Print your own aircraft

[BackPacker]

This must be the ultimate homebuild project...

Southampton engineers fly the world (http://www.soton.ac.uk/mediacentre/news/2011/jul/11_75.shtml)

[Newforest2]

Sounds like they are using a similar machine to the one at Ravensbourne, the college at Greenwich Peninsula.

[Lima Juliet]

Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle = UAV

That's a new one on me! Can't see much use for this without sense and avoid if it is autonomous.

LJ

[onetrack]

Hmmm... why is it, the design principle of "snap-fit" wings, as a potential future style of construction, leaves me, as a potential pilot or pax, feeling a little uneasy?? ... :suspect:

[Genghis the Engineer]

These 3d printers are increasingly widely used in engineering - particularly for rapid prototyping.

A project I worked on, we used them a lot for making wind tunnel models over the last few years. Brilliant - design it today, print it tomorrow, get it in the wind tunnel the day after.

I notice that the article gives the right longform for UAV at the start, then gets it wrong later - I'd venture this is probably a ****-up by Southampton's press office. I can't see the really quite clever aeronautical engineers at Southampton calling it a woodworking tool either.

G

[IanPZ]

Yup, 3D printing is brilliant. It's been used for a fair while for rapid prototyping, as G says. Its never been seen as viable for mass production up till now, as whilst it can make an item (or 2 or 3) in a very short time, it couldn't previously compete with mass production once tooling has been completed.

That's changing now, and a lot of work is being done to see how to speed up the process.

And yes, woodworking is extremely unlikely. At present the two commonest forms are based around fused plastic (well, acrylic, and a whole load of additives) or fused steel, from small steel grains. Given that they work by powdering on a layer of material, and then using a laser to sinter the material to a solid, I think wood is highly unlikely. It would just catch fire!

[IO540]

3D 'printing' has been around at least 20 years. In the early 1990s I had injection moulding prototypes made that way. It was done by solidifying a transparent liquid resin.

But something has changed to make the machines cheap. They used to cost thousands. The prototypes were also very pricey - a few hundred quid, presumably to recover the cost of the machine.

Structurally they were flimsy, and were used to prove the product fitted together dimensionally. Or you could rub them down to get a smooth finish and paint them, for PR shoot etc purposes.

Sintering metals in 3D is really clever.

[IanPZ]

Io540, you are spot on. In the 90s they were using uv lasing leds and a resin that was uv reactive and the resin set. By changing the focus you could change the focal depth of the led, and so where the material set.

However, with the advance of (relatively) high power lasers, and being able to fire them for pico, rather than nanoseconds, you didn't need a setting compound any more. My understanding is that the technology in these has started merging with laser cutting beds, both using similar control systems and lasers.

Cool eh!

[IO540]

The way things are going, you will be able to download a life-size rubber doll without the risk of it being delivered next door by mistake :)

Hey if I can think of that, there must be a whole industry out there already tooling up for production (no pun intended).

[Windy Militant]

Back about 1998 I was shown a Skull that had been made at the Polymer dept at Queens University Belfast from a CAT scan. It was made to allow the surgeons to work out the best way to get to a tumour.
Since then I've seen various widgits in both Metal, Plastic and in one case a machine that built up cardboard layers similar to 3D jigsaw/models. The cardboard was glued so that a solid model was built.
Not sure if it ever came to pass but there was talk of using a 3D tailoring scanner to make icing sugar models of the bride and groom for posh weddings! :rolleyes:

[BackPacker]

I have even heard of a 3D printer that is made exclusively from parts that can be printed on that same printer. So once you've got one you can print other printers for your friends.

[asyncio]

I have even heard of a 3D printer that is made exclusively from parts that can be printed on that same printer. So once you've got one you can print other printers for your friends.You are probably thinking of RepRap (http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page), although you still need to buy various metal bits.
It is however completely open source, including all the designs for the electronics, so you just need to scale it up a bit to make yourself a full sized aircraft.

Also, for those who haven't already found the link elsewhere, there is a video of the plane in action here (http://www.newscientist.com/video/1082469537001-First%20flight%20of%203D%20printed%20plane.html)

[MikeSamuel]

I did my final year MEng project on the RepRap. It was a really interesting project to work on, once I've got my CPL/IR done I'm going to build one in the garage!

Always thought it would be useful for reproducing those cracked Cessna interior trims, but looks like these guys have gone a step further!

[goldeneaglepilot]

3d Prototyping has been is use for many years in the UAV field, both for checking aerodynamic efficiency (in the wind tunnel) and for checking the dimensional integrity of a part before the capital expenditure of tooling.

What is new this time is the 100% use of the technique to produce a UAV. Having experienced the plastics produced from 3d prototyping methods - I wonder if a new polymer has been developed which will be able to compete (strength / rigidity / weight) with structures made from composite moulding in epoxy / carbon / kevlar / nomex / balsa. Before anyone says about balsa, its used extensively in composite moulding techniques in conjunction with epoxy / carbon. Typically end grain balsa sandwiched to form an incredibly rigid sheet material which is very light. For example: I-Core Composites, LLC - Manufacturer of End Grain Balsa Composites (http://www.icorecomposites.com/)

It’s all very well producing a structure which looks ok, but if it’s not strong and light then flight performance is going to be seriously compromised. UAV’s typically have wing loadings measured in gm/sq.cm not KG/sq.cm.

The problem many designers face is finding a construction method which will allow either the UAV to be used just once or many times, dependent on its designed mission profile. An example of a single use UAV (Skate) can be seen here Aurora Flight Sciences - Key Products and Services - Skate UAS (http://www.aurora.aero/Products/Skate.aspx). Many single use UAV's are made from EPP foam injection mouldings.

If thinking of multiple missions think of things like Predator