Saturday, May 15, 2010
Stripped Servo
During a move from the East Coast home to the West Coast my aileron got knocked into a high position. Like an idiot I tried to adjust it neutral by hand instead of plugging in my transmitted and battery pack, which would have done it without stripping a gear.
I bought a replacement gear set for less than $6 for my Hitec 56HB servo. I only needed to replace one gear. I wanted to replace them all since I had it open, but I could not get the ball bearing off of one of the gears so instead of break that by trying to force it I just reused it since it was NOT damaged. It all works well and dandy now.
The whole process can be done in 20-30 minutes.
Unfortunately, I lost the second half the pictures for this slideshow showing you the reassembly of the servo and the white (bike) grease I used, but all you need to do is follow these two links: The Toys RCForum and RCHelisite.
Please note that if you are making your place sea worthy this would be a great time to use the black non-conductive grease that water proofs your entire servo. I read about that and it sounds neat.
Motor Break-in
I won't recreate the wheel, when you can learn everything you need to know about motor break-ins here on the rcuniverse forum. This is a fantastic write-up.In this picture I broke-in a brushed motor on the Horizon Hobby Super Cub LP. Note that I used plastic ice packs to cool the motor and two AA batteries, which ran for about 1.5 hours before dying. Usually, I do not break-in with the esc wires still attached, but this time I was lazy and ran the motor with the wires still soldered on. I did remove the gear box and pushed it free so the motor ran under NO load at all. You can't see that in the picture.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Learn to fly for youngsters
Any young people 10 and older (6-9 years with a parent) who would like to learn to build indoor flying rubber band powered free flight planes and fly them they can contact the West San Jose Community Center at 408-249-6580 Monday-Friday or drop in to see the planes in action at the Moreland Community Center at 1850 Fallbrook Avenue, San Jose 95130.
They are there every Sunday* evening between 4 and 8 PM when they will be building and flying.
No charge for spectators, participants pay nominal fees for instruction and only $3 (17 and under) to fly.
Some of their students compete in national and international contests, and learn to apply physics, aerodynamics, and mechanics in a fun activity.
Radio controlled planes may not be flown in the gym, but learning to build planes will set you on the road to building your own RC planes if you are interested.
* To be sure of the schedule, you can e-mail DGBJ at America Online dot com.
They are there every Sunday* evening between 4 and 8 PM when they will be building and flying.
No charge for spectators, participants pay nominal fees for instruction and only $3 (17 and under) to fly.
Some of their students compete in national and international contests, and learn to apply physics, aerodynamics, and mechanics in a fun activity.
Radio controlled planes may not be flown in the gym, but learning to build planes will set you on the road to building your own RC planes if you are interested.
* To be sure of the schedule, you can e-mail DGBJ at America Online dot com.
Teaching High School Students to fly RC
Well in the past couple years, my family and I moved 3,000 miles from PA home to CA, bought a house, and now have a five day old daughter named Piper, after the Piper Cub.
I teach at a charter high school in East Oakland. Every May, our school hosts a program called Week Without Walls, where students leave the school and are exposed to new areas and experiences and often learn through the new experience.
My Week Without Walls is titled, "Week With Wings." I reached out to my local community and have gotten quite a positive response from members of the modeling and aviation community to volunteer and help with this project. You can read about it on the Bay Area Remote Control's (BARC) community forum.
Here is a draft proposal for the program:
Enduring Understandings:
• Students will be able to teach the history of flight.
• Students will understand and relate to flight, because they will have experienced it first-hand in a small aircraft via the national non-profit “Young Eagles”.
• Students will build a model remote control airplane.
• Students will learn the safety steps for building and flying model airplanes.
• Students will practice flight on a model remote control airplane flight simulator to understand the physics of flight in practice.
• Students will fly their own model remote control airplane that they built to understand the physics of flight.
• Students will demonstrate the physics of flight, by adjusting things such as center of gravity, trim, etc.
