VJet OWL 80mm EDF
~ Designed for PLA Only ~
Features
VJet OWL Flying Videos and Pictures
This cool looking plane flies more like EDF trainer plane but surely it can fly fast. It uses V shape tail and rudder fin. It is powered with 80mm EDF with 6s LiPo battery. Supported with fiber carbon tube where you should not worry flying with extreme maneuver.
It can take off from the ground with tail steering wheel and also using catapult launcher (needed when you have long grass flying field and the wheels are too small for taking off).
It has split detachable wings so that it should be easy to transport. Fiber carbon tubes are required to use for supporting wings including stabilizers.
3 types of landing gears available to configure :
- with pants.
- no pants (feel free to use off the shelf wheels and with larger diameter).
- no landing gears for hand launch/using catapult launcher.
Easier To Assembly
Improve model parts so that they would be easier to assembly the model. The youtube videos below show how easy they are to assembly from fuselage, wings, stabilizers and main landing gears. Enjoy the videos !
Fuselage Parts
Wings Parts
Stabilizers Parts
Main Landing Gears Parts
Specification
- Wing Loading : 91.5 gr/dm^2.
- AUW/Flying Weight : 2900 gr.
- Wing Area : 31.68 dm^2.
- Wing Cube Loading (WCL) : 16.2.
- Flight Performance Category : Racer.
- Radio Channels : Throttle, Aileron, Elevator and Rudder.
- Length : 1.215 mm.
- Wing Span : 1.548mm.
Flying w/ Or Not w/ Rudder :
When you want to reduce weight for launching with catapult, you can print the model with no rudder as shown on the right side pictures below. You may also reduce weight more with no main landing gear as the main landing gears have 3 options to chose.
Above pictures, show the model with main landing gears.
When you need more speed follow some suggestions below. If printed with 0.3mm nozzle using L1 reff. code * you may have no issue printing with 0.4mm nozzle *, you may save about 600 gr.
- The main landing gears itself, it will safe about 200 gr.
- Further weight reduction is from printed parts which is about 300gr or more.
- Since the tail parts are lighter, the battery requirement to meet the correct CoG is lower by about 100gr.
We have not tried it yet, unfortunately we can not confirm exact number yet but we believe you will get faster VJet OWL 80mm EDF model.
Center of Gravity (CoG) :
Put your fingers on the CoG marked as shown as the first image below. Try to make the model also as shown as the second image below.
VJet OWL 80mm EDF Spar Requirements :
– Fuselage Spars.
– Wings Spars.
– Stabilizers Spars.
– Main Landing Gears Spars.
See the images below for details:
Fuselage Spars.
– 2 x 6mm OD and 390mm long.
Wings Spars.
– 1 x 10mm OD and 1000mm long.
– 1 x 10mm OD and 500mm long.
Stabilizers Spars.
– 2 x 6mm OD and 225mm for VTail Stabilizers.
– 1 x 6mm OD and 75mm for Rudder.
Main Landing Gears Spars.
– 4 x 6mm OD and 140mm long.
Attaching Wings To The Fuselage :
The locking belt is used to attach the wings onto the fuselage.
The name of the locking belt is :
– LOCKING-BELT # GR3
Control Surface Rods :
Using 1.5 -2.5mm rod to assembly all control surfaces.
For having strong and easy to assembly control surfaces, please use steel or fiber carbon rod that fit into the control surfaces. The diameter is about 1.5-2.0mm for hinge rod and about 2.0-2.5mm for support rod.
EDF Motor Installation with Mounting Plates :
Mounting plates are used to support the fuselage when screwing the EDF into the fuselage.
Please print the two file names below to attach the EDF onto the fuselage.
– EDF-PLATE-L # GR3.
– EDF-PLATE-R # GR3
Battery, ESC and Receiver Location :
ESC, Battery and Receiver locations will determine CoG location.
The picture right side shows where need to put the electronics.
If you use 4200mAh-4500mAh 6s battery, it is easy to get correct CoG location.
