Drones , drones and more drones. Everywhere you look companies are beginning to employ this technology. Anything from mining, oil fields, agriculture, forestry, defense, humanitarian help, film & movie - just to name a few.
At Custom Prototypes we are aviation enthusiasts with aerospace engineering backgrounds. Our passion for flight lead us to explore how 3D printing applications could be harnessed in aerial vehicles.
We recently developed a fixed wing UAV where the entire air frame is 3D printed as one piece. Only minimal assembly is required to have the UAV available for its mission. If successful this approach can create an environment where an inexpensive, maybe even disposable UAV can be built fast or directly in the field for each particular assignment.
This has never been done before and we are confident that that this concept will open a door to a host of new possibilities within the drone sector. Being able to engineer and manufacture products remotely would eliminate a lot of the logistical complications that various industries face.
We suspect that this will generate a lot of interest and showcase further possibilities with 3D printing.
Our prototype is set to enter a couple additive manufacturing competitions this summer. The working model was designed using Solidworks and 3D printed with a rigid plastic SLA resin. The prototype was then sanded, painted and assembled by hand.
A special thanks to our sponsors at Canada Makes and NGen for helping fund the the cost of the project.