Lightweight Skyray 36 repairs

The nose of my Skyray is the last of my planes waiting for repairs.
 
The damaged nose formers from a previous repair are printed so no problem duplicating them as I have all the Cad files except my Anet A8 printer nozzle is blocked and the tiny Allen set screws that clamp the heating element are completely immovable. Repeated heating of steel in aluminium is not an ideal combination.. 

A new hot end is required.
No problem to find one and still cheap at £5 but not exactly with next day delivery!
The Skyray nose rebuild will just have to wait a bit but then it has already been waiting for nearly a year! 


 

I actually disassembled the printer hot end, removed the 0.4 nozzle and managed to dig out a well cooked PLA blob, then pushed a number 78 drill (from my dad's collection) through nozzle. Reassembled it all and it worked fine so with 3 reprinted formers the nose planking could be slowly replaced.
I took several days work before it looked like this.
 
The underside damage was more severe.
 
Note the copious masking tape strips to hold everything in place till the glue dries!
A new LW-PA printed nose (2 walls thick), some filler, a light sand and acrylic paint it now looks like this.
 
Just some minor repairs to the battery box in the cockpit and it is ready to go. 
At 36" span it is 'silly' light at just 565g (20oz) and that includes the128g for its1500mAh 5s LiPo.
That now means all the planes I broke in 2025 are now flyable again.
  
  

I don't want to be accused of trying to teach my grandad how to suck eggs but when I put a smaller nozzle in mine I found a good video which of course I cannot find now.

The gist of it was -
Heat up the nozzle to help free it.
Switch the printer off.
Remove the fan assembly.
Hold the heater block with mole grips & unscrew the nozzle.
Back off the heat exchanger.
Screw in the new nozzle hand tight to the block.
Screw the heat exchanger back down until it makes contact with the nozzle.
Tighten the nozzle.

The point of the exercise is to avoid leaving a gap between the nozzle & the heat exchanger or overtightening them. The replacement nozzles I bought had a different thread length to the original so the full precedure was essential.

I would agree entirely except I am noted for be frugal so I only use a replacement nozzle if I absolutely have to!   

My boast that all the planes I broke last year are repaired did not last long!
 
So its on with nose rebuild no5!
One advantage of doing this so many times is files for the formers are all ready to print.
 
8 formers printed in 25 minutes and of course all exactly the same as the previous sets.
Now comes the tricky part actually using them!   
 

To get the maximum density on the bed the former halves are arranged above and below the centre trapezium. The halves glued together
 
As far as size goes the two halves of each former are generated from the same stl but one is inverted 180 degrees on the printer bed thus each half is a exact "mirror image" of the other. 

A start on new nose no5. All the formers now in position.
 
The new nose is built "cantilevered" from the existing structure just using some measurement and lots of eyeball!
It is supposed to get easier as more planking goes on.   

The latest progress on the nose rebuild No 5.
 
Now structurally complete although many of the planks are still held in place with bits of masking tape until the glue dries.
Still have to solve the problem of the motor cutting out after a few seconds of flight.   

Looking really good

I am pretty sure I have solved the motor cutting out issue.
Written on the trailing edge of the Skyray is it weight and the letters "DX6i"
 
At the last crash I was using the Hobby King TX6i transmitter and I had already discovered that the REDCON receiver it uses only worked properly on the Spektrum DX6i Transmitter which is why I wrote in the plane!  Doh!
Just a few paint touch ups and it is finished - again!