I'm considering making the CAD drawings for the Horten IIIe and Horten VII available. I will also probably make other new designs available as the are completed. If I do this I would probably do it under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

This basically means:

1) You can't claim the design or portions of the design to be your own and you must attribute the design to me.
2) If you make design changes or improvements these must be shared under the same license, but the changes will be attributed to you.

How can people help:
1) Actively and constructively participate in the design and build threads.
2) Build parts or whole models!
3) Donate so I can farm out some of the work by clicking here.


Your input is welcome.

Thanks,
Brian

My buddy Mike asked me to help him with a 1/3 scale Swift S-1 build. I used a 3-view drawings and make a 3d model in Rhino v4. I then use the 3d model to generate 2d bulkhead and longerons. I finally cut the 2d bulkheads and longer on my DIY 40W laser cutter. Mike will be using these parts to make a canopy and fuselage plug. I'm not going into much detail hear but I thought I'd include some pictures.

Enjoy!

Brian

Here's a partial list:

UMX YAK 55 based on a design by MIT KID (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1347482)
HZ Champ Floats based on a design by jingjingjing (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...9#post15535740)
2M Horten XII (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1459476)*
2.6M Horten XII designed by Lothar (http://www.ig-horten.de/images/XIIXL.jpg)
3.4M Horten XVI designed by Lothar (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...i+experimental)
4M Horten XIV designed by Lothar (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1315719
1.5M Horten Micro-Elli designed by Tail Saw (http://www.rc-network.de/forum/showt...ler-Micro-Elli)
4.1M Horten IIIb/e designed by me (/http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1521922)
BD-5 park flyer Designed by DBlum (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293026)**
2.4m Horten VII designed by me (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1570734)***
5m Horten IV designed by me (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1703308)
5m Mü-23 based on a design by No Step (Fred) (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1797012)
4.5m Cherokee II designed by Seadog (David Smith) (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1244137)
1.5m Stabiloplan (http://www.twitt.org/stabiloplan.htm)

* Most of the original aerodynamic design was done by Uwe (Tail Saw). The original design cabin design was longer available. This design is based on the original wings and a more scale cabin and many additional laser cut parts including rib alignment jigs, sub-leading edge pieces, control surface skins and shear webs. I've also made a plug for the new canopy design.

** I have CAD drawings which I got from Dave Blum. I've used these for my own personal use. Manzano Laser Works cuts these kits commercially. They also supply plastic nose cones and canopies. They should be your source for this kit.

***I've built and flown the prototype. The initial aerodynamic design was done by Uwe (Tail Saw).

Well I think I've made some significant progress on the new laser.

I've assembled all of the extrusions. I've got the v rails super glued to the extrusions. These form the linear rail system which gives you the needed X & Y axis movement.

I've also got the CO2 laser tube and power supply in hand as well as most of the electronics necessary to complete the system.

Bart (buildlog.net) is going to be cutting custom skins (alupanel) for me. I should have those in hand in a couple of weeks.

I've ordered and received my first parts of the New laser. I ordered all of the optics from Lightobject.com. They're actually down in Elk Grove. I ordered the parts Monday morning and they were waiting for me when I got home from work on Tuesday. Very nice!

Anyway, I've pretty much decided on on a 20" x 24" cutting area on the new laser. The "stock" laser has a 12" x 20" cutting area so the I'll just use the 20" length linear rails for the Y axis and have new 24" rails cut for the X axis. Piece of cake, right!

I will need to spend some time figuring out the new lengths for all of the extrusions.

Brian

Well I've had my laser for a while now and I love it!

Buying a laser was an absolutely fantastic decision. This laser does have a few issues.

First, the cutting area is a bit misleading. Sure it will hold a 12" X 16" sheet of plywood, however, the true cutting area is really only 9.5" X 14.5". That makes cutting larger parts a bit challenging. I've gotten pretty good at interlocking longer parts.

Second, The laser also doesn't cut real aircraft plywood very well. The glue has a tendency to burn. That doesn't mean the parts catches fire it just means it can take several if not many passes to cut through thicker plywood and the edges get kind of chard!

Anyway, I love lasers so much I've decided to build a bigger one. Take a look at Buildlog.net. I'm on the list to get one of the first ten batches of kits for the 2.x laser. My plan is to take a little time and effort to lengthen X and Y axises. I know that I want to be able to cutting area of at least 12" X 24". That would require adding only 4" inches to the X axis. The questing is do I want to add more. Thinking...

Brian

During the early part (January-February) of 2010 I build a CNC router based on plans I got from http://www.solsylva.com. I modified the design based on the following objectives:
1) I wanted to use some surplus rails and bearing I had on hand.
2) I wanted to use aluminum angle and plate instead of wood where possible.
3) I wanted to use cog belts and pulleys instead of screw drives.

The modified design worked pretty well. However, I'm less than happy with a few things. One, it make an incredible amount of noise. Two, it makes and incredible amount of dust. And, three, even though I'm using aluminum I'm getting some flexing where the router mounts to the gantry. It's worse on thicker material and at higher speeds.

The noise and flexing are pretty easy to deal with. I can wear ear protection and I can slow the router down to minimize the flexing. However, the dust is a problem. Even if use a mask while cutting the dust gets everywhere and I'm bound to inhale the dust at some point. I've made a vacuum hold-down system which helps a lot but I'm still concerned about the dust. Why the concern? Well, it's my understanding the aircraft plywood uses a phenol-formaldehyde glue. This is bad stuff and I like to minimize the amount of it that I breath. Thoughts?

My thoughts...I've been considering getting (building or buying) a laser cutter. I've been looking at buildlog.net. This site has a bunch of information on laser cutters. If you're interested...Continue Reading