EZE-Fan builders

[Radders]

Received the July issue today - read the EZE-fan article and immediately went to the link "WWW.modelflying.co.uk/EZE-fan" for more info as instructed.
No link!
Then tried
"WWW.modelflying.co.uk/bushwacker"
also no link!

What's happening?

Bob

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Bob

Like last months extra pics - we've had some probs so apologies, we're working to get them up this week.

David.

[Sy]

I too rushed to the Eze-Fan build photos link to alas find nothing! Off to Galaxy today to get the wood. got the fan, motor, esc, Li-Po and all electrics last month from BRC Hobbies (such nice people!. Thought i'd build mine with a Red Arrows type scheme. I am sure there will be a chance for all us Eze-Fan builders to show off pickies at some stage.

Nice one Nige, cant wait to build this one! Still flying a whizza and Big Tucano, I am sure the Eze-Fan wont disapoint either. What are we going to get next year Nige?

Happy flying chaps

Sy

[country flier]

Hopefully the Barnes&Noble I pick up RC&ME at here in the states will have the July issue. Yes, I should subscribe:) Nigel Hawes does good work and I'll be keen on seeing what the EZE-fan looks like especially since I've been working on an EDF derivation of the Whizza.

Harold

[Tentpeg]

Saw the article on the EZE-Fan and was thinking that I may be able to cannibalise my pranged Fantom as all the electrical bits still seem to be in working order. Can anyone tell me if this set up would be of a suitable power and size for the EZE-Fan. I might add that the Fantom met its' demise due to some horrendous glitching and I'm hearing noises about glitching with D/F units is quite common?

[Sy]

Not familiar with the Fantom, so if you can let us know what motor, fan, esc you have etc, I am sure we can let you know.

My Eze-Fan is well under construction. Pod, boom and tail feathers built, just the wing to build tomorrow, sand, cover then electrics. should be done by friday!

[David Ashby - Moderator]

You dont hang about sy!

[Sy]

Thats the beauty of subscribing to RCM&E, the mag landed monday morn! Progress may come to a halt alittle though? All my Li-Po's are the wrong size and the 1700mAh 3S by Himodel is out of stock at BRC Hobbies. that, and waiting on the canopy arriving from the RCM&E plans service. But the potential to have it ready and flying by Saturday morn is there!

[Nicholas Booth]

Blimey, and there was me thinking I was fast by ordering the EDF bits from BRC tonight. I alread have Nige's tucano and Bae Hawk ( this was recently converted to a 3000KV brushless and had to add 3"'s to the nose to help it balance but on a 3 cell 1300 it goes like stink) Cannot wait to get started on this but got to finish the Great Planes Patriot first...........or if I just put it to one side for a week or so....

[Tentpeg]

What's all the rush chaps? I really am quite worried about the amount and violence of the glitching when I had this gear in the Fantom. This what caused its demise and I don't want a repeat of that. It would react to extreme control deflections and the engine kept cutting suddenly in and out with no warning when the throttle was closed. Eventually, I just lost orientation and invented a new aerobatic manoeuvre called, the tentpeg. Maybe someone out there can tell me how to avoid it.
I even notice that there is a reference to interference with EDF units in the magazine article. By the way, the Fantom has a brushless motor with a three blade fan claimed to turn about 45,000rpm, has a physical diameter of about 700mm and runs on a 3 cell 2,100mAh LiPo. Do you think this is suitable for the EZE Fan?

[Sy]

Above dimensions should suit the Eze-Fan no probs. The li-po maybe a little big to fit in the pod, or at least may fit but give you little room tomanouver for C of G adjustment. I am going for a 1700mAh. Ezefan is based around a 68mm type fan with 3 blades. heres a link to the BRC Hobbies fan I am putting in mine http://www.brchobbies.co.uk/?page=shop&action=additem&item=37

[Tentpeg]

Thanks for the info. I am still trying to find out how to stop the glitching. I saw a reply from some other area in the forum, but can't locate it again. Any ideas anybody?

[FLY ELECTRIC]

Hi Chaps,
Nice to see some of you having a go with the EZE-FAN. EDF was a relatively new area of the hobby for myself too, so I had to overcome certain issues as well!
Glitching appears to be mainly down to the ESC being the main culprit, that's why I ended up using the Mtroniks Genesis as it completely cured it. However some motors appear to create more electrical "noise" than others, and some micro RXs appear to have poor interference rejection capabilities.
I think it's down to finding a trouble-free set-up, as I have, and sticking with it.
As more and more EZE-FANs take to the skies, we have identified one or two weak points. Firstly, the skid tended to be a little vulnerable, so hopefully the mod we managed to get on the plan in time (using the cocktail sticks) will sort that out.
Also as anyone building it will see, the weakest point is at the boom, just behind the back of the fan unit and also where th rear gussett meets the skid - so if you want to do any beefing up, these are probably the two areas where it is justified.
That said, it has been designed to withstand ALL flight loads and reasonable landing loads so as with any other type of model it will break if you're rough with it!
Other than that, it goes very well and should provide a good cheap intro into EDF.
Best of luck!
Nigel Hawes.

