3D Printing

The Joker is almost complete! Bit frustrating this week, I ordered some small but vital parts last week expecting them to arrive by at least Wednesday. Had a 'phone call yesterday, the usually efficient people seem to have caught "HobbyKingitis" and at this late time have told me there's no stock of one item, so they are holding the order until they have everything.. I'm going to have to take up a hobby that doesn't involve trying to get bits that are advertised but are unobtainable.
Today I made up the pushrods for ailerons and flaps by rummaging through boxes of "useful stuff" that hadn't seen daylight since I don't know when. Finally managed to assemble four clevises, four bits of threaded rod and amazingly, four M2 hex nuts. The design really needed two clevises per pushrod, but I had to make do with one clevis and a "Z" bend at the servo end of the rod. I held the ailerons and flaps with masking tape while fitting the pushrods, I don't think I'll need to dismantle anything when I finally get to fit the elusive cyano type hinges.
The wings slid into place with no fuss, but a snag arose with the canopy. This fits the fuselage when the wing isn't in position, there isn't any mention of adjusting the wing centre section where it butts on to the fuselage, but sanding off a couple of millimetres was the only way to get the canopy to sit neatly. Finally, sanding off about 3mm from the rear face of the wing centre section made enough room for the canopy to settle with its front edge level with the seating in the fuselage, and the moulded detent at the front to give a gentle "pop" as it located.
With everything apart from the receiver and prop blades on board, the weight came out at 1230 grams, I was surprised as the model feels quite heavy. With mistakes and re-makes, the printing time was a few minutes over 90 hours, I didn't keep a record of the time to assemble the "bits".
The next episodes of the Joker story will be on a different Forum, it might be a mention of a remarkable first flight at Cashmoor, but it is more likely to be in "Tales of Stupidity".

Nice work Brian. Looking forward to the maiden sometime this year. I nearly always use suppliers who actually hold stock rather than show items to fill their web shop catalogue. On the other hand you could have saved 90 hours and bought a HK Phoenix 1600 PNP :lol:

Latest from Eclipson. Looks good, shame about the peeling graphics, seems to be a problem with PLA, doesn't like "sticky backed plastic"

www.eclipson-airplanes.com/mxs-r?utm_cam...8a-8a85-fcfd1e24ff78

Since last March, the 3D printed Joker has done nothing but collect dust. I lost a good deal of enthusiasm for the project when I realised (too late) that the model isn't a powered glider at all. It is in fact something called a "Hotliner". A model that whizzes about at high speed isn't really what I like to fly. I suppose with the motor/ESC removed it would make a reasonable slope soarer, but that would take some thought and extra work to accomplish. As I'm not into either disciplines it seems as though I've printed and built a bit of a lost cause. However, all isn't lost as I gained a lot of experience with it.

Is it ready to go Brian? Got to be worth bringing it up to Cashmoor for a maiden.

I'll have a look at it tomorrow Phil, I think it needs the aileron and flap linkages coupled up. Apart from that an "Intrepid Aviator" for the maiden.
Its been a funny year so far, the 3D printer hasn't been used all that much. Some of the stuff I printed late last year has warped to the point of being useless, I found that a heat gun just made things worse. I had hoped to build an Eclipson Black Wing, but that buckled and had to be scrapped. I tried to print an Icon-A5 but that was pretty dismal, so I gave it up and spent a lot of time on the SIG Kadet. However, I was introduced to the "joys" of flying from water, added floats to my 20yr old Lazy Bee and proceeded to sink it three times in a row. The model will taxy very nicely, but the normally docile flight turns into a thrashing nightmare when trying to get it off the water, hence the triple dunking. Now I've taken another look at the Icon-A5, had some dialogue with the designers, added the modifications to the printer profiles that they suggested, and as if by magic, the printer is churning out one usable part after another. The advantage of having an Icon is that it can take off from dry grass.
Getting back to the Joker, I think it'll need a day when the wind is steady and straight up or down the runway, I must keep a better weather watch.