Trimming Canopy :
Trimming the canopy is used so that it can be used for large battery.
Depending on the battery if you find the canopy can not be used to close than you need to trim as shown on the right picture.
*) Note : using VJet OWL 70mm EDF picture as illustration only.
Main Landing Gears Options and Replaceable Feature :
Depending on requirement, you may want to pick one of the three options to configure VJet OWL 80mm EDF main landing gears.
3 Option for Main Landing Gears After Installed.
– With Pants.
– No Pants.
– Closing Main Landing Gear Holder.
Main Landing Gears Parts To Pick
– With Pants, under “WITH PANTS” directory.
– No Pants, under “NO PANTS” directory.
– Closing Main Landing Gear Holder, under “HL” directory.
Watch the right side youtube video showing the feature of VJet OWL 80mm (replaceable main landing gears).
Special Note Assembling/Installing Stabilizers :
For easy installation, make sure that all stabilizer parts completed before attaching to the fuselage. Please see images below right before attaching or gluing to the fuselage.
Preparing Stabilizers Before Attaching To The Fuselage.
It would be much easier to complete stabilizer assembly before attaching to the fuselage.
Assembling Tail Gear And Steering Wheel :
Tail gear and steering wheel
– 12.5mm long rod to assembly.
– 2.5-3.0mm OD rod can be used.
Using Catapult Launcher :
You can use your own catapult launcher or OWLplane catapult launcher. Please make sure the force required to pull the model is close to 10x of its weight for having better experience.
Why you need catapult launchcer.
- For small landing gears on tall grass, the model will experience significant resistance that it can not get required speed to fly.
- Another consideration is to have less AUW giving best flying performance.
- Not all can do hand launching rc model correctly especially when the model is considerable heavy.
- Human error is another consideration to avoid.
Catapult Launcher Setup.
– Need to assembly by gluing “CATAPULT-HOOK # GR3” as seen on the right side images.
– The puller is provided with the file name “VJet OWL 80mm EDF – SINGLE ARM ADAPTER # GR3” (under “OWLplane VJet OWL 80mm – SUPPORT\CATAPULT ADAPTER\STL and GCODE” directory).
– If there is no plan to use catapult launcher, “NOT-HOOK # GR3” can be used to replace the hook.
– For more information, please visit Catapult Launcher OWL.
Weight and Time Estimation :
Following tables show the weight of printed parts, number of required filament rolls and time required to print. The numbers are taken from ideaMaker slicer calculation. From experience, actual numbers show about -5% less than depicted in the table. But the number may vary from printer to printer due to:
– Stepper Jerk value.
– Stepper Acceleration value.
– Steps per unit (either calibrated or uncalibrated)
– Extruder quality/condition.
– Nozzle quality/condition.
– Filament quality/condition.
– Etc.
For sure the relative number are useful when deciding to accept the total strengths or weights when printing. Picking higher strength to some parts are necessary to avoid breaking during high impact landing or sharp maneuver for example.
Here are the summary tables:
Klipper Firmware Does Not Accept “#” / Hash Character
Unfortunately the Klipper firmware does not accept the “#” / hash character when naming the file. More and more 3D printers nowadays and upcoming most likely will use the Klipper firmware where when using previous firmware such as Marlin, Prusa, etc. do not prevent it from processing.
Since our naming convention for our g-code files utilize the “#” character and already since we started the OWLplane, we still keep them until our new release models dated after July 2024 (after BD OWLjet 70mm 6s EDF).
No worry, to use our g-code files, just need to remove the “#” character, that is it !
Fore example :
“FUSELAGE-1 # P3_H15″ replace the file name with “FUSELAGE-1 P3_H15”
Note : no “#” character is used in the new file name.
How To Extract Our Zip Files
Somehow when the folder path is too long, files and directories can not be extracted directly to a destination directory. There is a workaround for this, just follow the guide below. What you need to follow is to double click zip file until you find the directory. From there, double right click to invoke a “copy” command. After that, just paste the directory into your destination directory. That is it !
