3Doodler Plane Actually flies

You may have heard of the 3Doodler, a pen-like instrument that acts like a sort of handheld 3D printer. If you’re like me you thought that, although interesting, it wouldn’t necessarily be practical for anything besides, well, a 3D Doodle. Apparently I was wrong, as you can also make a functional remote control plane.

The frame, motor mount, and control surfaces are all build using the 3Doodler pen. Although it almost appears that Matt used this extrusion to cover the wings, he actually used a material called LITESPAN to cover them.  This is similar to how World War I planes were built with wood and canvass. If you’re wondering how he fixtured everything to make the intricate bracing system, there is a lot of pictures and other information on that part of the build here.

First trial at wing structure

simpler structure with crossbraces

From these trials I found that making a simple cross braced structure (the red model above) was stronger and easier to make than the more complicated and weaker method (the black model).

Johnny 5 posing with this “3Doodled” plane

If you’re wondering whether or not this contraption can actually fly, check out the video evidence below. You can fast forward to around 1:30 for the first semi-successful trial. It’s not yet perfect here, but it definitely counts as powered, if not well-controlled, flight in my book.