RC Airplane

This project is in progress, check back soon for updates.

Coming soon: airframe completion, PCB assembly, control algorithm programming, and test flight one!

Mechanical Design

Quick Facts

Airfoil: NACA 2414

Type: Fixed wing aircraft

Materials: birch wood (fuselage), carbon fiber rods (spars), epoxy, PLA (control surfaces)

Current CAD model

Brief CAD malfunction!

This plane was designed with the AIAA Design Build Fly competition in mind, although we did not design it by the book. I chose the NACA 2412 for the airfoil because it is the classic choice, with smooth stalling and balance of lift and drag. It is also used on Cessna 172s, on which this plane is loosely based.

We used Onshape to CAD the full plane and also calculate and position the center of gravity - which we decided to place slightly behind the middle of the fixed wings.

Colada Flight Computer

KiCad schematic for the flight computer board

This project was my first brush with electrical engineering, as I was heavily involved with the development of our custom flight computer - called Colada.

I worked a lot on the connector section, since a lot of the sensor integration was borrowed from our rocketry flight computers.

Board components:

ESP32-C3 computer
Sensors: IMU, magnetometer, barometer
Antenna
USB connector
Lots of Molex crimp connectors

By challenging myself to work on a side of engineering I'd never experienced before, I gained a significant amount of knowledge:

Choosing resonable connectors
Building schematics in KiCad
Using datasheets for sensors and the computer
Connection routing between components
PCB design/layout

Our board was designed to interface with a Flysky iA6 receiver so that we could use our Flysky controller that we already had, and it would save us the time of design and building a custom receiver/transmitter.

Though, we did challenge ourselves by adding another antenna on our board that will communicate with another Colada on the ground by sending live data throughout a flight.

Manufacturing

Full fuselage with tail assembled!

Wing assembly with 3D printed leading edge

Epoxying the left wing onto the fuselage

Full plane as it currently is

The wood was lasercut and assembled like a puzzle, and then epoxied. The control surfaces (ailerons and elevators) were 3D printed from PLA with as little infill as possible to decrease weight. The rudder was also lasercut however, and attached to the tail with medical hinge tape.

Testing

Section coming soon, need to finish the airframe!

Learning Gained

Wood is very heavy and flexible - run carbon fiber rods through the entire fuselage to prevent torsional failures
3D printed control surfaces work but add a lot of weight compared to the wood
Make the tail thicker - will help hold the tail spars straight as the epoxy dries

I'm sure there will be more to come between now and when we actually fly it for the first time!

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