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Electric Airplane Tug

David Paule

Well Known Member
I got one of these this year for my non-RV.

It's easy to use and pushes the C180 around with plenty of power. My hangar has about a 1" lip at the door, and dragging the 6:00-6 main wheels (small for a C180) over that has been a real pain. This makes it easy. All I have to do is stand back and keep an eye on things while the tug does the work. Since it's remotely controlled (it's basically a large kit's toy) I can be anywhere around the plane to make sure it doesn't hit anything.

It has excellent speed control, including a high speed and a low speed "gear." The low speed is as fast as I care to walk while the plane is moving. Once in the open, sometimes it's convenient to flip the toggle into fast mode.

Since the C180 is about the weight of an RV-10, this thing would push that, too. But you'd have to check that their RV-10 version was ready, just to make sure that the nose wheel fairing didn't get damaged. They have versions for both nose and tailwheel airplanes, but most of the planes they show are certified - not all of them, though.

They have a page of videos.

Incidentally, they recommended that I get a smaller model for my plane, until I explained about the lip at the front of the hangar. This model is plenty good and might even be overkill.

They recommend keeping it on charge all the time, letting the battery managers handle that. So far, I haven't come close to running the batteries out.

I used to push the plane around by hand. As I got older and flew less, that got harder and harder to do. That hangar lip became a real pain for me.

Bottom line - it's a bit expensive but makes a hard job go easily. If it has any downside other than the cost, it's that it's not really practical to take with me. It's physically big and heavy.

Dave
 
AC AIR Technology Tug

I've got the same model (T1X2). I use it to move around a Glasair Sportsman 2+2. I'll soon have the Sportsman on Clamar Amphibious floats. I'm able to pull my Sportsman around with a tow bar while in its current tail wheel configuration as long as the terrain is flat. I too have about a 1" lip at the front of my hangar, as well as a slight incline leading up to it. It would be tough to pull the Sportsman over this lip by hand if I didn't get a "running start".

However, I tried pulling a friends Sportsman on amphibious floats around by hand. It was very, very tough to do, even on flat terrain. There would be no way I could do this up a slight incline and over a lip by myself. That's the main reason I bought the T1X2.

I've had the T1X2 for about five months now and I'm very pleased with it. It's easy and quick to use. The ability to walk around and make sure you're not going to hit stuff while moving the plane around is nice. I also added the LED lights to it. They make things much easier at night.

As Dave said, they aren't cheap, but they are very high quality units. It is rather large and weighs about 60 lbm. It would be tough to fit in a typical RV. However, they are much, much smaller and lighter than a golf cart or riding lawn mower that are usually used in this manner. It will easily fit in the back of a pickup truck or station wagon. At 60 lbm, you might need someone to help you wrestle it into the truck unless you've got a strong back.

The battery life is great. I've never had them run down on me, even when I have forgotten to plug them in and used them with the LED lights. The best thing about this is you can keep both the tug and the remote plugged into their respective chargers 100% of the time without damaging their batteries. The package arrived in a nicely padded, heavy duty cardboard box so there was very little chance of it being damaged during shipping.

Speaking of lights, I ordered my T1X2 with the LED light option and was pleasantly surprised when I didn't have to pay for the option since I purchased the T1X2 around the Xmas timeframe and they were having a Xmas special going on (free LED light upgrade). I didn't even ask for it (or know about the special deal either). AC AIR just automatically deducted the price of the LED lights from the order!! Very cool!! I'm not sure if they have this Xmas deal going on each year but it might be worth asking them about it.

As far as using the T1X2 on something as small and light as a two-seat RV, it would be a bit of overkill. It would be more than enough for a -10. It has no problem at all moving my Sportsman around. Sometimes "too much" is "just right"...

All in all, I'm very pleased with the T1X2. It's a high quality unit that works great. And believe me, when people see you use it, you definitely attract a crowd!!

I hope this helps!!

Jeff
 
question

How would it work with the -10's wheel pant?

I am not sure there would be sufficient clearance between the cross bars and my wheel pant...
 
I decided to roll my own ... yes, I?m a little crazy.

7A05B709-A410-4FF3-BA62-1BC389D6F23C-575x383.jpeg


0BE3C8EF-41BE-43F2-A4CA-A7B1528F39D9-575x383.jpeg
 
Yes!

I decided to roll my own ... yes, I?m a little crazy.

7A05B709-A410-4FF3-BA62-1BC389D6F23C-575x383.jpeg


0BE3C8EF-41BE-43F2-A4CA-A7B1528F39D9-575x383.jpeg

As I was looking at the ones at Oshkosh, I couldnt get over how much it looked like a Tamiya RC tank kit.
Glad to know someone rolled their own.

Heck, I think I have all the parts in my old RC box, except for the treads. Curious how you did that?
 
Glen, got CAD?

Yes.

The track system is comprised of parallel plates with standoffs. There are inner plates and outer plates. These were cut on a CNC from drawings in Fusion 360.

The tracks run on 3D printed sprockets - printed using Nylon. Only the upper rear sprocket on each track is sandwiched between metal plates to handle the drive torque.

I’ll have to figure out the best way to share the CAD material.
 
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Here are a few pics from the fabrication ...

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You can compare the inner and outer panels from this paint booth photo.

Inner panels have a set of square cutouts (described below).


original_edited-83-575x383.jpg


Here is the inner workings of the tank track panels. The standoffs and sprocket axles are all 2" long hex rod which have been tapped for 1/4"-20 screws. The tread sprockets are 3D printed from Nylon. The rear most nylon sprocket is sandwiched with metal plates as this sprocket is connected to the drive belt (visible in the last photo).


Not shown: Two DC motors attach to each panel at the circumference of the large metal gear. You can see the round hole for each motor in the last photo. This represents the first - and most significant - gear reduction.


original-11-575x383.jpg


The panels are mirror images. The only difference are a few cutouts on the right panel that were made "post fabrication" to test some "accessories" :cool: which could be mounted to the basic chassis.

The rear top cutout, the 1" box cutout (under the belt), and the 2" box cutout (aft of the black angle support for the carbon fiber deck) receive the cross members which form the finished chassis.

The two round holes are for the DC motors. The primary gears are inside the panels. The large gear within the panel is attached to the belt sprocket which then runs to the rear of the panel to connect back to the track drive sprocket inside the panel.
 
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Glen - thanks for posting about your homebrew tug. I'd welcome any info you might be able to share about the motors, batteries and most particularly how you achieve the remote control functionality.

I have an old track-driven snow blower that was donated to me. I thought its rubber tracks and drive pulleys would be a good starting point for a tow-bot. That's as far as I have gone, thanks to not having invested any more time in figuring out how to accomplish the remote control aspect.

I need a machine that will be brute-strong in order to negotiate up-slope operations, getting over humps and bumps, and slogging through snow. I looked at the tug referred to by the OP and realized it would not likely be successful in our operating environment, hence using the tracked snow blower as the starting point for the mechanism.
 
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