3DLabPrints Albatross build log

[Grifflyer]

I’ve had my 3D printer for quite a while now and I have yet to print out an airplane. I saw 3DLabPrints bring out their albatross and I just knew I had to build it. So over Christmas season I purchased some LW Pla and it finally decided to show up. I’ve made three attempts so far and I’m getting close but not where I want to be. I’m running into a few issues and I’m curious if any of you know of a solution.
First off I’m using cura, I don’t know how big of an issue that is so if that’s where most of my problems are coming from, let me know! For starters, the inside and outside surfaces of the first fuselage piece don’t join together. There’s a small gap that runs all the way around making the area very flimsy. How do I fix this?
Secondly a few of the inside “support” pieces aren’t joining up with the inner and/or outside walls. Which makes the part feel very flimsy. The skin surface itself felt very weak and I was easily able to break it with my thumb, is this something normal with these planes and you need to be sure you pick up the plane by spreading out the weight a lot?
And the lines between each layer were very visible which I’d like to be able to get rid of.

 

[GrizWiz]

I’ve had my 3D printer for quite a while now and I have yet to print out an airplane. I saw 3DLabPrints bring out their albatross and I just knew I had to build it. So over Christmas season I purchased some LW Pla and it finally decided to show up. I’ve made three attempts so far and I’m getting close but not where I want to be. I’m running into a few issues and I’m curious if any of you know of a solution.
First off I’m using cura, I don’t know how big of an issue that is so if that’s where most of my problems are coming from, let me know! For starters, the inside and outside surfaces of the first fuselage piece don’t join together. There’s a small gap that runs all the way around making the area very flimsy. How do I fix this?
Secondly a few of the inside “support” pieces aren’t joining up with the inner and/or outside walls. Which makes the part feel very flimsy. The skin surface itself felt very weak and I was easily able to break it with my thumb, is this something normal with these planes and you need to be sure you pick up the plane by spreading out the weight a lot?
And the layers between each line were very visible which I’d like to be able to get rid of.

Sounds Cool!!

 

[Grifflyer]

First print came out great, ran into a bit of under extrusion for some reason but it should be pretty easy to fix.

 

[GrizWiz]

View attachment 190787 First print came out great, ran into a bit of under extrusion for some reason but it should be pretty easy to fix.

Nice!

 

[Matagami Designs]

I’ve had my 3D printer for quite a while now and I have yet to print out an airplane. I saw 3DLabPrints bring out their albatross and I just knew I had to build it. So over Christmas season I purchased some LW Pla and it finally decided to show up. I’ve made three attempts so far and I’m getting close but not where I want to be. I’m running into a few issues and I’m curious if any of you know of a solution.
First off I’m using cura, I don’t know how big of an issue that is so if that’s where most of my problems are coming from, let me know! For starters, the inside and outside surfaces of the first fuselage piece don’t join together. There’s a small gap that runs all the way around making the area very flimsy. How do I fix this?
Secondly a few of the inside “support” pieces aren’t joining up with the inner and/or outside walls. Which makes the part feel very flimsy. The skin surface itself felt very weak and I was easily able to break it with my thumb, is this something normal with these planes and you need to be sure you pick up the plane by spreading out the weight a lot?
And the lines between each layer were very visible which I’d like to be able to get rid of.

Have you measured to confirm the wall thickness is actually achieving .4mm? How do the parts weight compare to what is recommended? I haven't used LW pla but have some ordered and will be trying to reprint my cub sooner or later.

 

[Grifflyer]

Yeah it was at .4mm and was about a gram lighter than the specified weight.

 

[Matagami Designs]

Yeah it was at .4mm and was about a gram lighter than the specified weight.

I've never printed one of the 3dlab prints planes. Do they include any precompiled g code? You could test a part with their code to see if the quality is any better?

 

[Grifflyer]

I've never printed one of the 3dlab prints planes. Do they include any precompiled g code? You could test a part with their code to see if the quality is any better?

That print was with their settings I adjusted the flow rate and temperature a bit and it seems to be working

 

[The Hangar]

View attachment 190787 First print came out great, ran into a bit of under extrusion for some reason but it should be pretty easy to fix.

Awesome, I'll be following!

 

[jpot1]

@Grifflyer, I just printed my first fuselage using LW-PLA on an ender 3 pro. Came out pretty well. The key is the combination of temperature, speed and flow rate. From your pic it looks like underextrusion but that could be from too low flow or too fast. I print at a 50% flow, 240 degrees, and 55mm/s. Hope that helps.

 

[Grifflyer]

@Grifflyer, I just printed my first fuselage using LW-PLA on an ender 3 pro. Came out pretty well. The key is the combination of temperature, speed and flow rate. From your pic it looks like underextrusion but that could be from too low flow or too fast. I print at a 50% flow, 240 degrees, and 55mm/s. Hope that helps.

View attachment 190873

Thanks!! That looks great! Interestingly it only underextruded on the final 10-15 layers not the rest of it. At least that’s what I can tell. I think I’m running at 45% flow at 260C and 30mm/s. I might try bumping it up to 50% and seeing how it works out.

 

[Grifflyer]

The second part came out way better! The surface quality is much better than the first. Interestingly the print lifted off the bed late into the print so there’s a slight warp along the bottom. Nothing that will affect the glue joint though, so it’s not a big deal. I’m gonna add a brim to the next print to stop it from lifting and then just take the time to clean up the edges.

 

[Matagami Designs]

The second part came out way better! The surface quality is much better than the first. Interestingly the print lifted off the bed late into the print so there’s a slight warp along the bottom. Nothing that will affect the glue joint though, so it’s not a big deal. I’m gonna add a brim to the next print to stop it from lifting and then just take the time to clean up the edges.
View attachment 190875

Great print quality on that one!

 

[LitterBug]

Yeah, I have about 5 3D printed planes that I need to finish. Should be in the air this year! (keep saying that)

 

[Grifflyer]

Yeah, I have about 5 3D printed planes that I need to finish. Should be in the air this year! (keep saying that)

Which ones have you got?

 

[BATTLEAXE]

The second part came out way better! The surface quality is much better than the first. Interestingly the print lifted off the bed late into the print so there’s a slight warp along the bottom. Nothing that will affect the glue joint though, so it’s not a big deal. I’m gonna add a brim to the next print to stop it from lifting and then just take the time to clean up the edges.
View attachment 190875

That looks way better man, how did the weight turn out

 

[Grifflyer]

That looks way better man, how did the weight turn out

Great! It weighed the same as the manual said it should.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Great! It weighed the same as the manual said it should.

I think your onto something young Jedi

 

[Sero]

This channel has good info on 3d printed planes with LW PLA, maybe something there will help
https://www.youtube.com/c/TroyMcMillan/videos