World’s first ‘printed’ plane snaps together and flies “Apparently when it comes to 3D printing, the sky is no longer the limit.” Crave is reporting on a complete flying aircraft printed with a 3D printer and snapped together in minutes with no tools or fasteners. The plane reportedly has a top speed of 100 MPH and a wingspan of nearly 7 feet. The plane, known as The SULSA (Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft), is an unmanned air vehicle.
The aircraft has an electric engine (not printed) and is nearly silent when it is in cruise mode. This opens up all sorts of new possibilities for surveillance and wartime aerial reconnaissance. Units only need to have a printer and raw materials to create different aircraft most appropriate to the mission and current environment.The project, led by Professors Andy Keane and Jim Scanlan from Southamptopn University’s Computational Engineering and Design Research group, is part of the EPSRC-funded DECODE project, which is employing the use of leading edge manufacturing techniques, such as laser sintering, to demonstrate their use in the design of UAVs. The University has been at the forefront of UAV development since the early 1990s, when work began on the Autosub programme at its waterfront campus at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. A battery powered submarine travelled under sea ice in more than 300 voyages to map the North Sea, and assess herring stocks.
(Via Crave.)
