3D Printed Flying Wing

by tomstanton | January 6, 2017 | (5) Posted in Projects

Introduction

After watching the FliteTest episode about the 3D printed P-38 lightning, I couldn't help but think, are 3D printed planes the future? or just temporarily really cool? So being an undergraduate in aerospace enginnering myself (will be graduating this year), my instinct was to design an aircraft from scratch.

Wing development

A few days went by of messing around with a CAD software and a 3D printer slicer to produce a basic, but lightweight, wing structure. I documented my experimentation in the following video.

The summary of the video was that I didn't recommend 3D printing all your future RC planes due to print times, weight and structural reasons. After a week or so, this video got a lot of attention on youtube and I'm not sure if you can call it peer pressure, but I felt like I had to prove myself wrong!

Plane design

I first began designing a conventional aircraft with a moderate aspect ratio, non swept wing. To save as much weight as possible, the plan was to use a carbon tube as the rear part of the fuselage (between the rear of the main wing and the rear stabiliser). BUT, this wouldn't make it a 'fully 3D printed plane'. So I ended up going with a flying wing configuration.

Due to the lack of optional CG placement in a flying wing, the design incorporated a fuselage that was mounted below the wing. This would allow the battery to be mounted out the front of the wing, allowing a light weight battery to be used while still acheiving the correct CG. The motor mount was also positioned on the front of the fuselage to bring the CG forward.

Print and build process

The plane was printed on a kossel mini 3D printer with a 0.4mm nozzle. Printed with a 0.6mm wall thickness and 0.2mm layer height. I used PLA as this was such a complex print (PLA is the easiest material to print as far as I know). Temperature of the nozzle was 215 degrees celcius and printed very slow (30-40mm/s) to get the best layer strength.

 

 

 Will it fly?

The whole build and test flight process was documented in the following video, enjoy!

Spoiler alert below!

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Specification

AUW - 730g
Battery - 4s 1000mah
Motor - Cobra 2204 1960kv
Prop - DAL6045
ESC - UBAD 20A
Servos - Hobbyking HXT900

Summary

Aside from the winglet and airfoil design, the aircraft flew suprisingly well! It made clear to me that there are actually are some advantages to 3D printed planes, but not in the way that I had expected. The plane would most likely be lighter if made from foam or balsa and it probably be more durable. BUT 3D printed wings have the advantage of being designed in a CAD software and tested in a CFD (Computation Fluid Dynamic) software, which can allow for more complex design of airfoils which may be limited by other building technique. Fully 3D printed planes will most likely be heavier than foam/balsa, but if designed to accept a covering film, I reckon the weight can be drastically reduced and a complex airfoil design might make up for the added weight... who knows... all I can say is that this isn't going to be the last 3D printed plane I produce!

 One final note, I haven't made the stl files public yet as I am working on a version 2, so it would be great if you could subscribe to my youtube channel if you are interested! Thanks

COMMENTS

frankstrudel on January 8, 2017
Hey Tom, what about using 3D printed parts as low shot molds for custom foam wings? Or forms for laying up composite fibre materials? Both of these ways, you get to use the best part of 3D printing (the freedom of geometry) but the bits that actually do the flying can still be made using strong, light materials that fly well - without having to worry about print layers delaminating. Plus it'd be way quicker to produce a batch for your mates (or spares) when you get a design that works!
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fast bartender on January 9, 2017
I build basla rc planes; over 28 oz for this small flying wing seems heavy though [tail heavy from watching the video]. If the 3d printing machine could make wing-spar ready structures to cover with tissue/silk and dope that would be cool. 3d printing seems better suited for less weight conscience projects: like a boat or car.
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tsbanking on January 8, 2017
Very nice! Keep working at it and I'm sure you'll come up with something incredible! We need more posts like this where people actually do something rather than "10 things to know when you are flying drones" stuff.
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Burly on January 7, 2017
Neat.
If the glue joint is the weak link it should be easy to repair.

It looked like original takeoffs weren't getting enough thrust.
What was the brand and size of prop you were using?
If you were running on 5x3 or 5x4...I'd probably go to 6x3 for added thrust.

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FoamTest on January 7, 2017
This is incredible! Great job on the design and not giving up on it.
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burt1166 on January 8, 2017
Yes very cool.I would look at how conventional rc planes are made .Wings with ribs and light weight shrink film .Design and print a exoskeleton that looks like a balsa plane with out the covering then add the shrink film .This will use the best of both worlds .A light weight model that is strong and longer lasting .If i ever get round to getting a 3D printer i will print wing ribs. The scope to make small adjustments to wing profiles by using cad designs is massive.keep at i can see this as the future .Burt.
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Gryf on January 10, 2017
One of the most interesting - if challenging - aspects of the RC hobby is diagnosing poor flight behavior and developing fixes. You really nailed it in this article, and the 3D-print aspect was just the icing on the cake. Thanks for posting, and I look forward to seeing future developments!

Gryf
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bloodnocka on January 11, 2017
Excellent article. I really enjoyed watching your journey through the process of design to build and then fault finding. As a long time flyer of flying wings, to me it was obvious that you had reflex and yaw instability issues during the test phase. But this comes from experience and failed attempts if you don't have an aeronautical background.
This may well be the new generation of model aircraft in the making. Thank you for your contribution to the community, you are a very bright intelligent young fella.

From the Old generation of Aero Modelers. (Think I still have balsa dust glued to my fingertips 😀)
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wallawallaman on February 13, 2020
It seems to me that 3d printing would be optimal for leading edge/trailing edge, and the "blended" areas like the wing/fuselage transition, with the more conventional areas using the normal foam structure. So make a foam wing, and then print the leading/trailing edge sections and glue them in. You would get the benefit of the easy compound curve possibilities, without relying on the poor mass/strength of the 3D printed material completely.
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3D Printed Flying Wing