Ultralight 2gram Glider (print in place)

For best results removing the plane, let the build plate cool slightly, then flex the plate to release the front end so that you can then use a scraper to gently separate the rest of the plane.

Once printed and removed from the build plate, turn the plane over and:

bend the vertical stabilizers up, then

adjust the elevators as needed.

A gentle bend on the elevators is great for rubber band launching (there's a little notch at the back of the front handhold), while a steeper bend works great for slow indoor glides.

Versions:

Glider v4 : Prusa Mini+ sized version is here with v4. New Features:

Front grip notched to ease throwing and enable rubber-band launching

Winglets are gone! Long live the vertical stabilizer!

Less than 2g of filament (less than 1m of filament) 11m print time

15 minutes to flight: Download, print, fold up stabilizer, slight bend to elevators, and throw!

If you printed one of the earlier versions, do yourself a favor and print v4. The vertical stabilizers on the tail improve stability that much.

Glider v3: rounded curves, rebalanced center of gravity, and reinforced winglets.

Glider v2: uploaded, 2.3 total grams provides slightly larger winglets and elevators plus a small handle to help hold during launch. Seems to fly a little more consistently than v1. File with wings at 0.2mm thickness uploaded (single layer wing print at 0.2mm layer thickness).

More Information:

After dozens of tries with larger and more complicated gliders which did not exactly glide, I reached out to a few aerospace engineers and started learning about wing loading, drag, center of gravity, and center of lift. This model features

Balanced center of gravity

Minimal wetted skin area to reduce drag

Single layer wing

Very slight sweep in main wing

One adjustment point for flight: rear elevator to balance glide vs lift

3 steps to fly: Print

Fold up rear stabilizer and elevators

Throw

Less than 2 grams of filament (less than a meter of filament) and a 12 minute print time

This glider comes in at less than half the weight of a sheet of paper and flies well indoor and outside. Starting with v4 it features a notch up front to help throw and allow rubber band launches.

Enjoy this Ultra-light glider - a glider designed for the unique characteristics of 3d printing.

Just a few of the design iterations: