Maybe save the 3D-printed parts for scale models

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MFE

Pre-takeoff checklist
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www.bbc.com

Aircraft crashed in Gloucestershire after 3D-printed part collapsed

The aircraft was completely destroyed after a spare part bought at an air show in America collapsed.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

A plane crashed after a 3D-printed part softened and collapsed, causing its engine to lose power, a report has found.

The Cozy Mk IV light aircraft was destroyed after its plastic air induction elbow, bought at an air show in North America, collapsed.

The aircraft crashed into a landing aid system at Gloucestershire Airport in Staverton on 18 March at 13:04 GMT, after its engine lost power. The sole occupant was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said in a report that the induction elbow was made of "inappropriate material" and safety actions will be taken in future regarding 3D printed parts.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0914w0y
AAIB Parts at the base of an aeroplane, including a large black part which looks to has partially melted, with white arrows pointing to it.
AAIB
The part, which was 3D-printed, softened and collapsed
Following an "uneventful local flight", the AAIB report said the pilot advanced the throttle on the final approach to the runway, and realised the engine had suffered a complete loss of power.

"He managed to fly over a road and a line of bushes on the airfield boundary, but landed short and struck the instrument landing system before coming to rest at the side of the structure," the report read.

It was revealed the part had been installed during a modification to the fuel system and collapsed due to its 3D-printed plastic material softening when exposed to heat from the engine.
The Light Aircraft Association (LAA) said it now intends to take safety actions in response to the accident, including a "LAA Alert" regarding the use of 3D-printed parts that will be sent to inspectors.
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Or learn to use the right kind of plastic...

I've dealt with the installation and certification of 3D printed parts, there's a reason why the FAA still retains a greater level of oversight for these kinds of projects.

In this case, the maker of the part had no clue (or the part wasn't intended for that application), and the airplane owner didn't know any better.

Some people use aluminum fittings for the fuel system in the engine compartment. We don't ban the use of aluminum because of that. Trying to ban all 3D printed parts because a couple people didn't know any better would be wrong. Education is the answer.
 
3D printing per se is not the problem. Design and material selection is the problem.

3D printing has many aerospace applications today, both civilian and military. Most use metallic alloys, but I suspect there are some plastic applications here and there as well. Probably not the same stuff used in $250 consumer-grade printers, though.

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+1 to the facepalm. Great galloping ghosts what a dumb move.

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If the 3d printed tablet mount in my cockpit melts, I have bigger problems than the tablet falling on the floor.

And, I have seen the students use what appears to be a 3d printed intake systems for Formula SAE vehicles - I assume they used a plastic that has better temperature resistance than, say, PLA.
1764949376193.jpeg

One has to do one's homework.
 
I've messed around with 3d printed parts a bit. Most of these plastics are printed at 200-250C or about 390-480F. The problem is that plastic will warp/deform at much lower temperatures. I actually tried making a custom duct for a portable air conditioner exhaust once and even with higher temp materials that warped pretty quickly under use. I wouldn't even think of using 3d printed parts for an engine or probably even anything mounted under a hood/aircraft cowl. It's just not suited for that application.

OTOH I've had good success with things like interior brackets/trim/adapters and I've used a 3d printed camera mount under my wing before. 3D printed parts can be quite useful you just have to choose the application wisely.
 
Yes, I really hope they don't try to ban all 3d printed parts just because of poor material selection.

There are plenty of materials available for 3d printing, one merely needs to choose the right material for the application. PLA is by far the most frequently used material for 3D printing, but it is NOT good for any application where there will be any sort of heat - Even leaving it in your car on a hot day it'll melt. The application for PLA is quick prototyping of the shape of something, and easy printing for beginners. I still use plenty of it, but definitely wouldn't use it where any sort of heat above room temperature could be expected.
 
Great for prototyping, but then send out for a proper print/machine with the right materials for the job.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yes, I really hope they don't try to ban all 3d printed parts just because of poor material selection.
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Not at all. You may be surprised at how many parts now installed are produced from additive mfgr-ing. But this is a classic example why the FAA and other NAAs require such a high bar for AM vs parts produced under subtractive mfgr.
 
