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Home > Archive > Architecture > December 2006 > RC Helicopter
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| Ken S. Tucker 2006-12-13, 8:25 pm |
| (I cross posted to sci.physics, so the're be lot's
of weirdo's for entertainment)
This is on topic. We need RC-Helicopter rooms.
Today wife stomps to Future Shop and buys a
little ingenious $70 Remote Controlled Helicopter.
This is one of those X-mas gifts that's supposed
to drive people to drink, it works!
At one time I was an expert in RC, so I can say
I'm somewhat impressed that the RX, (receiver),
decoder/discriminator, motor power amp, battery,
and motor and the dual contra rotating lift props
all weigh only 1 oz. That's right I just weighed it.
(It's on the recharger now).
Our 1st 1/2 hour of training flight produced enough
satisfaction to try it again, 3D flight is challenging,
so I expect a learning curve like using a yo-yo or
an etcher-sketch, except harder.
Anyway, it's givin' me an excuse to build that big
attic 24x20, besides the piano of my dreams.
Ken
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| "Ken S. Tucker"> wrote
> (I cross posted to sci.physics, so the're be lot's
> of weirdo's for entertainment)
>
> This is on topic. We need RC-Helicopter rooms.
> Today wife stomps to Future Shop and buys a
> little ingenious $70 Remote Controlled Helicopter.
> This is one of those X-mas gifts that's supposed
> to drive people to drink, it works!
> At one time I was an expert in RC, so I can say
> I'm somewhat impressed that the RX, (receiver),
> decoder/discriminator, motor power amp, battery,
> and motor and the dual contra rotating lift props
> all weigh only 1 oz. That's right I just weighed it.
> (It's on the recharger now).
>
> Our 1st 1/2 hour of training flight produced enough
> satisfaction to try it again, 3D flight is challenging,
> so I expect a learning curve like using a yo-yo or
> an etcher-sketch, except harder.
>
> Anyway, it's givin' me an excuse to build that big
> attic 24x20, besides the piano of my dreams.
Bout 2 years ago my wife bought me one of those inexpensive RC Planes and
the whole thing was like $60 and the plane was very lightweight but had 2
motors.
(was called Firehawk or something)
I built and flew balsa/tissue wired planes in my teens but never messed with
RC cause it was always too expensive.
Anyway, the 1st time I flew it it almost immediately crashed on the roof,
minor nicking on the wings leading edge.
2nd time was much better.
This radio has 2 throttles, left and right and thats how you steer it.
It was v-e-r-y slow to respond to commands, it wasn't instant like a video
game of sumfink.
You had to plan ahead and keep your wits about you.
Amazing how quickly you get mixed up directionally when the plane is NOT
going straight away from you.
Everythings backward when its coming at you.
It would also drop pretty quick if you panicked and backed off the
throttles.
I flew that thing maybe 10 times total and everytime it would go out of
range, WAY out of range, and thus out of control and would land in the sand
or in a tree.
To do it right you need to be in a very large vacant field, maybe 5 or 10
acres or more.
I get a catalog in the mail every coupla months from the company that sold
that plane and they have all kinds of neat, relatively inexpensive stuff.
Can't remember the name right now.
Planes, jets, cars, trucks, boats, choppers, UFO's, hovercrafts, submarines,
electric and combustion engines. Some of them engines, like the 9 cylinder
rotary combustion, can pretty expensive.
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| CWatters 2006-12-14, 9:25 am |
|
"Ken S. Tucker" <dynamics@vianet.on.ca> wrote in message
news:1166061321.729656.45350@79g2000cws.googlegroups.com...
> I'm somewhat impressed that the RX, (receiver),
> decoder/discriminator, motor power amp, battery,
> and motor and the dual contra rotating lift props
> all weigh only 1 oz. That's right I just weighed it.
> (It's on the recharger now).
The lightest I've seen is around 7 grams or 0.25 oz ready to fly (eg
including a 45mAh LiPo battery). Uses IR instead of radio...
http://pixelito.reference.be/
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| "CWatters"> wrote
> "Ken S. Tucker"> wrote
>
> The lightest I've seen is around 7 grams or 0.25 oz ready to fly (eg
> including a 45mAh LiPo battery). Uses IR instead of radio...
> http://pixelito.reference.be/
Wow, thats really neat!
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| Ken S. Tucker 2006-12-14, 5:25 pm |
|
Don wrote:
> "Ken S. Tucker"> wrote
>
> Bout 2 years ago my wife bought me one of those inexpensive RC Planes and
> the whole thing was like $60 and the plane was very lightweight but had 2
> motors.
> (was called Firehawk or something)
> I built and flew balsa/tissue wired planes in my teens
That's a skill.
> but never messed with RC cause it was always too expensive.
I'm seriously impressed at how cost has come down.
> Anyway, the 1st time I flew it it almost immediately crashed on the roof,
> minor nicking on the wings leading edge.
> 2nd time was much better.
> This radio has 2 throttles, left and right and thats how you steer it.
> It was v-e-r-y slow to respond to commands, it wasn't instant like a video
> game of sumfink.
That's how tanks are steered.
> You had to plan ahead and keep your wits about you.
> Amazing how quickly you get mixed up directionally when the plane is NOT
> going straight away from you.
> Everythings backward when its coming at you.
> It would also drop pretty quick if you panicked and backed off the
> throttles.
> I flew that thing maybe 10 times total and everytime it would go out of
> range, WAY out of range, and thus out of control and would land in the sand
> or in a tree.
Maybe it should automate to a spiral pattern
when it has no signal, I'd prefer it shut's off
and pop's a chute.
> To do it right you need to be in a very large vacant field, maybe 5 or 10
> acres or more.
This little "Firefly" has a TX range of 30'.
> I get a catalog in the mail every coupla months from the company that sold
> that plane and they have all kinds of neat, relatively inexpensive stuff.
> Can't remember the name right now.
> Planes, jets, cars, trucks, boats, choppers, UFO's, hovercrafts, submarines,
> electric and combustion engines. Some of them engines, like the 9 cylinder
> rotary combustion, can pretty expensive.
Well we almost got the hang of it last night.
The only control is the dual contra rotation of
the lifting props which varies it's heading by
induced torque. Apparently it's center of mass
is set-up so it has a forward bias, which is tricky.
For a physics experiment I'm thinking of adding
a tiny mass to it's balance to vary the bias.
Do I have too much time on my hands, maybe,
I'd like to qualify the unit for an X-mas gift.
Ken
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