Better VTOL Configuration for Personal Aircraft

 Since it has three lip wings I'm calling this concept tri-lip-wing single copter. The testing is during my vacation at Myrtle Beach, since it was too cold in Canada.

 The most efficient rotorcraft is a single rotor, so this is what I'm building. I'm cutting the parts on my new CNC machine. The parts are from Home Depot blue extruded polystyrene foam. I'm also adding a layer of fibreglass for rigidity.

 I'm building a trainer aircraft to stay current in my flying skills - or actually I should say learning how to fly. So, I'm cutting parts for a trainer fixed wing aircraft. The inspiration I got it from the 'Blue Baby', see more details about the original build here https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?681556-%2A%2A-Blu-Baby-Primary-Trainer-%2A%2A-Plans-Pics-and-Fun%21

I finally managed to install the cable carriers and the E-stop switches. The machine looks better and better now.

I've received the cable carrier drag chain and emergency stop buttons on Friday. I need to install them on the machine

As the purpose of the CNC machine is to cut and carve foam, I did some testing, adapted some hot wire tools for the purpose and cut some foam I had lying around. Cutting the logo of Aliptera Using a hot wire tool: Tried some 3D carving. The melted foam didn't have where to go so the bad result is expected. The tool used: Some more "Art"

It is time to talk about the tools used to build the machine. A drill press, bought specially for this purpose from Kijiji. A miter saw I borrowed from my friend Ion, Ion thank you for lending it to me, without it I would have a hard time cutting all those aluminum profiles! A bench grinder I made; A hand drill and various other hand tools.

Last weekend I didn't do too much: I cut the table out of birch plywood, it is not yet attached to the moving X axis frame; I mounted the electronics and did some wiring. I found some neat locations for the home position switches and wired them:

I decided to build a wooden base for the machine.

The 3D "pen" test

As I'm gaining experience building this thing, It seems to go faster and easier,  maybe I'm seeing the finish?

They are working fine!

This is the most complicated thing of the whole enchilada. In order to move the whole beam up and down, it has two driving belts, one for each end of the beam, driven together by a shaft. To counter balance the weight of the beam and Y mechanical axis, I choose to use constant force springs, instead of weights for the purpose of reducing the inertia. The constant force springs are expensive, so for now I'm using a low-tech approach, bungee-cords.

I have received the 3D printed idler gear today. Thank you Alex for printing them for me! They look really nice. Thank you Cristian for helping me modifying the source file so the model accepts 608Z ball bearings I already have. Working on the belt tensioner:

Working on the tool holder. Lots of bearings!

Something is wrong with the computer running the LinuxCNC. As I generate steps in software I need it to be fast. I'm getting errors in the real time kernel. Eventually I figured it out: The thermal paste on the heat-sink have dried out and provided inadequate cooling to the CPU.

The parts for the motor driver have arrived, I am assembling them.

Posting pictures and video for the Y axis movement.

Posting pictures and video for the Z axis movement.

I've cut the aluminium profiles and started to build the frame. Here are some pictures:

Motor drivers: I ordered TB6600 motor drivers and I made a simple board to interface to the parallel port. Schematics: Layout: I found an old computer and I installed  LinuxCNC . It seems to be working fine.

Motors: Choice was between stepper motors and DC servo motors; I decided stepper motors would be easier to control. I ordered 3 stepper motors from AliExpress:  link I decided to use belts for converting rotational movement of the steppers to translational movement. They are faster, low noise, and cheaper than lead-screw used generally for this purpose. I found a nice site selling belts, gears and all kind of useful stuff:  http://www.robotdigg.com/

The machine would have a fixed frame, as it offers more rigidity, having a table moving in X axis, a gantry moving on the Z axis and a tool holder moving on the gantry along the Y axis. A rotating axis "A" axis could be added to rotate the tool or on the table, rotating the work-piece. The frame: After some research I decided to build the machine out of  "baltic birch" plywood. The sliding prismatic joint should be made by bearings on aluminium profiles. It should look something like this: I found some discarded aluminium framing materials, I decided to make the frame out of that, as it confers more rigidity and more important it is not subjected to warping as the wood is and also I can use it as a basis for the prismatic joints as well.