electric motor for 500 series

[svaughn]

Hi,

Has anyone found a small light weight motor that can be used on the 500 series models. I'd like to start using electric power instead of rubber, but I don't want to get into radio control right now. Ideally the whole system would be under 10g (motor, esc and battery). Is this possible?

[kittyfritters]

Some people have done it free flight with cell phone vibrator motors running off a capacitor instead of a battery. Since you are limited to three volts and the time of the charge of the capacitor you don't need an esc. Get one of those Harbor Freight Tools electric free flights and see how they do it. (Fly the thing a bit before you take it apart, They're not bad.)

[svaughn]

Thanks kittyfritters,

There is a Harbor Freight near where I work. I'll see if they have one in stock tomorrow.

The product (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42619) looks very promising. The 14" wingspan is 85% of a 500 series.

I'm very curious how much the Harbor Freight plane weighs.

Thanks again.

[kittyfritters]

Forgot to mention. Props for the cell phone/pager vibrator motors are a problem. While props are available through the micro-RC sources, you still may find yourself carving.

[WIDDOG]

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This may not work due to being too small. However, I am going to try to use the components out of an Air Electric Hogs Wind Flyer.

[WIDDOG]

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I removed the Power Pack from the Electric Air Hogs Wind Flyer. It does have a circuit board that I believe is a Brake. (Stops the flow of electric to the motor if the propeller is blocked from spinning.)

[Bill Gaylord]

I think those may work for 500 series FF, if kept light enough. I found two of them at the park, after an Air Hogs twin powered plane finally came out of a 100ft pine tree, 6 months after the guy lost the plane, which my flying buddy and I happened to witness. Every now and then I'd walk by there, to see if the plane came down, since I'm a junk collector. They still work. I did a bit of testing with them a few years ago, and I believe with 1cell lipo you could probably use a bit more aggressive of a prop than they have, such as possibly a GWS 3020, or maybe even 4.5" prop, possibly trimmed a bit.

[WIDDOG]

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Thanks for the comments Bill. I was able to get the power pack to fit into the 500 Series kit nicely. I had to modify the charger so it would be long enough to reach the charging port. Tomorrow I’m going to give Air Hogs a call and see if I can find out any specifics about this motor.

[WIDDOG]

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I finished my experimental Guillow’s kit 501 P 40. I decided to post a photo before I test fly it. One thing for sure these 500 series kits look good.

[WIDDOG]

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I tried to keep the motor pack as a single unit. However, the model would not balance out properly. I will have to remove the flight controller and the battery from the pack and move it closer to the CG.

[WIDDOG]

Well unfortunately I made some rookie mistakes and ended up with a model that had an AUW (All Up Weight) of 48 grams. I don’t think any motor is going to fly a plane that heavy. Anyway long story short I now have a decent scale. From now on I will weigh wood and calculate density before I build. I use the following web sight to do the calculations. http://www.geocities.ws/billy_stiltner/balsacalc.html

[Bill Gaylord]

Well unfortunately I made some rookie mistakes and ended up with a model that had an AUW (All Up Weight) of 48 grams. I don’t think any motor is going to fly a plane that heavy. Anyway long story short I now have a decent scale. From now on I will weigh wood and calculate density before I build. I use the following web sight to do the calculations. http://www.geocities.ws/billy_stiltner/balsacalc.html

You should be able to go a bit heavier than that, although BL power helps when getting into the weight range that you are in. The rubber props are not very effective on electric motors. As for weight, the 500 series warbirds that I converted to rc are in the 80 to 100gm range, but are bl powered. A geared LPS setup should fly a 500 series warbird at 48gms. Some folks have done them with the brushed setups from the Horizon Hobby micros also, I believe at around your weight.

[rayd]

Moreso of an Inquiry here. I've many unbuilt Guillows kits waiting for assembly.... but need a jump start. I'd like to build and fly, but things have changed so much from decades back, including where you can fly. This once active hobby here with U-Control field areas, free flight, etc is virtually nil nowadays due to law ordinances, litigation issues, many things. Much care must be exercised. However, I have procrastinated far too long.

I saw a product in a toy store on sale called a Flyline Racer and bought it on impulse. It's box was sealed, and I'm not supposed to open until Chistmas. In checking websites, it seems like an RC version of the old tether flying method, may be similar to U-Control in some ways. Box says wingspan is 13 inches. Likely styrofoam. Not much room needed to fly it in a circle, so, I may try it in a large garage. Doubful it'll last ..but when it buys the farm (or garage floor), I'll salvage parts/mechanism and RC "stuff" to (possiblly) jury rig into some of the Guillow planes to experiment.

If you've had any experience or have comments about this tether kinda ready-to-fly thing, or hints re compatibility into the fine Guillows plane balsa kits, please let me know. Thanks and do enjoy the Holidays. Ray

[WIDDOG]

Even though I failed at my first attempt to convert a 500 Series kit to electric I decided what the heck I'll try it again. Basically the problem is I don't know what motor to use, what ESC to use, What battery to use, what propeller to use and/or what timer to use. Also electric is just something I don't know much about. I am hoping someone already has this figured out and will post what I need to order to do this correctly.

[WIDDOG]

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I took a geared motor out of an Air Hogs. It was a toy RC plane but the RC was kind of sketchy and never really worked. It would have been nice if the RC throttle would have worked but it didn't. So now I have to come up with a Timer. I'm not really into spending $35 for an electric timer so I will be making a mechanical timer out of a bashed Tommy wind up toy. I am using a rechargeable Lipo battery, that really seems to crank the motor nicely, from and RC Helicopter. BTW I really like flying RC Helicopters but that's a different post all together.

The electric components including the Tommy winder add up to the same amount of weight as the rubber set up. That is Electric Motor, Battery, and Tommy Winder are about the same weight as Balance Clay, Rubber and Motor Peg. Also the Electric set up puts out more power for longer and is much more adjustable/ controllable.

I'm not the best at designing stuff. I am thinking that the Tommy winder should wind up a string that is connected to a "Knife Switch" something like that I guess. Maybe throw in some rubber bands, couple of paper clips and some Duck Tape (Handyman's secret weapon)