3D Printed RC Wing - Northern Pike (STL Files)

by FliteTest | August 10, 2018 | (6) Posted in Just Fun

This week on the community showcase, we're featuring LocalFiend's new 3D printable wing design: the Northern Pike. 

3D printing has revealed a whole new sub-genre of the RC hobby. People are now able to not only print parts for their planes, such as detail items, they're able to print whole airframes. Just check out this huge Spitfire we reviewed from 3D Lab Print. One of our community members, LocalFiend, has recently designed an awesome looking flying wing. Check this beast out!


This plane works well with the Emax 2306 2400kv motor available in the Flite Test store and is designed for a 3 to 4s battery.


The structure has been carefully designed to create a lightweight but strong airframe. 


One cool feature is the teeth.

"The eyes, mouth, and teeth are all part of the model, and will show up when printing. Should make it very easy to paint, or add some tape or something."

You can read more from LocalFiend on the build thread of the airframe. 

Flight Video

If you want to see how a 3D printed wing of this size flies, look no further. Although the first test 'throw' didn't really go to plan, the aircraft certainly proved itself capable of a lot on its very first flight!

Files

LocalFiend has made the STL files for this aircraft free for you to download and print at home. All you have to do is visit Thingiverse to find them. You can also find a ton of advice there on how to correctly print your Northern Pike. Print settings are absolutely vital when it comes to having a good experience with 3D printed aircraft!


Here are the parts you'll need to finish a Northern Pike, according to LocalFiend:

Motor: Emax 2306-2400kv or equivalent. This motor weighs around 34 grams and puts out 1700 grams of thrust.
ESC: 35A for the recommended motor
Prop: 6045 HQ Style Prop
Servos: 2x 9 gram. Metal gear recommended, but cheapos will probably work.
Battery: 2200mAh-3000mAh 3-4 Cell Lipo
Pushrods: ~.040 - .060"
Elevon Hinge Wire: 1/16" wire or ~1.7mm

Files: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3040294 

We love seeing projects like this from our awesome community! If you have something your working on, post about it on the Flite Test forums!

Links to more

Check out the forum thread for this build

Check out Local Fiend's YouTube channel

Article by James Whomsley

Editor of FliteTest.com

james@flitetest.com

www.youtube.com/projectairaviation

- Find this article & others like it at www.FliteTest.com -

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COMMENTS

localfiend on August 10, 2018
Hey Man, thanks for writing up the article! Just thought I'd clear up one thing, the F pack may be barely adequate, but I don't think the B quite has what this plane needs. Something in the 30-50 gram weight range with a higher KV, 2400 and up is needed. 3D printed planes are a bit heavier. The Emax 2306 2400 kv motor available in the FT store works perfectly.
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goatboy29 on March 13, 2019
Hey LocalFiend, I am currently working on designing my own plane for 3D printing, but I'm having some trouble with the wall thickness. If I shell my parts to 0.4 mm (my nozzle diameter), Cura has issues slicing it and leaves huge gaps in parts of the walls. But if I shell the part to any thicker than that (ie. 0.5 mm) it decides that it needs to do a double pass on the walls to get down that extra 0.1 mm of filament. But I've sliced part of your Pike with the same settings and it worked beautifully! What am I missing here? Thanks for the help in advance!
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3D Printed RC Wing - Northern Pike (STL Files)