Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
Ah okay! My bed will actually go to 100, so no problems there..I don't have an enclosed printer but I have made a enclosure out of foamboard and it seemed to work really well! (I was printing in a cold garage with pla)
2026 Speed Challenge - Telnar1236
- Thread starter telnar1236
- Start date
telnar1236
Master member
Nice, yeah, anything that gets the temperature up around the print and shields it from drafts is super helpful - you can also turn the fan way down to maybe 5-10% to get better layer adhesion. I don't think CF-ABS warps much worse than PLA under most circumstances
telnar1236
Master member
I keep seeing this planform on a lot of high-speed planes so figured I'd maybe give it a go. Both the current record holder and the Kingfisher use it like you said, so there must be something to it - I remain unconvinced that it's better than something more conventional, but it certainly isn't bad. Might or might not make it into the 64mm design if it gets built at all
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
I'll probably try to go for LW-ABS, what nozzle temp is usually best?
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
We shall see in the end!👍 (If you finish designing it and don't have time to build it I might be interested in trying it!...That is, if you want too👍)
telnar1236
Master member
For a 0.4 mm nozzle, this is what I've found works well for different filaments
- PLA: 220 C nozzle, 60-65 C bed, 0.98 extrusion ratio, 0.38 mm line width, 100% fan, no enclosure
- LW-PLA: 255 C nozzle, 60 C bed, 0.6 extrusion ratio, 0.4 mm line width, 100% fan, no retractions, no enclosure
- ABS: 250-270 C nozzle (hotter is typically better but can be issues with heat build up), 100 C bed, 1 extrusion ratio, 0.38 line width, 5-10% fan (more fan only for steep overhangs or very short layer times), print in enclosure
- ASA: same as ABS
- CF-ABS: 270 C nozzle, 95 C bed, 0.98 extrusion ratio, 0.38mm line width, 5-10% fan, ideally print pretty slowly, print in enclosure
- TPU: 235 C nozzle, no bed heating required, 0.4mm line width, 100% fan, no retractions to avoid jams/clogs, no enclosure, good for tires on planes
- LW-ASA: who knows: 260-270C nozzle, 90 C bed, 0.7 extrusion ratio (otherwise it's too weak), 0.4mm line width, fan speed is a lottery, no enclosure, no retractions, super prone to jams/clogs
- PA6 nylon: 280 C nozzle, 85 C bed, 0.98 extrusion ratio, 0.4mm line width, 15% fan, needs enclosure, 8mm^3/second max volumetric flow rate, good for wheels but warps too much with single wall to use for a whole plane
- PA612-CF nylon: 300 C nozzle, 50 C bed, 0.98 extrusion ratio, 0.4mm line width, 20% fan, no enclosure, 5mm^3/second max volumetric flow rate - almost PLA easy to print if you can get the nozzle hot enough and keep the filament dry, but pretty expensive - I only use this for gear struts
- PETG-GF: 260 C nozzle, 85 C bed, 0.98 extrusion ratio, 0.4mm line width, 30% fan, no enclosure, 8mm/second max volumetric flow rate, good for wheels on planes up to ~1.5 kg
- PA6-GF nylon: impossible to print with a 0.4mm nozzle, needs a 0.6mm nozzle minimum, otherwise same as carbon fiber filled nylon
- PETG: not suitable for RC planes due to weight and lower strength than PLA - can used for decorative parts and canopies
- PP-CF: not suitable for RC planes due to being too flexible, also a huge pain to print
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
WOW, thanks!😂😂👍
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
I think my nozzle goes to 300℃ so i should be fine with all of these!
Mr Man
Mr SPEED!
Wow, that's an awesome list! Definitely gonna bookmark it!
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
Same here!👍
telnar1236
Master member
Hopefully, it's helpful - different printers might perform a bit differently
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
BTW, which one do you have?
telnar1236
Master member
Sometimes a project just comes together. The 64mm design is one of them. Yesterday evening I was curious how a more conventional delta would compare to the cranked arrow/ogival delta I was looking at previously, and turned out the more conventional design is better, at least for RC plane speeds and scales. And then, a couple hours later, I had most of a design ready to go.
It's a very simple 3 channel plane with a fairly conventional layout but it should have about as close to zero drag as it's possible to get. The wing is symmetrical with no washout going from a NACA 0004 airfoil at the root to a NACA 0006 airfoil at the tip, but because it's a delta it can actually handle such a thin wing. The servos don't quite fit, so they go in bulged out fairings which based on CFD incur barely any penalty. Control rods are external for simplicity.
The only other particularly interesting thing going on is the way the hatch is designed. Hatches for these speed planes have been a problem I've been trying to solve for a while since you need them to be extra strong but also not add drag. So for this design the entire nose comes off using 3D printed threads and the battery will sit on a tray that projects forwards into that section (the tray isn't in the CAD quite yet). Ignore the threads not quite lining up - that's just Fusion 360 being weird.
And I've even gotten the wings and the sections of the fuselage with the threads printed. The female threads print a bit messy but they still work perfectly well as you can see in the second photo.
It's a very simple 3 channel plane with a fairly conventional layout but it should have about as close to zero drag as it's possible to get. The wing is symmetrical with no washout going from a NACA 0004 airfoil at the root to a NACA 0006 airfoil at the tip, but because it's a delta it can actually handle such a thin wing. The servos don't quite fit, so they go in bulged out fairings which based on CFD incur barely any penalty. Control rods are external for simplicity.
