Build an Inexpensive, Portable RC Plane Stand

Your RC Companion How Can I? Series

Build an Inexpensive, Portable RC Plane Stand

Presented by:

Brad Miser Your RC CompanionTM yourrccompanion.com

[email protected]

Version 1.0

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Build an Inexpensive, Portable RC Plane Stand Copyright 2016 by Brad Miser

Contents

Build an Inexpensive, Portable RC Plane Stand .............................................................. 1!

Design the Plane Stand .................................................................................................... 2!

Obtain the Materials for the Plane Stand ......................................................................... 8!

Build the Plane Stand ..................................................................................................... 10!

Finish the Plane Stand ................................................................................................... 15!

Appendix A: Design a Custom Plane Stand ................................................................... 17!

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Build an Inexpensive, Portable RC Plane Stand Copyright 2016 by Brad Miser

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Build an Inexpensive, Portable RC Plane Stand Copyright 2016 by Brad Miser Page 1

Build an Inexpensive, Portable RC Plane Stand Many planes have removable wings to make transporting them easier; when you get to the field, you need to re-install the wings. A plane stand makes this task much easier, especially if you need to turn the plane upside down during the process. Some electric planes have access to the battery compartment through the bottom so you need to have the plane upside down to install the flight battery; a stand makes changing batteries in these planes much easier. And when you need to perform repairs or other maintenance on a plane, a stand really comes in handy.

Using inexpensive PVC pipe and fittings, you can easily build a custom plane stand to use at the flying field or in your workshop. You may find these to be so useful that you want to have more than one!

A plane stand should be simple to assemble at the field and easy to disassemble when it’s time to leave. And, the size of the stand should match the planes you are going to use it with and the height at which you like your planes to be when you work on them. It also should be stable by being secured to the ground so it doesn’t tip over in the event of a wind gust or if someone bumps into it.

The stand described in this document meets all of these criteria and doubles as a stand to hold a fuselage during transport. Because it is constructed using PVC pipe and fittings, it is inexpensive and easy to build. (Note that the basic design of this stand is not original and is dervied from a number of similar stands described elsewhere. The enhancements to these designs and the detailed information about this enhanced design are original to this document.)

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Design the Plane Stand The design of the plane stand in its full-height configuration is shown in the following two figures:

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Here’s what the stand looks like with a plane on it:

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With this design, you have the option to use the top part of the stand for transporting a plane or having it closer to the ground while you work on it. The stand in this configuration is shown in the following figures:

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Here is what it looks like with a plane’s fuselage ready for transport:

Notice that there are no dimensions on the drawings. That’s because there are a number of variables you can set to determine the height and width of the stand. To design the height and width of the stand, you can set or calculate (using some basic trigonometry) the lengths of each segment of pipe you need. This sounds and looks harder than it actually is.

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If you want to quickly build a stand that will handle a wide variety of sizes of planes and is a reasonable height, you can use the following dimensions:

Segment Length (Inches)

P1 26

P2 24

P3 3

P4 14

P5 8

With these dimensions, you’re ready to determine your list of materials for this as explained in the section “Obtain the Materials for the Plane Stand.”

If you want to design a custom stand to your specific size requirements, refer to “Appendix A: Design a Custom Plane Stand,” which provides the details showing how to set or calculate the lengths of each segment. When you’ve worked through the information in that appendix, you’ll be ready to come back here to obtain the materials you need.

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Obtain the Materials for the Plane Stand With either the example stand’s or your custom stand’s design, you are ready to obtain the materials you need to build the stand. The stand can be built with a variety of PVC pipe sizes, such as !-inch schedule 40 or 1-inch schedule 40. The example stand was built using !-inch pipe. (Of course, you need to get pipe and connectors of the same size.)

If you are going to build the example stand, the materials you need are shown in the following table:

Component Quantity Length (Inches) Total Needed (Inches)

PVC Pipe

P1 4 26 104

P2 4 24 96

P3 4 3 12

P4 4 14 56

P5 4 8 32

Other Components

Component Quantity

90-degree elbows 4

45-degree connectors

4

T connectors 4

Cross connectors 2

Foam pipe insulation

1 length (typically comes in 6-foot lengths)

PVC cement 1

Tent pegs/stakes 2

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If you have designed a custom stand, use the list of materials you created in Appendix A instead of this table.

Most home improvement stores have the PVC pipe, fittings, insulation, and PVC cement.

You can calculate the total amount of PVC pipe you need by adding all of the Total Needed amounts together. PVC pipe usually comes in either 8- or 10-ft lengths so if you want to minimize the material you buy, you can plan each length of pipe so you buy the least amount of material. However, since PVC pipe is so inexpensive and can be used for many things, it’s usually just easier to determine the total length needed, divide by the total length by the length of the pipe you are purchasing, and add 1 pipe as spare material. For the example stand, the total pipe needed is 300 inches. If you are buying pipe in 10-ft lengths, that’s 2.5 pipes (300 inches / 120 inches). You might be able to get by with three lengths, but I recommend you get four to allow for mistakes or miscalculations. You can perform a similar calculation for a custom stand to determine how much pipe you need to buy.

