Re: [PING] Chris Taylor

I think things will work out.

my dad's van (which I usually use for its cargo capacity) died and he got another (this time a 94 chevy lumina)

I am not fond of mini vans but I have got to says it a damned nice vehicle and rides quite impressively. If it proves reliable I may be able to use it. we shall see.

this launch is just close enough (about 13 hours) that I can nearly make it in a single run so I do not need space to sleep etc.. for the trip out and back.

I am just bummed about the grr glider. I really want to get it going before they figure out a way of taking hybrids away from me too Grrrrrr :-(

I can not even fly my cuda unless I can get it repaired in time plus I have only a few suitable motors for it left and no more available for it. (wing skin is peeling and I do not trust it as airworthy till I can repair it. Spent way to many hours building it to chance it on a loose wing skin :-)

Chris,

I was going to chat with you about NARAMLIVE... to offer hosting the galleries and help with uploading pictures.

My son and I will be going to NARAM this year so we can help with the uploading as we'll have either 1 or 2 laptops.

In addition, I've added a new gallery management system that makes it easier to upload pictures and manage albums. (Let me know if you want to see it, as I haven't made it available to the public yet.)

Let me know how we can help,

Craig

crs at maxthrust.net,

News and >whether I go to naram is currently in the air sadly.

I thought you had unfinished business with Bob Kaplow. It is a moral imperative that you attend. Grrrr

Alan

I have stripped 3 plastic geared servo's with just the dead mass of the elevons (and they are foam !!)

also the L powered glider project of the National Aerospace plane that the group did.

their elevons are a fraction of the size of mine and they were underpowered.

my elevons are about 6 times the area. its a matter of aerodynamic pressure. I am trying to lift the elevon UP and the air is trying to push it back down. with an area as large as my elevons thats a lot of air pressure. I figure I need at least 150-180 oz of torque per elevon.

I also need to keep mass down. I found some nice 200+ oz servo's for $80 that are also lighter !! very cool.

That buisness will be finished the first day my 6foot wide 8+ foot long glider takes to flight as bob says it could not.

Standard size or 1/4 scale? Throw out a model number and somebody might know where you could save a few bucks on them.

Try these:

I will have to dig it up. Found it in the back of a mag was impressed to see it for $80 (still need to investigate it) since the cheapest >200oz servo at any hobby shop near me is almost $200 a pop !!

Smaller is better lighter is better. Plastic is no good if it can be helped and over 120oz per is needed to satisfy my safety c>

I would need more info on this but it sounds like this solution would add enough complexity and extra mass (and parts to fail) that it might be cheaper and safer to just go with the more powerful servo.

Can you point me to more info on what you describe below

I came up with a way to use a normal standard servo and a pull pull through a pulley system to reduce torque needed but it also reduces travel to the point that I would not have enough throw.

Chris Taylor

No, but there is sometihg to be said for KISS if you can afford the cost and weight of the servos.

I could point you to some Aero E. texts, but Giant Scale R/C is popular and you might find something more helpful from those guys.

You add something like an elevator trim tab as used on real aircraft, except that the trim tab deflection is slaved directly to the elevon deflection.

Alan

Think of it this way: Let the elevon float, and use the servo to drive only the smaller trim tab directly. The force generated by the controlled trim tab moves the free elevon to the desired postion. This concept has some problems, but you should be able to understand how you can drive the elevon and trim tab together with one servo to null out most of the elevon hinge line aerodynamic torque that the servo has to overcome.

Alan

ahhh !!! I get it.

I am unclear as to how the force applied by a small trim tab can overcome the counterforce that will be generated by the much larger main surface but I do think I get what you are saying.

that might be cool for the larger pojects I have in mind but for that and that the price you (or someone else found) brute force will work just fine and be simpler.

the trim tab idea is cool though I am going to have to play with that.

on larger models I could put the servo for the trim tab right INTO the elevon itself. cool idea

Hey, I'm tickled. He got two of mine

plus my #1 daughter and an uber rocket god

I saw Bob K and Chris in the same room and they were civil and cordial. Chris really is a genuinely likable guy.

Doug Back in Dallas

Nice work Chris!

len.

Chris was a lot more mellow this year. Perhaps because he didnt bring anything to fly. I even gave him one of the demo AT F20-4 with the new molded casing and threaded RMS+ closure to fly the tube rocket he built on site. And he cleaned up at the auction!

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Though it would have been easier to clean up at the hotel... ;)

He's sure is good at getting liftoff shots with a digital camera. I have to keep my 35mm SLR to do that. I just use my digital for instant gratification static shots.

I had problems with my digital camera, too, until I figured out it just took a long time to do the metering. I have to press the button-no-longer-called-shutter-release half way down to complete the metering early in the count down, then the picture is taken instantly when I press the button down the rest of the way.

Tom

Check out steve's digicams site for reviews. he measures all the review subjects "lag" time here as well.

this way you will know what you are getting into before buying. some other useful things I gleaned from his site before buying.

Buffer size.

Nothing sucks more than getting one shot seeing another and having to WAIT for a buffer flush to take anymore pictures !! the nikon can shoot I believe

4-8 shots before their would be any delay before the next shot with the exception of things like focus/exposure.

Also I like my cameras ability to manually set focus to >

I've visited his site frequently over the last year or two while waiting for the prices to come down and resolution to go up. :)

Unfortunately, I have a camera that lags a bit even if I do the pre-metering. That's what I get for being cheap and buying an older used camera. I'm also a few megapixels short of your camera. ;)

Considering that film can do some really high resolution work and I already have a good selection of lenses for my SLR, I'd have to spend way too much to be satisfied digital as my main camera right now. I'm going to wait another year or two and then probably take the plunge when digital SLR's become competitive in price to film cameras.