I am curious as to which firms are most popular among the group for parts? I have read through the lists but it would be good to hear from users.
Thanks
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I am curious as to which firms are most popular among the group for parts? I have read through the lists but it would be good to hear from users.
Thanks
You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!
Replies
Hi Eli,
Congratulations for having achieved many flights on an FDM airframe. You must be a great pilot! At Kashmir-Robotics we build planes to survive "hard" landings. FDM tends to crush, often dramatically, on hard landings yielding small pieces plastic scattered around the avionics. For small planes, we have used nylon filament in FDM printers with some success, but the uniformity of strength distribution never matches SLS nor does the strength/weight come close to the glass and carbon filled polyamides. If you have been designing for FDM with distributed structures such as "honeycomb," you will need to migrate your design strategy for SLS. At Kashmir-Robotics we use a more conventional design process with 3D printed ribs, spars, and skins (an integral structure), fitted with carbon fiber tubes and rods for stiffening. The process yields aircraft that can survive significantly more energetic impacts than carbon fiber composite aircraft and all other lesser quality aircraft. Because our design process for SLS 3D printed aerostructures differs from design for FDM, we cannot use FDM to print prototypes. But by keeping edges with ~>1.5 mm radius, we can FDM print 1/4 scale models (surface only) for aerodynamic testing.
Ron
wcUAVc
Kashmir-Robotics
More or less totally agree with you, Ron! :)
And as to the pilot comment.... :) The FDM aircraft I've worked on tend to have "sacrificial components" that are designed to fail first to save the rest of the structure. Takes a lot of the pressure off when trying to make a perfect landing.
Doing all the support-free structure in FDM is a nightmare. To get the right weight, we really tend to minimize a lot of material that could hold up to, for instance, being held by a human!
When SULSA came out a few years ago, I remember being very jealous of their process and the equipment they got to use for that...
My personal opinion is that the speed and cost of FDM makes it appealing in a lot of ways but if cost were no issue, I would have a room full of SLS machines.
Interesting to see what is coming down the road to handle all the problems each of these methods exhibits.
Hi Eli,
Sounds like we have a similar design "trick." To make "tough" aircraft, we place FDM printed sacrificial sections behind nylon SLS surfaces at "impact zones." A 1.5mm thick SLS nylon surface will survive a huge impact deflection crushing FDM honeycomb and then return to original shape undamaged. We just replace the FDM (usually ABS) in the "impact zone" before returning the aircraft to service. Regarding getting the support-free structure in FDM, suggest you review a few papers by Aurora Flight Sciences. They examined a wide assortment of design options to optimize Stratasys FDM for major aerostructures of a blended wing body aircraft and took "first place paper" at an AIAA conference. The large structures are support-free and extremely strong in flight.
Ron
wcUAVc
Kashmir Robotics
Very cool concept! I'm going to have to look at your website in depth now!
I've read all the Aurora stuff, and presented a paper of my own at Rapid 2 years ago about the same thing. Lots of good work going on in the field. Sounds like you guys are doing some very interesting work!
Here's a video of a takeoff gone wrong with the largest FDM aircraft I've worked on... this was the 3rd failed attempt! Motor got gravel in it and needs replacement, but airframe is fine! Just about 8' span, 12.5lbs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_DznvaRRT4
Hi Eric,
Most any 3D printer, process, or vendor will provide adequate quality for small fixtures or other simple parts. If you want to build your own 3D printer, I suggest you purchase a kit on eBay. If you want to purchase a small 3D printer, there are several good options such as Afinia. For structural pieces including aerostructures, I would avoid FDM printers. As Eli pointed out below, there have been several aircraft fabricated using Stratrasys Fortus FDM printers. The result is an extremely brittle aircraft, maybe good for one flight. A much better option is SLS glass filled polyamid, with carbon fiber filling if needed. Solid Concepts and Harvest Technologies provide great SLS services (both are owned by Stratasys).
Ron
wcUAVc
Kashmir-Robotics
Be sure to add your profile to our directory www.uascareercentral.com/companies.html we are building a supplier guide...
If you are going to be doing a lot of parts, I would strongly recommend just getting a printer if that's possible. I just had some quotes from a few places and they were all exorbitant. See if anyone local like a makerspace has a MakerBot or equivalent and try to get printing on those... tremendously more affordable than sending parts out to get made. I usually try to just buy material and then use someone else's machine.
Thanks for the reply. I was looking more from a general perspective on the equipment itself rather than the services. We aren't going to be making anything we are trying to see what firms have established themselves. But your quick reply was appeciated!
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