VJet OWL 70mm v2
~Ready To Print w/ PLA and/or LW-PLA ~
"Digital Balsa and Foam" Series
If Purchase v1, You Will Get Update The v2 VJet OWL Also !
You Can Download It From The Same Repository
Features and Improvement
- Designed For Both PLA And LW-PLA (Digital Balsa and Foam) – New Feature
- Catapult Launcher Enabled – New Feature
- Steerable Tail Wheel and Rudder Fin – New Feature
- Replaceable Main Landing Gears / No Need to Glue – Improvement
- Stronger and Simple Wing Attachment – Improvement
- Split Full Wings Easier to Transport – Improvement
- Adding Wing Back Spar for More Wing Support – Improvement
- 110% Vtail Surfaces for Better Control & Look – Improvement
- Easier to Install VTail and Rudder Stabilizer with Adding Fiber Carbon Tubes Support – Improvement
- Redesign EDF Lid for Easy Attachment – Improvement
- Additional Control Surface Rod Support for Easy Assembly and Stronger Control Surfaces – Improvement
- Marking Wings with CoG Label – Improvement
- Adding Canopy Tabs – Improvement
Special note for VJet OWL 70mm v.1 owner
If you have purchased VJet OWL 70mm v1.0, it is free for you to download the v2.0. You just need to use the same link that we emailed to you when you purchased the VJet OWL 70mm v1.0. If you have deleted that email, let us know by emailing us to resend it. Please note that you need to provide valid or same email address when purchasing.
We love to see you flying with new features implemented in VJet OWL. Happy printing and flying …
Digital Balsa For PLA and Both Balsa
& Foam For LW-PLA
As you can see from the pictures below, they illustrate a 3D printed part when using gyroid infill and ribs. You can pick infill percentage to you preferences where the higher you set it will be stronger. To get optimal result, we also still use ribs so that we will achieve parts using optimal gyroid infill percentage. With having gyroid infill, we have tried to use top and bottom layers. The good news is that the AUW is still acceptable for the jet and allow it to use like lego style blocks to assemble.
We run some research and experiment with some number of setting values for infill percentage. Final values will be used in OWLplane slicer profiles. Feel free to increase or decrease the values including playing with other settings if you feel better than ours (we are happy listening / getting your input/feedback, so keep us posted about your build in our facebook group).
LW-PLA and PLA Directories
Two group of STL files are provided when printing with PLA or LW-PLA.
- LW-PLA STL and G-code files are under : “OWLplane VJet OWL v2.0 – LW-PLA Version” directory.
- PLA STL and G-code files are under : “OWLplane VJet OWL v2.0 – PLA Version” directory.
Slicer profiles are as follow :
- LW-PLA profile files are under : “OWLplane PROFILE v2.0/OWLplane PROFILE for LW-PLA 3% Gyroid Infill Slicer v1.1“.
- PLA Profile files are under : “OWLplane PROFILE v2.0/OWLPlane PROFILE for PLA v2.5“.
When printing with PLA, the STL files are designed only using digital balsa approach. Feel free to print the model with PLA or LW-PLA filament. Please note, avoid (D.) option below since it will be difficult to find correct CoG with 3300mAh battery (need more weight).
Please note that G-code files generated from ideaMaker does not compatible to use with Prusa original 3D printers. Please use PrusaSlicer instead if you would like to regenerate the G-code files for your Prusa printers.
Left Side :
Sliced with gyroid infill (digital foam approach used for LW-PLA filament).
Right Side :
Sliced with no gyroid infill (digital balsa approach used for LW-PLA and PLA filament).
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
Available in 4 Versions
A. LW-PLA Version With No Rudder (Simple Model – Reducing Some Weight for Hand Launching or Using Catapult Launcher – When Need for Speed).
B. LW-PLA Version With Rudder (Taking Off from The Ground).
C. PLA Version With No Rudder (Simple Model – Reducing Some Weight for Hand Launching or Using Catapult Launcher – When Need for Speed).
D. PLA Version With Rudder (Taking Off from The Ground).
Please Note : Try to avoid Version (D.), where it needs more weight on the nose to get correct CoG.
