doesn't produce dust. Of course, I'm not trying to speed build a fleet for a contest in a couple of days .

By the way, why are you sanding the carbon? Are the channels undersized and you just can't insert the rods into the printed parts? The latter has been the bane of my 3D printing life. A channel that is one or two tenths of a millimeter too small will ruin your day. (Z-wobble of a printer makes it even worse). Initially, I used long drills or files to open up the channels. It was a pain. I finally mitigated most of the issues by making sure that the design of the channels has a little "give" or compliance. There are no round holes, no completely square or rectangular channels in my printed parts and I almost never have to rework any channel anymore (or sand carbon fiber). Checkout the screen shot. It's not an original idea and I'm surprised that more people don't do it. I realize that's hard to do on someone else's design.

Ollie

 

[Wayne]

We are building these of the planes here, the rest went off to folks. Of the folks that built, and the other 2 planes here, no issues with channels, but mine has issues with the channels. We printed one set of wings here due to the rush, and I think I must have ended up with that set. The ASA likes a hotter bed than our local printers can do. The other issue is just dealing with so many carbons. I figured out the trick on the second plane. Trying to slide a panel over 6 or 8 pieces of .5mm x 10mm carbon is not fun, but sliding in one piece at a time is much easier. This kit has a lot of carbon! I'm going to go take a hot shower now.

 

[Paulywood]

Where do I find info on the 60" printed racer???
Pauly