3DHS 84" Bigfoot Build Log

[SnowDog]

I have a few things that may help/hinder you a little.
I have flown my foot pretty hard, and a few things I noticed was the elevator joiner failed. Actualy split away with part of the elevator attached to it. I reglued it with some heated 30 minute epoxy so it would penetrate the cracks and splinters real good. before that happened I had 3 of the 6 elevator hinges fail. I hadn't done any tail dragging, or tail touches. My door blew off, as a result of a single latch up front. I was going to replace the CA hinges with some pinned hinges, but haven't bothered yet. Someone said something about cutting some holes in the fuse or leaving a few windows out to counter the vaccum effect, but door or no door makes no difference to me. It is one less thing to bugger with when i am putting my wings on.
I run my flaps at near full diflection most of the time, and I haven't had any issues with the hinges or control horn like others have had. Time will tell on that I guess.

Thanks for the info. I'll keep an eye on the elevator joiner and hinges!

Regarding the flaps: what is "nearly full deflection" for you? 70 degrees? 90 degrees?

Finally, regarding the door being blown off...are you running electric or gas? And if electric, do you have a vent in the bottom of the fuselage?

 

[Sarlacc]

70-75 degrees. I am running gas.

 

[SnowDog]

70-75 degrees. I am running gas.

Cool...good to know...which motor? and did you cut a hole in the firewall for the carb?

(trying to figure out what might be causing the pressure buildup inside the fuse that would cause the door to blow off)

 

[Sarlacc]

DLE 35ra, no hole in the firewall except for fuel line and throttle rod.

I am pretty sure the cause of the door issue is the fact they only installed one latch, the rear part of the door was flaring out during hard throttle or flaps.

I had planed on installing more magnets on the back of the door.

 

[RC Girl]

My door blows off and im running gas, i have a hole in the firewall..

I made some hinges for my door, the little paperish ones didnt allow the door to open all the way so i replaced them..ill post a picture when i get home

 

[SnowDog]

My door blows off and im running gas, i have a hole in the firewall..

I made some hinges for my door, the little paperish ones didnt allow the door to open all the way so i replaced them..ill post a picture when i get home

Thanks Ashleigh, I'd like to see the pics of your hinges. You are running a DLE-30 V1, correct?

 

[RC Girl]

Thanks Ashleigh, I'd like to see the pics of your hinges. You are running a DLE-30 V1, correct?

Yes

Here are my hinges. Just thin piece of plastic screwed on. I havent flown it much like this so we'll see how they hold up

 

[Sarlacc]

Nice, I thought about just putting some screws in mine to hold it on, or shut.

 

[hosam]

I got a used BF and installed 7955 in the flaps... at 70-75* I am getting 2.5 amp draw per servo, there is some serious binding going on somewhere... time to investigate.

 

[gyro]

I got a used BF and installed 7955 in the flaps... at 70-75* I am getting 2.5 amp draw per servo, there is some serious binding going on somewhere... time to investigate.

Might not be binding... If the horns are installed per the manual, the geometry is poor, and the servos have to work very hard to deflect the surface.
Bottom line: short of changing your geometry like Mike did earlier in the build, you may not be able to fix.

3dhs is aware of this issue, and I understand they are including different shaped control horns for better geometry in a future release.