More questions? jest won moor. sew, zow man he gal uns hov gum shun vill bee nead head 4 2 kom pleat ur prod ject

Maybe I should do a blog post on my latest exploration? Just so I don't blame it on anyone else!

I had asked others input about possibly adding flaps to a glider wing.. thinking that I could do something simple and easy! Uh.. no! In part because half had suggested full deploy flaps, and half had suggested full up TE spoilers! Well.. that.. makes it more interesting, to have both options. This is more of a test bed for several things, than a functional part.. but hopefully it will do that too!

Constraints: Must add to both sides, and there is no room at the TE center section, to pass a "elevator joiner" type wire to control both together. And worse, no space there to add any kind of control horns.. and even worse.. what kind of control horn does a full 180°?? None that I know of! Much like fresh epoxy, the plot thickens. I only wanted to use one servo, but had a limited amount of space in the center section. For some time I've thought about the better mousetrap of a pull-pull cable system, using Kevlar fishing line, and genuine pulleys! I couldn't envision how two horns could reside on the hinge centerline, to do 90° either side of neutral. So I came up with this:

I'll make 2 small pulleys. They will be attached to the TE with a axle made from music wire, bent into a U shape, and the pointy ends will stick into the TE. So...Continue Reading

For those who have asked about my previous day job (and nights, and weekends..), the short answer is Electronics. A slightly longer answer: A little bit of everything. And as to some of the details?:

From age 13 I was tinkering with Electronic Experimenter kits, then put together my first RC Tx and Rx kits at 15.. and other related gizmos thru HS. Joining the Army for 4 years in 1970 (yeah, just shoot me..), I got a year of good electronics school in the ASA at Devens. Theory thru transmitters, receivers, antenna systems, and specifically DF, ECM, and even worked avionics during half of my year in Vietnam. When I got out, I worked as a Field Engineer repairing and installing information systems (1st Electronic Store Information System in Indiana).. then the 1st Automated Teller terminals in Indiana. Got my 2nd class FCC and started a company to do CB repairs, followed by 2-way, and another 2 years of avionics, and some cool High-Energy Physics work at Fermi-Lab. I worked at the 2nd oldest PC store in the US, where we stuffed and soldered the components, and repaired VERY EARLY personal computers. One of mine so advanced to have a 5MB hard drive!! (Yeah, I know, funny huh!) In 1982 I started my consulting business, and designed a full duplex S-100 communication board, to link my customer as the 1st to use direct computer billing to Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Helped another company sell millions in stock, with my 6 prototype battery powered CMOS smart terminals...Continue Reading

Hi everyone!
I've been a reader of many bits here on the forums, and finding good information without even loggin in. So I've not been a seriously active member here, and don't have enough time to post many messages to the forums. I have helped many in the R/C hobby.. for a long time now. My first R/C plane was a Goldberg Skylane 42, with a Golden Bee. I had to buy kits to assemble the radios, because my paper route didn't make me very much money. Despite that, in today's dollars, I had the equivalent of $1200 invested.. in a single channel rig with rudder only, and a rubber band powered escapement. My World Engines Mule II transmitter kit didn't work when assembled. Really hard to find highly experienced 15 year old electronic technicians back then. But the super-regen receiver on 27 mega-cycles (before they changed it to Hertz), DID work fine.. at picking up every CB radio within 5 miles. So I borrowed a Citizens-Ship transmitter. The 90V batteries cost $60 as I recall in 1966 dollars!! They were needed to operate the vacuum tubes inside the 15 lb transmitter. With all of that "technology".. who would have guessed, the planes usually just flew away.. and a bunch of kids and I would track them down, thru cornfields and bean fields. Once the Skylane caught a good thermal and flew off, and ended up in power lines 8 miles away. And I got it back!!! Well, I could bore all of you with stories from the good ole days.. but I'm pretty sure no one will...Continue Reading