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Prototype under way. Varied the strips in strategic places to deter flutter from the angles..

Properly designed and printed, you can make most parts as durable as you would ever need. To do so they are inevitably going to be overbuilt to some degree, which will increase weight. For a lot of kite parts, it’s probably not a big deal. Don’t try to make fittings for your indoor dualy or quad, though. 😉 The layering is where you loose most of the strength. A molten bead laid onto a cooler layer beneath it just can’t bond with the same integrity as a homogeneously molded part. You can improve this to a degree by doing things like dipping the part in solvent. All the layers melt a bit, flow together and then harden again. The surface is then more like a molded part. Downsides? Big bowls of nasty solvents aren’t everybody’s cup of tea, and you need to be careful not to overdo it, distorting the part.

One problem with 3D printing is that the process produces a grain in the structure, so you have to carefully consider the orientation of the parts on the print bed to optimise the strength during service. I first started using 3D printing to produce prototypes back in 1988 and the parts were incredibly fragile in those days.

From my standpoint, I'm trying new things constantly that there simply aren't parts for.. Eagerly following this so I can consider making parts for my own designs..

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Great! I’m ecstatic that there is an interest in the subject. I will start with my personal discovery of this technology. Almost a year ago today I was trying to create some rather complex kite-flying related parts and planned on making them with my available shop tools. A friend of mine suggested that I consider 3D printing them; note that he knew absolutely nothing about the technology but had heard about it. I shrugged it off remembering that my children’s High School had purchased a multi-thousand dollar printer and kept it locked in a room so the kids couldn’t break it. Too much $$ for what I’m wanting to do I said. Then, my friend and his wife went to a local Library technology class introducing 3D printing and reported that I should really look into this. I then did my first Google search on the subject and found out that this is really much reachable for the consumer these days. I found that you could purchase a *very* capable 3D printer for ~$250 or less which is not much more than a regular laser printer might cost. Having been stung with the price of Ink Cartridges and Toner costs to operate a printer, I was bracing myself for what it will cost to feed a 3D printer... $16 - $25 for a Kg of filament! This will probably mean nothing to those of you who haven’t explored this but a Kg of filament lasts quite a long time! After doing much research I found that the Creality Ender 3 Pro was the place to start. There are many printers on the market but this one received great reviews for features that higher priced models had such as a heated bed, .1mm resolution, and the ability to modify it. Which I did. I have made the following modifications, each cost ~$15 each but were well worth the cost: 1. Replaced the magnetic bed with a glass bed; makes removing parts much easier 2. Replaced the bed springs with actual compression die springs; less bed leveling required 3. Replaced the original Bowden tubing with Capricorn tubing which has tighter tolerances and is slicker; improves Filament Retraction performance. I have attached some pictures of each of these. Note that the Ender 3 Pro requires a moderate amount of assembly and it helps to be mechanically inclined. Following comments on this post I plan to follow-up with the work-flow required to use the printer. -Segel