Hi all:)
I started my prototyping process.
I’m quite experienced in procedural modeling and have some experience in building stuff.
Hoping to find some help with rest, specially in foil design.
Since I am pretty poor. And purchasing electronics will eat up my entire annual “for fun” budget. I am kinda forced to try and build the rest by myself. So, foil and board are on my list.
Plan is to 3D print parts and then wrap them in glass and/or carbon.
I started with mast. For starters i just downloaded some models from GrabCAD.
First step is to find type of 3D structure that is light, rigid and “wrappable” to determine:
type of filament (strength, compatibility with epoxy)
type of infill
weight
rigidity
I started with some organic cell structure. Honestly, because it looks cool. First tests will be with uniform infill density, and then I will make it denser/less dense in stressed/less stressed areas.
Next is to make couple of prints and to try to break them and compare results with reference (plywood).
If anyone has any 3D models of foil/mast/board that are tested and proven to work, I would like to try them out because I’m not sure that what i got actually works.
Did some testings.
ABS - lots of warping, need to babysit prints. I don’t wanna bother with that
PETG - somewhat easier to work with, cannot glue anything to it:)
Nylon - nice but expensive and hard to come by where i live. Great interaction with epoxy
PLA - easy to work with, minimal warping… i’ll go with that
I tried some shapes, came up with some cellular structure with rounded walls in tetrahedral center point grid. I’ll try a thing or two, but this is my main candidate for now. Very stiff stuff. I’m thinking of filling it with expanding foam to minimize lateral movement of the wires, and to dampen any vibrations.
75 cm mast - around 350g of pla. + Layer of Glass + Layer of carbon.
Thats plan for now. Not sure how strong should mast be. Never held one in hands:P
Next is to finish top/bottom mounts. Slice it to fit printer size and print one in full size.
You could try ApolloX (ASA). I can print it with no visible warping with just a rescue blanket over my printer to keep the heat in and avoid draft. ASA warps less than ABS and ApolloX warps even (way) less, it is really good to work with and very strong and weather resistant. PLA will quickly degenerate in water, especially salt water.
