Dete Hasse Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 I also started shaping of the blades and took a sequence of pics to show how I did it. I'm not sure if this is covered elsewhere here, but I haven't got through all 75 pages of posts yet. I don't know if I can put several pics in one post , so here goes. Blade blank is worked to size 445 x 55 x 6.5mm. First Divide the trailing edge with a line down the centre. On top make a light line 1/3 back fron the LE. ( bottom blade) Remove this wedge of balsa with a razor plane. (second blade up) Then divide the TE down the centre with another line, another line is marked 1/4 of the way back from the TE. (blade 3 up) Again remove this balsa with a plane. See blade on top of pile. Note the lines just remain. I used a similar approach to shape the hard LE but used the larger plane in the pic above. Now look below to see how I used 120 grade paper on a sanding block to remove the ridges left from the previous steps. The one on the left is just about done and needs a little fine profiling to with a block and sandpaper to achieve a nice profile and finish. Cheers Dete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dete Hasse Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Hello again, well that worked well. Next step is to balance the blades, as you know it must be done both laterally and cordwise(?) Here's how I did it. Lateraly and make a mark on each blade. Cordwise and mark. Now I weighed each of the 4 blades I made so I could choose 3 to continue And finally 2 coates of thinned dope. So, a good days work for me. To be continued Cheers Dete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stringer Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Dete - that continues to be a lovely build - puts mine to shame! Your effort on the blades makes me feel guilty too as I did all four of mine in about an hour with the aid of some paper templates and then a disk and belt sander. Keep it up and keep the pictures coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dete Hasse Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Mark, I'm not too skilled at using a belt sander on balsa. Like all modelling, there is no right or wrong way, just different ways. I'm happy to share mine. Thing may slow for a couple of weeks as I'm traveling north. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Whiting 1 Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 Dete, Very nice explanatory blade illustrations and totally agree with your quote......."There being no right or wrong way, just different ways" . Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin McIntosh Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Pleased to say that with both of mine now fitted with AJ blades they were flown today with no real problems. Not pushing my luck and putting them away until Greenacres. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Harris Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 Due to my old man having a nasty accident with a model I have been unable to progress with my bomber. My no2 Atom which was 90% complete has been finished and maidened this evening without any hitches. It will be packed into the caravan ready for the weekend. Hope to see a few of your there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Barlow Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 That's a shame, I was looking forward to seeing the Bomber in action! Hope the old man is recovering OK. Looked very nasty. Finally managed to re secure the undercarriage on my Atom ready for the weekend. Been meaning to do it for weeks! Looking forward to seeing all the Atoms at the weekend and hopefully an autogyro mass fly off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Harris Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 He's well on the way to recovery now, three days in hospital and all from launching a pusher propped Vulcan. He had done this hundreds of times too, needless to say the model has been confiscated and will have its motor removed and become a slope soarer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stringer Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Send my best wishes to your dad, hope to be there Sunday weather permitting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Winks Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 My best wishes to your Dad too Richard, sounds like a true tough luck story, looking forward to flying with you at the weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Elliot Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Crikey Rich , Mr H snr is really going through it lately with props! Please pass on my best to him and I'll catch you at the weekend Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dete Hasse Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Hi there, Back from a few weeks in the north. Looovely! Sorry to see dad laid up I wish him well and hope he can get back to flying soon. Now, I've been a bit slack with the posts and quite a lot of progress has been made. The HK head, servos and prop arrived while I was away and I got so busy that I didn't take too many Pics. Anyway I followed the plans and today I put on stripes and did a hang test with the battery installed. I used an andriod phone app called Bubble. It's a spirit level that can measure angles. My atom hangs with the tail boom at -19 degrees. Any comments? Photo's to follow Cheers PS its going to snow on the nearby hills so its still chilly down here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dete Hasse Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I forgot to mention that I tried to pull a canopy from a drink bottle as is common here, but without success. I used a piece of PETG 0.8mm that I got from HK and stapled it onto 2 half inch square pine. I then heated it to floppy heat over an electric bar radiator lying on its back, ie heat facing up. and quickly pulled it over the plug (wearing leather gloves. This worked well as you can see. Just need to add the blades The last thing to do is to fit the receiver, velcro to hold the battery down and final servo adjustments range