exe utility, and folders of airfoil coordinates. exe (PC) includes the routine, readme file, Tab_2_Space. Now off to design that next model! We have to keep proliferating graceful flying objects y'know.ĪIRFOILS. I hope RC Soaring Digest readers will find this program useful. Some of the readme files may not exactly reflect Macintosh AutoCAD usage. You will find all instructions/descriptions in the “ readme” files as well as in the header of the Airfoil. exe” is a small text processor, Tex-Edit Plus, which can rapidly exchange the “tab” character for a “space” character and quickly go unless you have one of the Mac programs that simulate a PC. The only thing that you Mac users may not be able to run is the “Tab_2_Space. The Autolisp routines and data files will work on a Macintosh if someone happens to be running AutoCAD Release12 (the last version for the Mac). but it's nice to have because it saves so much time and the possibility of making errors when editing data by hand. Most all airfoil data is space delimited, so 99% of the time, the utility is not needed. This is needed sometimes because Autolisp does not have the ability to recognize the tab character in data files. exe” utility takes a whole batch (folder full of) of airfoil data which is tab delimited and replaces all of the tabs with spaces. Other data requirements are easy to check and correct. This takes care of the only real quirk in using Airfoil. This utility was written by a friend of mine for one of his projects and he kindly modified it for our use here. Rather than having to manually edit out tabs in the data files, I have included a handy utility which can take a whole batch of files and convert all of the tab characters in all of the files into spaces and then place these converted files into a new folder. For some reason, Autolisp cannot recognize the “tab” character, so it is not possible for the routine to sort this out. Inconveniences: Some airfoil coordinate data is tab delimited. The airfoil data files were gleaned from a number of web-based resources. exe” file contains the program, the “ readme” file, and also several folders of airfoil data. I assume that since the original program has been in the public domain for quite some time, that the original author won't mind the improvements. The original author is noted at the beginning of the file, but so far all efforts to find him have been futile. I re-wrote some of the code and added to it in order to make it work easily. The original program was downloaded from the web back in 1995 and was deficient in several ways. lsp is also a text file so it may be scrutinized easily if you wish. txt.Very fast, very simple.įor more info, see the “” file. All that is needed is the airfoils’ X & Y coordinate data. An airfoil can be selected and drawn to any length of chord and thickness desired. After the program is loaded, just type the word “airfoil” any time you desire and the routine is running. When designing a model plane in AutoCAD, the routine can call up and draw airfoils directly into the drawing without having to use any other programs or intermediate steps. No fancy installation/removal steps are needed. It can be installed or removed almost as easily as moving or deleting a folder. This is a routine written entirely in Autolisp, so it runs within AutoCAD without depending on any external resources. I have an airfoil plotting program written for AutoCAD users who design their own planes using that program. If you use AutoCAD and want to draw airfoils then this program is an absolute must for you. It's just a click away.īelow is the article as it appeared in the R/C Soaring Digest, with links to where you can download the program. I even went so far as to create my own button for Airfoils, so I don't even have to type anything. I just followed the instructions and installed the program and am extremely happy with the results. I am no computer boff but I managed to get it all working without any problems. It sounded very interesting and as I use AutoCAD I thought that I would give it a try. The Airfoil selection dialog box is open and my Jart drawing is in the background. In the February 2005 R/C Soaring Digest I discovered an airfoil plotting program written for AutoCAD users.Ībove is a screen shot of my AutoCAD at work.
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