36" Northern Pike - 3D Printed Cuda Clone (It Flies & STL's are Posted!)

[Wildthing]

Hey guys. Nearly 3 weeks ago, i started printing the plane. I got it all glued together and all that stuff and found a kind of good spot for the battery to get a good CG. I took the plane on a scale and it was 1012g including all electronics. So I took a small test flight and it flew 2 meters and shattered on the ground because the motor was not powerful enough. Even tho, i used everything that was described in the thingiverse post.
I was using:
Self build 4S Li-Ion (2800mAh 18650)
T Motors 35A ESC (Link)
EMAX Eco 2306 2400KV Motor (Link)
6" 6045 ABS Props (Link)

Any idea what i did wrong?

EDIT: It may be my 4S Battery. On full throttle, the voltage drops down to 10V (of 16.8) and that may cause that i dont have enough throttle.

Sounds like you need a new battery, my guess is you have a bad cell in there . Even with one of those cheap voltage checkers hook it up to the balance plug and then start up the motor and I bet one cell drops really quick.

 

[Keno]

Started printing the 36" Northern Pike using the Gcode's provided. First print with Geeetech black, not a good choice to many "hairs" and terrible inside printing. Reprinted same parts using Hatchbox red , excellent results. Thanks Localfriend,

 

[dingo007]

Hey guys. Nearly 3 weeks ago, i started printing the plane. I got it all glued together and all that stuff and found a kind of good spot for the battery to get a good CG. I took the plane on a scale and it was 1012g including all electronics. So I took a small test flight and it flew 2 meters and shattered on the ground because the motor was not powerful enough. Even tho, i used everything that was described in the thingiverse post.
I was using:
Self build 4S Li-Ion (2800mAh 18650)
T Motors 35A ESC (Link)
EMAX Eco 2306 2400KV Motor (Link)
6" 6045 ABS Props (Link)

Any idea what i did wrong?

EDIT: It may be my 4S Battery. On full throttle, the voltage drops down to 10V (of 16.8) and that may cause that i dont have enough throttle.

short in the battery pack under load, or possibly a bad esc would be my guess, lastly are you sure the prop was on correctly, facing forward.....

 

[dingo007]

is it me or can PrusaSlicer not handle this design?

 

[Keno]

Have you tried printing with the Gcodes. you don't need PrusaSlicer just enter the files into your printer. Also some filaments brands are better then others. You are missing a lot of interior print

 

[bmizes]

I'm printing the 36" Pike and had a question about the servos you used. The instructions say to use 9g metal gear ones, but most of the ones I have are too tall to fit in the slot in the wing. Plastic geared ones, like the HXT900 fit fine, but they are only 22mm tall. Most of the metal geared ones are between 25 and 29mm tall. The critical dimension is actually the 15mm from the bottom of the servo to the bottom of the servo tabs which has to match the dimension in the attached pic. In any case, can you let me know what brand and model number of metal gear servos you used that fit in the provided slot in the wing. Thanks.

 

[localfiend]

Started printing the 36" Northern Pike using the Gcode's provided. First print with Geeetech black, not a good choice to many "hairs" and terrible inside printing. Reprinted same parts using Hatchbox red , excellent results. Thanks Localfriend,

Yeah, I've found Black PETG to be a pain in the butt to print no matter the brand. Something about the pigment needed I'd guess.

is it me or can PrusaSlicer not handle this design?

Yeah, PrusaSlicer can't handle it, it's the same for most 3D printed designs out there. You need Simplify3d (reccomended) or Cura. There's a Cura profile in the thingiverse downloads section.

I'm printing the 36" Pike and had a question about the servos you used. The instructions say to use 9g metal gear ones, but most of the ones I have are too tall to fit in the slot in the wing. Plastic geared ones, like the HXT900 fit fine, but they are only 22mm tall. Most of the metal geared ones are between 25 and 29mm tall. The critical dimension is actually the 15mm from the bottom of the servo to the bottom of the servo tabs which has to match the dimension in the attached pic. In any case, can you let me know what brand and model number of metal gear servos you used that fit in the provided slot in the wing. Thanks.

I've had really good luck with FMS 9g digital metal gear servos. Very smooth, and have yet to overpower one.

