Alright kids, I gott say, this project totally kicked my tail!! I mean, it was a total BEAR to get it right!!

I do not know who originally designed this plane, so all I can do is give (as credit) the website where I got the DXF file. This 28" wingspan design is based on the DXF file for the 22" Mini Tensor from the following website:

http://www.rcplans.nl

I like planes in the range of 28" to 32" wingspan, as they are easily transported in my little Jeep Wrangler, so that should explain why I scaled this one to 28". It was originally designed to utilize 3mm depron, but since I do not yet have a 1/16" bit for my PP, and I felt that using 6mm stock on a 22" plane would probably yield too high of an AUW, I figured that a 28" span would probably be just about right. Since the original design did not include them, I added tab/slots to facilitate a more easy installation of the wings to the fuselage.

One more thing - I had a little trouble with the centerline tool (I'm certain it's something I did wrong), so the file doesn't include a reference for the windshield to be carved in. Instead, I just created a separate piece that will cut out so that you can use it to trace on the outline of the windshield. Please don't criticize - I spent 4 hours on this project and just decided to take the easy way out!

I hope you enjoy my efforts - I am expecting to have my workshop back by Sunday so I will be cutting one out then.

PLEASE NOTE - There is something wrong with the previous SU7 file. PLEASE NO NOT USE THIS FILE FOR ANYTHING BUT TESTING TO SEE WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT! I have created a new and complete file package from SU6 and the old PhlatScripT. This is the file you will want to use for this project! Attached files Tensor 28-6mm.zip (992.9 KB)Â Tensor28_SU6.zip (954.3 KB)Â

 

Mike that was really QUICK!
Man it looks cool!

Can I cut one out first
What motor/setup do you recommend for this one?
Believe me I know what a pain it is to convert a 3mm design to 6mm, just look at my attempt at the Xcess. (I gave up) and that only had parts that were 3mm.

Really nice job brother thanks for sharing it with us all.
Mark
p.s. I know that SketchUp 7 can handle dynamic componets that will allow for control over scaling
Scale objects without distorting them. Of course you need pro for this but still

To make a dynamic table component longer, just use Scale to stretch it out. The top gets longer, but the legs stay the same size – they don't get distorted. When you scale a dynamic stair component, it automatically adds steps. In SketchUp 7, components can have brains.

 

I would build it and then weigh it to see what you come up with.

It seems that you told me during one of our conversations that you like sport-flying (more speed, less hovering and high-alpha stuff). I am thinking that a Park 370 would fill the bill nicely for a 3D plane, but if you've got a BP-21/Tower Pro 2408-21, it would prolly be great for sport-flying.

On another note, my buddy Todd and I were flying his 28" FFF bipe earlier this year and it had many similarities to this bird. His design didn't use ANY carbon fiber and THIS design is much more robust! I am thinking that if any CF is needed, it will prolly be only one piece and I would suggest putting it on the bottom wing.

Be sure to snap a pic of it - especially if you do beat me to the build!

 

Thanks for the specs Mike I will give it a try as soon as I can, you might just beat me to it

Will do Mike

Mark

 

My man Crash, thanks for another one!

I suspect that when I finally do get my Phlatty going that I'll keep Dow and/or Owens-Corning in business for many moons to come...

 

Good job crash, nice choice. Another project on the list

 

Hey guys, there's some kind of issue with my gCode on the second sheet.

Mark, I am thinking that we should ask Pete if he could have a look at my PhlatCodes for the second sheet. Something really screwy is going on. The bit travels all over the place when it tries to cut the fuselage. I could attach some pics, but the best way to see what's happening is to open the Sheet 2 file in Mach.

I copied the fuse and placed it into a new file to work on it separately to see if I could figure out just what I could have done wrong. I bombed away all of the PhlatCode and then saved the file. I then used the PhlatScript again and wrote out the file without grouping it first. Everything looked fine in Mach. I then re-opened the file in SU and grouped the fuse and wrote another PhlatCode. When I checked it out in Mach, it's all weird again!

