I’ve shared pictures of the progress Selwyn Holland and I have made developing 3D Footy hulls. Now is your chance to try it for yourself!
I’ve posted the .stl files to print my latest Footy design, Green Hornet, on Thingiverse here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2611611
Hope you will have fun giving it a go.
Thanks, bill, it looks great, I’ve downloaded the files and will try it next week!
That’s Awesome Bill 
Can you add it to the group “RC Sailing” on Thingiverse? That group existed and it’s cool if we all drop our STL’s into it to make it easier for people to find all the RC yacht suff in one place
I thought 3-D printed objects were brittle, and break apart easily? FWIW, for the cost of a 3-D printer, I’d still build a footy from scratch with ply or balsa.
Tomo, it is a misconception that they break easily. Several 3D Footys raced this last season here in the Northeast without problems. Selwyn has been racing 3D rg65s and IOMs with great success. See more about our projects here: https://3dprintedradioyachts.com/
The cost of a printer is an issue. I suggest a club buy one and make it available to all members. If one club member is a designer, and one is a techie, everyone can benefit.
Update … unfortunately still no print, the printer i have access to melted the arduino board, it’s being replaced but there are some “real work” jobs that have priority …
There is a really nice printer in the engineering dpt, but they quoted me 160$ for the hull, partial hull because the printing area is slightly smaller than the hull itself … I’ll wil have to wait.
Bill, how do you guys orient the hull for printing?
Gio, this particular boat prints from the stern up to the bow. On some slant-stern designs, I make a flat bow so it can print the opposite way.
OK, it’s official, the printer I have access to i “too small” I cannot make the hull fit, and the keel too for that matter … From the stern up, my printing area (height) is few mm too short. The options are to print it upright and fill in the missing bow (bow bumper?) or break the hull in two and glue it back together after … Or buy a bigger printer … but I’m not so sure how that would fly …
Gio, printing in two sections is fine. You can print a small section that overlaps the two to use as an internal sleeve to reinforce the joint. You can see examples on Selwyn’s website.
Bill
Yes, I’m trying to figure out the best way to do that … or where to set the joint, half way or just the last inch of the bow … fortunately not much to do right now at work …