Flying Videos and Pictures
This cool looking plane flies more like EDF trainer plane but it can fly fast also. It uses V shape tail and optional rudder fin. It is powered with 70mm EDF with 4s and it should be able to powered also with 6s but not yet tested. We are very happy so far with its characteristic when using 4s powered battery. Definitely, when you need for speed, 6s is recommended. Supported with fiber carbon tube, you should not worry to use high power EDF to have extreme maneuver. Also, it is optional if you do not want to print the rudder and steering wheel so that you can save some weight and can use smaller size battery with high C rating and still get correct CoG location.
It can take off from the ground with tail steering wheel in v2. Not only that the v2 can use catapult launcher to launch when you have long grass flying field where the wheels are too small for taking off.
In v2, it has split detachable wings for easy to transport. Fiber carbon tubes are required to use supporting wings including stabilizers. 3 types of landing gears available:
- with pants.
- no pants (feel free to use off the shelf wheels and their diameter).
- no landing gears for hand launch/using catapult launcher.
We are really happy if you love this new VJet OWL since your happiness is also ours. We give the v2 free to download if you have purchased v1 (using the same repository to download). Now, it is up to you to configure your own 3D printed VJet OWL, happy printing and flying !
Youtube Flying Vidoes
Specification
- Wing Loading : 65.9 - 79.5 gr/dm^2.
- AUW/Flying Weight : 1450 - 1750 gr.
- Wing Area : 22 dm^2.
- Wing Cube Loading (WCL) : 14 - 17.
- Flight Performance Category : Racer.
- Radio Channels : Throttle, Aileron, Elevator and Rudder.
- Length : 1.013mm.
- Wing Span : 1.290mm.
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 70mm EDF v2 Spar Requirements :
Due to LW-PLA characteristics, we need quite number of spars to make VJet OWL string enough. Follow the information below to use VJet OWL v2 spars:
– Fuselage Spars.
– Wings Spars.
– Stabilizers Spars.
– Main Landing Gears Spars.
See the images below for details:
Fuselage Spars for LW-PLA.
– 2 x 8mm OD and 330mm long.
– 2 x 6mm OD and 330mm long.
Fuselage Spars for PLA.
– 2 x 5mm OD and 330mm long.
// Instead of 6mm, PLA is enough with 5mm OD.
// Since PLA is stronger than LW-PLA, it does not need 2 x 8mm OD spars.
Wings Spars the Same for Both LW-PLA and PLA.
– 1 x 8mm OD and 1000mm long.
– 1 x 8mm OD and 500mm long.
Stabilizers Spars the Same for Both LW-PLA and PLA.
– 2 x 5mm OD and l90mm for VTail Stabilizers.
– 1 x 5mm OD and 60mm for Rudder.
Main Landing Gears Spars the Same for Both LW-PLA and PLA.
– 4 x 5mm OD and 117mm 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 1.2 -2mm 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 1.2-1.5mm for hinge rod and about 1.5-2mm 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. The battery case is used not only to protect the battery but also the small box in front of the case is used to put some weight whenever necessary.
During our test, if you use 3300mAh 4s battery, you may not need to use the case since the CoG location is correctly located. If you use 2200mAh and the CoG is away from correct location than you need to put some weight or use the case to balance.
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.
Main Landing Gears Options and Replaceable Feature :
Depending on requirement, you may want to pick one of the three options to configure VJet OWL 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 new feature of VJet OWL v2 for 70mm and also for 80mm EDF (replaceable main landing gears). It shows for 80mm EDF OWL VJet model case where it should be similar for 70mm EDF model v2.
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
6-7mm long rod.
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 70mm EDF v2 – SINGLE ARM ADAPTER # GR3”.
– 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.
Sand The Surfaces To Get Smooth Ones :
Comparing surfaces before and after sending it. LW-PLA material let you smoothing surfaces where it would not be applicable with standard PLA or PLA+.
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
Recommended Setup
- Motor Options : EDF 70mm, 4s (possible with 6s but not yet tested), see above for some options but not limited to.
- Servo Options : 12gr Servos, 2 x for left and right aileron and 2 x for left and right vtail stabilizers and 1 x for rudder (optional), see above for some servo brand options but not limited to.
- ESC Options : ESC with 80A, just pick your favorite ESC but make sure that rated at least 80A or suitable for EDF rated ESC.
- Battery Size : LiPo 4s 2200mAh - 3300mAh (if you print rudder version, you may need 3300mAh 4s or you can use 2200mAh 4s with 3D printed cover and some additional weight to get correct CoG location).
