Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

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Thomas86
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:22 pm

Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

Post by Thomas86 »

Hello Everyone,

Just got a 3d printer and very much new to FreeCAD and CAD in general.
To get started and learn FC i decided to go ahead and try to create a wing to maybe later continue to make a plane.
The outer shape of the wing i have created, and i put a hole in it so i can slide it over a carbon tube for attachment to the fuselage or other wing sections.

Now, the question is, how do i effectively make a structure in the wing to give it some strength and rigidity?
(using version 0.2 of FC)

~S~
Thomas
Attachments
Wing.png
Wing.png (5.62 KiB) Viewed 1137 times
~S~
Thomas
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adrianinsaval
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Re: Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

Post by adrianinsaval »

3d printers can do patterns for the infill in you make it solid in 3D, since you're going to use a carbon tube the inner structure would be mostly to preserve the shape of the airfoil not to sustain the actual load so you don't need a lot of infill. Just the skin itself might be enough if it's not too thin. Otherwise just add one or two beams and it should be enough.

You'll probably want more intersection between your tube "hole" and the skin though, currently it looks like something that could separate after some usage.
Thomas86
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Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:22 pm

Re: Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

Post by Thomas86 »

Good point about the tube intersection whit the wing, increased it.
However, for some reason my slicer does not create an infill in the wing, only in the tube, see picture.
(changed dimensions a bit so it can be seen more clearly, using Creality Slicer 4.8)

Anyone has an idea why this is?
Attachments
WingA.png
WingA.png (224.09 KiB) Viewed 1023 times
~S~
Thomas
edwilliams16
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Re: Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

Post by edwilliams16 »

You need to model the wing as a solid with a hole for the tube. Your slicer will allow you to choose the density of the infill structure and how many surface layers to make. It wont fill empty space.

If the lowest working infill is too dense for your needs, you will have to model the structure yourself.
Thomas86
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Re: Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

Post by Thomas86 »

Ah right ofcourse, makes sense that it does not fill empty space, otherwise what's the purpose of modelling it.

Now, for practice purposes and because i would like to learn, how would one go about modelling the structure of the wing?
~S~
Thomas
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Re: Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

Post by edwilliams16 »

I’d maybe try https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Macro_Honeycomb. A fully 3D cellular structure would likely be not printable because of the overhangs. We did have someone come by about a year ago with a scheme for a random mesh with limited overhang angles. I don't know if he succeeded in implementing it or even if he ended up using Freecad.
Thomas86
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Re: Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

Post by Thomas86 »

Thank you for the tip, will give it a try later.
Was hoping to be able to design something myself, but i suppose sometimes it's just better and easier to use what others have already done.
~S~
Thomas
Syres
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Re: Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

Post by Syres »

Thomas86 wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 10:22 pm using Creality Slicer 4.8
As a side note, the Creality slicer is based on an older version of Cura and if you're using Windows 10 (or a recent Linux distro) then I can highly recommend just using Cura 5.1, the engine generating the GCode has been made much more efficient. As a new user to 3D printing with a Creality machine then CHEP https://www.youtube.com/user/beginnerelectronics/videos has some excellent explanatory videos and has Cura profiles that he and his contributors have produced some pretty fantastic results in terms of speed and quality.
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onekk
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Re: Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

Post by onekk »

Usually if you want to model things in a repeatable way, with 3d printing it is usually better to make inner structure direct in the model, usually along strength directions.

This could be accomplished stating the nozzle diameter as structure width.

You usually could model them using scripting, hexagonal pattern could be a good choice, or using the frame build as in old wood and fabric aeronautical buildings.

I suppose that the wing will not be printed in vertical.

As the force along the layers is not the best solution for strength.

Regards

Carlo D.
GitHub page: https://github.com/onekk/freecad-doc.
- In deep articles on FreeCAD.
- Learning how to model with scripting.
- Various other stuffs.

Blog: https://okkmkblog.wordpress.com/
Thomas86
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Re: Creating supporting structure inside a wing (3d printing)

Post by Thomas86 »

No experience at all whit scripting, but thanks for the suggestion, I intend to print in the orientation as some a couple posts above.
(blue screenshot)
Any sources to read about scripting related to this suitable for absolute beginners?

I might go whit the original frame build since I am working from old plans of an Carl Goldberg Electra 2meter glider that i built 25 years ago as a kid whit my dad.

Also, the honeycomb macro suggested earlier i have some trouble whit.
I can get it in an empty document, but not in my current model.
Also, when i make changes to the dimensions of the model in a new document, the program just freezes for minutes.
(have to give it a with of 300mm to cover the span of each printed section of the wing)
~S~
Thomas
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