LitterBug's Micro 3D printed Wing builds

[LitterBug]

Figured I would make a thread for the 3D printed wing builds that I am working on. I found a really simple to print/build flying wing with several variants including a VTOL twin motor tail sitter. The first one I plan to build will be a Walksnail FPV version. Some people print the first layer in one color, then the rest in a different. Pictures below are of the variants I plan to build. TOP: Tail sitter VTOL (Clear/black), Middle, Original, Bottom Walksnail. Click the pictures to go to the Thingiverse pages for them.






I have already printed one set of the wings. SUPER easy to build. The wings print flat and then you fold the upper skin over the top and it clips in to tabs. CA in place, BAM! Done. Control surface, Spars, skin, control horn, everything all in one piece. Printing in black PLA because that was already in the printer.

Need to print the wingtips, fuselage, and center cover.

 

[Houndpup Rc]

Figured I would make a thread for the 3D printed wing builds that I am working on. I found a really simple to print/build flying wing with several variants including a VTOL twin motor tail sitter. The first one I plan to build will be a Walksnail FPV version. Some people print the first layer in one color, then the rest in a different. Pictures below are of the variants I plan to build. TOP: Tail sitter VTOL (Clear/black), Middle, Original, Bottom Walksnail. Click the pictures to go to the Thingiverse pages for them.






I have already printed one set of the wings. SUPER easy to build. The wings print flat and then you fold the upper skin over the top and it clips in to tabs. CA in place, BAM! Done. Control surface, Spars, skin, control horn, everything all in one piece. Printing in black PLA because that was already in the printer.

Need to print the wingtips, fuselage, and center cover.

View attachment 256161

Cool! I am waiting to see how these fly, as my all pla one was kinda heavy, and flew like a brick😂😂

 

[LitterBug]

Holy cow these are easy to build. Went back and looked at the original (orange above) build instructions. Turns out I mad my layers too thick @.2 and should have been .15. So my initial build will be a bit heavy. LOL.

Still need to print wing tips and fuse cover.

 

[LitterBug]

Cool! I am waiting to see how these fly, as my all pla one was kinda heavy, and flew like a brick😂😂

Did you print one of these?? I am tempted to bust out some ABS for a "Lite" version

 

[Houndpup Rc]

Did you print one of these?? I am tempted to bust out some ABS for a "Lite" version

Not yet...I only need the Interceptor from Thingiverse, though I need to try another one (I also did that one design of my own. But it was waaayyy to tail heavy)

 

[LitterBug]

Broke the seal on a spool of ABS for the Tailsitter/VTOL version. Figure it will need weight savings with the added gear for a second motor, ESC, and motor mounts. Need to print the Tailsitter version of the winglets too. Will fire up my enclosed printer for the chassis. I don't think it would bond well to the print surface. The wings and winglets with their full surface contact and low layer height worked perfect. They fully released from the build plate when it cooled down and had no lifting during the print.

Would be cake to add COB LED strips for night flying.

EDIT: I just tried pulling the left wing off the bed while it was still hot and it did NOT want to come off at all. Waited till the bed cooled and it popped off on it's own. Going to try printing the motor mounts on my "good" but open air printer. If those don't lift, I'll do the chassis too. Otherwise, the trusty old enclosed printer is a known quantity with ABS.

 

[LitterBug]

Motor mounts printed fine in ABS, Chassis failed. The chasis supports lifted for one of the wing arms. Maybe with a raft it would do OK. Dunno. Just going to use the black PLA chassis for now.

FYI, the way the wing is designed, it prints flat, but when you fold the top layer of the wing and clip into into the tabs, it creates a 10° twist at the wingtips. The instructions don't say to glue the tabs, but a drop of CA on each would give me comfort knowing they wouldn't be as likely to pop loose if the bird were to be bumped in the air. The winglets are very tight, even after filing the tabs and holes where they attach. Will drop CA on each of the tabs too.

Have not weighed the wings with different materials yet. The VTOL wings have an additional chunk for the motor mounts that the PLA wings I printed don't.

Need to dig through my hardware bins for screws to mount the wings to the chassis, and dig out motors, escs, FC, etc... to mock up the electronics before final assembly. Most likely betaFPV 1106 motors, 7A escs, and Emax 9250 2g digital servos. Have a good vartiety of props to use. Hoping for 3", but know 2" will work.

 

[LitterBug]

Have a good variety of 110X motors both in height and KV. 1002, 1104, 1106, in 4000, 5000, 7500, and 10000kv. I plan on 2-3S for the VTOL. Want plenty of torque for hover so I will start it out with the 1106 5000KV motors. My 7A ESCs are only rated 1-2S so I'll have to use the 6A ESCs that arr 2-3S. Think I will fly the VTOL as LOS only initially. I don't have enough serial ports for GPS and HDFPV. Could do analog FPV since the FC does have on-board OSD.

Quick mock up. Repurposing an FC I had on a MUCH BIGGER wing, so I need to shorten all the wires. Going to swap the ELRS RP1 for an XP2 with the micro ceramic RX. Need to dig up a BEC for the servos.

 

[LitterBug]

Mass printing variations of colors and materials as I suffer/recover through a "fun" case of bronchitis.... >sigh< >cough< 😵

Also getting all my 3D printing gear up to date, organized, cleaned, etc....

Nothing ready to fly..... "yet"

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[Houndpup Rc]

View attachment 256245

Mass printing variations of colors and materials as I suffer/recover through a "fun" case of bronchitis.... >sigh< >cough< 😵

Also getting all my 3D printing gear up to date, organized, cleaned, etc....

