Hey Mike! Thanks for the note. This is all way too much fun. Mike was my mentor in Manhattan, KS. Mike has several awesome balsa kits he has designed and sells.
I have updated the construction PDF at the beginning of the post. It seems there is always something to add.
KX-5, you may want to post the update in the first post so that whoever is going to download it will not have to go through all the posts to find out if there is a newer version. It just makes it easier. Yoram
Mark, that was an awesome build video of the saucer. Thanks for letting me know about it. Here's a picture of that small rectangle piece you mentioned. It's the piece with the small metal piece in it on the disc that the hatch magnet connects to. Does that make sense? It is very interesting watching someone else build the saucer. The MKII is incredible! You cut out the parts in less than 15 minutes. My machine takes over 2 hours to cut. Attached files
LaVerne, Thank you for the comments. Your design work is incredible! Really a work of art. Thank you for posting. I am wait to get in some of that Doculam?(SP) to see how it works out on the test model before I do a real build.Thanks for the updated PDF and for the pics here. I can't wait to fly this bad boy! It really looks great in real life. Thanks again I look forward to you future designs Mark
It's been a couple weeks since this post started. There have been a lot of downloads of the files. Has anyone tried to build a saucer yet? Or, is this type of construction not what you think of when building a foam airplane? Let me know if you have any questions.
I've been putting this one off because my cutting width is now only 20" due to way I had to mount the bearing for the belt mod. Eventually, I need to order a longer belt and move the bearing block to the outside of the cabinet or hack up my gantry so that I can get my full 22 inches back.
Flashsolutions, I just hacked up my gantry. The 1/2" X 1 1/2" strip I cut off was pretty extraneous, anyway.
I know the disc portion and a couple of the ribs push the cutting envelope. I have not added the MK1.5 mod yet, but hope to this summer. Does the hack mean you can cut wider? :?:
Yes - Originally I'd assembled everything per Eric's instructions, but my idler pulley had a tendency to ride up, and lean toward the stepper. To eliminate this, I moved the upper HDPE block to above the idler pulley, so I had to hack the left side of the gantry to allow it to get all the way to the "left" wall again, over the top of the HDPE support block. I also added a 1/4" thick X 1/4"ID spacer on the shaft, above the idler pulley, so any vertical motion pushes directly against the inner race of the upper bearing.
Yep, I need to do that too. So far I have been able to cut most everything in 20" but I know eventually I am going to have to pony up and get it done.
Eric tried to cut corners with his belt mod. If you installed it the way he wants you to, you would still have a full 22" cut, but mounting the bearing that way is fraught with problems. I am sure he intended to mount it properly with the bearing between the blocks but found out that the gantry would hit it so he took the easy way out and tried to mount two bearing blocks holding a shaft with the pulley on top of the blocks. That puts too much pressure on the bearing blocks, the bearings, and causes the pulley to slip in multiple ways. I gave up fighting it and mounted the pulley between the bearing blocks the way it should have been done to start with, but I didn't cut into the gantry to remove the MDF that now hits the bearing block so in effect, I reduced my cut width by about an inch and a half. I just hate to take it all apart again to cut out the opening in the gantry to allow for clearance of the bearing block. Obviously, I am going to have to give in a do it one of these days. But being basically lazy, I have put it off and put it off. You know how it goes. But one of these days.... I will eventually get it done.
rcflyboynj: The control is quite good with the large elevons. Thrust vectoring is always a fun thought. It would take a longer nose or extra weight up front to off set placing the motor at the tail. Or did you have something else in mind? I think this would also look very cool with a ducted fan.