LitterBug's Micro 3D printed Wing builds

[HappyRCFlyer]

Good to know. Scratch that off the list.

I'm still not done yet experimenting in this area, just sharing my testing and results so far. I probably may end up with keeping a generic format square/ish wing/style/plane, that way you aren't relying upon shrinking and can use contact cement or otherwise rather then heat based adhesion. There are of course, sticker type of things you can use, even crude off the shelf things you can get in the copy paper department at Walmart for that matter. This chapter is not ended type of thing, will keep you and the rest here in the loop upon when I do more.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

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

LB

Get me some .dxf/pdf-vector rib profiles, and an exact scale and it's easy enough for those, the rest is the real project upon. Sharing a wing I do as a kit for those that want to upgrade their Aeroscouts, better performance, speed, inverted, etc., and the cool factor, stick and covering. I have more coolness to share in wing format I'll be sharing to the FT forum soon enough upon you will like. Just saying, it's doable, no big deal.

 

[LitterBug]

Get me some .dxf/pdf-vector rib profiles, and an exact scale and it's easy enough for those, the rest is the real project upon. Sharing a wing I do as a kit for those that want to upgrade their Aeroscouts, better performance, speed, inverted, etc., and the cool factor, stick and covering. I have more coolness to share in wing format I'll be sharing to the FT forum soon enough upon you will like. Just saying, it's doable, no big deal.

View attachment 256488

A box fuselage (on the inside at least) in the center for FC, battery, and FPV gear would be great. Options for puller or pusher motor config, although for fpv and combat, pusher would be best. Looking for sub 250g AUW with everything on board. Could even be a hybrid balsa wings with 3d printed fuselage.

I have flown the Strix Nano goblin for years. Looking for balsa equivilent

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

I'm sharing a work in progress of my latest plane that will be a new kit, a 33.5" wingspan Tiger Moth to give you an example idea of what I mean along the file request. I tend to use the full scale bird for diagrams, photo's and the rest to work off of and that rare time there is some old plan I can utilize that happens to be proper scale for at least some marginal help that ends up being more for inspiration, never anything useful enough to merely copy. Lightburn is the software of choice since it doubles as the laser controller but I can import and use regular .dxf and pdf files to work with upon.

When it comes to new designs, some can be custom requests, I do like to soft launch things before committing so I'm not aimlessly developing something that has little to no appeal to potential buyers. It's still a lot of work even with the simpler planes.

 

[LitterBug]

I probably had 1000+ miles on my original Nano Goblin. It has close to an hour lazy fly time on a 2s 18650 LiIon pack. It will also rip on a 3S pack. The problem is the control surfaces and vertical stabilizers tend to get really flexy at speeds approaching 100. While I never blew one apart at those speeds, they were obviously uncomfortable to fly at those speeds. Some people replaced the elevons and stabilizers with balsa or ply to overcome those limitations. I just backed off. Strix also has a full size goblin that is easily capable of 150+ stock for short bursts. It has a blown plastic (ABS?) fuselage and denser wings. People have replaced the foam elevons on those to exceed 200mph.

I am curious to try balsa though. The strength to weight ratio seems benefitial although crash survivability/rebuildability is lower.

These micro 3D printed wings have a whole other level of simplicity to build/replace, but are not slow flyers because of the weight of 3D printing. Really looking forward to getting them in the air to see how they do flying FPV. Espicially want to see how they handle bumpy air. The Nano goblins can be really bumpy/waggly in all but the calmest air, and the micro wings are less than half their all up weight.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

I've noticed foamies always feel more spongy and certainly would be exaggerated at higher speeds like that. I'd be beefing things up with carbon fiber, even to go with a carbon fiber skin for maximum strength, regardless of balsa or foam base construction. Some 1/8" stock for the elevons for sure. The wing though regardless of how stiff, not being swept back is going to always pose both speed limitations, stability at higher speeds and that tail fin may not be as effective as it could be considering the prop's close position to it.

