3D Printed Hand Glider Using OpenVSP

Devlog #9
We’re shipping!

I tested all seven prints against each other, and the sixth print was the clear winner. Thrown from a hill with moderate force, it flew about 105 feet. When thrown with lots of force, it becomes a “trick plane” that dives, climbs, and can even perform loop-de-loops.

I’ve added a demo along with the GitHub page. The image below showcases all seven prints and the damage each one took when I threw them.

Overall, it was a really fun project.

Devlog #8
The new plane flew really well, but durability was the main issue. I really didn’t change much on the next iteration, I just changed some slicer settings such as infill and wall loop count for enhanced durability. I also added a little bulge on the bottom of the glider for the plane to skid on so the nose doesn’t snap off when it lands. The entire plane shattered and I tried to duct tape it together but it didn’t really work. The new CAD in OpenVSP is below. I’ll try to record a video of the next flight but it’s really hard to pick up the plane with a camera.

UPDATE: This iteration flew pretty poorly the one previous to this was easily the best so far.

Devlog #7
We’re getting close guys! I fixed the center of gravity issue by changing the nose of the glider to 100% infill while the rest still stays at 0%. It flew much more stable, and now we’re just down to tuning. It would dip left while flying, but I mainly think that was because the tail was extremely flimsy and snapped off. The next iteration will focus on strengthening connections between the wings, fuselage, and tail so everything prints straighter and more symmetrical. I also made the winglets larger as they were quite small and I felt they weren’t being taking advantage of. Might try scaling it up later too?

Devlog #6
The 3rd print has been completed. The glider flies much straighter but the center of gravity is still too far aft in the plane and it falls backwards mid flight. I addressed this issue by taping 2 pennies to the nose to add about 3 grams of weight, and it flew much more stable for the first 8-9 feet, but would spin out of control after that. The next iteration will focus on adding weight to the nose in the print to isolate that from the stability, which I’ll tackle afterwards.

Devlog #5
The 2nd print was completed! The plane works pretty well on shorter glides with not much power behind the throw, but the center of gravity is too far forwards and it takes many dives. Adding polyhedral wings definitely helped along with the vertical stabilizer and shrinking the size so it ways about 2 grams less. Next big change will be changing the wing location along with fuselage tapering to distribute weight evenly, reduce the load on the wings, and fix the center of gravity.

Devlog #4
The first iteration of the glider was successfully printed and the sizing was very good. It was a little too heavy by about 1/8 oz for the load I want to put on the wings and would quickly spin out of control. I began a new version with a fixed vertical stabilizer, all the measurements redone for a better center of gravity and weight distribution, and I’m focusing on making it a single-print so you don’t have to add weight to the front of the nose manually like in the previous designs.

I finished v4 of the glider and did shrink it down even more so when I ship it it’ll be easier for everyone to print themselves on one build plate. I did test it on VSPAERO and it should fly really well still. The supports are really annoying in the slicing software (orca) as the plane has huge wings that need supports unless you cut it and epoxy/glue it on later - which has its own issues.

Shrunk the plane way down so it’ll be easier to 3D print and the weight you’ll have to add to the nose changed along with this, you’ll have to add weight that is approximately the same weight as the rest of the aircraft (which is probably easier than the 12x multiplier before). Gonna run it through the slicer. Still don’t know whether I want to add a detachable nose to add the weight (ballast) or just drill through it?

Made another iteration of the glider where I shrunk everything down by about 30% for easier 3D printing and added a detachable nose cap for adding ballasts so users can change the weight of the nose as it’s needed for good flight. I ran many simulations in OpenVSP for optimizing everything as well.