 

[Wildthing]

Yeah, I've found Black PETG to be a pain in the butt to print no matter the brand. Something about the pigment needed I'd guess.



Yeah, PrusaSlicer can't handle it, it's the same for most 3D printed designs out there. You need Simplify3d (reccomended) or Cura. There's a Cura profile in the thingiverse downloads section.



I've had really good luck with FMS 9g digital metal gear servos. Very smooth, and have yet to overpower one.

I use Cura and sometimes it has issues with fine inner structures. I have a couple 3dLabPrint planes and even using their print settings and their stl file most of the inner structure is missing or garbage and things like detect thin walls is checked off. I can print their gcode no problem . Using their print settings I would increase the wall thickness and amount of walls to where it finally showed up after slicing and then slowly back those settings off to the original ones slicing it after each change.

One note to all before printing a whole bunch off stuff and then finding out half of it is missing use the preview and go through all the layers to make sure it is all there.

 

[bmizes]

One more question. I just printed out the firewall and motor mount pieces. Looks like the one goes inside the other and you hold them together with a screw of some size on each size. What specially did you use to hold the pieces together? Any pics of this?

 

[localfiend]

One more question. I just printed out the firewall and motor mount pieces. Looks like the one goes inside the other and you hold them together with a screw of some size on each size. What specially did you use to hold the pieces together? Any pics of this?

I use a couple M3 screws. A piece of wire would also work. It's a pusher, so it's not really critical what you use.

 

[Keno]

Just for info: Been working on printing the Northern Pike and had small distortions using the G-codes, taking them directly to my MK3 printer. I found that if I loaded them into Cura for view and then from Cura into my printer problems disappeared. I have no idea what Cura does but it appear to "cleanup" a G-code file.

 

[localfiend]

Just for info: Been working on printing the Northern Pike and had small distortions using the G-codes, taking them directly to my MK3 printer. I found that if I loaded them into Cura for view and then from Cura into my printer problems disappeared. I have no idea what Cura does but it appear to "cleanup" a G-code file.

What do you mean by distortion? Got a picture? That sounds really weird.

 

[Keno]

I had some melting on the trailing edge of the "tips" and "bridging" was sometimes incomplete. Question what is the temp setting of the printing of the tips and stabs? Is it 230 and 58 or 115 and 60? this appears to be the problem how I got these differences I have no idea, probably screwed something on the printer.

 

[localfiend]

I had some melting on the trailing edge of the "tips" and "bridging" was sometimes incomplete. Question what is the temp setting of the printing of the tips and stabs? Is it 230 and 58 or 115 and 60? this appears to be the problem how I got these differences I have no idea, probably screwed something on the printer.

230 and 58 sounds right for PLA, though I believe I probably have the g-code set to lower the temperature on the wingtips as you get closer to the tops.

Don't try 115 and 60, you'll jam up your extruder. 115 is too cold to melt just about any filament out there.

I really don't know what you did with cura, unless you somehow used it to change the temperature. Cool feature if possible, but it wouldn't have cleaned anything up in the g-code.

All filaments are different, and some need different temp settings to print at their best. You can have variations even with the same brand if the colors are different.

 

[Keno]

Hey thanks on that. I am in the in the beginning of learning 3d printing. I am looking at other projects. But I having trouble in your settings set as it does seem to clearly relate to Cura which I have found to work quite well with my MK3s Prusa. I know I should have worked more with my Ender, but we like to get the better printer. Oh well we will keep on the learning path. Thanks for your work look in your donation bank you surly deserve it.

 

[sam2b]

Hi, @localfiend. I have an alignment problem with left wing section #2. Its center seam has a gap when I align the left slot for the vertical stabilizer. However the right side aligns fine. Has anyone else had this problem?

I've printed all of the wing parts with the same "thinwallAirplanePETG" profile in Cura except for these few differences:

• PETG filament from Yoyi
• 235c nozzle
• 90c bed
• 30% fan
• glass bed
• 30mm/sec print speed
• Ender 3
• Enclosure with external power supply
• Level bed, and using BLtouch and G29 in my start Gcode.
• The parts look very nice without blemish.
• All parts have been stored away from sunlight.