My thing is on these smaller planes are they are to hard to lose sight of so I'm not going to be flying at crazy speeds like that with them. Design wise though, I used to have a Multiplex Microjet, that would be super cool to convert and bring back, it had a loyal following in the day and when I upgraded it to BL and 3 cell lipo, it would just insanely over the top along speed, also looked super cool.

 

[LitterBug]

With fpv loosing sight is less of a concern. With GPS and return to home it is even less of an issue.

Another reason I want tiny balsa flyers is for indoor flying. That season is almost over, but doesn't hurt to have something ready to go.

 

[LitterBug]

Stalled out for a bit on printing with different materials after messing up my "best" 3D printer. Wating on a BLtouch to get it back in working order. Going to work on calibrating my enclosed printer for ABS printing, which is what I believe will be the lightest option unless I try to do LW PLA for the wings.

I do have enough parts for one complete PLA pusher. May do a quick build of it with a FT Aura for a LOS test/demonstrator.


Also had a balsa kit arrive today. Need to unpack it and throw that together too.


When your print bed is physically level, and your Inductive bed sensor thinks it looks like this:

The head tends to crash into the print bed when it tries to compensate..... D'OH!

 

[LitterBug]

Still waiting on parts for my "good" 3D printer, but managed to get my MP-10 dialed in and printing decent while I wait for parts. Want to get something done for this weekend in case I decide to make a run to Kent State for an indoor fly. Really would be nice to upgrade to a direct drive hotend and better control board. Spoiled by the other printer.

 

[LitterBug]

So far my best resulta have been with PLA. Tried some PETG for the wings like the OG recommended for durability, but it cracked up coming off the bed. Going to try a different brand.

Multiple PLA colors FTW!

Still using my Monoprice MP-10. New inductive sensor came for the BIQU BX so maybe I can get it back in service today.

 

[telnar1236]

That's really clever printing the skin like that

 

[telnar1236]

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

With really low temp covering films it's possible, but generally you're better off with balsa as others have said. You can also shrink tissue over a 3D printed frame very safely same as with a stick and tissue build

 

[LitterBug]

Got a new inductive sensor for the Biqu BX. Working on setting up and dialing in. So far so good. It looks flat when it is flat.

Didn't have a different brand of PETG so tried a different color. Ummmm, inland black is defininely a no go on the MP10 for the single layer stuff. VERY brittle too. Moreso than the white.

 

[LitterBug]

New print bed sheet and Inductive leveling sensor dialed in on the BX. Printing a few frames to catch up to all the wings I have been printing on the MP10.

Going to see if this build plate does any better than the stock BX plate which did not adhere with PETG after getting caught up on frames.

Still need to work on my Old enclosed XYZ printer to work on ABS too. Although maybe with a working level sensor, I should give it another go on the BX. My original attempts were on the BX just before the bed sensor gave up the ghost.

 

[LitterBug]

Continuing to print on the repaired BX. Printing ABS like a champ. Will be able to compare weights and durability of different materials after all.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Don't be afraid to stick some carbon fiber spar dowels to increase rigidity. This is looking excellent so far.

 

[LitterBug]

Have enough parts to get some weights. Numbers are what I expected with ABS being the lightest. There were differences between the two brands/colors of ABS I printed, but they were still considerably lighter than PLA/PETG which were almost identical. I have a combination of Hatchbox and Inland filaments. Been a while since I checked, but last time I looked for Hatchbox, it was no longer available. I weighed all the 3D printed parts unassembled and in a pile to exclude any extra weight by hardware. Durability testing will be tested by flying/crashing at a later date. Overall, the ABS finish looked cleanest/best, but I can drop the temp on my PLA prints now that everything else is dialed in. That may help them look better. I have already dropped the PETG prints, but they still have some stringing and the PLA prints at pretty high temps looked better. The PEI bed sheet I am using works exceptionally well for adhesion. No glue, tape, or cleaning after prints needed. The prints stick until the sheet cools, at which point they almost always release themselves perfectly. The exception would be PETG which still sticks a bit for some prints but they are easily removed with little effort.

ABS 30g Black(inland) 33g Red (hatchbox)
PLA 42g
PETG 43g

Cheers!
LitterBug