Single DIY aileron actuators from an old umbrella.

by cdfigueredo | July 22, 2019 | (7) Posted in Tips

Here's a simple, inexpensive way to build your own aileron actuators.

An old umbrella is an excellent source of materials for RC. The ribs can be used to make control rods. The central tube is made of a very light and resistant metal that can be used as a guide for the union of the removable wings. And the fabric can be used to make parachutes. Maybe someday I will make a full tutorial of the use of these. But today I want to share with you this cheap and simple technique to create aileron actuators taken from Jivaro-models an excellent French site with very good tutorials and tips.



Let's start
To create the actuators, I have used part of the ribs that go to the tips of the umbrella. 


These rods have a small hole in the tip. With the help of a metal saw, or a cutting clamp, we remove the excess from the tip. Make sure you file well so you don't cut yourself later.


The problem is that this hole is too big to insert a control rod, it would be too loose.


The solution

To solve this problem, I used a cotton swab (let's be clear, I used a clean one   ). Removing the cotton part we get a plastic tube that can be used for many things, including guides for control rods. 


By inserting the rod into the tube and pushing it, the tube gets stuck at the tip of the rod. Then we cut off the leftover plastic tube. This can also be done with a shrink tubing.


Then we open a small hole through the plastic and expand it with the control rod we are going to use. 



The rest is to bend the control rods and adjust them to the model. By adding V-shaped folds we can adjust the accuracy and center the control rods.


Thanks for reading, I hope this tip is useful for you.

COMMENTS

farmer on August 4, 2019
Very cool I used those parts for a different reason we'll kind of the same before we had Delta mixing or it couldn't afford a radio that had it we would do our own mechanical mixing with the umbrella spines and two servos it didn't weigh much and it works great. So many uses I've never seen it used like this before which is great I'll have to try it sometime. And no I'm not that old that we didn't have radios with mixing It's just sometimes it's fun to challenge yourself.

Thanks for sharing surprised nobody else has commented on it.
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cdfigueredo on August 5, 2019
Hey guys, thanks for commenting. Following the spirit of DIY and making use of what is at hand here, so these ideas arise.
I'm glad it can be useful for you.
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rblubaugh on August 4, 2019
Thanks, great suggestion and easy too.

Bob
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Single DIY aileron actuators from an old umbrella.