Has anybody printed something like this?

[Geeto67]

I love my 3D printer...but it's not the best tool for every job Then again I also love my CNC but it's not the best tool either! I REALLY love having a selection of tools I built and can customize so I've ALWAYS got the right tool for the job at hand

[ Says the guy who spent more on tools than parts this weekend to fix his Truck....but that was mostly because I used it as an excuse to upgrade my torque wrench that was older than me ]

This is an excellent point and kind of the point of this conversation - what method/model/technique does the 3d printer become the best tool for the job? This is why I am still clinging to the skeleton method for some airplanes.

I was at an indoor fly on sat and there was a guy there with an American Eaglet scratch built airplane. It was beautiful and completely built out of wooden stick - no formers or bulkheads cut out of balsa sheet except for the firewall. I asked him about build time and he said he probably had about 10 hours in it. Looking at the plane the design is possible on a 3d printer, and yes it would be heavier than balsa and yes it would probably take longer to make the first one considering modeling time, but....with balsa, every airplane is approx 10 hours, but with the printer - the first one may be 20 hours, but each one after that is 4 hours print and assembly time. plus you can have the printer working when you aren't working on it so it cuts down on time overall.

Anyway, I pulled the trigger on an Anet A8 over the weekend so I guess it's time to put my money where my mouth is.

Edit: here is the plan for the eaglet I was referencing ealier:
https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_files_00/113/American_Eaglet_25in_oz113.pdf

 

[MDVolle]

I just started a thread over in mad builders - its about an in process design/build using 3D printing.

There are a huge number of issues around even being able to print a part and unfortunately, a lot of the planes and parts even on Thingiverse aren't actually printable via FDM -

I have FDM at home and have been experimenting with all kinds of structures and adjustments to try and find a good compromise for a lightweight plane - the fully skinned parts, like 3DLabs are really cool but I can't get the right "value balance" with a skinned print. That led me to several attempts at structures for covering - and I found that I can get into a reasonable weight range printing a structure.

For me, the most intriguing material has been the carbon fiber filled nylon, and not all of them are equal - the stuff from 3DX has been the best so far - and its light and stiff but not brittle AND has really good layer to layer adhesion. its still MANY times heavier than balsa - basic balsa is in the 0.1-0.2 g/cc range and this CF nylon is about 1.1g/cc.

At the same time, I'm able to print very precise structures and complex foil shapes without difficulty - in my case I can print up to a 600mm tall section of wing if I stand it on end in the printer.

DRAWING the thing becomes a big issue - the 3DLabs guys are doing some really interesting work and I think that they are addressing certain things directly in the g-code that would be very difficult to address in any slicing software.

I can create parts in their "style" and its very time consuming but it works and prints fine - it just isn't as light as I would like.

Frameworks are also a great option but printing a typical spar and formers can involve a lot of support or other compromises to the finish in order to print them FDM, while some other forms of printing would be fine (but possibly pricy).

Balancing detail with bond strength and speed seems to be my current challenge - I'm currently printing a 20 hour 500mm section of wing with 0.25mm layers - I would rather be printing at about 0.15 and at slower print speeds - I'm running at 45-50mm/sec - but its already 20 hours - before "instant" glues, I might have thought that was fast but with a laser cutter and CA, balsa might be faster - but I don't have to watch the printer the whole time

I have a hunch that there is some nearly magical hybrid between laser cut thin foam or balsa and printed parts with carbon fiber spars but I haven't gotten there yet - I'm current looking at a 4.6 soft wing frame with covering (1.7M long) that is going to come in under 700g but that isn't "light" by balsa standards.

I'll try to post pictures of some of the parts as they come off the printer.

Mark

 

[cuspro]

i work for a 3D printing service firm, was just fiddling through and landed on this page. We did a similar project, so just wanted to share, Our Airframe