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Help! Designing and 3D printing

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Exogenetis

New member
hello, i've been tasked by my company to Design and create RC planes to carry out heavy objects to the places where people could actually use some help (items like water bottle/first aid kits etc.)
i did some research and i even designed and created something but it looks horrible and im not even sure it can fly !! let alone carry anything ...
i need an experienced RC plane Expert to help me out, god knows i could use it so bad right now haha. to be more specific i need help with Fuselage size/shape a better way to attach wings to the Fuselage same for other control surfaces, the width of Fuselage like how thick should it be to be able to fly well and carry a load of like 5kg or something, what kind of motor/airfoil do i use to generate enough lift, as for creating the plane itself what kind of material do i use ? i mena they gave me 2 3d printers and was like: "go ahead learn how to work with this, it should be easy enough" ... anyway i tried PLA+ Filament but i think its heavy and not very sturdy.
alright this is already a long topic and i dont wanna stretch it any further, and if anyone read this far i would really appreciate all the help i could get, thank you.
 
Matthewdupreez

Matthewdupreez

Legendary member
Exogenetis said:
hello, i've been tasked by my company to Design and create RC planes to carry out heavy objects to the places where people could actually use some help (items like water bottle/first aid kits etc.)
i did some research and i even designed and created something but it looks horrible and im not even sure it can fly !! let alone carry anything ...
i need an experienced RC plane Expert to help me out, god knows i could use it so bad right now haha. to be more specific i need help with Fuselage size/shape a better way to attach wings to the Fuselage same for other control surfaces, the width of Fuselage like how thick should it be to be able to fly well and carry a load of like 5kg or something, what kind of motor/airfoil do i use to generate enough lift, as for creating the plane itself what kind of material do i use ? i mena they gave me 2 3d printers and was like: "go ahead learn how to work with this, it should be easy enough" ... anyway i tried PLA+ Filament but i think its heavy and not very sturdy.
alright this is already a long topic and i dont wanna stretch it any further, and if anyone read this far i would really appreciate all the help i could get, thank you.
Click to expand...
i have a decent amount of experience designing different aircrafts,
you're welcome to dm me, and then we can find an easier way to chat, and i'll see how i can help you
 
quorneng

quorneng

Master member
What your company is asking with a 5kg payload takes it into the 'experienced' field of UAV design whether it be a plane or a multi copter.

Have you thought of researching what it commercially available? The asking price would give you an idea of the complexity involved.
Designing and printing even a small plane that flies well is not easy.
You can buy print files from commercial organisations. which is what modellers do, that can be loaded directly onto a printer but it may have to be a specific machine. Not all printers are equal.
Even than it is quite a long winded process to print and assemble all the bits to achieve a flyable plane.

There is nothing wrong with learning how to design and print something using a printer, however a flyable load carrying plane requires a high level of CAD ability, a good understanding of what is possible using a 3D printer as well as a sound knowledge of model plane aerodynamics.
 
E

Exogenetis

New member
quorneng said:
What your company is asking with a 5kg payload takes it into the 'experienced' field of UAV design whether it be a plane or a multi copter.

Have you thought of researching what it commercially available? The asking price would give you an idea of the complexity involved.
Designing and printing even a small plane that flies well is not easy.
You can buy print files from commercial organisations. which is what modellers do, that can be loaded directly onto a printer but it may have to be a specific machine. Not all printers are equal.
Even than it is quite a long winded process to print and assemble all the bits to achieve a flyable plane.

