by Ann R. Thryft, Senior Technical Editor
DesignNews
I guess it was inevitable: 3D printing has met up with drones in a 3D-printed UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). University of Sheffield engineers printed the prototype drone in 24 hours from ABS plastic using Fused Deposition Modeling.
Engineers at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) designed, built, and successfully tested the UAV as a radio-controlled, slope soaring glider. The small wingspan, fixed-wing craft was created on a Stratasys Fortus 900mc FDM printer, according to an article on the AMRC website. The parts snap together and the total drone weighs less than 2 kg (2.2 lb), with a wingspan of 1.5m (4.9 ft).
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Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com, a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights. Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com