
#Wings 3d vs sketchup full
Certainly has been in every comparison of similar wings with the different construction methods I’ve seen, and it makes sense – its foamed PLA a pretty stiff material laid down about as minimally thick as its possible to conceive of while also being a foam for that extra little bit of weight reduction, with solidly shaped internal geometry and the main spar going full length so the ribs and wing need very very little strength really – only handling their own area’s wing loading enough to pass it to the spar. I suspect this is very very much lighter and stiffer. Wings are always going to a bitch to repair if you break them, this method to me seems like the easiest though, as its just let the printer do its thing and exchange the broken part for the new… Informing it that this area needs “80%” strength, while this other area only needs “30%” and allowing the slicer to use it’s knowledge of the plastic being used to infill the areas appropriately.
#Wings 3d vs sketchup software
So while it’s certainly not trivial by any stretch of the imagination, I expect it is possible for your design software to perform the FEA and then pass that information along to the slicer. They do this by spacing out infill differently as it approaches the load balancing surface. There are adaptive infills already implemented, which are designed to save weight while retaining strength. That way you don’t have to spend time modelling it.Įxamples of what is currently possible with PrusaSlicer: If not it should be possible to design that infill method into the slicer.


There might be infills superior to the one being used here. There is significant sophistication in slicers already for infills. That is the job of the design program you are using. I don’t think it’s necessary to have the slicer do the FEA. Posted in Parts Tagged 3d printed plane, airfoil, tom stanton, wing Post navigation A well-designed airframe is essential when pushing aircraft to the edge of efficiency, like solar-powered plane to fly overnight. It’s primarily intended for straight wings with a continuous profile, but it should be adaptable to tapered/swept wings too. These steps might seem simple, but it took about 3 weeks of experimentation to find a process that works. When these quadrants combine with the outer shell, it allows the slicer to treat the entire print as a continuous external perimeter line using “ vase mode“. The ribs are first treated as a separate body in CAD and split into four quadrants. A cylinder runs along the core of the wing to fit a carbon fiber wing spar. After importing the profile into Fusion 360, he created internal ribs in a diagonal grid pattern, with lightening holes running along the length of the wing.
#Wings 3d vs sketchup download
He wanted a wing that would allow a smooth transition from hover to forward flight, and used the Airfoil Tools website to find and download the appropriate airfoil profile.

To get around this, he designed the wings and their internal ribs to be printed in one continuously extruded line. It was printed with lightweight PLA, which can ooze badly when it stops extruding. used the process demonstrated in the video after the break to create the wing for his latest VTOL RC aircraft. If you’re moving beyond foam board wings, 3D printing is an excellent way to create an accurate airfoil, and provides us with an excellent guide to modeling wing sections for easy printing. The exact airfoil shape of a wing has a massive effect on the performance and efficiency of an aircraft and will be selected based on the intended flight envelope.
