Tag Archives: Dayton

Squirrel and Dayton Appear at 3D Print-A-Thon

There has been a lot of hype about 3D printers in media over the past while. Of course the Squirrel Project has a couple of 3D printers so was invited to the Ottawa 3D Print-A-Thon. The event was very successful. I presented the idea of using 3D printers to perfect the propellers. Of course many fans of the Squirrel Project showed up and a couple of keen kids made a couple planes. I cooked up a Dayton myself.

Dayton Feedback

One of the pre-release Daytons went to Frank Schwartz of Tennessee. I used an experimental mailing method to Frank and it didn’t survive the postage handling. They mail guy decided to fold the box in half. How brilliant. But he fixed it and made is own version. He said that the original motor stick was weak. That’s actually already corrected in the current version of Dayton.

He said it’s flying very well but he still likes the Squirrel more. We’ll see after he receives the next revision.

By the way, I’ve developed a mailing list of 20 people who will receive the next revision. If this week isn’t too busy it may come forward then.

Here are Franks suggested changes:

Motor Stick:

He used 1/4 x  1/8″ and laminated a piece of 1/8 X 1/8 on top of it full length which made it 1/8 X 3/8. He had to  sand the front to fit the propeller nose piece.

Wing Mount:

1/8 X 3/8″ tack glued in place (after balancing).

Rear Hook:

Sharpened bamboo pushed into balsa at an angle. No glue. He said this was very strong.