Schedule:
Monday -- Students will (1) receive hands-on activity led by the South Bay Soaring Society to learn the physics of flight, (2) they will learn the history of flight through rubber band powered planes on the Castlemont football field, (3) practice flying on a flight simulator, (4) build a foam remote control airplane as a class, and (5) watch a demo of a remote control plane and helicopter by a professional and insured pilot on the Castlemont football field.
Tuesday -- At the flying field students will learn the safety steps to model airplane flying. Students will learn how to maintain the care of their model airplane. Students will review the physics of flight and the effect of wind on flight. Students will receive an introduction to flying model remote control airplane. Professional and insured model airplane pilots will provide students with remote control “training boxes,” which connect to their control boxes. They will teach the students how to fly. Field & location to be determined.
Wednesday -- We will charter a bus to Vacaville. The Young Eagles are hosting a very special event for LPS -- College Park only. Five pilots have taken the day off work and will take the students up for a flight in their personal airplanes. The flight instructors at the airport have graciously offered to feed the students burgers for lunch. Students will be ensured through EAA for one million dollars each once their parents sign the waiver. Students will introduced to scale aircraft and learn first hand about airplanes.
Thursday -- Students will master the physics of flight using their rubber band model airplanes (center of gravity, trim, etc.) Students will practice flying and receive advanced training in flight from professional and insured model airplane pilots using buddy boxes. Students will fly the model airplane the class made -- this includes setting trim and center of gravity. Students will review the lesson of physics of flight as it relates to their first hand experience of flying. Field & location to be determined.
Friday -- Students will provide a slide-show documenting their week and what they learned. Students will give
**** Note: The schedule may change as well as the details.
I teach at a charter high school in East Oakland. Every May, our school hosts a program called Week Without Walls, where students leave the school and are exposed to new areas and experiences and often learn through the new experience.
My Week Without Walls is titled, "Week With Wings." I reached out to my local community and have gotten quite a positive response from members of the modeling and aviation community to volunteer and help with this project. You can read about it on the Bay Area Remote Control's (BARC) community forum.
Here is a draft proposal for the program:
Enduring Understandings:
• Students will be able to teach the history of flight.
• Students will understand and relate to flight, because they will have experienced it first-hand in a small aircraft via the national non-profit “Young Eagles”.
• Students will build a model remote control airplane.
• Students will learn the safety steps for building and flying model airplanes.
• Students will practice flight on a model remote control airplane flight simulator to understand the physics of flight in practice.
• Students will fly their own model remote control airplane that they built to understand the physics of flight.
• Students will demonstrate the physics of flight, by adjusting things such as center of gravity, trim, etc.
Schedule:
Monday -- Students will (1) receive hands-on activity led by the South Bay Soaring Society to learn the physics of flight, (2) they will learn the history of flight through rubber band powered planes on the Castlemont football field, (3) practice flying on a flight simulator, (4) build a foam remote control airplane as a class, and (5) watch a demo of a remote control plane and helicopter by a professional and insured pilot on the Castlemont football field.
Tuesday -- At the flying field students will learn the safety steps to model airplane flying. Students will learn how to maintain the care of their model airplane. Students will review the physics of flight and the effect of wind on flight. Students will receive an introduction to flying model remote control airplane. Professional and insured model airplane pilots will provide students with remote control “training boxes,” which connect to their control boxes. They will teach the students how to fly. Field & location to be determined.
Wednesday -- We will charter a bus to Vacaville. The Young Eagles are hosting a very special event for LPS -- College Park only. Five pilots have taken the day off work and will take the students up for a flight in their personal airplanes. The flight instructors at the airport have graciously offered to feed the students burgers for lunch. Students will be ensured through EAA for one million dollars each once their parents sign the waiver. Students will introduced to scale aircraft and learn first hand about airplanes.
Thursday -- Students will master the physics of flight using their rubber band model airplanes (center of gravity, trim, etc.) Students will practice flying and receive advanced training in flight from professional and insured model airplane pilots using buddy boxes. Students will fly the model airplane the class made -- this includes setting trim and center of gravity. Students will review the lesson of physics of flight as it relates to their first hand experience of flying. Field & location to be determined.
Friday -- Students will provide a slide-show documenting their week and what they learned. Students will give
**** Note: The schedule may change as well as the details.
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