What do you think is going on???

Anyway, I just resaved my "With Codes" file back to SU6 format so that I could try out the old PhlatScript (I haven't updated the PhlatScript on my older version yet). Guess what? The file now looks correct in Mach.

The way I figure it, there's something wonky going on with either SU7 or the latest version of the PhlatScipt. The next test will be to open up my SU6 package and try to write out the code with the LATEST version of the PhlatScript and see what the results are. I don't have a version of SU6 with the new Script, so I will have to go to my other machine and update it and see what happens. However, it's late and I have a busy next few days so it will prolly not be until Wednesday before I can try it. If someone else is still running SU6 and HAD already updated their Script to the latest and wants to see the results, please post them here!

Please note that I am leaving the SU7 package in my original post, but am marking it DO NOT USE - FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY.

 

Mike I will look into it as soon as I can. I am not sure what is going on there and I will ask Pete to chime in on this. Thanks for posting the results and for re-doing it for everyone.
Mark

Edit Ok you guys I had a chance to make up a quick video on what went wrong on this work up, The code still needs work and maybe we can see if Pete can figure out a way to 'auto weld' the worked lines once you assign them. But for now this is a good place to start.
If you get a chance check out this video it may help you out with future builds.

Note *This was also a chance to test out fast stones new video capture feature, and there are parts when my system is processing a lot of numbers and that makes the video slow down along with making my voice go super deep so it sounds funny. I did this on my older system and it is crammed full so it had a hard time but I think if I would have used it on my new system it would have been fine I will save that video test for a later date as I am on my lunch break. Talk to you guys tonight.
BTW if anyone has a better way or want to add to this that would be great.
Thanks
Mark

Here is the video hope it helps you guys out on future builds

Attached files Tensorfix2.wmv (22.7 MB)Â

 

Mark, thanks so much for showing me this workaround! I guess I need to find the "weld" plugin right away!

 

I played around with it too and found I didn't have to weld everything together like Mark did.
I think the dxf imported in needed some extra cleaning, and the faces needed to be reversed like Mark showed. I also noticed the 3 different layers. I don't know if this matters for outputting the code or not, but I made them into one layer.

I think the main culprit I found was the canopy. I made code for the fuse only without putting the canopy in and it looked fine in Mach3. Then I redrew the canopy using just 2 arcs, added the centerline tool to those without welding them and it showed up fine in Mach.
The weld tool is handy for things you want the centerline tool used on though.

Hope this helps a little too,
Shaun

 

I think I have something wrong with my installation of SU7. No matter how I adjust the colors for front and back , it just shows a white face. That being the case, I have absolutely no idea if the face is correct. For that reason I've just taken to painting all of the parts the same color. It's worked on every other plane I've processed - I guess this one was just too complex.

Has anyone else had a problem with SU7 not showing the default "blue" color when the face is made? In SU6 when I have a face set, it's blue. When I reverse it, it's white. In 7 it's white all of the time - even when I reverse it. In the paint bucket I'm using the default blue/white and I have the face in the "Styles" menu set to front=white, back = blue.

After all this mess, I'm to the point where I'm just gonna stick with SU Pro 6!

 

I had the same issue with your file on the faces with SU7. Although I don't use different colors when I design my own stuff. If I want to paint the plane I only do it to the 3D model.

 

I gave it a try in SU7, no problems other than what Mark pointed out.

 

So the faces turned blue when you reversed them?
In Mark's video it looked like they didn't turn blue there either (the darker Sketchup blue).

I tried all sorts of things(after changing to the defalt Sketchup colors) to get it to turn the other color, but every time I clicked reverse face it just stayed white. I know it reversed because of how the outside tool affected it, but that was the only way I knew. I just figured it was because Mike had all the parts that other blue color.

 

I figured out what was going on with my file on this project. Other than the fact that I didn't know about the Weld tool, SU was messed up. Click the link for the details...

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=253&start=0

 

:mrgreen: