Possible Composite X8

Posted by Michael Levesque on August 18, 2013 at 8:21am 
Hey guys! (and girls) I noticed a lot of people do love their X8 but they are pimping them quite a lot... Most of the time going above the max weight of the aircraft or going faster creating flutter. A composite airframe would help a lot in stiffening the desing and pushing the enveloppe.  

 If I was to produce a composite airframe from an X8 completly in fiberglass, would there be interest from members in this forum? I do not know how much it would cost so far. Just a ''yeah I would like one"" Just click the Like button. 

 thanks for your replies! I will look into it shortly.

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Tags: coposite, x8, airframe, flutter, possible, question, skywalker
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Replies

  • Tommy Larsen February 26, 2017 at 1:59am

    I got them here :)

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/ndnvk7ghh1c5vx4/UAV%20Deliverables.zip?dl=0



    Richard Sterling said:

    Does anyone know where I can find a 3D model of the X8?

    Thanks in advance,

    RS

    UAV Deliverables.zip
    Shared with Dropbox
  • Sebastian Arenas February 25, 2017 at 3:28pm

    I'd love to see pics of ur models. I was looking at an X8, but see that it has many options for design improvements, such as a wider fuselage, intake jets for engine cooling and other things

    Ronald Pandolfi said:

    There are several composite blended wings available including fiberglass and carbon fiber.  One is now in service in Africa supporting counter poaching missions.  Optimized composite blended wings have a somewhat different shape as compared with an X-8 because they achieve stiffening through a different process.  There also are a few 3-D printed blended wings that look nearly identical to an X-8. For a hobbyist, I would recommend the 3-D printing approach rather than fiberglass or carbon fiber layout.  If you design a good aircraft (Blender, Solid Works, etc.), I would be glad to assist in printing with aircraft grade glass filled nylon or carbon filled nylon.  Better yet, form a team and participate in the Wildlife Conservation UAV Challenge.

  • Richard Sterling December 5, 2016 at 12:53pm

    Does anyone know where I can find a 3D model of the X8?

    Thanks in advance,

    RS

  • Andrew Rabbitt October 29, 2014 at 6:10pm

    I've been working on a wing design that's quasi-Skyfun size (1000mm span) but I keep running into MTOW/payload issues with the equipment I want to have on board.  I'm beginning to think I need to scale it up to achieve my goals.  Currently I want to have a ~10m/s stall at 1.2kg.  If I were to scale it to 1600mm, that would give me about 2.5kg total, 1.0kg airframe.

    I plan to mould it from composite in aluminium moulds, including embedding the telemetry and FPV tx's in each wingtip during layup/moulding.  Question is, what sort of kit does everyone want to carry about?  My list is currently a forward looking camera, an ortho camera, telemetry (915MHz), FPV Tx (undecided) and enough power to cruise (15-18m/s) for 30mins or so, minimum.

    Anyway, it looks a lot like this right now:

    3701863032?profile=originalThoughts?

    • Ahmed Rehan > Andrew Rabbitt October 30, 2014 at 11:39am
      I have done a 2M wing with composite and non composite versions will start producing them shortly.
    • Gabriel > Ahmed Rehan May 25, 2015 at 4:32pm

      any links or updates?

    • Alex Maltais > Gabriel July 28, 2015 at 10:15am

      Up, any links or updates?

      Thanks

  • Ronald Pandolfi October 28, 2014 at 5:26pm

    Great List of suggested upgrades!  Although I too like and continue to enjoy the X8, it is not perfect nor is it well suited for composites.  At Kashmir World Foundation we have created a much improved blended wing body aircraft that includes all your suggestions and more.  Best of all, it is an open source project. To access the project, you must sign up with Kashmir World Foundation.  Currently CAD is in Rhinoceros 5 and Fusion 360. Neither is open source, but you can get free use of Fusion 360 via Kashmir World Foundation at www.kashmirworldfoundation.org

    • Richard Sterling > Ronald Pandolfi May 2, 2015 at 12:23pm

      @Ronald: are those CAD files still available? I had a look on the website but couldn't find them, may not be looking in the right place?

      Cheers,

      Richard

    • Ronald Pandolfi > Richard Sterling May 2, 2015 at 12:45pm

      These and other CAD files are available, but only to interns with Kashmir World Foundation. You can apply at http://www.kashmirworldfoundation.org/#!interns/cv4i

      and also send a note to Princess Aliyah via Aliyah@kashmirworldfoundation.org 

      We had to restrict access to the files because the highly integrated aerostructures contain voids for sensors and other special devices used to engage wildlife poachers -- information we do not want accessible by the poachers.

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