check. Getting very near to finished Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dete Hasse Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Almost there. Last minute checks were revealing. Don't laugh at this. I used a 4 channel (36 meg) RX for its compactness. I couldn't set up ELEVON mixer on my JR 2720 set that would work, so I went back to first principals and used the free mixers. One for AIL to ELE 100% and the other ELE to AIL 100%. This wan't hard but was a eureka moment for me. I've only had the set 10 years and never had to use this facility as I always had spare RX channels and thus used the pre mixers. Next thing was the CG. I moved the RX behind the post and used hot melt glue to keep it and the wires neat. The range check is OK with the motor going so I just have to wait for the wind and rain to stop. Cheers D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Whiting 1 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Dete, That is exactly the same setup as mine but I used 35meg...........NEVER had the slightest problem with 35 meg with any of my and electric models Cheers Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Harris Posted July 26, 2015 Author Share Posted July 26, 2015 Dete, What a fine example you have made. The orange and blue markings contrast well on the white background, should be nice and easy to see in the air. Good luck with the maiden, remember not to force it into the air, small hops trimming in between. Once in the air keep close in so you can see how it is reacting and its direction, things can get away so quickly. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dete Hasse Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Hi Terry and Rich I'll take your advice and approach the test flying with small trimming hops. I'll let you know how it goes. Maybe in a few days time as the weather forecast is terrible for the next few days/possibly a week. It's windy and snowed in the nearby hills yesterday (a once in 20 year event) I'm still a bit nervous about my forward C of G. (19 deg hang angle) Rich should I get a lighter battery, or add a little tail weight? Cheers Dete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Jones 2 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Good luck for the test hops and flights. 19 might be a little forward, maybe a little more rear trim but see how she goes.... Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Skilbeck Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Just seen this might be handy for getting the blades balanced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dete Hasse Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Trimming didn't go well. Rotors very slow to spin up . Sitting on the ground they would spin in reverse. I had to hand start them anti clock wise. Always rolling left into tip over. Got better with Right aileron trim. Finally taxiing a long way to get them spinning (70 meters ) , too far to attempt lift of. She got light on her wheels at one point and rolled left damaged the rotor blades and cut off the left fin. I have 0.8mm shims as described. During repairs I will re-profile the blades to look more like these (Terry Whiting 1 posted airfoil diagram on the 19. 4.2012) I think my high point of the section is too far forward. Other than that, and the fact that I haven't got my head around it, I don't quite know what the problem is. Cheers Dete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Whiting 1 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Hi Dete, Did you make the mistake in rounding the blades LE ? . The LE requires to be sharp. A rounded LE would give the blade a certain incidence which could cancel out your shim. I made this simple hand held blade spin up tester. I found using 0.4mm shim the spin up was slow, 0.8mm spin up was fantastic, required only the slightest breeze to start spin up Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Skilbeck Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Posted by Frank Skilbeck on 01/06/2015 21:14:58: Well after an argument with a tree , I broke my Coolwind supplied fibreboard rotor plate, I've made a new one but this is from 1mm fibreboard vs the 0.8mm Coolwind one, so isn't quite as flexible, anybody see any problems Well thought I'd report back, the new slightly thicker plate has not been a success, the blades seem harder to spin up and it's hard to stop it rolling to the left on take off. Only managed to get it in the air once and then it was flying fine, but take offs now almost impossible. Think I'll have to make a new head in 0.8mm plate and reset it up again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Jones 2 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Hi Dete, Your first attempts seem just like mine .. Most important advice I can give is ... Don't give up !! Unless you have a big problem with blades, which I doubt, this issue is just not enough blade speed at take off. Rolling left is the classic sign as the advancing blade is lifting on the right and the retreating on the left is not so much. Maybe a little more back stick held in at the start of the take off ruin, then as rotor spins up release to neutral. If fast enough then just s little more power should do it. Remember it's not about model forward speed like and aircraft - it's rotor speed which counts Good luck and kee us posted Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Jones 2 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Frank Not sure on the Atom, both mine run the thin 0.8mm plate. However I did change the plate to a 1.5mm plate on my Whippit autogyro to try and help stop tail strikes on landing - complete disaster. It turned a great model into one which just would not fly.. Al it would do is pitch violently up then crash. Changing back and my great flying keep returned For me the answer was simple... The designer (rich) had done all the hard work and development, do best not deviate !! I would suggest you gs a replacement or make one , it's not that hard and very rewarding Good luck Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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