Intruduction

The project’s goal is to create a small hand-thrown glider in order to participate in the Learn&Fly contest, focused on developing engineering and construction instrests and competences of young people. It’s a four-person-team project, that the members of our Club have undertaken to test their current competences in construction-focused assignments, along with once again taking up the challenges concerning engineering design.

Development of the project

We began work on the glider by creating a 3D model. After creating several versions of the design, we finally decided on the following model of the glider:

– divided into easily removable segments.

– wing and stabilizer mounts printed on a 3D printer and connected by a carbon fiber tube – the printing will ensure high strength, lightness, as well as low cost of making the components.

– carbon fiber to connect the mounts – still a lightweight but strong material, to make the key structural element, the core of the entire glider.

– the wings made almost entirely of balsa wood, along with the stringers and ribs, cut by CNC laser from a sheet of balsa wood. By cutting round holes in the ribs, the glider’s weight will be further reduced.

– the wing covering made of a material similar in structure to shrink film, providing low weight, relatively high strength, but most importantly, adhering well to the ribbing of the wings.

In addition, we want to perform an aerodynamic simulation of the designed components to make sure that the prototype in its current state will be able to achieve the desired results.

Design: gallery