A printed plane or not as the case may be!

I think i'll just stick with balsa and ply. :whistle:

At last it actually looks quite like a wing.

Ailerons, servo trays and bolt mountings still to print.
It has a span of 1050 mm (41.4") and in this state it weighs 54 g.

I agree it does seem a lot of fafing about ( is that actually a word?) but I find it fascinating never the less, more power to your printer Simon.
Klippy, not sure if I've ever mentioned it but I spent my working life in engineering including 20 odd years in formula one ( McLaren if anyone's interested), we used a process called "stereo lithography" to produce parts the way you describe mainly pneumatic parts.
I've got a friend that works for Ferrari and he assures me there pistons are 7075 aluminium, machined from bar stock.
Ferrari are the masters at spreading false rumours, we once spent 4 months trying to copy there fan cooled brakes because they had " let it be known" that was what they had developed....they never existed!

Thanks Paul.
Paul said, "Ferrari are the masters at spreading false rumours" (cheating as well). Does anyone know what their cheat was for most of last year? For which they were reprimanded by the FIA but even the FIA won't say what it was!

faff/ (fæf) /

verb
(intr often foll by about) British informal to dither or fuss

I stopped watching F1 when it stopped being a race, and became a team orders procession. If you want real racing, watch formula E!

I believe it was something to do with the fuel regulator or what ever they call it, they were using more fuel that they should have, thats why they were going so well for the start of the season

Spot on BB, teams are only allowed to flow fuel at a certain rate and they had found a way round the fia sensor fitted to all cars..
I agree Eric, F1 is boring nonsense now....I love BTCC...proper racing!

For me it has always been the Isle of Man TT races, for racing it is pure animal, super courage from the riders and an absolute spectacle to watch
Just realised what thread this is on, sorry Simon way off topic, Mr Modd can you sort it

Ailerons printed.

May look simple but a bit of a challenge to provide adequate torsional stiffness and keep the weight down. Each weighs 2.4 g.
Aileron servos next.

The tapered wing in place.

It almost looks delicate compared to the 'brutal' silver plank.

It also looks like it won't be too far from the Depron wing's weight either.

With a servo installed the aileron & linkage can be tested.

Only hinged with sellotape for the test. The final hinge tape will be added after the covering.
In this state uncovered the wing weighs 69 g.
Only one servo installed as my final spare (it was salvaged) proved to have a damaged tooth. Replacement on order.

I found some true ModelSpan tissue. It is very old and rather yellowed. I was trying to think when I must have bought it. I last made some tissue covered planes rubber powered over 30 years ago although I can't remember buying it at the time. :woohoo:
Anyway I made a start on covering the tapered printed wing.

Only the upper surface so far as there is still an aileron servo to be installed.
The ailerons have tissue on both sides, the darker one has had a coat of EzeDope.

Didn't I give you some when you picked up that strip-wood, a few years ago?

May be you did. I don't remember.
I do still have the strip wood in its cardboard tube!

With the 'taper wing' on hold until a servo arrives I wondered if I could revert to my original intention to create an all printed plane but using a tissue covering.
I had in mind something like this which I refer to as my 'Light Tractor' as it is under 250 g.

It has a span of 40", uses a 24 g 1300kV Blue Wonder outrunner driving a 7x6 from an 850 mAh 3s. Apart from balsa spar flanges and a 'fishing rod' tail boom it is all Depron. It has a spectacular performance.

The challenge would be, using the same servos, motor and battery, to keep a printed & tissue equivalent to under 250 g.
Really just a printing exercise as it would be unlikely to have a better performance however one advantage of these super light printed structures is they don't use much filament!