3D printing is something that I saw in exhibitions and news but really never put a lot of attention on that. I thought the printed results were not so good for the use in our bussines of copters. I was totally wrong.
Now I have one 3D printer (the cheapest, yet very good: Prusa i3, 500€) and results are really impresive. After several months of use, I can summarize my experience here for others that still doubt on this must-have tool.
In the image below is shown my last HEXA with all bracketry fully built in 3D printing.
Main advantages are the following:
- high strenth material (ABS), and low density (1000Kg/m3). Specific strength is 39MPa/1000 Kg/m3 that is the same of a standard aluminum! (95MPa/2700Kg/m3). So, one of the best material selection for aircrafts. See strenth analysis in the figure below for the motor bracket, pulled up with 10Kg. I did a real test also to confirm results .
- Density can be variable. Printing process (mainly for thick parts) let select the inner density (from 0.1 to 1). So Mass can even be reduced more without loosing performances. For instance, my motor bracket weights 12g and withstand a load of more than 30Kg each!. Inner density is 0.3, with three full layers externally.
- Endless design posibilities. Infinite creativity.
- Very cheap.
Some engineering skill is needed to take full advantage to this manufacturing tool in terms of design and structural concepts. But intuition is also a good support, and "trial & error" is very easy.
Hope this help you to get a better idea of this manufacturing tool, perfect for copter construction.
Angel