Is this a viable part for 3D printing???

Hello all,
Firstly, I am very new to 3D printing - never done it before! However, I do own laser cutters, CNC machines and do 3D modeling and CAM work so am fairly savvy in these technology fields.

I am considering the use of 3D printing to print parts as shown in the attachment. I am looking at carbon reinforced Nylon as the filament source. The parts are generally 2 to 2.5mm thick (high), and the webs are 2mm on the edges and 3 to 4mm wide internal to the structure. Lengths vary up to 400 or so mm long.

Are parts like this viable for 3D printing?
What would be the major constraints for such fragile looking parts?

Thanks, Tony.

Hi Tony,

Yes the part you show is definitely a viable 3D printable part. Almost anything is 3D printable if support material is added but your part would be printable without support material.

Your main constraint is going to be finding a 3D printer that has a big enough build bed. Most printers are around the 200x200x200 mark whereas you're going to need something much bigger if some of your parts are 400mm long.

The carbon reinforced nylon is a good material but you might find your parts are adequately strong enough from a simpler material such as PLA. Printing in PLA will probably give you a smoother finish as well.

I hope this helps,

Regards,
3DEX - Great Filament

Very printable but size may be a limitation for many popular machines. As mentioned a more basic material such as PLA, ABS or PETG may be usable. When you get into more exotic materials you add issues and costs.
I'd be happy to print you a sample piece out of a couple different materials. I could do one up to about 240mm on the ling dimension.

Looks like a rib for an airfoil.

Thanks for your replies. That was what I was hoping for and yes, these will be ribs for a wing albeit a vertical wing on a sailboat.

I am hopefully about to join a makerspace that has a 3D printer with a 305mm x 305mm bed that will take up to a 420mm part like this across the diagonal. If this approach is not viable, I'll revert to laser cutting parts from ply since I've done this hundreds of times before. Nevertheless, thanks for the information and I'll also look into simpler materials.

Tony

Also, wirlybird, thanks for the offer for a sample. As I noted, I'm going to try to join a Makerspace and as such, will create a couple of samples there first and see what lessons I need to learn!!

Speaking from experience, try other fabrication methods first. I've tried printing trusses for wings before, and entire wing sections. This looks like a NACA0015-ish airfoil?

Since you're familiar with other shop toys, my first recommendation would be to press punch this design out of CF sheet (or perhaps Aluminum sheet, or Ti sheet if you can get it). Unless one of your laser cutters can do it. If not, a small mill bit on a CNC will do these nicely. You'll be able to mass produce them a lot quicker (a dozen or so per sheet at once vs 1 at a time for a printer) this way. Even if you stack the prints using supports, you'll have a lot of cleanup to do.

Another option would be to create a mold of this, and then cast it using a strong, yet lite, resin. This truss design makes for a simple mold, and again, could be done in bulk. You would only need a one piece mold.

But again, reading your specs, it looks like you are making a run of different sizes. I'd just spend a few bucks at the hobby shop, get a nice sheet of 2mm CF, and CNC these out. You could probably get a whole wing section out of one sheet.

My design was for a land yacht, but also using a wingsail. A variety of issues caused me to scrub the project, but I'm still interested. I went with a NACA0018 airfoil. I liked the deeper angle of attack on it. I do a lot of RC sail boat racing, so I'd like to hear more about this project. Pretty far down the pipeline, I have plans to make a single hull 50" racer based on the Volvo Open 60, with canting keel. And I want to try a trimaran with another shot at a wingsail, but this time with wind gauges mounted on the vessel to gauge apparent wind, and have the servos be controlled be an arduino, so the maximum lift can be applied for any wind angle. Then the throttle control wouldn't be a sail arm, but a true throttle.

As Marm said or you can consider laser cutting Delrin which is a very strong and lightweight plastic.
Take into consideration that nylon does not perform consistently in contact with water.
Other than that a carbon-reinforced filament will work. Use slow speeds and thin layer thicknesses with 106% filament flow for stronger parts.

Very printable but size may be a limitation for many popular machines. As mentioned a more basic material such as PLA, ABS or PETG may be usable. When you get into more exotic materials you add issues and costs. I'd be happy to print you a sample piece out of a couple different materials. I could do one up to about 240mm on the ling dimension.