Foam Fixed-Wing Drone
I have been building Remote Controlled (RC) airplanes since I was a kid. So this is actually just an RC airplane build. However, since the controller in it is capable of keeping the wings level and flying to a destination without my direct input, I have to concede that this is truly a drone.
To most, a Drone is a quad-copter. To me, they are all Remote Control aircraft regardless of their configuration, and Drone only defines that it can fly itself.
On this build, I used a CNC router to 3D mill the wing and fuselage from solid foam. The following is a photo album of that build:
2023
The wing is a flat bottom design. This makes it a bit easier to fabricate, but there are a couple of steps that have to be done by hand. If the bottom was to be curved, the two options are to:
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Mill the top, mill a holder which matches the upside-down wing, and then mill the bottom.
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Separately mill a top and a bottom surface and then glue them together (easiest method).
The top surface of the wing was milled with the Worktable CNC and a long bit:
A time-lapse video of the milling:
The rough cut wing:
A groove was cut on the bottom surface to receive a spar:
The bottom surface of the leading edge was rounded over:
The wing was sanded smooth:
Spars were glued in. The packing tape holds them in place while the glue dries:
The following step deviates from those who use vacuum bagging to fiberglass the outside.
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First you lightly glue the surface with spray glue, such as 3M Super 77 or similar.
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Then, using a plastic card, you stick the dry glass in place: straight and wrinkle-free.
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Finally, using a plastic card you spread a thin layer of epoxy into the glass.
The ailerons are cut using a straight edge and a razor:
And then the bottom-front of the ailerons are beveled for clearance:
Using plastic screen-door screen, a hinge is cut and hot-melt glued into place:
The fuselage is cut:
(Sorry... not quite finished with this)