Printing an RC plane

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Tripped into a rabbit hole recently of 3D printed RC planes. Just had to try it myself.

Almost finished with my first one, its a Piper cub from 3D printlabs. Just need to print the tires and the decorative engine pieces and install all the electronics.

I used Polymaker Polylight LW PLA I had picked up during prime days. Its not the active foaming style, but it prints easy, and is plenty light.

The whole plane (minus landing gear and electronics) weighs in at 12.2 oz’s so far.

Been a really fun, and surprisingly quick build. Learned how to utilize modifiers and variable layer height as well.

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That looks really cool! Please post photos when done and let us know how it flys!

And print some covers for those outlets. :grin:

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Have you tried the PLA Aero and ASA Aero filaments?

I haven’t, I had just seen that they are designed exactly for this model.

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No, The PLA Aero that BL sells is an active foaming type. The active ones allow more control of the density the parts you print, but seem more difficult to get right.

The polymaker polylight I used is a pre-foamed PLA, so its lighter than PLA, but you can’t control how much it foams with temp.

They say you can print these in regular PLA as well. I might try some of the parts- if not a whole plane in PLA just to see.

I do know the lack of proper retraction with the foamed PLA makes printing multiple parts at a time less than ideal- it causes fluffs/oozes that need to be brushed/picked off. One part at a time they come out really nice.

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I think I am with you on this. I prefer it to just work.

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Plus- the active foaming filament is around 2x the cost- they claim you get the same volume of parts so the cost evens out n the end.

I may try some soon just to see

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Been a bit of an adventure with these…

So my first attempt with the Cub in pre-foamed PLA- I crashed early after difficult take-off attempts. A few crashes caused enough damage (broken wing).

I learned alot. I adjusted radio settings, and made notes for better setup.

I then switched to a different model, A WWII Hawker Hurricane. I had printed this in E-sun LW foaming PLA. It was VERY light, but very delicate. Turns out I starting printing without enough inspection, and my settings were not right. The wall thickness was too thin.

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I tried to fly the Hurricane with a hand launch, and it went “better”, but It resulted in a hard landing that damaged the wing. I was not suprised, the print was very delicate. I learned that my CG and overall setup was not right from this attempt.

I later tried to fly another version of the first Pre-foamed LW PLA Cub- As I had printed a whole second plane that was sitting around. This time I used the same prop I had on the Hurricane- which provided more thrust. Taking off was far easier- However- once in the air, I had control issues. This was magnified by my error of taking off in a bad location- once it was in the air, and I was fighting the controls to figure out trims, a tree blocked my view lol. I lost sight for quite a time before regaining- and by then it was about a lost cause. The plane wound up in a death spiral, lawn-darting into the nearby field.

Damage was suprisingly minimal- and I already has the parts to repair. I may do so and try again soon. Even though this plane was heavier- using the pre-foamed PLA, the different prop make a big difference. From this crash- I learned to again- check setup and CG much more carefully, Im certain it was still wrong- and, takeoff without obstructions!

I have another E-sun LW PLA plane fully ready to fly- This time a A6M2 Zero, printed with better settings, and feels very sturdy- yet still very light. I have confidence if I check/setup the CG correctly, it should fly well and be successful- just need a calm day.

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I’m also finishing another Cub, this time in the E-sun LW pla. I have good hopes for it too.

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Good morning, I would like to Planeprint a Foka4 glider with my A1, I have made several attempts, the pla for the fuselage would be an Esun + HW and for the wings an Esun LW, could anyone give me some info for the setting? bamboo studio or ?
Thank you

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For Esun LW PLA, I used a basic/generic PLA profile - and changed-

Flowrate to .55

Nozzle temp to 255.

I used 3Dlabprint files, they offer a Bambu profile to help with using Bambu studio. (attached)

Typically all parts use layer modifiers to add 2 perimeters for the first layer (better bed adhesion), and use variable layer height as needed (wing tips, etc)

PolyLight CUB wing L1.3mf (6.6 MB)

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grazie per avermi risposto, ma posso utilizzarlo anche con i file di stampa Planeprint? profilo p3

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Open the 3mf, then import whatever Planeprint part (and delete or move the “cub” part off of the plate) The settings will remain from the loaded project.

If you bought Plane print files, I would think they should have a pretty solid profile for their planes?

What is not printing well?

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i file di stampa del progetto sono STL

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You can import the STL into the existing project.

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ok ci provo, grazie ancora

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foto programma
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Fuselage1-motor_profile3.3mf (399,6 KB)

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da bambu studio l’ho salvato in 3mf, l’originale era stl

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I had a look- I couldn’t get that part to slice either. I checked info on Planeprint.com, It states Profile3 ONLY slices correctly using CURA slicer and experimental “surface” mode.

From just a quick look, it seems that model can ONLY be sliced using CURA slicer.

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Ero consapevole, ma alcuni sono riusciti a stampare utilizzando bambu studio sistemando le regolazioni di stampa , ma su altri modelli bambù