Techpod, Kickstarter UA project

The problem:

Like my airplane? Want it for your self? Well, you can’t have it! Sorry, I only have one. I would love to make a whole bunch of Techpods for as cheap as possible so that everyone can have one if they want. The problem is that this Techpod is just a prototype made out of CNC cut styrofoam and was very time consuming to make and assemble.

The answer:

Molded expanded polyolefin (EPO) foam. Very tough and flexible. Very fast to reproduce. I have been talking with the guys at  world Models they have been making RC airplanes for years and offered to prototype and produce the Techpod. They offer a turn key solution for producing r/c airplane kits .

The road block:

The aluminum molds needed to make an airplane out of EPO the size of mine, are $12,000+ each and I need two. Plus, the minimum quantity for an order is 500 units giving me a grand total of $45,000 to have 500 in-the -box kits ready to ship with all the parts and hardware (no electronics included).

$45,000! I work for a living and don’t have that much money laying around.

To the rescue !:

This is where you come in. I figure if I can get 225 people to pre-order, the road block will be gone! Then everyone can enjoy the Techpod. Everyone from hobby FPVers to college students working on a degree related to U.A.V.s. Rescue aid workers in remote parts of the world can use this platform to deliver medicine and medical samples across miles of impassable terrain. Rescue workers wanting an inexpensive way to quickly map out a recent disaster zone can outfit the Techpod with a high resolution camera and get real time information.

Happiness:

After I receive the funds, I can place the order.  Airborne Models says it will take them 100 days to fill the order, add a couple weeks for the container to arrive from china . Then I can ship the Techpods out to all my awesome  supporters !

Sadness:

If you don’t help it won’t be a success !

Well, I think it can still be successful but I will have to go to Mr.Moneybags for financing. I don’t want to do that!  He is just going to want all the money and it will jack up the price hugely. That makes me sad :’-( which would make you sad too because you don’t have this awesome airplane. I don’t like that kind of thing, I want EVERYONE to be able to afford it!  :-)

This is how I created the Techpod:

The first step was to select the airfoils. I use Xfoil to select it here is a picture of the polar graphs generated by it.

After extensive reiterative analysis using many different combinations of renyolds numbers and alpha. The aerodynamic bodies can be fleshed out.

After i was satisfied with the results, I proceeded to flesh things out in CAD. I wanted to reduce drag so I made some initial rough drafts and after about 300 plus hours of compute time utilizing Navier-Stokes analysis.

I settled on this form for the fuselage and wings.

It features a clear dome attached to the nose with a pan and tilt camera system mounted directly behind it. Giving the camera an unobstructed 180 degree view out the front. No prop, no fuselage in the shot, plus a nice aerodynamic cover so your cool camera and gear is not out flapping in the wind.

The all important specs:

• Cruise Speed: 32knots
• Max speed – 55knots
• Climb Rate – 2000 ft/min
• Wingspan = 102 in
• wing area =  605 sq in
• Wing loading = 1.191 lbs per sq ft @ 5 lbs
• Fuselage Length = 45 in
• Dry weight = 2.75 lbs*
• loaded weight =5.0lbs (2.25 lbs of battery/payload)
• EPO Wings and fusalage contruction
• Carbon Fiber Tail Boom and wing spars
• flight times well in excess of 1 hour
• assembly time 5 hours

Required for flight, not included:

• Motor : E-flight Power 10 brushless in runner
• ESC : Castle creation Thunderbird-54
• Batteries: Thunderpower Pro Light v2 3S 2600 mah x2 wired parallel
• Servos:
• 6x hitec HS-81 (elevator,rudder,ailerons,flaps)
• 2x HS-55 (pan,tilt)
• TX & RX Spectrum DX-7
• Prop: APC E11x7
• Camera: CCD Killer Camera Micro NTSC Camera
• or equivalent components

Here are all the cool stuff you get in a kit:

Now that you have read and seen a lot about the techpod , please allow me to clearly describe how and who will be making them .

The Factory :

I have been working with Fia over at Airborn Models based out of Livermore, California. They are the North American distributors for The World Models,  which has its headquarters in Hong Kong. They have been making ready to fly airplanes since 1993 and offer a turn-key solution. The Techpods will be produced in China and shipped to me via shipping container.  I will rent a storage unit to store the units and get busy shipping them out as soon as they arrive.

Here are just some of the people who have been helping me along the way :

John Smith

Dave skala

Zak Venturo

Nick Weber

Alen Hornstraw

Ken Reid

My video producer – Kasi Reid

Most of all my beautiful wife, Diane Garris.

Special thanks to all my friends and supporters at DIYdrones.com

and a big thanks to Chris Anderson for creating an industry

Thank you so much, guys !!!

And did I tell you it won an award recently? :-)

FAQ:

– Can you mount a GoPro in the nose ?

– yes you can .

Tell me more about how the wings mount:

the main spar consists of a single 9mm OD x 7mm ID tube . one for each wing    extending to about 3 inches away from the wing tip .this is fully glued and embedded into the wing .  The two wing halves are joined by a 4 foot long solid carbon fiber rod that is 7mm and slides into the main spars . There is a brass sleeve glued over the inboard end of the carbon fiber tubes to keep the ends from splitting or exploding

this is slide through the “capture box” in the fuselage . then it is clamped down by a alen head screw accessed through a small hole in the top of the fulelage after the second wing spare is slide over the 7mm rod and into the capture box .

Test flight video :