RC suspension landing gear for planes

by kkmalu | February 21, 2019 | (1) Posted in Projects

I built a Lancaster plane that was designed by Jay from frcfoamies.com. Its a 62" wing span foamie designed to fly with 4X 1400kv motors. The plane however was designed for belly landings and I wanted to install landing gear on it since the field that I fly at could be harsh given the size and weight of the plane. So using a combination of 3d printed parts, carbon fiber rods, springs, and wheels (of course) I think we have a pretty good setup that weighs at 50g/gear. Take a look at the video below:



Here's a little description on how you could go about doing this.

Bill of materials:

1)  3d printed parts

2)  5-5.5mm carbon fiber tube (~3mm inside diameter)

3)  3-3.2mm carbon fiber rod/tube

4)  11/32” x 0.047” x 1-1/2” long spring for suspension

5)  Rubber bands: Google “Clear transparent hair rubber bands”. I recommend these since they can withstand the weather a little better than the normal ones for their size. Can also make from bicycle tube.

6)  Glue: CA and/or epoxy

7)  Thin music wire for hook



  • The CF tube dimensions should be cut out as shown above.

  • The 5mm x 40mm tube can be extended/shortened if you need more/less clearance.

  • The length of 3mm x ~70mm CF rod/tube will depend on the distance between the main gear base plate and the pivot base plate. The larger the distance the longer the tube and vice versa.

  • Additional 3mm CF rods will be needed to make the hinges and generally should be ~35mm long


Here are some screenshots that I took from my guide thats already posted on thingiverse so you'll have it when you download the STL files:

Glue the CF tubes as shown in this picture. I used CA glue.


The base plates and the pivot holder plates were designed to provide pivoting function and are specific for the mentioned plane. However, one could simply use "scaled-up" control horns made from plywood to accommodate the setup for any other plane. Simply place them apart with use of spacers/washers as necessary.






And you are all done! Hope you find this useful.

COMMENTS

Fred2510 on February 22, 2019
Klever. Lotsa bits required though.
An RC car shock with a trailing link setup (v Simple ) could give THE most important part/purpose of suspension:
Rebound control
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kkmalu on February 23, 2019
Thanks. I agree with the RC car shock but here I wanted to make it look as scale as possible... RC car shocks would definitely be much smoother and easier on the plane I suppose.
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AUTO PILOT on November 9, 2023
Obviously a lot of thought and time went into creating this gear. Thank you very much for sharing your work.
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RC suspension landing gear for planes