Even ABS would probably work for air induction components in the engine compartment, but I'd definitely put a few temperature strips in there to get an idea of how hot things get before calling it good.
 
I’m
AV8R_87 said:
Even ABS would probably work for air induction components in the engine compartment, but I'd definitely put a few temperature strips in there to get an idea of how hot things get before calling it good.
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ABS gets soft at 221°F, I don't think it has any place in the airflow coming off of 400° cylinders.
 
172andyou said:
Exactly. Far too many people think "3d printing" == "PLA".

It doesn't.
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Right. Besides the usual home grade printers that can do PLA or ABS, there are lots of other options. Where I last worked we had machines that could print in PLA/ABS but also polycarbonate (including carbon reinforced), aluminum, tool steel, 400 series stainless, and a bunch of other materials I've forgotten. It was fun realizing I could optimize designs and shapes in ways that would never have been practical with conventional machining.
 
I assume he bought that thing at Osh? Who sells sheisty induction components at Osh?
 
Dana said:
Right. Besides the usual home grade printers that can do PLA or ABS, there are lots of other options. Where I last worked we had machines that could print in PLA/ABS but also polycarbonate (including carbon reinforced), aluminum, tool steel, 400 series stainless, and a bunch of other materials I've forgotten. It was fun realizing I could optimize designs and shapes in ways that would never have been practical with conventional machining.
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Yep. And the modern pipeline, including being able to print out PLA parts in your office overnight, hold the thing your hands the next morning, tweak the next day, iterate and finally send the same file out to either in house or external service providers to print final or near final metal is absolutely game changing.
 
172andyou said:
Yep. And the modern pipeline, including being able to print out PLA parts in your office overnight, hold the thing your hands the next morning, tweak the next day, iterate and finally send the same file out to either in house or external service providers to print final or near final metal is absolutely game changing.
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We were doing SLA prototypes way back in the 80's... An SLA printer was about a cool quarter mil per unit back then.
 
Craig said:
We were doing SLA prototypes way back in the 80's... An SLA printer was about a cool quarter mil per unit back then.
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The $250 Elegoo Saturn 3 is smirking.
 
Craig said:
We were doing SLA prototypes way back in the 80's... An SLA printer was about a cool quarter mil per unit back then.
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That's super cool. I knew some of this stuff went back to the 90's. Didn't know about the 80's

asicer said:
The $250 Elegoo Saturn 3 is smirking.
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It's astounding that things have gotten to the point that I own two printers with no more justification than wanting to design and print a handful of personal use gadgets and furniture mock-ups.
 
Jim_R said:
3D printing per se is not the problem. Design and material selection is the problem.
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Nicely said. Problem wasn't 3D Printing. Problem wasn't how it was made, problem was it was substandard material which would be true if it was 3D printed, made in a mold or forged.
 
172andyou said:
Exactly. Far too many people think "3d printing" == "PLA".

It doesn't.
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Exactly. There are 3D printers that can print many materials, and 3D printers for specific materials, and 3D printers that combine with other technologies to manufacture things out of materials that don't necessarily lend themselves to 3D printing (Selective Laser Sintering for example). There are 3D printers that can print buildings out of concrete. A guy at our local makerspace made one that can print chocolate. There's been a massive growth in this space.

172andyou said:
Yep. And the modern pipeline, including being able to print out PLA parts in your office overnight, hold the thing your hands the next morning, tweak the next day, iterate and finally send the same file out to either in house or external service providers to print final or near final metal is absolutely game changing.
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Yes! Companies like PCBWay that can do one-off or small-batch CNC, PCB, and other manufacturing have opened up a ton of possibilities. I kind of wish I needed to make something like that. :rofl:

Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
that my wife commented that she is glad I have a printer.
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Absolutely. When I was shopping for a 3D printer, my wife said "I don't want you filling the house up with cheap plastic crap." Now, she asks me to do stuff all the time. I've made little trinkets for my older son to give his classmates for Valentine's Day the last few years, for example. Most recently, she bought some furniture that was quite nice for a real steal, but it was missing a few key brackets to make the drawers work well. I got out the calipers, made some measurements, spent maybe a half hour in CAD and a half hour printing, and boom, furniture works.

It's an amazing capability to have!

