The caracara from LaurentL is a marvellous little glider. I had to print one (just for fun and to test my new printer !).
I did not want to make the full body in 3D and then modded the initial design to replace the end of the body by a carbon tube of 5.4 mm (V2 files) (7mm initial version). The length of the carbon tube is 35 cm.
Why 5.4 mm ? Just because I use broken arrows found in dustbins of an archery range (thank you Michel !)
The part1 body is changed too with a flat wall at the bottom including a hole to center the tube.
When printing the wings, I realized that the 4 mm hole for the carbon rod was too tight, I then modded the wing part 1 to increase the size of the hole.
I also designed an elliptic V tail with a TP29_5% profile. The V tail is printed in one single part (print it with the trailing edge on the print bed, add a 3mm brim)
Take care when slicing this V tail that the first layer includes a line for the trailing edge, if not, please push the piece down ~3 mm into the bed until slicing is correct. (According to your settings, the TE may be too thin to be printed...)
Print the Vtail with a symetric orientation on the bed , 1 single perimeter, infill gyroid 2% or so. Just look at the picture
All other parts are from Laurent's design. Many thanks Laurent for this awesome glider.
I give you in the files section all files I used. You will find :
- some openscad files. If you're familiar with openscad, just use them in case you want to tweak some dimensions...
- lots of STL files, just print the ones whose name starts with "cara_xxx", the other ones are used in my openscad scripts
EDIT :
250414 :
- for those who prefer the motor version, I added the modded front body part (not yet tested but it should work !)
250409 :
- I maidened the V2 in perfect wind conditions (15 km/h). This bird is a marvel, very responsive, fast and fun at the slope. Only drawback, it's small and you need to keep always an eye on it or you may loose it ;-)
here is the video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gzVAqWD4-8&ab_channel=aeropic
If you print one, go for the light V2 version it makes a huge difference...
250401 V2 : lighter tail.
- I had to add around 30g of lead in the nose of the glider to balance it right with the initial PLA V tail.
- I then changed the 7mm carbon boom to a 5.4 mm one always from a broken arrow
- I printed both the rear section of the body and the Vtail in LW PLA. The Vtail with one perimenter + infill gyroid 2%, the body with 2 perimeters + gyroid inflill 4%
With this V2 the complete tail of the plane (rear body + boom + V tail is 14 g lighter than before and the lead is no more needed. It will fly better :-)
Total mass is 220g with small 350 mAh 2S batt + down converter + 6 channels Rx (FS-IA6B) ( V1 was 260g, so print the V2 !
250331first feedback,
- I received the servos and installed them. I had to move forward the slots for the servo's hinges (enlarge them)
- first hand lauch. It flys perfectly with the COG set as Laurent advises (right on the pins under the wings). It it very sensitive to roll but once trimmed, it flys fast and long just with a hand launch. It looks promizing at the slope !
- I could maiden the bird in not so good wind conditions with a wind not perpendicular to the slope... It flys and will fly better for sure !
https://youtu.be/WeWkofdRU10
aeropic
