Engine mount reinforcements and steering inputs

Today we successfully tried running both the lift engine and the thrust engine simultaneously. Successfully too!

We started with just testing the thrust engine. Bringing it up to full throttle and making sure it was stable with the reinforced engine mounts.

We also tested the rudder action. I am amazed that it seems fully controllable without much load. And in the tests you can definitely feel the difference when adjusting the steering. The steering action is relatively light and seems responsive.

Here's the video of that test:

I actuated the rudders to see if we got good lateral pressure. There was definitely pressure. Hopefully it will be controllable.

And an alternate viewpoint:

The rear was restrained by Michael and Angel, while Christian kept the front from drifting too much. You can see as I try moving the rudder back and forth the craft is trying to move side to side. 

The travel available in the rudder is not symmetric. We calibrated the front such that the stick is centered, however the range of travel available at the stern is not centered so the stick's travel matches it. The mechanism at the back is adjustable with threads so I think I can tune it properly without too much work. Unfortunately though it does require disassembling the rudders to rotate the mounting point along the threads. 

We hovered in and out of the garage successfully as well as repositioning. 

Note getting the kill switches wired in is on the short list.





The hovering is now getting anti-climatic enough that I might consider not filming and editing every moment of it. 

And here's what we did today. 

The main work was to get the tiller mounted in the cockpit and connected to the steering cable. 

Trimming the hinge down to not go too far up the tiller

Is this where you mount a table leg? What side up?

The final tiller solution with the cable mounted on a hinged board and our table leg tiller attached to the hinge.

And the other main work was to reinforce the thrust engine mount. It now has diagonal braces both sideways and forwards. These are bolted into the boards which are glued to the base. So it is much more ridged now. 

Previously if I leaned on it with most of my weight it would visibly deform. Now it does not deform at all. 

Thanks to Michael and Angel for all their help as well as Christian who helped with today's progress and successful testing.  Special thanks to Angel for the in action shots.

And as a final note, I've ordered an important accessory, knee pads...