Battery Protector and/or Weight Balancer Holder for 2200mAh 3s/4s and 3300mAh 4s Battery :
One of challenges in 3D printed plane is where it has a wide range of possible total weight result. For example, the plane printed with 0.40mm comparing to 0.32mm extrusion width may end up the CoG moved about 2cm – 3cm backward with using the same battery. You may need to move the battery forward or add more weight at the nose to get back the CoG to its previous location. To solve this issue at the same time protecting your battery, the following STL files are created for your 2200mAh 3s/4s and 3300mAh 4s. Feel free to download and use the files (G-code files are also provided for Bowden or Direct Drive setup including STEP files).
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
LW-PLA Type Of VJet OWL 70mm EDF v2 – Spar Req.
VJet OWL 70mm EDF with Rudder – Fiber Carbon Tube Requirement:
- Fuselage Spars : 2 x 8mm OD and 330mm long.
- Fuselage Spars : 2 x 6mm OD and 330mm long.
- Wings Spar : 1 x 8mm OD and 1000mm long.
- Wings Spar : 1 x 8mm OD and 500mm long.
- Stabilizers Spars : 2 x 5mm OD and l90mm for VTail Stabilizers.
- Stabilizers Spar : 1 x 5mm OD and 60mm for Rudder.
- Main Landing Gears Spars : 4 x 5mm OD and 117mm long.
VJet OWL 70mm EDF with No Rudder – Fiber Carbon Tube Requirement:
- Fuselage Spars : 2 x 8mm OD and 330mm long.
- Fuselage Spars : 2 x 6mm OD and 330mm long.
- Wings Spar : 1 x 8mm OD and 1000mm long.
- Wings Spar : 1 x 8mm OD and 500mm long.
- Stabilizers Spars : 2 x 5mm OD and l90mm for VTail Stabilizers.
- Main Landing Gears Spars : 4 x 5mm OD and 117mm long.
PLA Type Of VJet OWL 70mm EDF v2 – Spar Req.
VJet OWL 70mm EDF with Rudder – Fiber Carbon Tube Requirement :
- Fuselage Spars : 2 x 5mm OD and 330mm long.
- Wings Spar : 1 x 8mm OD and 1000mm long.
- Wings Spar : 1 x 8mm OD and 500mm long.
- Stabilizers Spars : 2 x 5mm OD and l90mm for VTail Stabilizers.
- Stabilizers Spar : 1 x 5mm OD and 60mm for Rudder.
- Main Landing Gears Spars : 4 x 5mm OD and 117mm long.
VJet OWL 70mm EDF with No Rudder – Fiber Carbon Tube Requirement :
- Fuselage Spars : 2 x 5mm OD and 330mm long.
- Wings Spar : 1 x 8mm OD and 1000mm long.
- Wings Spar : 1 x 8mm OD and 500mm long.
- Stabilizers Spars : 2 x 5mm OD and l90mm for VTail Stabilizers.
- Main Landing Gears Spars : 4 x 5mm OD and 117mm long.
Other Req. for VJet OWL 70mm v2 (PLA and LW-PLA)
For Fuselage, Wings and Canopy :
- M2.5 or M3 x 10mm screws for attaching wings - 2x.
- Self tapping screw M3x15mm or M2.5x15mm with their washers for mounting EDF into the fuselage - 2x/4x (depending on EDF brand).
- 4mm OD and 50mm 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) or 4x (no need if no main landing gears).
- 2.0mm OD and 32mm long shaft for tail wheel axle - 1x.
- Landing gear wheel stop set collar 9x2.1mm for tail wheel axles - 1x (with L shape on the other side).
- Self tapping screw M2.5x15mm for locking EDF canopy 3x.
- Ballpoint pen springs for canopy - 1x.
- 2.5 or 3mm OD with about 35mm long.
- 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 :
- 1.2mm - 1.5mm OD rod for creating hinges control surfaces (ER308L - TIG Stainless Steel Rod).
- 1.5mm - 2mm OD rod for control surfaces supports (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 9x2.1mm for all servos pushrod - 5x. (4x if no rudder).
Assembly Figures
VJet v2 Fuselage Assembly
VJet v2 Wing Assembly
VJet v2 Stabilizer Assembly
VJet v2 Canopy Assembly
VJet v2 Gear Assembly