The PVC cement is optional, and you won’t want to glue every joint so that you can disassemble the stand for transport. However, gluing some of the components together to create modules enables you to assemble and disassemble the stand more quickly and easily. And, it helps avoid losing the smaller parts while providing more stability.

To make the stand more secure, you can use tent pegs/stakes through the P1 segments into the ground. These are optional, but are inexpensive so there’s little reason not to have the extra security they provide. You can obtain the tent stakes/pegs at a local sporting goods or department store or get a pack of them from Amazon.com by using this link:

Tent Pegs at Amazon.com

With the materials in hand, you are ready to build the stand.

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Build the Plane Stand Building the stand is simple as you see in the following steps:

1. Cut the P1-P5 pipe segments to the lengths specified in the list of materials for the example stand or the list you created for a custom stand. It’s a good idea to label these segments (you can write on them with a Sharpie) for later assembly.

2. Gather all of the connectors you need.

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3. Start building one end by inserting two P5 segments into one cross connector.

4. Insert two P4 segments into the other two openings in the cross connector.

5. Add a T connector to the other end of each P4 segment.

6. Insert a P3 segment into each T-connector.

7. Add a 45-degree connector to each of the P3 segments.

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8. Insert a P2 segment into each 45-degree connector.

9. Add a 90-degree connector to the other end of each P2 segment.

10. Cut four lengths of pipe insulation to match the length of the P5 segments.

11. Add two of the insulation pieces to the P5 segments. This completes the assembly of one end.

12. Repeat steps 1 through 9 and step 11 to assemble the other end.

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13. If you are going to use the tent pegs/stakes linked in the list of materials, drill a 7/32-inch starter hole and enlarge that to the final size by drilling a 5/16-inch hole near the center of two of the P1 segments; these become the bottom P1 segments. It is helpful to sand, file, or cut a flat spot on the pipe first to make it easier to drill. (If you are using different tent pegs/stakes, drill the holes based on the diameter of the stakes you are using.) These holes are where you’ll pass the tent pegs/stakes into the ground to secure the stand. If you are going to use the stand only in places with a floor and won’t be using the tent pegs/stakes, skip this step.

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14. Attach the two ends together by connecting the two P1 segments to the 90-degree connectors at the bottom of the sides and the other two P1 segments to the T-connectors.

15. Secure the stand to the ground using the tent pegs. Assembly of the stand is complete.

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Finish the Plane Stand

1. Test the stand by placing models of different sizes on it and deciding if they are at the right height. If you designed a custom stand, it is likely that the stand will be a bit higher than the designed-to height because of the lengths added by the connectors. This difference will probably small, such as 2 or 3 inches.

2. If needed, you can adjust the height of the stand by changing the lengths of the P2 segments; these are the easiest segments to change because they change the height of the stand in a 1:1 relationship (e.g., if you shorten them by 1-inch, the stand will be 1-inch shorter). To make the stand shorter, you can cut the P2 segments down. If you need the stand to be taller, you’ll need to cut longer P2 segments to replace the original segments.

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3. Separate the stand at the connection between the T connectors and the P3 segments to convert it into “transport” mode.

4. When the stand is set up the way you want it to be, you might want to glue some of the components together to make assembly and disassembly easier and to avoid losing parts.

If you want to glue parts together, glue the P4 and P5 segments into the cross connectors and glue the T connectors to the P4 segments. Glue the P2, P3, 45-degree connectors, and 90-degree elbow connectors together. If you are going to use the “top part” of the stand by itself, don’t glue the P3 segments to the T connectors. (If you built the stand to use exclusively in your workshop, you might want to glue all of joints for maximum stability.)

When a stand is glued like described in the previous paragraph, assembly is easy. Insert two P3 segments into the T connectors to complete the sides and then connect the sides using the two sets of P1 segments (with the P1 segments with the holes going into the 90-degree elbows and the P1 segments without the holes going into the T connectors).

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Appendix A: Design a Custom Plane Stand If you want to design and build a custom stand, determine the dimensions of your stand as follows:

• The length of the stand is determined by the length of the P1 segments, which are the horizontal pipes that connect the two ends together to form the base of the stand and to connect the upper part of the stand for additional stability. The length of these segments should be no longer than the length of the shortest plane you store on it, measured from the front of the fuselage to the base of the vertical stabilizer (so the plane will fit in the stand inverted). You want the P1 pipes to be as long as possible for better stability with larger planes while being short enough to accommodate the shortest fuselage you’ll place on the stand. If you have planes that vary in length significantly, you may need P1 pipes of different lengths to accommodate the range in fuselage lengths you have. For the example stand, this length of the P1 segments is 26 inches so the stand is slightly more than 26 inches long.

