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P38 - 3D PRINTED RC PLANE
May 23rd, 2020 | by: ELECTRONOOBS | Views 1554
Views 1554
Welcome to this step by step assemble of this 3D printed plane. I say it again, I'm not a professional 3D designer, so, this might have a lot of issues. Anyway, in this tutorial you will see the parts we have for the plane, some tips of how I've designed some of those parts, the part list we need and how to assemble the plane. You will also find some sort of manual with the specs of the plane. So, let's start.
See the video
PART 1 - What we need

First you need the 3D parts for this design. For now I'm sharing the design for free on my shop since the plane was not tested yet. But, if you consider supporting my work, there is the same version for 5$ so thank you. So, go below and see all the parts. Download the .zip file with the STL files from my shop. Get the rods, servos, battery, glue and all you need, and then, in a few hours, you can assemble this plane once you have the 3D parts. Printing the parts will take some days. Having multiple printers will reduce time.

 

We need:
Parts
PART 2.1 - 3D parts

As you can see below, we have 37 3D printable parts without including landing gear which will be available on version 2. Basically all parts are made with PLA filament. There are some exceptions but the rest are printed with 0.4mm nozzle, 0.3mm layer height, 15% rectilinear infill and 2 perimeters. The parts are already oriented so don't worry of rotating the parts. But you do need a big printer of at least 26 by 26cm bed size and 30cm height of printing area. The plane is huge. The wingspan is of 1440mm so imagine that. That's why we need carbon fiber tuebs inside to provide strenght and flexibility. See the exception parts below that you must print differently.

  - Exceptions (PLA, 0.4mm nozzle, 0.3mm layer height, 2, perimeters, 10% star shape infill) :
18_L_Wing_D, 19_R_Wing_D, 30_L_Tail_E, 31_R_Tail_E, 28_L_Tail_D, 29_R_Tail_D, 32_L_Rudder, 33_R_Rudder, 34_L_Elevator, 35_R_Elevator, 20_L_Aleron, 21_R_Aleron

PART 2.2 - Print the parts

This will take some time. I've used 3 printers at the same time and took me a few days. I've used PLA filament at 200 degrees and the bed at 60 degrees with some painters tape on it. See slicer settings above. Get the files for the cabin first and start the assemble. I've also weighted the parts in order to know the total weight of the final plane. Without Battery, motors and landing gear, the plane is around 1.5KG and with a wingspan of 1.44m, I think that could be enough to create good lift. See the weight of each part below if you want to compare.

PART 3.1 - Assemble 1

First part we make is the cabin. So take part 1 and 2 (nose and bottom cabin) and add some 4mm barbeque wood sticks in the holes. Add superglue, join the parts and add the activator fast. That's it. We have the cabin. We don't add the top part of the cabin yet. That will have magnets for easy close/open.

PART 3.2 - Assemble 2

 

Ok, now we add the wings but this is the tricky part. Since the carbon fiber rods are inserted with adn angle, that means we can't glue one part adn then isnert the next, because the next won't fit because of the angle that will create a size difference between input and output of the rods. So, that's why we have to add wing part A, B and C and also the top motor cabin to the carbon fiber rods first. Then we start glueing the parts one by one.

PART 3.3 - Assemble 3

Now start with wing part A and glue that to the main cabin. Then gue it to the motor cabin and so on. Add gule and then activator. Leave wing part D for later.

PART 3.4 - Assemble 4

Now do the same for the left side of the wing. Don't add the controls yet. Now we have main cabin and the wings. Next step si to add the motors mount.

PART 3.5 - Assemble 5

Next add barbeque stick to the motor mount. Slide into the motor cabin part and glue it in palce with super glue. By now we have the main cabin, wings and the motor mount without the controls yet.

PART 3.6 - Assemble 6

Now get all the tail parts. Fist make the rear part of teh tail. Then add barbeque sticks and join the tail tubes parts of tail A and B. When we have the rear tail and tubes, we can join the parts to the rest of the plane.

PART 3.7 - Assemble 7

Finally, join the tail parts with the rest of the body using sticks and glue. Next aprt we add the controls.

PART 3.8 - Assemble 8

Now add the controls. Those are 2 alerons, the elevator and 2 rudders. Add the nylon hinges first. You might need to cut the hinge to size. Add gkue and then fix it in place on the wing or tail. Next part we add the electonics.

PART 4 - Schematic

Have in mind the connections are these ones. We need 4 servos. One servo for each aleron. The elevator and rudders will be connected with only 1 servo for each. We have 2 motors. So we need those motors with 2 ESCs. Make sure one motor will spin CW and the other one CCW to substract torque and be more stable. Add wires to the ESCs and a T conenctor in order to connect those to the battery. Make sure taht from the ESCs you only connect one 5V wire to the receiver. One 5V wire is enough.

PART 5 - Electronics: Brushless Motors

Add bullet connectors with long wires to the ESCs and brushless motors. Then pass the wires from the motors through the motor mount 3D part. Add screws and fix the motor in place. Make sure one is CW motor and the other one is CCW and the screw for the propeller will close in the oposite direction of rotation. Connect the wires from motor to the ESCs. Solder long wires to the supply of ESCs. Pass the wires through the wing. Inside the cabin solder together supply wires from the ESCs and add one T connector for the LiPo. Solder tin wires for 5V, GND and signal for the ESCs. Only solder one 5V from any of the ESCs. Connect these to the radio receiver.

PART 5.2 - Electronics: Servos

Add long wires for 5V, GND and signal to the servos. Glue them in the holes below the wing. Pass teh wire through the wing to the cabin adn connect them to the receiver. Add the servos for rudder adn elevator into the supports. I've used metal wire to pass the force from the servo to the controls. Print the plastic hoock and glue that to the controls. Connect the servos to the receiver and that's it.

PART 6 - Adjust the controls

Power on the radio controller with throttle at maximum. Connect the battery to the plane. Lower throttle to minnimum and configure the ESCs. Then adjust the PWM signal from the controller for the servos till they are in the middle position.

See the video

 

That's it guys. Consider supporting my work by purchasing the plane from here. Also, support me on PATREON or if you want support me on my PayPal. Thank you very much. I hope you like this project.
 

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