[Sy]

Thanks for the advice on the beefing up at various points Nige, I can see these could be weak spots as you mention.

Canopy arrived from RCM&E this morn, quite a thick plastic and a little heavy too. But, have cut it to shape and it looks nice with some trim on it.

Just shaping the wing profile this afternoon then will be ready to cover the bits and bobs before final assembly etc. Mine is going to be in a pseudo "Red Arrows" type scheme.

Just been into work this morning at a certain military base in my area and we had a little visit from a certain Russian Antonov An-124 this morning. As I start nights tonight, I will Nikon it to death before it departs in the wee hours! Now Nige, maybe next years free plan could be one of those? as for scale based on 4 x 68mm fans!! Thats anyones guess!

[Nicholas Booth]

Or an S-3 Viking would be good, and not far off what you have already done. Could even go for lightweight retracts in it as well..........What are you waiting for, if you start it now you might even get it into next months mag :)

[FLY ELECTRIC]

Thanks for the suggestions but Tony Nijhuis is the "official RCM&E designer" who designs to order!
My next one is currently being flight tested and will appear in a few months should the editor feel there is a demand for it. Without putting too fine a point on it, there was a hint in the EZE-FAN article! :-)

[nasa_steve]

hi guy's
the question i have to ask is have those of you who are getting major glitching on your EDF's extended any of the esc wires and if so which ones???
regards
nasa

[FLY ELECTRIC]

Good point Steve!
If you want to use the ESC in the airflow behind the fan unit, you WILL have to extend the BATTERY wires slightly. The Mtroniks unit has a very high grade capacitor on the input end which can deal with the inevitable inductance spikes; this may be why I get no glitching at all even with the wires extended.
It may be a good idea to check with the ESC manufacturer if their unit can cope with the wires extended before doing it.
Generally you can extend the MOTOR wires on ANY unit with no implications at all, but then you'd have to figure out some way of getting airflow over the ESC wherever else you decided to mount it.
If you use a larger (say a 40 amp) ESC you'd probably get away without needing any airflow, but I still think behind the fan unit is the optimum position - mine is stone cold after an 8-minute flight!

[Sy]

I am thinking I may have to extend the wires by a couple of inches. When extending, are we using gold connectors or twisting the wire together, soldering and using heatshrink to finish the job! advice on that please Nige.

[FLY ELECTRIC]

The less connections the better so use a GOOD low-resistance solder joint.
I don't think a couple of inches will affect the ESC at all, but at the end of the day the relationship between the ESC, motor and RX will determine whether or not you have a glitch problem!

[Sy]

Thanks for that Nige, will go for that method and it will only be a couple of inches extra after all (wife laughing in the background at that one!)

Re-read your article in RCM&E on the Eze-Fan, I see we could be getting a twin in the future (drooling with anticipation)

also, nice punt on your "wings and a chair" DVD Nige! Hoping to get one from Brian at BRC, looking forward to seeing your antics on the water!

[FLY ELECTRIC]

Hi again,
I think it's only available from the address in the mag.
But you can see clips from it at:

http://www.propertelly.com/wing.php

(maybe worth a separate thread?)

...worth a look in any case!

[Stephen Bennett]

I am in the process of building the EZE-FAN, but have one small question. Reading both the build article and studying the plan i cannot find any information regarding the amount of movement for the control surfaces ?. Maybe someone could post the throws here.

Thanks

Steve.

[Sy]

Spooky that Steve, was just about to comment about lack of throws on the plan when I saw your comments. I am sure Nigel will let us know as I am about to cover and set up the model in the next day or so.

going onto what Nige said about reinforcing the gusset with cocktail sticks as per the plan, I have used 2mm carbon rod. Its strong as heck! Also using carbon rods for the pushrods on ailerons and elevator.

[FLY ELECTRIC]

Hi Guys,
I stopped putting control throws in my plans and articles a long time ago, as EVERYONE has different taste! Some fly my EZE-FAN and call it "VERY responsive", whereas two others have described it as "a bit numb on the ailerons" - confirming the point.
I think the best thing to do is set the model up with enough movement to make it turn and pitch, and increase it from there to what you prefer.
So to put "ailerons 8mm each way and elevator 10mm each way" (which is incidentally how I like mine) would only be giving MY preference and may lead to those who build it finding it either too responsive or not responsive enough!
This is clearly NOT a beginners model, so perhaps wrongly I assume anyone building it is capable of finding their own preferred movements from a sensible and conservative starting point.
Hope this explains "my side" of it! :-)