P20 Crusader III and strut fabrication
11-30-2012, 10:33 AM
#26
Senior Member
Thread Starter
RE: P20 Crusader III and strut fabrication
ORIGINAL: mr_matt
Steve that is a very nice design. One of the things I don't like about the current crop of trailing link designs is that over time, they will not go fully extended, the spring has so little of it force vector going to straight the strut. It looks like in your case the strut will always straighten out.
What kind of machine did you use? And what do you use for axle material?
Steve that is a very nice design. One of the things I don't like about the current crop of trailing link designs is that over time, they will not go fully extended, the spring has so little of it force vector going to straight the strut. It looks like in your case the strut will always straighten out.
What kind of machine did you use? And what do you use for axle material?
The machine is a Taig micro lathe, which is about 25 years old. The newer ones have more power and more features, like power feed I think.
The axles are music wire, 3/16” if I remember correctly. I had one BVM axle setting around (if I had two I would have used them), and the diameters matched and they seemed to have the same hardness. I cut the groove for the “E” clip using a Dremel with the 90 degree attachment and one of those cut off wheels that shatter if you look at them wrong. I could sort of mount this into the mill attachment, and then place the music wire in the lathe, turn them both on, slowly move the Dremel in and watch the sparks fly (Kevin Whitlow technique). This works ok.
Steven
11-30-2012, 10:37 AM
#27
Senior Member
Thread Starter
RE: P20 Crusader III and strut fabrication
ORIGINAL: H.Dale
Really neat Steve. I bet it is fast. You should try E-Flite electric retracts on it. They are simple and work flawlessly.
I've got a P-20 on an E-Turbinator and it's a lot of fun to fly. I carry my TX, fuel, propane and plane to the field and fly. I'm a little surprised that more people haven't tried one. They are perfect to carry out to the field during lunch or after work and get a couple of flights.
Hal
Really neat Steve. I bet it is fast. You should try E-Flite electric retracts on it. They are simple and work flawlessly.
I've got a P-20 on an E-Turbinator and it's a lot of fun to fly. I carry my TX, fuel, propane and plane to the field and fly. I'm a little surprised that more people haven't tried one. They are perfect to carry out to the field during lunch or after work and get a couple of flights.
Hal
It’s pretty quick, and being that small it looks even quicker.
I told myself if I ever build another one I would use the E-Flight retracts. I have a couple of them and like them. When I started this project I looked through the parts cabinet (the one in the back ground in post 17) and saw what I had laying around. The retracts where left over from my CS Terminator DF. They are low profile and fit inside the airfoil (even more so if I had put them in the right place) and the struts were exactly the right length, so I went with them.
Steven
12-03-2012, 06:10 PM
#30
My Feedback: (2)
RE: P20 Crusader III and strut fabrication
While Steve is building a second model for Scott 
, here are a couple pics of his model. It flies nice, but difficult for me to get with my point-n-shoot... I am sure it is quite a miserly model with fuel. And the struts work great for damping out the landings.
, here are a couple pics of his model. It flies nice, but difficult for me to get with my point-n-shoot... I am sure it is quite a miserly model with fuel. And the struts work great for damping out the landings.
