3DLabPrint PolyLight filament

I had always heard about the LW PLA filaments and how much weight you can save, but one of the things that discouraged me from trying it was the cost. The most common LW PLA runs about $50 for a 700g roll which makes it rather expensive even though it goes further than standard PLA.

When 3dLabPrint released their new PolyLight LW PLA at the same price but a full 1kg spool I decided to give it a try. First off I love the color they picked, a light grey is easy to paint whatever color you want, and for the model I want to print (the MIG) it actually won’t need to be painted and still will look very good.

So first things first I did the first test of printing various cubes at different temperatures to see what temperature gave me the greatest expansion. It turns out that for my printer (a BIQU B1) it’s at 260 which is also the upper limit on the temperature for this printers nozzle. I then printed various cubes at different flow rates from 90% all the way down to 30%. During this testing I found that 40% was spot on based on the tests.

So for the first ‘real’ print I went ahead and printed a benchy. It had lots of stringing (which I was expecting, I basically used my normal PLA profile and just changed the temp and flow rate) and holy cow I couldn’t believe how light it was and it still had excellent strength.

So now on to a standard plane part. I decided to print the wing tip from the easymax, as it’s a nice quick print and it should tell me what I want to know, basically are there any issues printing with the LW PLA. The first print I did with the standard internal support didn’t come out that great. About half way through it started having trouble because of the retractions. So for the second attempt I went ahead and turned off all retraction.

That made a huge difference and the wingtip printed out just fine with all the structures. Only thing was it was extremely flexible, like silly flexing when I pulled it off the bed.

So for the third attempt I increased the flow rate up to 50% and while it did improve the stiffness a little bit, there was still way to much flexibility. Now the surface of the print looked fine (except for the stringing which was easily sanded/cut off) and the layer adhesion was very good.

For the fourth attempt I turned on the infill to about 15% just plane cubic infill and that came out awesome. The part printed in regular PLA weighs 17.5 g and the one in PolyLight weighs 5.65 about 70% lighter than a standard PLA part and it was stiffer than the other attempts.

Glueing the parts together worked very well too, nice solid glue joints and I imagine the foamy structure helps the glue get absorbed a bit more than standard PLA.

I’m super happy with the filament and I’m really looking forward to printing an entire plane now and seeing how it comes out.

Here’s a few pictures of the prints: Picture Gallery

Starting to get back into RC finally

I finally am feeling well enough to get back into RC again. I have been having trouble with my built in charger and batteries on my Horus, so I had been using my QX7. But I REALLY missed the higher resolution color screen.

While I was browsing youtube videos I saw both the Jumper and the Radiomaster radios. I watched a bunch of review on both of them and decided to take a chance on the Radiomaster TS16X. I’ve had it about a week now and I’m totally in love with it. Not quite as beefy a case as the Horus, but it’s a very solid radio. The 4 in 1 protocol module is absolutely amazing. I can use this radio with just about everything without having to add a module in the back. I think I’ll probably be getting a Frsky L9 module which is great for long range stuff and give that a try now.

The TX16S supports telemetry, D8, D16 and has just about all the features of the Horus. The thing I REALLY like about it is the battery can be replaced without having to disassemble it, and you can use Li-Ion or Lipo batteries and it comes with a 18650 holder. I popped in two that I had laying around and they are working great, they are 5000mah batteries. I also ordered some 12000mah batteries so with those two sets I’m pretty much covered.

It works with OpenTx (in comes with OpenTx installed) but I went ahead and upgraded to 2.39 immediately and it’s working great. I was able to copy all my models over, except for one that for some reason I apparently set up kind of funky. I did try to do the CloneTX but couldn’t get it to work. But it’s not that big a deal to rebind my models because it forces me to double check all the settings.

I was able to bind a couple of my airplanes, and they are working great, and I got it setup with my OMP M2 helicopter (which I had not flown yet) and it’s working awesome. Took it out to the cul-de-sac and flew around for about 4 minutes and I have to say that is one awesome helicopter. It’s flybar less and has collective pitch with a gyro and I didn’t have any trouble hovering it around. So now it’s a matter of practicing more on the simulator then charging up more batteries and flying the heck out of it.

Two more updates

The first one is about my Libelle first flights.

I took it out to a local park (Gibson park) and went out on the soccer field.  Did my assembly of the plane, range checked it, checked the controls, and started with the trim flights.

