Trix - Restarting the project.

[Wayne]

Trix Evo I guess will be the correct name as it will be getting the full EVO treatment. I have been playing around with adding the electric power options. I don't know this motor will be enough for her, especially with a sheeted foam core wing. So probably hold off for a bit while I work that one out.

You may recognize the tail. I was drawing up a new tail for her based on the last prototype, but improved, and it dawned on me, that is was very similar to the LeLe's tail. So I went and checked and they were nearly identical, so I just copied that over, and she is a perfect fit.

I think I will go with a new airfoil on this one.

First flying model will be a built up wood wing while we get the foam cutting up and running.

Might do something else that is kind of fun if there is room.

 

[Wayne]

OK - played around a bit with my silly idea.. This is actually what I have been wanting to do with the Trix from the very start. This is a concept for some wingeron linkage. Thought I might need to make the fuselage taller, but looks like it will fit. Just a mockup. The silver thing in a ring magnet that locks the wing in position.

 

[thenated0g]

What program are you using @Wayne ? looks good so far

 

[Wayne]

I use Shapr3D. I was going to jump over to Fusion, but decided to stay with this one for now. It does 95% of what I need. Think Fusion only costs a little more, but the learning curve scared me a bit. My brain is already pudding.

 

[Wayne]

Still playing with the wingeron concept.

At this point a single screw will allow the linkage to slide right out of the plane for easy setup or maintenance. The servo is .08 speed and 10kg of torque, so will be very locked in. Have some other fun ideas for her. This will be a very customizable model!

 

[Wayne]

Messed around with a new wing design yesterday and it all I ended up with was a big headache.

Today I focused on the motor and a new spinner. This will be our newest motor in a spinner combo, on 3S we should have about 90 mph and think it was 40 ounces of thrust. I'm sure the spinner will need a lot of refinement. It is currently about 32.5mm in diameter at the rear. (The same spinner will be a good choice for RES gliders, but a little less pitch on the prop.)

(We test printed already, turned out better than I expected.)

Here is a more fleshed out design for the wingeron linkages.

 

[Wayne]

I know it is boring, but I'm rather proud of my new spinner. It will be a great addition to our little family of spinners with motors in them. Except this one can support far bigger loads. This means we can design some bigger planes like the Trix, or 2 meter ships, etc.

Will print this one out in the morning, but do not expect any issues.

 

[zeo0nie1]

looking forward to it

I have an (unbuilt) balsa wingeron with two wing servos that I was looking forward to tinkering with the angle of attack on. I guess it's not useful enough to bother with two servos every time?

 

[Wayne]

Pitcheron vs Wingeron
When you have a servo for each wing, you have a pitcheron. The wing handles roll and pitch duties. There are some excellent models that do this. There are also some so-so models that do this.

Wingeron provide roll control only, no pitch. In my experience it has some advantages:
I like the handling qualities of the wingeron. (think of it as front wheel drive vs rear wheel drive)
Budget friendly -only one higher end servo is needed, and a smaller cheaper servo for elevator.
One servo weighs less than two. (again using a lighter servo for the elevator)

I may be completely wrong, but in my experience a conventional elevator handles the pitch duties much better. Most pitcherons seem to have heavier wing loading, so perhaps that has something to do with the equation. I usually am flying lower wing loadings on my designs.

 

[zeo0nie1]

thank you, interesting stuff

 

[Hawaii Sloper]

You can also do a wingeron with 2 servos couldn't you? Seems like it wouldn't require a special mechanism to rotate the wing halves as long as they aren't fixed.

 

[zeo0nie1]

I bought the Pug Twisty because it was one of the only four-control surface balsa kits I could find. It also looked like an interesting platform to explore different styles of control since you can basically actively use two or four servos.

I haven't built it because I know I'll crash it in the first session or two at this point.

I think a larger, foam wing like the Trix will be a good next step after I destroy enough 3D printed planes.

 

[Wayne]

Sometimes things just don't go smoothly, this project has been a case study in this.

Started of with the motor I wanted to use. Turns out the motor supplier has government sanctions against them, of course that manufacturer doesn't tell you these things. After much wasted time I have found another manufacturer that looks appealing unfortunately I based my selections off of specs from their website, but those are different than what they offered to me in a price list, ok, pivot and select another set of motors only to be told, nope those are also no longer available, you should pick from these other motors.. Uggh! The amount of time wasted running all of the calculations. May not seem like it, but it consumed all of my spare "designing" time last week plus some the previous week. Ok, clearly this is not for a single motor, this was for a range of motors and airframes and third party uses.

An early cross section of one of the motor projects.

So finally did invest bits of time on the Trix and the wingeron linkage was kicking my butt. The challenge here is I very much want to keep the fuselage as small as possible, but with things like plywood doubles and triangle stock must be in place, and I stepped the balsa planking up to 1/8" So I'm trying to pack a lot onto a small space. I also was focusing on a design without a large cut out for the canopy, but still very service friendly. In the end that just was not practical. Too much in too small a space.

So a redesign and here are:

This is a more traditional layout for a wingeron. You can see how tightly placed everything is. We have rudder and elevator along with the wingeron. The canopy hatch is positioned to clear the wingeron linkages.

Making slow progress, but moving forward. Think the fuselage will be done later today.

 

[Wayne]

Ready to prototype the fuselage.

She should be a good robust wooden fuselage with good internal volume for electronics. The battery shown is a 3S 1300. Span will be around 50" depending on the wing. Yes, she will have a few wings to pick from. Calculated performance is looking really good. Let's see how the testing goes.

 

[Tmcfarland]

Ready to prototype the fuselage.
View attachment 26779
She should be a good robust wooden fuselage with good internal volume for electronics. The battery shown is a 3S 1300. Span will be around 50" depending on the wing. Yes, she will have a few wings to pick from. Calculated performance is looking really good. Let's see how the testing goes.

I admit its interesting…but its no AH-100

 

[Wayne]

To test different wings I will be using 3D printed units before investing time into a fully detailed wing design. Here are the first pair. Just simple PETG and a little on the heavy side, but fine for first flights, mostly testing the fuselage bits with this wing.

These are a pretty wide roots at just under 8 inches. This is about the maximum chord the fuselage will accomodate.

Waiting my turn on the laser cutter for the rest of the parts.

 

[Wayne]

The prototype parts have been waiting for me, so lets put them together.

She flew together. No issues yet. Spent maybe an hour.