Table of Contents
Update History
Recommended Setup
- Motor Options : EDF 80mm 6s, see above for some options but not limited to.
- Servo Options : 17gr Servos 2x for left and right aileron, 12gr servos 2x for left and right vtail stabilizers and 12gr servo 1x for rudder (optional), see above for some servo brand options but not limited to.
- ESC Options : ESC with 100A, just pick your favorite ESC but make sure that rated at least 100A.
- Battery Size : LiPo 6s 4200mAh - 4500mAh.
Tools and Materials
- Printer, in general 200mm x 200mm x 200mm (W x L x H) for all OWLplane Models.
- Filament such as PLA, ABS, HIPS and ASA (do not use silk PLA, it tends to be very weak in layer to layer adhesion).
- CA glue with accelerator. Use thick glue to join surface to surface. Use thin CA glue for coating the joint surface areas.
- Velcro sticker/polyester hook and loop peel-n-stick self-adhesive for positioning and locking the battery.
- Fine sandpaper.
- Sharp knife.
- Screwdriver and/or allen wrench for chosen screws/bolts.
- Pliers, needle-nose pliers, nippers.
- Steel bolt cutter.
- Dremel/rotary tool for cutting carbon fiber tubes and rod with more than 2.5mm.
- Electric drill, its drill-bit size from 1.5mm - 5mm and step cone drill.
OWLplane Printers (for your ref.)
See figures below some printers used, created, developed and modified by OWLplane. Two group printers are set, the first one is utilized only for printing PLA/PLA+ and the other one is utilized to print with ABS, ASA and HIPS filaments (the one with enclosures). Just hover onto the figures to find more information about them.
Modified all Bowden setup printers into Direct Drive but leave Tevo Tornado and Anycubic Mega as is (still in bowden setup).
Hardware Needed
Fiber Carbon Tube :
- Fuselage Spars : 2 x 6mm OD and 390mm long.
- Wings Spar : 1 x 10mm OD and 1000mm long.
- Wings Spar : 1 x 10mm OD and 500mm long.
- Vtail Stabilizers Spars : 2 x 6mm OD and 225mm long.
- Rudder Spar : 1 x 6mm OD and 75mm long.
- Main Landing Gears Spars : 4 x 6mm OD and 140mm long.
For Fuselage, Wings and Canopy :
- M2.5 or M3 x 12mm screws for attaching wings - 2x.
- Self tapping screw M3x20mm or M2.5x20mm with their washers for mounting EDF into the fuselage - 2x/4x (depending on EDF brand).
- 4mm OD and 60mm long steel shaft for main wheel axles - 2x (no need if no main landing gears).
- Landing gear wheel stop set collar 8x4.1mm for main wheel axles - 2x (with L shape on one side)/4x (no need if no main landing gears).
- 2mm or 2.5mm OD and 40mm long shaft for tail wheel axle - 1x.
- Landing gear wheel stop set collar 9x2.6mm for tail wheel axles - 1x (with L shape on the other side).
- Self tapping screw M3x20mm for locking EDF canopy 3x.
- Ballpoint pen springs for canopy - 1x.
- Fiber carbon tube pins (length 15mm), can be replaced with 3D printed pins - see the figure below for assembling FUSELAGE-2 and FUSELAGE-3.
For Ailerons, V-Tail Control Surfaces and Rudder :
- 1.5mm - 2mm OD rod for creating hinges control surfaces (ER308L - TIG Stainless Steel Rod).
- 2mm - 2.5mm OD rod for control surfaces supports (ER308L - TIG Stainless Steel Rod).
- 2mm - 2.5mm OD rod for creating push rods (ER308L - TIG Stainless Steel Rod).
- Linkage stopper D2.1mm for aileron, v-tail and rudder for control surface servos rods - 5x. (4x if no rudder).
- Landing gear wheel stop set collar 9x2.6mm for all servos pushrod - 5x. (4x if no rudder).