• The height at which you want the plane to be off the ground when it is in the stand (referred to as X in the rest of this section) is determined by the combination of the lengths of the P2, P3, and P4 segments. (It is also impacted by how far down in the V formed by the two P5 segments the plane sits, but that is overly complicated to determine and doesn’t impact the overall height very much so it can be ignored). Since the P3 and P4 segments are at an angle, you need to do some calculations to determine the lengths of these segments.

The relationship of these lengths is shown in the following figure:

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• X = The total height of the stand. You define this distance based on how high you want the airplane to be when it is in the stand. In other words, you want X to be set so the plane is easily accessible when it is in the stand without you needing to be bent over or stretching to reach inside. The example stand’s height was set to be 36 inches, which means the distance from the ground to the bottom of the “V” will be about 36 inches. Depending on the width of the fuselage, the plane will sit a bit higher than this distance because the plane won’t sit all the way down the bottom of the “V.” But, this won’t impact the plane’s height much so you can ignore this additional height.

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• P2 is the length of the vertical segment. The length of this segment to achieve the total height of the stand also depends on the lengths of the P3 and P4 segments. In order to determine the length of each segment, you need set the lengths of some of the segments and calculate others. An easy way to set this is to use an arbitrary ratio, such as setting P2 to be 2/3 of the total height (X).

P2 = (2/3) * X

For the example stand:

X = 36 inches

P2 = (2/3) * 36 inches

P2 = 24 inches

• Now that you know X (total height) and the length of P2, you can calculate Z with the formula:

Z = X - P2


Z = 36 inches - 24 inches

Z = 12 inches

• Now that you know P2, X, and Z, you can calculate the total length of P3 + P4 using trigonometry. Because you are using a 45-degree fitting, we know the angles inside the triangle formed by Z and P3 + P4 are 45, 45, and 90 degrees. We can calculate the length of P3 + P4 as follows:

P3 + P4 = Z \ sin(45)


P3 + P4 = 12 inches \ sin(45)

P3 + P4 = 12 inches \ .707

P3 + P4 = 16.97 inches

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For simplicity, round this to P3 + P4 = 17 inches

• Next, determine the lengths of the individual segments P3 and P4. If you want to use the top part of the stand to transport a plane or put it on the ground, you can use the same type of calculations as for the length of P3 and P4 together.

• If you don’t want to use the top part of the stand for transport or as a low-height stand, you don’t need to determine individual lengths for P3 and P4 and can just set each to " the total length.

P3 = P4 = .5 * (P3 + P4)


P3 = P4 = .5 * 17

P3 = P4 = 8.5 inches

• If you do want to use the stand for transport, you need to determine how tall you want the upper portion to be, which is determined by the length of P4. To determine how long P4 should be, you need to know A, which is the height of the plane off the ground when just using the top part of the stand. You can determine this distance using the plane with the tallest vertical stabilizer that you will be storing in the stand. Measure the distance from the top of the fuselage at the base of the vertical stabilizer to the tip of the vertical stabilizer. Making the top part of the stand sit at least this high off the ground ensures that the planes will sit in the stand inverted when the stand is on the ground. For the example stand, A = 10 inches. To determine the length of the P4 segment, use a similar calculation as was used to determine the length of P3 + P4.

P4 = A \ sin(45)

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P4 = 10 inches \ sin(45)

P4 = 10 inches \ .707

P4 = 14.1 inches

Round this to P4 = 14 inches

• Now that P4’s length is known, the length of P3 can be calculated as follows:

P3 + P4 = 17 inches

P3 + 14 inches = 17 inches

P3 = 3 inches

• The last length to determine is for the P5 segments. These need to be long enough so that the distance between them is wide enough to support the widest fuselage you’ll be storing on the stand. Measure the widths of the fuselages you’ll be storing on the stand to determine the widest one. In the following figure, B is the width of the widest fuselage stored in the stand. For the example stand, B = 10 inches.

• You can calculate the length of the P5 segments using the following formula:

P5 = (0.5 * B) \ sin(45)


P5 = (0.5 * 10 inches) \ sin(45)

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P5 = 5 inches \ .707

P5 = 7.1 inches

Round this value up to provide more width at the top of the stand; for the example stand, P5 = 8 inches

Note that these calculations don’t account for the length added by the connectors. When you assemble the stand, it will likely be a bit taller than the calculations predict because each time you use a connector, it adds somewhere between #- to !-inches to the length of that segment. Also, the final height depends on how accurately you measure and cut the pipe segments. The difference in the actual height will probably not be a problem, but if it is, it is simple to reduce the final height by shortening the P2 segments until the stand is precisely the height you want.

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Now that you know the length of each segment of pipe, complete the following list of materials:

Component Quantity Length (Inches) Total Needed (Inches)

PVC Pipe

P1 4

P2 4

P3 4

P4 4

P5 4

Other Components

Component Quantity

90-degree elbows

4

45-degree connectors

4

T connectors 4

Cross connectors

2

Foam pipe insulation

1 length (typically comes in 8-foot lengths)

PVC cement 1

Tent pegs/stakes

2

When your list of materials is complete, move back to “Obtain the Materials for the Plane Stand” earlier in this document to continue the build process.