It’s a little hard to get the beads to line up & I might need a better needle… but I think this will work well when I get some things ironed out.
@Alid_519278 maybe printing in white filament might be more helpful…
Fiberlogy Easy-PETG Yellow
This is actually my 3rd print of the model.
For the first two, the uprights of the warp drives did not print very well, so this time I added the model a second time in PrusaSlicer (using Add Part>Load...) and offset it by 0.4 mm in the x-direction. Increased mass from 2.6 to 3.5 g.
In flight test, came apart on 3rd flight. I think I'll try making it thicker top to bottom next as well.
@Gdalya Fascinating, thanks for the feedback! I've been printing my gliders in PLA only, so have tuned the sizes for that material and did not consider that other materials may perform very differently. Maybe there is enough difference in material properties with PETG to cause these issues, especially when printing super thin like this?
I'll need to run some tests, but I'm afraid each material may need its own design.
These planes are FANTASTIC.
Our Cub Scout theme this year was Take Flight and printed about a hundred of these to give away. They were VERY well received. And they really fly far when you use a rubber band.
Fair warning, though: make sure your 1st Layer Calibration is spot on since most of the flight surfaces are the first layer. If not, the results can be chaotic.
Also, I found out that my printed did not like printing near the very edges, so although 5 will fit on the build plate, at least one of them printed poorly. But printing 4 at at time worked great.
BTW, the V version with the tail attached in two places are a lot more durable than the S version.
@CyberRAM68_36595 Wow - that is great! Thank you for sharing - made my day to hear your group enjoyed them so much. Glad to have been a part and to help spread some good times.
And yeah - this is 90% first layer, not a lot of room for error! And I made some revisions after V but every time V ended up being the champ at indoor and outdoor flight.
@LeoAlfMai_1379439 Thank you!
Fun print!
Here are some things I learned:
1) If you print with 0.2 layer height, the plane ends up nose heavy since the wings and tail end up thinner and lighter. Print at 0.3 layer height for a more balanced plane
2) As shown in the picture, the elevator likes to be around 45deg up for indoor flight. Each half of the elevator can be moved up and down somewhat independently. Try adjusting one or the other if your plan veers right or left and you are confident it wasn't your tossing skills ;)
I printed mine in mystic green PLA. I found the v4 plane to fly as straight as a dart if tossed properly.
...and don't let the spiders around your home know how fun it is or they will try to capture it with their webs!
