Projects Building The RC Help Edge 540

[heli-maniac]

Well got a day with little wind so took the mini edge to give it a try and didnt do so well
with the 2s it just wants to go nose up and fall
so put a 3s on it and it tried to fly but still way off
now i got to order some props the 6x4 speed prop is way to much and a 7x4 slow fly is not enough
so im still working on this going to make this thing fly some how but at least Im getting some were with it

 

[Derek]

what motor are you using?

I have the 2215 1700kv motor on mine with an 8x4 prop and 3S battery

I think Tony has the 1300kv motor on his and a 10x5 prop on 2S.

 

[heli-maniac]

I have this motor in it
Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 - 2822-1740kv Brushless Outrunner Motor
but my plane is a smaller version it only has a 22 inch wing span

 

[Tony]

If the prop is too much, but the motor is not getting warm, just lower your throttle curve to limit the motor.

 

[heli-maniac]

well dont know if the motor will get hot or not cant keep it in the air very long keeps wanting to fly nose high

 

[Derek]

you say it keeps wanting to fly nose high...is it tail heavy?

 

[heli-maniac]

if i hold it right at the front of the canopy is seems to be nose heavy
but I dont know much about planes on were to ck. cg

 

[Tony]

CoG should be between 33%-50% chord. I put mine a little farther back because I like to fly slow and drop the tail. If you are wanting to do more regular flying, you should put it towards the 33% chord.

 

[Derek]

I run the cg on both my 540's at 33% back from the leading edge.

 

[heli-maniac]

well broke al my props so ill get some more and see if i cant get it flying

 

[RRacer]

Hello all,
I just found this nice site a few days ago, referred to from RC Groups when I was looking for a 3D foamie plan.
The Edge 540 was right on the money!
Good looking and easy to build!

I've cut out the pieces and was just about to put it together when a few questions popped up.
I haven't seen any instructions for the build other than those on the plan. Are there any?
I could find recommendations on CoG location and other electronics in the forum.

What size should I use for the carbon spars?
What size on the servos?
Recommended throws?

Thanks in advance

 

[Derek]

I did a rather lengthy build video on this plane. It turned out to be a bit over an hour long. I didn't mean for it to be so long but I tend to ramble a bit.

As for the spar, I would think any narrow length of carbon fiber rod would work. I used three bamboo skewers on mine and the wing is mega rigid.

For the cg, I used my battery to get the cg at 1/3 of the wing chord back from the leading edge. It flies very well. You could even make the plane slightly tail heavy for 3D flying.

For the servos, I have Hitec 9 gram servos

I don't remember how much throw my control surface have. I'm at work right now. If you'd like, I can do up a quick video later today that shows my plane and the control surface throws.

Just let me know what I can do to help.

 

[Tony]

I would use a 4-6mm carbon spar. I have been meaning to do a video on this, just have not gotten around to it. Been quite busy. Welcome to the forum and post up some flight video when you get it in the air!

 

[RRacer]

Thanks guys,
I decided on a 4 mm solid rod in the wing, and a 3 mm solid rod in the tailplane.
Made the rod in the tail slightly longer than specified.

Settled for 9g servos all around, but don't know if I'll use 3 or 4. Thinking that there will be less aileron flutter issues with 4. A bit heavier though.
I put an upgraded motor on a Bixler 2 and will be using the stock item for this plane. I think it's a 1350 kV. Will run on 3S.

The cutout in the airfoil needs to be about 17 mm to fit properly.

I'll post the outcome.

Cheers!

 

[regme40]

Hi

How would this plane go if the plans were printed at A3.

The biggest drama would be the wings, as they all one piece in the A4 version if you use a 20x30" board.

Can the wings be cut in two pieces and glued together or would this make it too flimsy

Cheers

- - - Updated - - -

Hi

How would this plane go if the plans were printed at A3.

The biggest drama would be the wings, as they all one piece in the A4 version if you use a 20x30" board.

Can the wings be cut in two pieces and glued together or would this make it too flimsy

Cheers

 

[Tony]

As long as your glue joint is good, and you run a spar or two across the seam, you will be fine. Make sure to post pictures and even better, a video of this plane when you get it done.

 

[murankar]

I have seen a technique where you tape hinge the joint first, bend open, run a bead of hot glue, rejoin, squeegee extra glue off, finish taping joint. Then for extra measure use a spar. Depending on how long the wing is you might be able to use 450 heli size training gear. You would mostly need it over the joint not the whole wing.

Sent from my LG-E980 using Forum Runner

 

[RRacer]

I maidened it yesterday, with great success!
It was sunny and almost no wind - perfect for a first flight!
I used an old original Bixler 2 motor, but it turned out to be a bit under powered.
At about 75% throttle it cruised comfortably in calm conditons.
Only had one pack with me so today I went to the field with five fresh packs.
Now it was quite windy, and I had to fly it full throttle most of the time.
It flew fast as I built it a bit on the heavy side, with oversized control rods, 35A ESC, bix rx, long cables, lots of glue and reinforcements etc.
Controls were sharp and predictable.
I'm pretty new to RC flight (had a 20 year break after too many crashes), but today I did my first knife edge and (controlled) inverted flying! Happy!

I also used an Orange rx with stabilizer function, and with gyro switched on it tracked like a laser beam! Well, like a curved laser beam anyway...
The heavy throttle use gave me 3:45 to 4 minutes from a 1000 mAh 3S, leaving 30-40% post flight.
Recommendations on a suitable motor/prop combo anyone?


The lens on my phone has gone all milky :/

 

[Derek]

That's fantastic RRacer! Your 540 sure does look good! I think you did a great job on the build.

 

[Tony]

Right on!!! Love seeing people enjoying this plane. I know before I knocked the nose off of it by running into a tree, I loved flying mine. However, I was very light and had a little too much power, if that is possible lmao.

As for a motor, I'm running a 70g, 300w motor at about 1300kv. It flies nice on 2s, but is just sick on 3s. If you create your own thread in teh airplane section, and post up some motors that you are looking at, we will be more than happy to let you know what one will work best. However, I will be turning the forum off tomorrow morning (very early, like 0600 my time -6 CDT) for a forum upgrade. So if the forum is down, don't fret, it will be back and better than ever!!!