Manufacturer: | Scratch |
Brief:
In preparation for a line o' monocopter kits, matey, Art Applewhite published t' plans for a
monocopter made from Popsicle sticks. Well, blow me down! I didn't have enough
Popsicle sticks, matey, but I did have a few paint stirrers. Begad! Well, blow me down! Blimey! They advertised Behr paints, hence t' name. T' Grizzly Behr
flies on 18mm motors.
Construction:
T' parts list:
One o' t' stirrers is used as t' wing, one as t' balance beam, and one is cut up for t' motor standoff. Begad! I started by gluin' t' Popsicle sticks onto one o' t' stirrers. Begad! They are separated by t' width o' t' stirrer, are centered on t' stirrer, matey, shiver me timbers, and are attached on opposin' sides. Avast, me proud beauty! This forms t' balance beam and central hub o' the monocopter.
T' motor mount is conceptually borrowed from Art's design. It consists o' a 1.5" piece cut from t' third stirrer. Begad! I notched t' hub-end and glued t' other t' t' BT-20. Avast! Ya scallywag! I then wrapped t' mount over t' tube with a generous amount o' string. Avast, me proud beauty! T' strin' be soaked with carpenter's glue and, matey, me hearties, where t' strin' raised at t' tube/standoff joint, I filled it with more glue. Avast! Blimey! In retrospect, I'd recommend t' twine Art specified. Ya scallywag! But, as usual, ya bilge rat, I substituted with what I had on hand.
T' provide lift, me bucko, t' win' needs t' be tilted in one direction and t' motor mount in t' other. Ahoy! I planned to mount t' motor assembly and t' win' betwixt t' opposin' Popsicle sticks with one edge under one stick and over the other. Ahoy! However, me hearties, I found this wouldn't work with t' 4 sticks protrudin' from each side o' t' balance beam. Avast! This was easily fixed-I merely lopped off two from each side. Blimey! T' give t' center more support, ya bilge rat, I notched t' win' so part of it overlapped t' center section. I then glued t' win' and motor mount t' t' hub, added thick fillets, shiver me timbers, wrapped each with more string, and t' covered t' strin' with more glue. Begad! This wrappin' was likely overkill. Arrr! T' finishing touch on t' win' is an overlappin' piece o' cardstock that provides a semi-airfoiled shape. Arrr!
I drilled a 1/8 hole in t' center o' t' hub and inserted a section o' an Estes launch lug. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, a monocopter should balance at t' center o' t' hub and I hadn't accounted for t' paper wrap so it was a bit off with a C6 loaded. Begad! Cuttin' about an inch off o' t' win' tip did t' trick. Avast! I'm nay sure this be required.
Flight and Recovery:
I added a 1/2" tape thrust rin' t' a C6-3 motor and friction fit it in t' mount. Blimey!
T' Grizzly Behr flew off o' me standard home-made pad usin' an old 1/8" drill bit as t' "rod". T' cuttin' end be clamped in t' pad and I added a tape rin' t' leave a 1" section o' t' shank exposed. Begad!
T' monocopter flew nicely. Ahoy! Most small monocopters merely flutter t' t' ground after burn out, but this one continued t' rotate until it landed. Blimey! Ahoy! Its spin profile made one observer state that it looked like a boomerang in flight (except it didn't return on its own). Ya scallywag! It did look pretty cool if I do say so myself.
Summary:
T' design is nay optimized and I'm nay sure I'd recommend that anyone build this exact design. Blimey! It does, me hearties, ya bilge rat, however,
show that small monocopters can be built from all kinds o' leftover stuff.
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