It was pretty spot on, only took me 5 trim flights to get it dialed in where I could throw it and just watch it glide and land on its own :)

Then I tried a side hand throw and it did pretty well again, flat flight, forgot to turn on landing mode, but still landed well.  Did another side hand throw, then did a full DLG launch throw but didn't try to push it.  

It climbed well and floated really good, I was really enjoying it a lot.  Next DLG launch and all of a sudden it goes into a left hand spiral VERY hard. Flips over and noses straight in with the wing halves going separate directions away from the fuselage.  During the entire time I was frantically trying to correct it, but had no response.  Took a look at the plane and couldn't figure out why the left aileron was all the way up, or the rudder all the way hard left.

Took the radio and tried turning the ailerons and the rudder, and I heard the servos but their was no motion.  Turns out the servos had been stripped :(

So I think I'm going to just buy a whole kit again and build another one, buy some new servos and then get started again :)  I just had too much fun on the short flights I had.

The other update is on my personal smart watch project, well it's actually the OSWatch Project.

I've gotten almost all the parts to start assembling it, but I missed ordering the TTL to usb converter that I need to program the Microduino.  That's been ordered and hopefully should be here soon.

In the meantime I downloaded the iOS app source code to my new laptop, and compiled it and loaded it on my iPhone 5s.  Worked the first time, so I'm very happy with how that went.

More updates to follow as I continue to actually get some of my projects done!!

Various projects getting done

Finally got some free time this week to work on some of my project backlogs.  

First I was able to complete my Libelle DLG completed, and I have to say that it went together very easily.  This is a high quality kit, and the only modifications I had to do was trim one of the servo shafts a little bit because it was too long, and notch the rear housing for clearance for the linkage.  I have it all balanced up with 18g of lead in the nose (well lead substitute ;) ).  It's all setup and ready to go for it's first trim flights which I'll probably do tomorrow, as it's the first non-rainy, non-muddy non-freezing day we've had since I finished it!

I also worked on my printer, the Hippie had a problem with a bad auto-leveling servo.  I think the one I used was one I abused in one of my robots, so I got a brand new one and installed it, and just had to make a minor adjustment to the bed leveling height and it's printing again great!

I need to re-work the next Arduino class at the ham club, as I'm having reservations about including a frequency counter in our VFO.  I like having an amplifier in the box, and I've got the parts coming to make a simple one that we can put on the breadboard.  But I want to do more with the Frequency counter, and I'd like to make it as compact as I can, so I think we'll put it in a different box by itself.

Tomorrow I'm going to test fly the Libelle, and hopefully do some first launches with it.  I still need to add a dedicated launch button to my radio, but for now I'll just practice my 'flings' without the launch button.

I'm also going to reinstall the E3D V6 hot end in the Bumblebee II as I think the problem with it stopping extruding about 20 minutes into the print was because I was being too conservative with the tension settings on the extruder.  I was having the same problem with a J-head and discovered another turn made it operate reliably, so I'm going to use the E3D again because I really like that hot end.  I also purchased a 24v fan so I won't have to worry about step down voltage converter for a 12v fan.

Stay tuned for pictures of the Libelle!!!

Libelle DLG

Well my buddy Tim AKA IFlyOS has talked me into yet another variation of the RC hobby, namely DLG or Discus Launched Glider.  Basically it's a typical glider, except very strong, and with a small handle on a wingtip that you use to hurl it into the air in the same motion as a Discus.

He recommended a new foam glider from Dream-Flight called the Libelle.  After watching some videos on youtube and reading some reviews about it I decided that this would be a good easy way for me to get my feet wet in DLG.

Total cost for the plane and the flight kit (servos, horns, battery, servo extensions) was $200 and it came within 3 days of ordering it.  The packaging was superb as even though the USPS gave it to the gorillas in the warehouse and they beat the box, poked holes in it, and damaged the outer box so bad that I couldn't slide the inner box out but had to cut it out, it came through with zero damage.

All the parts were wrapped in bubble wrap and secured with small pieces of tape to keep them from shifting around.  The manual is a refreshing change from the typical Chinese translations, it has good step by step instructions for both building, setting up your radio and your fist flights along with high quality pictures to go along with everything.

I'm going to be using some foam safe CA to assemble it, and the best part is tonight's Meetup was cancelled, and I'm only working 1/2 day tomorrow so I'll have plenty of time to work on it tonight and tomorrow.  Another huge plus is last night I finally cleaned off my workbench (well 3/4's of it) and have enough room to work comfortably on the build.