Using Blender for parts

Posted by Harry on November 26, 2012 at 10:59am

Hi, I'm new to the idea of 3D in general but I see it's power.  I've been playing with Blender 2.6 and know just a little and not enough yet.  Anyway, I want to print airfoils and a spar to hold them.  I took an airfoil from Xfoil and used it as a background image, then followed it with a Nurbs path and converted it to a mesh.  Then, I used fill and F-gon to make it solid. 

What I want to do is figure out how to "cut" a slot for a spar or even how to cut some lightening holes.  If I can do that, then I would build a spar to fit and curve it for dihedral like on the easystar, and the printed ribs would snap in place.

Any hints?3690975530?profile=original 

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Replies

  • Scott Walters March 19, 2013 at 8:45pm

    Hello,

    I suggest everyone use the AutoDesk 123d software.  Its free now, and excellent!  I use Autocad Inventor at work and I can do just about the same things as this free 3d software form one of the few auto cad giants!

    Here is the link. http://www.123dapp.com/create  . You will need to do the hard stuff.

    May you all have glitchless modeling,

    Scooter46290

  • Ellison Chan November 30, 2012 at 11:50am

    Yeah, that's right.  Thought you were aware of that.  You have to convert the curve with the alt-c command in object mode.

    But first you need to extrude the curve so that it is solid.

  • Ellison Chan November 28, 2012 at 2:45pm

    Here's the latest with tapered wing sections:

    3692556465?profile=original

    wingsection.blend

    https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3692556386?profile=original
  • Ellison Chan November 28, 2012 at 1:34pm
    Send me a copy of the wing, when you've done tweaking it. I want to print my own plane too! :-)
  • Ellison Chan November 28, 2012 at 1:30pm
    Ok, I did a rough wing section in FreeCad, and exported the section to stl, and Blender. Here are the two files. (in the main group discussion) Still can't figure out how to attach files here. You can play with the bezier curve in FreeCad to match better with your wing section.
  • Ellison Chan November 28, 2012 at 1:15pm
    I used the "Extrude" tool in the path menu. I left the original curve so, you can play with the extrusion property with it.

    Check out this video. It's a little long winded, but lots of details about it towards the end:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyMjUEFdXPA

    Btw, you should use FreeCad for doing this. If you draw the curve there, you can extrude it as a filled in curve, and actually extrude solid sections, instead of hollow.
  • Ellison Chan November 27, 2012 at 7:58pm
    Hmm, looks like I can't attach files here.
    Anyways, I'll put it in the main discussions of this group.
  • Ellison Chan November 27, 2012 at 7:57pm
    Here's the file with the extruded wing:

    https://api.ning.com/files/YKx5URazVtf35dEJ2kdACfB5G4-tYdra2UBuS*GLKbiK4d-cWDm*FDOI7400FMgAVGNYM8NNCK-dEF9iNU2Z6g__/wingextrude.blend
  • Ellison Chan November 27, 2012 at 11:40am
    I need the file with the Nurbs curve not the mesh.
  • Ellison Chan November 27, 2012 at 9:24am
    Yeah, I printed a couple copters using Shapeways. It is very expensive.
    Btw, to make the wing section, you need to extrude it so that it has thickness. Then you can use the "array" operation on it to make as many sections as you need for the wing. If you use an "object offset" relative to an empty that scales in the direction of the run, you can even create a taper. Then a boolean operation on the spar to create a slot.

    It's actually easier to do than describe. Send me you wind section file, and I can make an example for you to play with.
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