I let the glass bed cool to 35c before removing the parts, and [I did not notice] no warped parts, and all appeared to be adhered well and flat to the bed when finished printing. They all easily broke free from the bed, so I did not exert force to pull them off the bed.

Attached are high resolution photos for analysis. Thanks.

 

[Wildthing]

Hi, @localfiend. I have an alignment problem with left wing section #2. Its center seam has a gap when I align the left slot for the vertical stabilizer. However the right side aligns fine. Has anyone else had this problem?

I've printed all of the wing parts with the same "thinwallAirplanePETG" profile in Cura except for these few differences:

• PETG filament from Yoyi
• 235c nozzle
• 90c bed
• 30% fan
• glass bed
• 30mm/sec print speed
• Ender 3
• Enclosure with external power supply
• Level bed, and using BLtouch and G29 in my start Gcode.
• The parts look very nice without blemish.
• All parts have been stored away from sunlight.

I let the glass bed cool to 35c before removing the parts, and [I did not notice] no warped parts, and all appeared to be adhered well and flat to the bed when finished printing. They all easily broke free from the bed, so I did not exert force to pull them off the bed.

Attached are high resolution photos for analysis. Thanks.

On a lot of these thin wall parts I let my bed cool down to 0 , I have touched the parts when warm and left indents

 

[localfiend]

Hey thanks on that. I am in the in the beginning of learning 3d printing. I am looking at other projects. But I having trouble in your settings set as it does seem to clearly relate to Cura which I have found to work quite well with my MK3s Prusa. I know I should have worked more with my Ender, but we like to get the better printer. Oh well we will keep on the learning path. Thanks for your work look in your donation bank you surly deserve it.

Thanks man, I appreciate it a lot.

It's like learning any new tool, there can be a bit of a curve. At least with the Prusa, you can be pretty certain that anything going wrong is your own settings or filament and not a problem with the machine.

If you're going to be printing a lot of planes, or more complicated parts, look hard at Simplify3d. It's a much more powerful tool, and it's also easier to share settings between people. The factory files I included in the downloads section on thingiverse make it easy to tweak stuff on batches of parts so you can get the best quality prints.

Hi, @localfiend. I have an alignment problem with left wing section #2. Its center seam has a gap when I align the left slot for the vertical stabilizer. However the right side aligns fine. Has anyone else had this problem?

I've printed all of the wing parts with the same "thinwallAirplanePETG" profile in Cura except for these few differences:

• PETG filament from Yoyi
• 235c nozzle
• 90c bed
• 30% fan
• glass bed
• 30mm/sec print speed
• Ender 3
• Enclosure with external power supply
• Level bed, and using BLtouch and G29 in my start Gcode.
• The parts look very nice without blemish.
• All parts have been stored away from sunlight.

I let the glass bed cool to 35c before removing the parts, and [I did not notice] no warped parts, and all appeared to be adhered well and flat to the bed when finished printing. They all easily broke free from the bed, so I did not exert force to pull them off the bed.

Attached are high resolution photos for analysis. Thanks.

Looks like it warped on you a bit. Fortunately, that's a pretty small gap and you should be easily able to close it with just a little pressure when it comes time to glue things up. Consider using the helper discs (stl included in the downloads section) to help prevent warping on those really long and skinny parts.

All the left and right side pieces are identical, they're just mirrored parts.

 

[sam2b]

I let my bed cool down to 0

Thanks, @Wildthing . When you say "zero", I assume you mean ambient room temperature (~20C or ~68F). ;-)

And thanks, @localfiend . I was afraid you would say that. The gap is actually up to 2mm, so CA is out of the question, and I have doubts about using epoxy, too, since the gap is all throughout the inner supports too. Sigh, I guess I will re-print. (originally I did not use helper discs or a brim).

 

[Wildthing]

Thanks, @Wildthing . When you say "zero", I assume you mean ambient room temperature (~20C or ~68F). ;-)

And thanks, @localfiend . I was afraid you would say that. The gap is actually up to 2mm, so CA is out of the question, and I have doubts about using epoxy, too, since the gap is all throughout the inner supports too. Sigh, I guess I will re-print. (originally I did not use helper discs or a brim).

Correct