A Balloon Powered Helicopter
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PLA from £6 inc. UK delivery on letter-sized prints. We slice, print on a calibrated Creality K2 / Bambu A1, QC and post.
This balloon helicopter is a neat toy, tool for teaching basic flight physics, and very nice case study in design and experimentation that could be useful in the undergraduate or high school teaching lab.
Notes on flying:
Current best configuration: 16mm blades (blade_16.stl), 13 degree rotor (rotor_13.stl).
Short flying video clip located here: http://youtu.be/mo7PvU1rNRc
Before you build: Unfortunately, it does not yet perform as well as commercial versions, if you are interested in a set of commercial balloon helicopters, consider one of these https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?url=search-alias=toys&field-keywords=balloon+helicopter&linkCode=sl2&tag=themakerman-20&linkId=0109f7a43091d24fbd75bf792add82c6&language=en_CA or this set seemed rather good https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?url=search-alias=toys&field-keywords=balloon+helicopter&linkCode=sl2&tag=themakerman-20&linkId=0109f7a43091d24fbd75bf792add82c6&language=en_CA
Once printed, insert the three blades into the rotor. Insert the nozzle long ways into a balloon and fill the balloon. Insert the nozzle into the rotor while pinching off the balloon, try to ensure that it is straight. Throw. Try different techniques, I found a little spin can help get it going.
Notes on making:
[See instructions for full details] All the components should be printable and all you need in addition is a nice balloon. The helicopter was developed using PLA on one MakerBot Replicator 2, but…