Nothing ready to fly..... "yet"

Cheers!
LitterBug

Aw, that stinks man! Hope ya get better soon!👍

 

[LitterBug]

Managed to "crash" the ABS tailsitter VTOL version... Sat down on the left wing. D'OH! Needed to reprint that wing anyway. The way it was sliced, the skin was printed parallel to leading edge which made it VERY weak when bending it over the top to clip it in. (Deformations and break in lesding edge seen above) The files on Thingiverse only include the "right" version of parts. Have to mirror them to get the left parts. Must have mirrored it on the Y-Axis, because I have not had any issues with any of the other left wings. Also broke the winglet. D'OH! A little CA and it would be back in the air. LOL

Need to get my Enclosed printer running again for printing ABS right. Got it a "NEW" touchscreen for OctoDash , and it worked right out of the box. Now reprinting the spool holder that broke so I can load filament up and get it running.

Not sure what is going on with the old touch screen. Looks like it may be a driver issue that started with the latest Raspbian release. Loaded old release on an older Rpi2 and "touch"screen works.

 

[AIRFORGE]

View attachment 256340

Managed to "crash" the ABS tailsitter VTOL version... Sat down on the left wing. D'OH! Needed to reprint that wing anyway. The way it was sliced, the skin was printed parallel to leading edge which made it VERY weak when bending it over the top to clip it in. (Deformations and break in lesding edge seen above) The files on Thingiverse only include the "right" version of parts. Have to mirror them to get the left parts. Must have mirrored it on the Y-Axis, because I have not had any issues with any of the other left wings. Also broke the winglet. D'OH! A little CA and it would be back in the air. LOL

Need to get my Enclosed printer running again for printing ABS right. Got it a "NEW" touchscreen for OctoDash , and it worked right out of the box. Now reprinting the spool holder that broke so I can load filament up and get it running.

Not sure what is going on with the old touch screen. Looks like it may be a driver issue that started with the latest Raspbian release. Loaded old release on an older Rpi2 and "touch"screen works.

Tail sitting a tail sitter? Cracked by a crack? 😜

 

[Houndpup Rc]

View attachment 256340

Managed to "crash" the ABS tailsitter VTOL version... Sat down on the left wing. D'OH! Needed to reprint that wing anyway. The way it was sliced, the skin was printed parallel to leading edge which made it VERY weak when bending it over the top to clip it in. (Deformations and break in lesding edge seen above) The files on Thingiverse only include the "right" version of parts. Have to mirror them to get the left parts. Must have mirrored it on the Y-Axis, because I have not had any issues with any of the other left wings. Also broke the winglet. D'OH! A little CA and it would be back in the air. LOL

Need to get my Enclosed printer running again for printing ABS right. Got it a "NEW" touchscreen for OctoDash , and it worked right out of the box. Now reprinting the spool holder that broke so I can load filament up and get it running.

Not sure what is going on with the old touch screen. Looks like it may be a driver issue that started with the latest Raspbian release. Loaded old release on an older Rpi2 and "touch"screen works.

Seems to be the day for crashing!🤣🤣 I crashed my AR wing today (Nothing serous, just knocked into the tow hitch of our van on landing (This snow and ice makes for a VERY friction free run way!😂😂) and chipped off a piece...little hot glue and it good as new!😁👍)

 

[LitterBug]

Tail sitting a tail sitter? Cracked by a crack? 😜

This Fire Crackered me up! 🧨🍘

Playing with layer height reprinting the winglets because they are a bit flimsy at .2mm. Switched to .3mm and the first layer IS thicker, which is what I was after, but the overall height did not change. Funny thing is, they actually came out LIGHTER, but are sturdier. 🤷‍♂️ I mean we're only talking .1g on 1.4g part. LOL

 

[BadAir]

Could you just print the wing internals and cover it in something like laminating film? Reduce weight, print time and print risk?

 

[LitterBug]

Could you just print the wing internals and cover it in something like laminating film? Reduce weight, print time and print risk?

Not without a complete redesign. The rigidity of the first layer/skin is used to hold the other parts in place

I would LOVE to do it in balsa. Just Sayin'!

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Just Excellent! Thank you for sharing!

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Could you just print the wing internals and cover it in something like laminating film? Reduce weight, print time and print risk?

I use ASA filament exclusively for my 3d printing needs and did some testing of the material to see just how much heat it could handle, wanting to do this very thing, covering it instead of the plastic skin. ASA is the most heat resistant filament that exists, it waffled badly getting even remotely close to the heat levels required for using film upon with a decent adhesion and wrinkle free finish. You would want to at least put a layer of balsa, cap style before trying that route,

 

[LitterBug]

I use ASA filament exclusively for my 3d printing needs and did some testing of the material to see just how much heat it could handle, wanting to do this very thing, covering it instead of the plastic skin. ASA is the most heat resistant filament that exists, it waffled badly getting even remotely close to the heat levels required for using film upon with a decent adhesion and wrinkle free finish. You would want to at least put a layer of balsa, cap style before trying that route,

At that point, it would be better just to use balsa.

LB

 

[BadAir]

I use ASA filament exclusively for my 3d printing needs and did some testing of the material to see just how much heat it could handle, wanting to do this very thing, covering it instead of the plastic skin. ASA is the most heat resistant filament that exists, it waffled badly getting even remotely close to the heat levels required for using film upon with a decent adhesion and wrinkle free finish. You would want to at least put a layer of balsa, cap style before trying that route,

Good to know. Scratch that off the list.