{"id":1706,"date":"2012-10-22T20:58:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T20:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/archives\/1706-students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone.html"},"modified":"2017-04-17T12:48:51","modified_gmt":"2017-04-17T16:48:51","slug":"students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone","title":{"rendered":"Students Succeed In Flying 3D Printed Drone"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes one good project leads to another. At the University of&nbsp;Virginia, a class project to construct a 3D printed plastic&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/technology\/engineering\/news\/how-to-build-a-working-replica-jet-engine-with-a-3d-printer\" target=\"_blank\">turbofan engine<\/a>&nbsp;replica, sponsored by Rolls-Royce, got the students some attention and has led to the creation of a flight-worthy 3D printed drone. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center; \"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.virginia.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/380px_wide\/public\/3D_plane_and_creators.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/3D_plane_and_creators.jpg\" align=\"middle\"><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The engineering&nbsp;students built a plastic turbofan engine using 3D printing technology and some copper tubing that could be powered with compressed air, for under $2,000. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=8kkIVuS3XEQ#!\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube video<\/a>&nbsp;of the engine caught the attention of the Mitre Corporation, a defense contractor. Two of the students, Steven Easter and Jonathan Turman, went on to&nbsp;receive&nbsp;a summer internship at the company with a far more challenging goal: build an Unmanned&nbsp;Arial&nbsp;Vehicle (UAV)&nbsp;from 3D printed parts.<\/p>\n<p>The team worked with their professor&nbsp;from the engine project,&nbsp;University&nbsp;of&nbsp;Virginia&nbsp;alumni David Sheffler, who has 20 years of&nbsp;experience&nbsp;in the aerospace industry. The project&#8217;s mission was to create a UAV with a 6.5&#8243; wingspan, made from assembled 3D printed plastic parts.<\/p>\n<p>After completing construction of the UAV, the team conducted four test flights in August and September, where the aircraft hit a cruising speed of 70 kilometers per hour. Observers from Mitre and the U.S. Amy watched the final test flight and were sufficiently impressed; the team&#8217;s internship has been extended and they have been tasked with building a lighter and easier to assemble model.<\/p>\n<p>Students at the&nbsp;University&nbsp;of&nbsp;Virginia are well situated to take on these kind of exciting projects, the school&#8217;s Rapid&nbsp;Prototyping&nbsp;Lab has six uPrint 3D Printers and a Fortus 3D Production System from Stratasys.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center; \"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.virginia.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/380px_wide\/public\/3D_plane_cropped_tight.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/3D_plane_cropped_tight.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Via: <a href=\"http:\/\/diydrones.com\/profiles\/blogs\/3d-printed-drone-from-uva\" target=\"_blank\">DIY Drones<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/dimensionext.wordpress.com\/2012\/10\/12\/homemade-3dprinted-drone\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dimension Next<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/technology\/engineering\/news\/how-to-build-a-working-replica-jet-engine-with-a-3d-printer\" target=\"_blank\">Popular Science<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes one good project leads to another. At the University of&nbsp;Virginia, a class project to construct a 3D printed plastic&nbsp;turbofan&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":13558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[510],"tags":[559,944],"class_list":["post-1706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3d-printing-industry","tag-inspiration","tag-whats-hot"],"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/3D_plane_cropped_tight.jpg","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.9 (Yoast SEO v23.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Students Succeed In Flying 3D Printed Drone - Shapeways Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes one good project leads to another. At the University of&nbsp;Virginia, a class project to construct a 3D printed plastic&nbsp;turbofan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cody\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cody\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d1270d3aa70a0eefb99598d97684279b\"},\"headline\":\"Students Succeed In Flying 3D Printed Drone\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-22T20:58:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-17T16:48:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone\"},\"wordCount\":303,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/3D_plane_cropped_tight.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"inspiration\",\"What's Hot\"],\"articleSection\":[\"3D Printing Industry\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone\",\"name\":\"Students Succeed In Flying 3D Printed Drone - Shapeways Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prodshapeblog.wpenginepowered.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/students-succeed-in-flying-3d-printed-drone#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/3D_plane_cropped_tight.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-22T20:58:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-17T16:48:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"Sometimes one good project leads to another. 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