There is nothing wrong with learning how to design and print something using a printer, however a flyable load carrying plane requires a high level of CAD ability, a good understanding of what is possible using a 3D printer as well as a sound knowledge of model plane aerodynamics.
Click to expand...
i have been assigned with doing some research for 2 months and i think i have a good understanding of how things work and last week i started to actually design and then 3d print my first plane but i noticed bad printing on some parts like wings, very thin layers on Fuselage sections and parts that doesnt fit nicely like wings to the fuselage. im confident its not the design which is the issue because when i designed it on SolidWorks on assembly tab everything fits perfectly together and numbers are correct but as i mentioned i came across those issues.
also something else i learned is that after every single part my experience grows and i know how to avoid some of them but thats mainly for the visual design process, i wanted an experienced person to help me with the overal design and in depth info on how should i design the whole thing like the Fuselage shape / airfoil type / where should the CG be (and how to know where it even is :) ) / how do i make sure the thing im designing can actually fly, i mean 5kg from my understanding so far is not an easy task to accomplish, and thats why i need some help.
and also i have to add that the shape and looks is not very important, something simple will do
 
quorneng

quorneng

Master member
Exogenetis
It takes a lot of structural design experience to design a flying plane where its payload is 50% of its ready to fly weight. You would end up with a 10kg plane. More likely the payload is 30% of its weight so its a 15kg plane. In my opinion there is no chance of printing anything more than tiny bits of such a heavy and big plane.
As I see it you have at least three objectives.
Learn about what is required in a model plane. Its proportions and size required for its intended weight.
Learn about suitable materials and construction methods to achieve a suitable strength for the intended size and weight.
Lean how to translate this knowledge into CAD for ultimate conversion into the shape of the actual parts.
This may well show that 3D printing is unsuitable for the size and weight of the intended plane.

If you want to see how a printed plane is created buy the stl files from one of the commercial model plane organisations like 3D Lab Print. Printed correctly and using the right materials and RC parts it will fly but it will definitely not be able to fly carrying even a tiny proportion of your intended payload.

Sorry but that's how I see it.
 
E

Exogenetis

New member
JayMor said:
Have you watched this:

Here is their website: https://www.flyzipline.com/

Took them a few years of iteration.
Click to expand...
wow this is really amazing !! i wonder how they made it work and possibly share the knowledge behind it :D
but the thing is they want ME to do it for some reason, you ask why ? i honestly dont know... but it is what it is and im still looking for ways to make my design better.
but this video tho, it's amazing what they have accomplished, Bravo to their whole team.
 
E

Exogenetis

New member
quorneng said:
Exogenetis
It takes a lot of structural design experience to design a flying plane where its payload is 50% of its ready to fly weight. You would end up with a 10kg plane. More likely the payload is 30% of its weight so its a 15kg plane. In my opinion there is no chance of printing anything more than tiny bits of such a heavy and big plane.
As I see it you have at least three objectives.
Learn about what is required in a model plane. Its proportions and size required for its intended weight.
Learn about suitable materials and construction methods to achieve a suitable strength for the intended size and weight.
Lean how to translate this knowledge into CAD for ultimate conversion into the shape of the actual parts.
This may well show that 3D printing is unsuitable for the size and weight of the intended plane.

If you want to see how a printed plane is created buy the stl files from one of the commercial model plane organisations like 3D Lab Print. Printed correctly and using the right materials and RC parts it will fly but it will definitely not be able to fly carrying even a tiny proportion of your intended payload.

Sorry but that's how I see it.
Click to expand...
Oh, i see.
thank you for your honest opinion i really appreciate it, and i will definitely look into those 3 Options you said, im not a man to give up easily so i will dig into this more and until im 100% it cant be done THEN i let it go :).
thanks again Quorneng.
 
E

Exogenetis

New member
Matthewdupreez said:
i have a decent amount of experience designing different aircrafts,
you're welcome to dm me, and then we can find an easier way to chat, and i'll see how i can help you
Click to expand...
hey Matthew its been somewhat a long time i havent heard anything from you, and i was hoping i would :)
can you guide me through all the things i need to know before designing an RC plane please ? or at least give me topics and where to start learning them, Things like calculating Lift, Take off speed, Finding CG in my designs, all the necessary Formulas i need to know before i design something and make sure what im creating can actually fly. this is very important to me and i would really appreciate it if you can help me.
 
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