Hi everyone!!
      I'm planning to build an ornithopter for a competition in iit madras.I had decided to follow the design of kestrel ornithopter but unfortunately I was not able to find any plans of that design. so i'm designing my own ornithopter.I'll list the specifications,materials I have choosen to work with,techniques and drawings. I request the forum experts to go through it and correct me in case of any faults in my design or the materials I have choosen.

(p.s: I'm a beginner in RC and a dummy in electronics so please don't mind)

SPECIFICATIONS:
wing span: 30 inches
overall length:15 inches
frequency of beats: 5 beats/second
control: 3CH (two tail functions using servos and one main wing motor)
overall weight(including Lipo) : 300g (expected)
MATERIALS USED:
main body: carbon fiber plates of 2mm thickness
wing spars and stiffeners: carbon fiber rods of 3mm diameter
wing membrane: Mylar sheet
glues: Araldite(for joining the CF rods) and fevibond (for sticking the wing membrane yo the CF rods)
gears : nylon
shafts: steel rods of 5mm dia
misc: derlin bushes and micro ball bearings
ELECTRONICS:
Main motor: MOTOR DY 2812-14 1400KV(RC FOR ALL BRUSHLESS)
ESC: 20A ESC(rc for all)
Tail servos:two metal gear 15gram servos from rc for all
Tx and Rx : FLYSKY 2.4Ghz 4ch
battery: 7.2v Lipo 800mah 2c

          I also have a doubt,please don't mind if it is very silly . I need only 300 rpm at my output shaft, as you can see the motor I've choosen runs around
10000 rpm,using gear reduction to reduce the speed will increase my weight as the ratio is around 33:1. i need a solution for this problem.Will I be able to control the max rpm of motor by setting the max speed in the ESC at a lower value?

(p.s: this is my first RC project)

                                                                                                  Thank you! 

guys, I'm desperate here....

hi mate.
that is usualy done using the tx in heli mode, then you can set your own revs at any piont in the throttle range ...usualy 5 piont adjustment.
regards
don

Thanks for the reply sir, but the Tx I'm having is a cheap one and doesn't have that facilities

Hi Deepu,
You'll have to use gear reduction. Contrary to what you are thinking, gear reduction will actually reduce weight. That motor you have cannot move you wings, it will most probably burn out within seconds. It just doesn't have enough torque. Now to get more torque there are two options; either use a bigger motor or use gear reduction. Using gears is going to be many times lighter than getting a bigger motor. So basically there is no escaping the gears for what you are trying to achieve!  

Thank You sunlikestar, work in progress, I'll post my build and maiden flight soon.

hi mate,
you need something like a main gear from a small heli.....esky lama perhaps.....
then you attach your wing rods to the big gear and put a small 'pinion on the motor to drive the gear
think of a steam engine wheels... they have a 'crank' that connects the big wheels well that is what you wing rods will be they will  be ... .
  both on one rod/bolt like this....lighter.........only one rod/bolt.........
the 'crank' the wing rods are on will be your gear instead. giving you the slower turn for the wings


regards
don

The flapping wing mechanism I've chosen is a little different from your rubber band powered model, but the concept remains the same. I have attached a file showing the flapping wing mechanism. As you can the gears are facing sideways, I believe that these sideways facing gears will act as gyros and provide stability, assisting the straight flight of the ornithopter. Please correct me if I'm wrong

hi mate.
that was just an illustration from the web with the rubber band drive to show the mechanics. did you see how far from the spindle center the wing rods are?
you will need the ball joint farther away from the center to give a 'min 45 degree' 'flap' on the wings...that looks very close to the center spindle of the gear.  or the wings will need to flap too fast.
the gears will not be spinning fast enough to give any real stability and be too small, but there will be less wind resistance with them in line with the frame like that..
regards
don

Hello sir,
         Sorry for the late reply.The ornithopter in the picture I've posted previously is the "KESTREL" designed by Sean Kinkade. Unlike what you think it produces a 50 degree flap. The ball joint on the top is attached to the wing spar very close to wing spar's pivot point, so a very small off set of the bottom ball joint from the spindle is sufficient to produce the 50 degree flap. I have two large gears in my design( OD:70mm, Weight:30 grams each) and one of them will be spinning at 1250 rpm(at max speed of the motor). My ornithopter weighs around 300 grams. Is the gyroscopic effect produced by the gear too small to stabilize my ornithopter. Just thought that some specifications would help you to help me.

Sorry for the very late update friends!!!
Glide test:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woIc0ZJKO5Y&context=C4062f70ADvjVQa1PpcFO9ULRjMTPGODmswQhOyH3_3iIQ29hjeJ4=

Test stand video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1uI9RCRqVw&context=C48e4626ADvjVQa1PpcFO9ULRjMTPGOKFjkSc9gtLQEEdy8MlP_0s=

maiden flight:
       
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqaoUHvlinY&context=C45f4028ADvjVQa1PpcFO9ULRjMTPGOEl8n2ZVN_ww2XRCmxUGdz8=

Wow! Good job mate!   

Great job. Best of luck for the competition

GREAT build deepu... 
all the best to you

Well done mate...!



Good luck for the competition. Please let us know whatever happens in competition.

Cheers.

Brilliant, post some more videos please. Looks so beautiful and best of luck for the competition.

Congratulation Deepu5292 on successful build and maiden. Please post some close up pictures of important parts like gear assembly, main wing hinge, tail section etc..

Thank you guys for your support
Unfortunately I was't able to participate in the competition at IIT M because my model wasn't complete at that time.
But I did participate in the sp4mm3r of IIT KANPUR  a few months back in an event named "EAGLE". The objective of the event was to build an unconventional flying model of any sort.
My model still wasn't flying because there were some major problems with the wing sail. But I decided to participate.
Fate gave me the toughest opponent I could possibly imagine. The only other college student in India to my knowledge, with a flying orni model(and a good one too) in hand was my competitor. He had also won the same event last year.
His name is Joydeep bhowmik.He is doing his M Tech in IIT K. He is also a member of this forum and also have started a thread about his work. His model RAVEN was light years ahead of my model. Raven was a beautiful slow flapper that graciously rounded the skies of IIT K.
Even though I was his competitor he was very sportive and gave me some useful advice about the mechanics of an ornithopter, which proved to be very helpful lately.
He was definetly an Inspiration to me next to Mr Nandakumar sir

@Sun like star: I do have the pictures of the gear assembly... etc but their sizes are more than 200 KB each so I'll upload them in a photo sharing website and post the link.  

where i can get the material for ornithopter project........please help me.

wow man what a flying machine 

I am designing a foldable ornithopter. can you suggest me how to perfprm aerodynamic analysis of it? Any software?

@biswajit sir,
Welcome to RCI, since this is your first post.

Curious about a few things in your post. Perhaps you may like to clarify.
1. Whats a folding ornithopter?
2. When you ask for 'aerodynamic analysis', what exactly are you looking for?

One of our local flyers, and RCI member (lugosgaurav) successfully flew an ornithopter last year. Video is there on RCI. He's now with an aerospace company. Try to PM him for assistance with your project.

Regards.

Where you buy these parts for your project