June: Show and Tell Evening Part 1: 3D Printing

Paul demonstrated a Chinese 3D printer kit (a GEEETECH i3) which he has has recently bought. The production process starts with a 3D CAD drawing which is used to produce an STL file which describes the outer surface of the object as a series of minute triangles. This file is then input to a Slicer program together with a number of parameters to describe the thickness of the walls, printer attributes and various construction features. The resulting file is then input to the printer via a SD card or directly from a computer USB port. Paul demonstrated the printing of a motor mount to convert a Bixler to twin motors mounted on the wings. It takes about 2 hours to print each mount. Also on display were a number of items produced from files downloaded from various web sites.

Printer and sample mount:

 

June: Show and Tell Evening Part 2: Flight Stabiliser

Ron has done a lot of work understanding and reprogramming flight stabilisers in recent years. He gave a brief summary of the theory of stabilisation and the history and workings of some hardware currently available. The main advantage of a stabiliser is that it can make corrections to smooth the flight path on windy days. He brought a mockup of an aircraft with a working radio link for everyone to demonstrate to themselves the operation and speed of a typical installation. Thanks to Ron, several people have setup their models successfully with these stabilisers.

See stabilisers for a copy of Ron’s information.

Diagram and demonstration:

Our oldest member turns 90: