Building the SoarKraft Roughgen V2

[Yotaman1985]

Thanks Wayne, I had never tried it before and wanted to mess with it but need to get a drier. I tried it straight out of the bag but probably needs a good drying before use even if brand new. Just ordered a few rolls of PETG to try out. When you guys print planes with PETG, do you generally go as light as possible like single walls and stuff?

 

[Wayne]

I'll let @RafaelAvila answer this question.

I will say different planes have different needs. My Roughgen was PLA and worked great at Sunset, it died a horrific death with ballast taped to the outside flying in huge lift at Sunset and midaired with a ton of energy into a small carbon PSS glider. Was a great bunch of noise when they hit. I think I flew that plane a few times prior and it was generally fun.

I have flown the "Rise" by Plane Print and the Seagulls from them and printed those in a prefoamed PLA filament. That was nicer then the foaming filaments IMHO. Printed better, and sanded like wood. Those worked well in that filament. Later we have produced a few Seagulls for folks in PETG and the pilots love them, they fly like a PSS plane at that weight and can handle a little more abuse.

So it sort of comes down to what you are wanting from the plane. For thermal like flying, keep it light.

 

[RafaelAvila]

Thanks Wayne, I had never tried it before and wanted to mess with it but need to get a drier. I tried it straight out of the bag but probably needs a good drying before use even if brand new. Just ordered a few rolls of PETG to try out. When you guys print planes with PETG, do you generally go as light as possible like single walls and stuff?

I strongly recommend drying any filament before use. You can get the cheaper dryers that handle one spool at a time, or the fancy ones that can dry up to 4 spools at higher temperatures and much faster.

this is a sample direct from bambu website

 

[OribaSJ88]

I second the suggestion to use a dryer box. It most directly affects the amount of stringing PETG produces when you print. It's a much "stringier" material than PLA. I think most boxes set the default temperature for PETG drying to 60C. I use 65C and find it makes a meaningful difference in reducing the amount of stringing I see. I would also suggest that you print directly from the dryer box at temperature if you can.

Wings and tail surfaces are always single layer. I'm trying to think if I've ever seen a design that's different and the answer is no. Also, most flying surfaces (and other parts) are designed around a particular layer thickness. Deviating from the designed thickness can cause huge issues with the slicer. Even a single layer, 0.4mm wall thickness wing, is heavy relative to other construction techniques. The price for the ease of printing with standard PLA or PETG is relatively heavy weight and rather brittle structures (especially relative to composites).

 

[Wayne]

I honestly think printers should include filament dryers, they really are not optional. Ok, PLA doesn't hardly need it, but everything prints better when it it dried. We pretty much keep our filaments in dryers when they are in use.

 

[zeo0nie1]

The newer AMSs from Bambu and probably others do. I don't know how well they work.

I started with a food dehydrator but after getting a proper box (Sunlu S4), I realized that was a waste of time - the "keep dry" feature of purpose-built boxes (and, as mentioned, printing from the box) is really nice.

One issue that comes up is if you start using different materials, they have different drying temperature specs. You can sometimes make up for temp by baking it longer, though.

Ah, the rabbit hole of 3D printing.

I will say that the Bay Area is pretty arid - I have printed with PLA spools that have been out for over a year without drying it and it came out just fine.

 

[thenated0g]

The p1s has a bunch of empty space in the front so i printed out the desiccant holders people designed. In the app you can see the moisture level as A Dryest to D wet. It went from a D to an A overnight.

 

[zeo0nie1]

#1 category of things to 3D print: things for 3D printers

 

[thenated0g]

love fastmat, funny guy

 

[RafaelAvila]

The p1s has a bunch of empty space in the front so i printed out the desiccant holders people designed. In the app you can see the moisture level as A Dryest to D wet. It went from a D to an A overnight.
View attachment 26571

Personaly I use dissecant only to keep it dry the maximum period as possible, not using the dissecant to dry it.

 

[Wayne]

Yeah, desiccant will help stay dry longer, but will not get filament dry.

PLA hardly seems to care about moisture around here, but with this said, pretty much everything prints better after a drying cycle.