A brace of Pixies - Irvine & OS

[Mike_K]

Hi Ron

It looks so good it could be an original Pixie you've converted, are you sure it was 3D printed?

And with a couple of other Pixies being made, who's going to break the news to Shaun and Tobe that the mass build for Ponte this year is an OS Pixie Tx, not a model

I guess I better finish drawing the OS Pixie MK2 so we have a choice which version of the Pixie we build. Sorry Neil I've started drawing it in OpenSCAD, so I'll finish it in OpenSCAD, then you can draw or fix it in TinkerCAD...

Cheers

Mike

[RON]

Thanks mike
The only thing I’m not 100% happy with is when I tried painting the white lettering. My hand is just not steady enough. I ended up flooding it with paint then wiping it over with a damp cloth. Not ideal but not too bad. It’s not as easy as it sounds painting the lettering. I’ll let the blue paint harden for a week then tcut the flat surface where the lettering is to try and remove some more of the white residue.
Decals on tomorrow

Ron.

[tiptipflyer]

Thank you guys for all the work and the inspiration.

I hope, that the 3D printed Pixie cases will arrive today. I will try to do two versions, one will be 2.4G with an Orange module, which I hopefully can squeeze in. The other will be 35MHz with a Futaba style module, which will be even harder to get in that tiny case. The more difficult the task, the bigger the fun when solved.
I just ordered more 2.4G modules for the next O.S. Pixie MK2. Mike and Neil, I appreciate your work to draw those cases very much.
I found a guy here in Germany, who is printing them for a very reasonable price. I am very eager to see the results.

Cheers
Frank

[RON]

Thanks Frank,
Looking forward to seeing your pixie transmitters.
It’ll be interesting to see how you fit the radio inside.
It was extremely tight in mine. I had to chop some pcb from the encoder. Maybe would be better to custom make a pcb or vero encoder.

Ron.

[Phil_G]

I can do the standard S/C encoder on the tiny ICP07 board if anyone wants them, I'd have to order some though as the price has tripled so I didnt replenish my stock... the buzzer and leds are all on flyleads so would be easier to mount. Only the physical presentation is different, electrically, functionally & software-wise its identical to the old faithful. About 1" square plus the external leds & buzzer on flyleads.

On the genuine Pixie conversion I trimmed off the Futaba connector and had to make a small recess with a round file for the internal post, see the red lines:

I mounted everything flat on the encoder but there was no need, as height isnt the problem.
Cheers
Phil

PS just thought of another alternative, I have 100 redundant PCB's left over from the DX5e rudder-only S/C project, unforch they run off 5v and have no regulator, so you'd have to provide that externally.
With a Flysky RF module you'd have a convenient 5v from the module, but thats only Flysky, others
would need a regulator. I dont like the 78L05 (too high dropout) but I know a lot do use them, I use the LP2950 LDO. I'll have a look to see how easy it would be to patch one onto the pcb.

[RON]

Thanks Phil

I’m tempted to build another in say “special edition red”
Just a thought.

I’ll get some quotes for a 3D printed case.

Ron.

[Igull]

The only thing I’m not 100% happy with is when I tried painting the white lettering. My hand is just not steady enough. I ended up flooding it with paint then wiping it over with a damp cloth.

Here's a tip from the mid part of the 20th century, don't use a brush, use either an old drafting pen with white cellulose paint or the more modern approach, a white 0.8mm united office 'metallic marker' from Lidl I had to do something similar on an old Perdio radio I was fixing for somebody recently - worked a treat on the sunken lettering - dries pretty fast too and it has a bonus - a lovely aroma of dope
Cheers
Neil

[RON]

Thanks, that's a great idea Neil,
I'll maybe try that on my special edition red version (if I build one)

Ron

[Mosfets]

Thanks Phil

I’m tempted to build another in say “special edition red”
Just a thought.

I’ll get some quotes for a 3D printed case.

Ron.

Hi Ron

Another quality build from you Ron, it is up to your usual professional standards.

If you don't mind me asking.....what did you print your case with, ABS/PLA? and what is your method of getting such a good finish?

Ade

[RON]

Ade,
I’m not sure, it was printed by neil, I think it was Pla.
Used filler primer and fine wet n dry. Took some doing depends how far you wanna go with it.
Local car shop for the spray filler and China blue carplan paint for the colour very slightly darker than original but near enough.

Phil, never thought of using toothpaste for the lettering , only thing is it would have a red and blue stripe in it

Ron.