Most fun, though: Making rockets and airplanes with my kids! I haven't designed any airplanes yet (we've used Eclipson and 3DAeroVentures designs), but we have designed our own rockets. Our "Tiny Boy" rocket 3D prints very quickly and just needs a 1/4A or 1/2A motor added to it, no further building required. We also have some nose and tail units we've designed to be put on toilet paper or paper towel tubes to make a rocket, and a connector that lets you use multiple tubes for bigger rockets. Fun stuff!
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yes! Companies like PCBWay that can do one-off or small-batch CNC, PCB, and other manufacturing have opened up a ton of possibilities. I kind of wish I needed to make something like that. :rofl:
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Do you watch Curious Marc's YouTube channel? Those guys do incredible stuff. Their reconstruction of an Apollo Guidance Computer and the Apollo Unified S Band communications equipment is just nuts.
 
3393RP said:
Do you watch Curious Marc's YouTube channel? Those guys do incredible stuff. Their reconstruction of an Apollo Guidance Computer and the Apollo Unified S Band communications equipment is just nuts.
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That's one I'm not familiar with, but I just looked it up and that looks pretty interesting.

YouTube is one of the few corners of the Internet I still really like (in spite of the ever-increasing number of ads). There are so many people doing such cool things and sharing it, that pretty much anyone can find content in the various niches that they are interested in.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
That's one I'm not familiar with, but I just looked it up and that looks pretty interesting.

YouTube is one of the few corners of the Internet I still really like (in spite of the ever-increasing number of ads).
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It's pretty cheap to turn the ads off. I respect that they give us the traditional model (ads) as well as the option to not have them. Content (and content delivery) isn't free.
 
172andyou said:
It's pretty cheap to turn the ads off. I respect that they give us the traditional model (ads) as well as the option to not have them. Content (and content delivery) isn't free.
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I wasn't really aware of exactly how much it was because they always try to get you to "Start your free trial!" but don't tell you what it'll cost afterwards. I think I had come across some info about YouTube TV and just written it off - YouTube TV is $83/month, but YouTube Premium is $14/month which I suppose is worth considering... Thanks!
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I wasn't really aware of exactly how much it was because they always try to get you to "Start your free trial!" but don't tell you what it'll cost afterwards. I think I had come across some info about YouTube TV and just written it off - YouTube TV is $83/month, but YouTube Premium is $14/month which I suppose is worth considering... Thanks!
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Yeah, totally different offerings for sure!
 
flyingcheesehead said:
That's one I'm not familiar with, but I just looked it up and that looks pretty interesting.

YouTube is one of the few corners of the Internet I still really like (in spite of the ever-increasing number of ads). There are so many people doing such cool things and sharing it, that pretty much anyone can find content in the various niches that they are interested in.
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You'll have to invest some time to watch all episodes, but the series about the Apollo Guidance Computer is fascinating. The S Band series is separate, and one has to be pretty geekafied to watch all of them. I guess that's me. :biggrin:

Marc and the guys that help him are incredibly smart. One of them, Mike Stewart, is a genius, and I mean that with the real OG definition. Hope you get the time to try it out.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I wasn't really aware of exactly how much it was because they always try to get you to "Start your free trial!" but don't tell you what it'll cost afterwards. I think I had come across some info about YouTube TV and just written it off - YouTube TV is $83/month, but YouTube Premium is $14/month which I suppose is worth considering... Thanks!
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My energy bill went from $150 to $50 when I did this. My friends laughed at me when I told them I spent $49 on this energy saving device...

I've got it ****ing memorized from seeing the ad for this scam so many times lately. Am I the only one?
 
Speaking of Youtube and 3D printed exhaust components...

Yes, exhaust.

And, yes, there was an oops. But it wasn't the 3D printed parts.

 
3393RP said:
Do you watch Curious Marc's YouTube channel? Those guys do incredible stuff. Their reconstruction of an Apollo Guidance Computer and the Apollo Unified S Band communications equipment is just nuts.
Click to expand...
That kid doing most of the programming is very impressive. I loved that series on the AGC.
 
Spoiler: Robin Shute set a new record for RWD at Pikes Peak with a body that was 3d printed on a consumer level FDM printer.

The old car did get airborne, so aviationish content...

 
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