Propeller Launcher

thingiverse

An original flying contraption that uses a spring and gears (64:1) to store mechanical energy and convert it into flight! The spring, key and the base need to be 100% infill. If you wish to print faster, you can print the gears with 20% infill. Minimal support is needed on the base, launcher and propeller. Print the propeller upside down. Some post processing will be required with the propeller to make the side that had support as smooth as possible for best results. I recommend printing at 50% for the first 2-3 layers of the print to ensure good quality gears. After that, you can return to 100% speed. An improvement I am working on is integrating a ratcheting system into the bottom-most gear so that the system doesn't spin when you are winding up the spring. A challenge I face when doing this is I have to make the ratchet flexible enough to slip over teeth, but not flexible enough to allow the bottom-most gear to move away and have sub-optimal contact with the next gear.