3D Printer Material

[HOQUIAM]

I am interested in learning to 3D Print and have read numerous posts about the type of material used to make
RC aircraft and parts. I have access to Prusa printers.

One area I am interested in, is its use on RC floats ( Pontoons ). On Floats I designed and constructed for my
Schneider Sport series of aircraft I made them out of ABS and Vacuum formed them.

After seeing what you guys are doing with printing the entire aircraft, I would like to try it on my SS series.

I need to know what type of material is being used and why it was selected versus the others available.

Any inputs would be greatly appreciated.

Tom Strom

 

[Wayne]

Tom,

The most common material is PLA, it is cheap and prints very easily. You will start with PLA printing to get your feet wet. IMHO all of materials will require some work to get decent results from. The second most popular material is PETG, then the ABS materials. After that you get into specialized materials and most of these are a total pain to use.

Each material is a compromise. It will do some things great, and other things not so great. After a while of printing and learning the skills you will have a good understanding of what is needed.

The Prusa printers with the Prusa Slicer makes things really easy, but the slider generally does not work well on really thin prints like we see in wings and tails. Perhaps it can be done, but I have not figured it out. We have been using a different slicer for those sorts of files.

You will have some learning ahead of you.

Some simple rules - Learn the slicer, it is very important to the quality and success of your prints.
Use quality filament and keep it dry. Junky filament will waste your time. I highly recommend the Prusa filaments if you are not in a hurry.

Start off with a roll of PLA and print out a bunch of silly stuff for around the house before you attempt a plane.

Do not be surprised when the plane you just spent a week printing and assembling explodes into a bunch of plastic on the first slightly rough landing. It happens. They are not durable. 3D planes tend to be heavy and weak, not a great combination. We can get away with this for slope gliders and maybe small pylon planes, but not for sport electric IMHO.

 

[Hoqiam]

Thank you Wayne!

Tom

 

[rcsoar4fun]

I have been printing with eSun PLA+ for a while now and been pretty happy. More or less prints like PLA but is (maybe) a bit stronger. Used on an Anet A8 and Ender 3 v2.

 

[HOQUIAM]

Hey Guys,
I have watched a number of videos now on the assembly of the various wing and fuselage sections where the host applies
CA to the joints, snaps the sections together, sprays it with accelerator, and sets the part asside to cure.
Not a single one has mentioned the glue overrun, or squeze out, and how you handle it. Am I missing something here?

Tom

 

[Wayne]

You typically use thin CA as it wicks into the plastic. Even with kicker you still want to give the glue time to cure as the inner glue will be wet for a while and tends to glue you to the part. When using thin CA, it really does vanish into the joint very well. Overrun should not be an issue, and the rest of the print will be kind of not perfect anyhow. This is not a fine balsa or composite structure.. Think of it more as a quick and easy build method..

You can have really nice prints, or you can have really light prints. Generally you will not have really nice prints that are also light. If it sounds like I am trying to temper your expectations, then you have hit the nail on the head!

 

[Chris]

A lot of people will sand off the glue joints and paint the plane anyway...

 

[Hoqiam]

Thank you all for your replies!

T0m

 

[Txmustangflyer]

There's a guy on rcgroups that 3d printer an a340 airliner. He used acetone, I think, to "weld" the joints. Seemed to work.