Gnarly Disc Launcher

grabcad

This is a mechanical disc launcher that has been optimized for easy printing on consumer level 3D printers such as Ultimaker and RepRap. It features snap together plastic construction, where glue can be added for extra strength if desired. The toy is suitable for indoor or outdoor use. When used indoors, the disc tends to bounce off of the ceiling. When used outdoors, it may fly 10-15ft in the air on a typical launch. This project has gone through many iterations of design and testing so that it can be effectively printed with ABS on a low-cost printer without the use of any support material. In particular the rotor design for the disc has been heavily tweaked to get a disc that will fly high in the air using blade angles that can be printed without support. While test models have been fabricated with ABS, the design should work equally well with PLA. I have provided the original design files in SolidWorks, even though they are a little messy after many iterations. They are in the 2013 version right now, but I can provide an earlier year if anyone needs it. I have provided STEP and STL files for printing. The STL files have been rotated and had their mesh refined for 3D printing using Netfabb Studio. NOTE: I will be updating with photographs of the printed prototypes later today when I get home. UPDATE: Finally got a few more pictures added, as well as a video showing functionality. Video quality is not great, but hopefully it gets the point across.