Flying Spinner

thingiverse

Given a good spin, these will fly straight on their own lift, then tend to drop downward or even backward. A quick video: https://youtu.be/AUx6l08fFt8 You can launch them with a good fingernail flick but for extra fun I've added a little "blowgun" print. The print has a small engraving of a spinner that shows the orientation: you want two of the propellers to be on the back side with the smaller hole (this is where to blow) and you load from the other end. There's a notch inside to start it spinning so you need to load it with a small twist, so that two propellers stack vertically, and then when you push the top in, it will turn into place. Just go gently so you don't push it all the way through; it's a bit of a trick but easy after a few times. To launch it, gently pinch both sides where the propellers rest, and blow through the hole on the back. Release the pinch when you have good pressure and it will launch. I typically get 2m (6ft) this way but I've managed 3m (10ft). The spinners print in a heartbeat (fastest functional 3D print ever?) so it's a nice file for quickly showing off how your printer works. I've been using PLA with preset "good" on my da Vinci mini, so I imagine it should print pretty easily on just about any printer. The latest round of the blowgun is probably a bit tight for that one so for low-end printers you may want to scale up the blowgun just a tad, or scale down the spinner. If you can make one that flies better please share! Design on Tinkercad: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/gUPW24FQJsz