A Busy Day!

Today seemed like work, work, work – with no stopping.  I packed orders and got them out the door, but that is nothing new.  Today, I…

1. designed and laser-cut and built a formed blade pitch jig
2. designed and 3D printed clutches for reverse operating props (several iterations)
3. finished up a replacement WWII NoCal
4. designed and 3D printed a test nose block for a Wanderer

Here are some details

1.  for my new Fairey Barracuda NoCal, I built a formed prop at 6.5″ diameter and 10″ Pitch.  I drew up parts for a fixture to set the blades at 10″ Pitch

2. A customer wanted clutches for a pair of counter-rotating props.  Our Superior Props Clutches are machined out of aluminum and only work for “normal” rotation.  It would take quite a bit to make one for reverse operation.  I had experimented with 3D printing a clutch and had some relative luck, so I thought I would try to create a pair.  On my fourth design, I feel I have conquered the issue and have a workable pair:

3:  Last Thursday, I lost my great-flying Fairey Barracuda NoCal – it got stuck in the rafters at the flying site and will likely never be retrieved.  So I built another one over the last couple of days.  Notice the color differences between the old model and the new.  I discussed coloring when I talked about rebuilding my Peanut Barracuda.  The old colors were sampled off a 3-view.  The new colors are actual RGB equivalents to Fleet Air Arm colorings.  These values can be found online.  So the NEW colors are “right” – in fact, while covering, I remarked to myself that they reminded me of color photos of Spitfires from WWII.

the last photo of my old Barracuda – taken in February

finished weight of the new one (unbalanced) – rules require a minimum of 6.2 grams.

backside structure – including laser-cut parts and tapered motor stick.

the colors are hard to show

here it is on white

4.  I am mentally preparing to rebuild my Wanderer or build a new one.  One of the problems I had with the old one was the balsa nose block – the Gizmo Geezer thrust button smashed the balsa on several hard landings.  I wondered if I could print one.  Well, I could – I designed and printed one today.  In order to prevent redundancy, I reproduced the “bottom” part of the GG nose button into the nose block.  We’ll see if I can use it.