Final Project

Building an RC Plane

Here is the tutorial link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJWg5HJBGGc

Building the Body

First, I laser cutted all of the parts from the files that the tutorial provides on foam boards. Then I started to build the body of the plane. I followed the tutorial and fold the foam into the body of the plane.

Then I inserted z-bend wire into the plane and connected it with the servos.

I used this z-bend tool to end the other side of the wire so that the wire can be fixed with the servo on the servo control arm.

Next, I followed the tutorial to build the nose.

Then I used the clear tape and the hot glue to strength the nose and cute out the hole.

Then I used the wooden sticks to connect the body and the nose together.

Building the Wing

Then I followed the instructions to build the wing. I built the advanced wing with aileron so that the plane can turn left and right.

I added the servo to the right place. On top the servo, I screwed in the linkage stoppers on the control arms of the servos.

Because the hole on the control arms of the sevos are too small, I used the engraving bit to exxpand the holes.

Then I made sure the two servos are symmetrically placed because we want the aileron to go opposite way so it can turn left or right. I carefully slided the servos into the wing and used hot glue to fix the servos in place.

Then I added the wooden pieces that cut out using laser cutter and the wires to connect the aileron to the servo so the servos can control thr aileron.

Building the Power Pod

For the power pod, I followed the tutorial and make the frame of the power pod. According to the video, the wooden piece are hot glued onto the angled side of the frame.

Next, I screwed the motor onto the wood piece. Because we are lack of the right size of the propellers, so I needed to share the propellers with other people so I did not put the propeller on until I actually flied the plane.

Assemblying Every Part Together

I connected all the wires to the right place. I slided the power pod to the front of the nose.

Then I connected the body and the nose together using the wood sticks.

Then I added the wing onto the body using rubber bands.

Here's the picture of the completed plane that I spent day and night working on! (So proud of myself :)

Different sided views of my Plane

Top View

Bottom View

Front View

Side View

Balancing the plane

Testing the plane

After finishing building the plane, I started to connect all the components using radio control system. Through the instructions of the manual, the channel receiver was connected to the servos on the matched channels. The radio control system is a 3-channel system. At first Mr.Budzichowski and I spent a hour trying to get the radio work with the servos. Then we figured out that one of the wires is broken and one of the servos on my plane is bad as well. After fixing everything, the plane can be successfully controled by the radio system.

IMG_3480.MOV

Video of the aileron working

IMG_3479.MOV

Video of the rudder and the elevator working

Final Result of the Flight

Little Accident

First, Mr. Dubick asked us to use a small pre-made plane to learn how to use the radio system to control the plane. I flew the small plane twice and got the plane stuck on the tree twice. The first time we got lucky to be able to take the plane off the tree immediately. For the second time, the plane was stuck on the tree the whole afternoon and my fellow students Jonah and Wilson got the plane off using a basketball. Now I learned a lesson that never fly an RC plane near trees :)

Actual Flight

After practicing on the small plane, I started the actual flight using my RC plane. When Mr. Budzichowski and I got to the field, we found out that the propeller was backward. After correcting the propeller, Mr.Budzichowski flew the plane. At first, my RC plane successfully took off. However, after a short distance of flying, it immediately dropped. Then we figured out that it was because Mr.Budzichowski control the elevator to make the plane go down instead of upwards which cause the plane crash. After several trials, the power pod was smashed, so we are unable to fly the plane again. Overall, the plane was able to fly for a short distance and successfully landed once.

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