The only other particularly interesting thing going on is the way the hatch is designed. Hatches for these speed planes have been a problem I've been trying to solve for a while since you need them to be extra strong but also not add drag. So for this design the entire nose comes off using 3D printed threads and the battery will sit on a tray that projects forwards into that section (the tray isn't in the CAD quite yet). Ignore the threads not quite lining up - that's just Fusion 360 being weird.
And I've even gotten the wings and the sections of the fuselage with the threads printed. The female threads print a bit messy but they still work perfectly well as you can see in the second photo.
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telnar1236
Master member
A Sovol SV06 plus Ace and a Flashforge AD5X - the Sovol is by far the better of the two. I use the Sovol for most filaments and the Flashforge mostly for LW-PLA and PLA since whatever they did to the print bed gave it really bad adhesion
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
Ah okay!👍 (Sorry for going off topic!🤦♂️👍)
telnar1236
Master member
No worries - my threads tend to ramble around to whatever I find interesting that day regardless
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
😂😂👍
telnar1236
Master member
And the 64mm plane is done - and I actually flew it this morning (hence the slight grass stains on the left wing). And now it needs a name if anyone has suggestions - I kept the demon name when working on it, but I don't think it really fits with how graceful this plane looks.
Had one good flight and another attempted one that resulted in minor damage that has already been repaired. On the good flight, I asked someone to hand launch for me, and it wanted to roll left a bit but otherwise hand launches super easily. Thrust to weight is better than 1:1 so it climbs like a rocket with unlimited vertical and top speed is pretty good though I don't think I'm quite hitting 140. It slows down relatively well to land too, since it can come in high alpha like any other delta wing plane. Weirdly, despite the speed, this is not that hard to fly so long as you can keep track of it, and it would probably be super nice if made with LW-PLA instead of normal PLA and a lighter power system.
It's also probably the toughest plane I've ever built. On the second flight, I tried to hand launch myself and it also wanted to roll left, but I couldn't correct in time, and it hit the ground going 50 mph. The picture above is from this evening, post-crash. The nose cone was completely shattered so I reprinted that, but the only other damage was some minor and easily repaired cracking in the vertical stabilizer (it must have cartwheeled) and a bit of cracking in the motor wire channel which doubles as a landing skid. When it went in I was sure I'd be reprinting the whole thing, but it was only about 15 minutes of actual work from me to get it back in one piece and most of that was filling and sanding some dents in the vertical stabilizer that did not need to repaired to get it flight-worthy (the prints took about 5 hours combined, but I could leave the printers to do their thing). To avoid future crashes from bad hand launches I'm building a launch dolly so I can do ROG takeoffs and not have to worry about it.
I had the GPS onboard, but forgot to start it recording, so I don't know how fast it went and honestly can't really give an estimate beyond quite fast. I'm used to planes getting twitchy or otherwise weird as they get near their top speed and this one doesn't really do that, so it didn't feel that fast, but it gets small quick, and I did a low pass where it suddenly became obvious that this thing gets up and goes. Filming this thing will be pretty tough since it's so quick and fairly small (about average for a 64mm jet - 35" long with a 22" wingspan) but hopefully I can some speed measurements and a good video this long weekend if the weather lets me.
Had one good flight and another attempted one that resulted in minor damage that has already been repaired. On the good flight, I asked someone to hand launch for me, and it wanted to roll left a bit but otherwise hand launches super easily. Thrust to weight is better than 1:1 so it climbs like a rocket with unlimited vertical and top speed is pretty good though I don't think I'm quite hitting 140. It slows down relatively well to land too, since it can come in high alpha like any other delta wing plane. Weirdly, despite the speed, this is not that hard to fly so long as you can keep track of it, and it would probably be super nice if made with LW-PLA instead of normal PLA and a lighter power system.
It's also probably the toughest plane I've ever built. On the second flight, I tried to hand launch myself and it also wanted to roll left, but I couldn't correct in time, and it hit the ground going 50 mph. The picture above is from this evening, post-crash. The nose cone was completely shattered so I reprinted that, but the only other damage was some minor and easily repaired cracking in the vertical stabilizer (it must have cartwheeled) and a bit of cracking in the motor wire channel which doubles as a landing skid. When it went in I was sure I'd be reprinting the whole thing, but it was only about 15 minutes of actual work from me to get it back in one piece and most of that was filling and sanding some dents in the vertical stabilizer that did not need to repaired to get it flight-worthy (the prints took about 5 hours combined, but I could leave the printers to do their thing). To avoid future crashes from bad hand launches I'm building a launch dolly so I can do ROG takeoffs and not have to worry about it.
I had the GPS onboard, but forgot to start it recording, so I don't know how fast it went and honestly can't really give an estimate beyond quite fast. I'm used to planes getting twitchy or otherwise weird as they get near their top speed and this one doesn't really do that, so it didn't feel that fast, but it gets small quick, and I did a low pass where it suddenly became obvious that this thing gets up and goes. Filming this thing will be pretty tough since it's so quick and fairly small (about average for a 64mm jet - 35" long with a 22" wingspan) but hopefully I can some speed measurements and a good video this long weekend if the weather lets me.
RickHunter
Elite member
Looks a little bit like a Mirage fighter. How about "Fata Morgana."
Houndpup Rc
Legendary member
Maybe the "Saber" or "Falcon"?
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