I recently came into posession of an old large format HP plotter which just happens to print "D sized" sheets which are roughly the same 20"X30" dimensions as DTFB. Seemed like a match made in heaven...but when I started printing FT plans I quickly discovered that the stock plan layouts are considerably larger than a standard piece of foamboard even if the individual plane pieces aren't.
In the past I used to open FT plans in photoshop and modify them so minimize paper use and the number of seams when I was printing to standard letter sized paper since I hate taping and dislike having a seam in the middle of a piece which will fit on a single sheet of paper. So based on that experience I've started re-organizing the FT plans to fit onto 20x30 sheets and try to minimize both paper and foamboard waste.
This is my version of David's outstanding Viggen plans with the parts re-organized to fit onto 4 20x30 sheets instead of on one huge long printout. If you have access to a large format printer (check craigs list these things turn up free or cheap from time to time!) these could help you save paper and tape!
Please let me know if you find these useful and I'll continue to share similar modified versions of other FT plans!
And if you find any errors I made in the translation please let me know as well so I can correct them. It will be a few more months before I can swing an EDF financially so while I've started cutting pieces for my own Viggen I haven't finished building one from these modified plans yet.
Brad
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is this do-able for a homebuilder?
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It would be possible however to build something to print directly on foamboard. I would look into homemade CNC tables for ideas. The big problem is the cost of smooth rods and bearings for the pen gantry to ride on is pretty high. There was a discussion in the FT Forums about building something like this but I can't find it right now and from what I remember it didn't sound like anyone was making quick progress.
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I's call around and see what you can find. Also..the local Office can print about anything full size..and if you ask them to do it as a blue print it's really inexpensive..
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Plus I got my large format plotter for free other than the very reasonable cost of some ink cartridges off ebay. Yeah, it took me a few evenings of debugging and some soldering to get it running...but being able to do 20x30 prints at home any time I want is REALLY nice :D My biggest complaint is that the paper it uses is a lot heaver than I need. It's great paper and it's really cheap (a 150 foot long roll is less than $17) but it's still way thicker and heavier than I need for most uses and makes me feel wasteful.
It only takes me about 30-40 minutes to reformat the plans to fix correctly. So if even one or two people find them useful it's worth the time for me to do and share it.
If I wasn't so focused on multi's right now I'd be doing more of them. I have an almost sharable version of the F22 plans but did them just for my own use at the time so I left off most of the FT branding and want to put it back in before I share them but haven't had time. I really want to redo the spitfire plans this way as well but the two I've already built are still airworthy so I need to get out and crash them some more before I can justify the time :D I may have a set of Racer plans worked up soon. I love the look of it and the short maiden flight mine had was great...until a combination of bent motor shaft and pre-damaged power pod giving a funky thrust angle ended it prematurely and took out an aileron servo and aileron along with a good portion of that half of the wing. Been sitting here taunting me for 4 months while I debate whether to just build a new one or try to repair it :)
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My quads just take less space to store and less space to fly so it's been hard to stay motivated on fixed wing stuff lately!
I'm on the FT Forums daily (mostly in the Electric->Multirotor forum) and if you contact me through a PM on there I could send you the not quite ready for prime time FT-22 plans. Biggest problem with them is I stripped out the details and FT logo to save space and lost most of the CG marks. Want to fix those issues before I share them in an article and it's just been low priority for me.
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