3D printer gear door

[Tom Harper]

I was flying my KV models Shark when on tow the tow plane coughed and I got enough slack in the tow line to catch around one of my gear doors and ripped it off and was lost in a field of tall grass.
I was in Australia working on Pirates of the Caribbean 5 at the time so I headed to the mold shop at the studio and asked the boys there if they could help me out. They had a 3D printer and the guy that ran the shop was also very good with cad design. I gave him my other door and he did a scan of it and then flipped the image and fed it into the 3D printer. The next day I showed up he had made 6 right and left doors for me that fit perfect.
Now I have 5 extra sets if I ever need them. You have got to love technology.

[Asher Carmichael]

"You have to love technology"

Nice to have access to it! I bet you may get a call regarding the spares at some point.

[lenb]

Hey Tom,

Can you print me up a couple sailplanes?

[Stew]

Tom,

What material are the doors printed from? One of the biggest challenges with "printed" parts is the material strength. It is improving by the hour though!! Awesome cool technology that has a huge array of applications and possibilities. You are super lucky to have access to it to try it out. I am very interested to hear how they work out. Keep us informed if you can.

Thanks,

Scot

[Tom Harper]

Hi Scott, I'm not sure what the material is but it's white and super strong. All I had to do was sand it a little bit and mount em up.
I will post a picture so you can check it out. And Len I don't think its far off, Ha ha. Tom

[Tom Harper]

[Stew]

That's fantastic! Cool that they can do that. Now to find some glue that will stick to them. Thanks for keeping us up to date on this. Very interesting stuff for enginnerds like myself.