TORKS TALK NEWSLETTER

TORKS TALK NEWSLETTER
January 2015
Report from January meeting:
The meeting was called to order and the President gave a short speech thanking the members for their
confidence.
The Vice President and Secretary had nothing to report at this meeting, the club Treasurer reported on
the clubs finances.
Gary Crews was appointed Safety Coordinator for 2015.
(Harvey) Joe Grubbs Donated a telescoping retrieval pole to the club and dedicated it to the memory of
Brian Freeland. This is a heavy duty fiberglass pole used by OG&E linemen to open and close circuits on
HV lines.
There was a motion to procure some type of “windscreen” fabric for the pavilion at the field. That is
under advisement pending measurement and cost research.
Charles Trice, President of the OKC RC Flyers, visited to discuss that clubs upcoming swap meet and to
invite TORKS to participate. TORKS usually reserves several tables, where our members may offer their
excess inventory for sale or trade. Since the meeting the date and location for the swap meet has been
decided, it will be:
Saturday, March 14 at 8:00am, at Highpointe Church, 6810 Northwest 122nd
Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73142. More information may be found at: http://okcrcflyers.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/01/The-OKC-RC-FLYERS-Swap-Meet-and-Auction-March-14-2015-v2-draft.pdf
There were no Model of the Month entries, but Charles Trice brought a giant scale Model and showed it.
Ken Kehlet brought a scratch built model in progress, and spoke about its construction and heritage.
(See photo section)
And Last but not least Jesse Scott brought a kit built Top Flight Contender that had yet to fly, but looked
great. (See photo section)
If you have not already done so, Please renew your AMA and TORKS Memberships. George will
change the gate codes soon.
Paul Teague has donated an assortment of stickers to the club, many of these are sized to fit model
Mark Grennan TORKS President has furnished a piece on 3D Printing Model Aircraft (starts on page 2).
The AMA Museum is trying to gather Club Histories. There is a scanned flyer following the photo section
(pg. 7) of the newsletter. If any of the longer serving members would be interested in contributing to a
club history, please let one of the officers know.
Last year we had a fun fly/Burger Burn on National Model Aviation Day. The donations that day
benefitted the Wounded Warrior Project and our Certificate and cover letter from the AMA are
attached(pages 8 & 9).
Don’t Forget the February Meeting on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 at the Will Rogers Garden Center at
3400 NW 36th and the Lake Hefner Parkway overpass.
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TORKS TALK NEWSLETTER
January 2015
Are you ready to print your planes?
by Mark Grennan
You can today, print a RC plane, car and boat. 3D printers allow you to make amazing shapes from
extruded plastic.
What if next time you needed and engine mount you just printed one. Or maybe a cowling? You could
print wing ribs and hatch covers….
Some people have already printed whole planes.
And their designs are being given away on websites like Thing-A-Verse.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:407766
Chris Anderson is the author of Makers: The New Industrial Revolution and a friend. He is the also CEO
of 3D Robotics and runs a non-profit website, DIY Drones. https://www.diydrones.com. Chris says, like
the computer revelation the 3D printing / Maker revelation is just starting. You can start to add the
words ‘personal’ and ‘desktop’ to manufacturing. If you look at the Kickstarter.com phenomenon, the
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TORKS TALK NEWSLETTER
January 2015
Etsy.com you’ll see the kind of product development that 3D printing can done by small companies and
industrials.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1455808
The RC Groups forum is starting to explode with new planes and designs. Some people are even
building their own servos into the design of the plane using servos with striped gears.
Professor Sheffler, with brothers/lab partners Steven Easter and Jonathan Turman, shows off the exoframe of “Wendy,” their 3D-printed plane.
Photo: University of Virginia
This plane has one advantage over the standard SIG Kadet Senior model aircraft it was modeled after.
The entire plane — from the nose to the rudders — had been designed in software and printed in
lightweight plastic on a Stratasys 3D printer.
http://www.wired.com/2012/11/3d-printed-autonomous-airplane/all/
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TORKS TALK NEWSLETTER
January 2015
Where can you get your hands on a 3D printer? I invite you to visit the Oklahoma City Prototek amker
space at 401 NW 10th or http://www.prototekokc.com.
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TORKS TALK NEWSLETTER
January 2015
Ken Kehlet’s scratch build project an A-Ray. This aerobatic flying model has a wingspan of 52 1/2 inches
and measures 41 inches in length. Wing Area is listed at 480 sq in and was designed for a .19 to .35 in
engine with 3 or 4 channel radio gear.
Jesse Scott’s kit built Top Flight Contender. Note the Bright Metallic Finish. This aircraft is powered by
an OS Max .46, Wingspan is 53.25 inches, Wing Area is 660 square inches, and design weight is 6-6.5 lbs.
The plane features a unique center flap where the entire trailing edge droops inboard of the ailerons.
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TORKS TALK NEWSLETTER
January 2015
New Member (13 year old) Boone Howith with his recently soloed Apprentice S.
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TORKS TALK NEWSLETTER
January 2015
Are there any of the founding club members still active? Does anyone possess any historical records
from the long history of the TORKS? This will be a topic of discussion at the upcoming meeting.
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TORKS TALK NEWSLETTER
January 2015
Tech Corner
AS3X and SAFE by Paul Petitt
AS3X stands for artificial stabilization 3 axis. It Horizon Hobbies proprietary version of gyro stabilization
although there are several competing solutions (Eagle Tree and the Orange brand among others). The
three axis refers to pitch, roll and yaw. At its most basic, as3x is used to smooth out the effects of wind
and prevent buffeting. I have observed an E-Flite Habu 180 Ducted Fan and a Park Zone UMX Icon A5 fly
in strong gusty wind and appear as if they were “on rails”.
Safe is a further extension of 3 axis stabilization. SAFE stands for Sensor Assisted Flight Environment.
We will examine the Apprentice S 15e and how SAFE works in that implementation. Safe basically works
only in the pitch and roll axis. The Aircraft has 3 flight modes, controlled by the channel 5 switch on the
included transmitter. It also uses the trainer switch as a “panic button” which will immediately return
the aircraft to straight and level flight when it is engaged. In flight mode 1(or beginner mode), the
aircraft is kept within a fairly narrow range of attitudes. It simply stops responding when it reaches it
limits of pitch, roll or yaw, although adding all three in a coordinate manner slightly increases the
response. Movements are limited to perhaps 15 to 20 degrees. Also in flight mode 1 the aircraft will
return to straight and level whenever control input is released, with one exception and that is that some
up elevator is pulled in when the throttle is advanced past about 60-70 % so at full throttle in flight
mode 1 the aircraft will climb. Flight mode 2 (Intermediate mode) still limits the attitude of the aircraft,
but through a wider range (perhaps 45 - 60 degrees) and the automatic return to straight and level flight
is cancelled. Flight mode 3 (experienced mode) there are no limits to control response, the aircraft may
be looped, rolled or spun and will not automatically return to straight and level. I should note that AS3X
remains active in each of the three flight modes, and the “panic button” is available in any of the three
flight modes. It is also worth noting that the “Master Transmitter” will lose panic button functionality
when a “buddy box” is present, but the student transmitter will have the “panic button” available.
I hope you have found the above interesting, and welcome any contributions you may wish to submit
for future newsletters.
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