Goal

I wanted to make a toy glider that adults and kids could play with and have fun while keeping it low cost so that if it's lost or broken it'll be easy to replace. A proper glider will set you back $30 and sometimes is not controllable while tiny foam gliders just break too easily and sometimes cost too much for so little flight time. This glider eliminates all that.

Requirements:

-Over all production cost less than $2

-Light as possible

-All components must not exceed size of build plate(250mmx250mm)

-Production time should not exceed 2.5 hours for 1 unit

Verision 1 {failed}

Version 1 is based off of the examples shown on Thingiverse like size, wingspan and weight. However it did not fly and was better as a frisbee.

version 2{failed}

The body of Verison 1 was too heavy and so were the wings. The decision was made to make the body a triangle and holo out the body while keeping 100% infill on the head to reduce weight. The wings have also been elongated and thinned out to gain more lift per mm^2.However all these efforts show that the structural integrity was not enough and the glider broke apart upon impact on any surface.

Version 3{mild success}

version 3 was a whole remodel and not basing it off any gliders made on thingiverse and made great success compared to the previous protoypes although its wings did have a manufacutring defect that hindered it from peak performance. It still uses a triangular cross section for the body but the base has been thinned down to 3mm which gives it the best weight and size to performance ratio. However the tail seemed to still break off meaning the base was too small.

version 3.5{interesting success}

This was just a for fun idea of making a frankenstein glider and it proved to be an excellent glider being the most rugged out of the bunch, of course the tail still broke off but it brings me new ideas for bigger heavier gliders and maybe even duo designs.

Version 4{failed}

Version 4 was an attempt to make the whole system modular that way if any part breaks then it can be printed out without having to make the whole glider again. The base was thickened so that the tail wouldn't break off as much as the base of the tail is based on the thickness if the body. The results showed it can almost glide but it had to be thrown in a precise manner otherwise it will go into a flat spin. The wing manfucaturing issue was resolved here though.

Version 4.5{failed}

Version 4.5 was to see if thinning the wings out would affect the flight performance and it did however not in a favourable manner. the wings were thinned down from 1mm to 0.4mm which resulted in it being too weak and flimsy therefore could not carry the glider mid flight. The choice of thining the body was made for the next version.

Version 5{success}

Version 5 was the first one that showed great promise at being a glider while being modular. performance is still behind that of version 3 but it made its purpose. It features a body redesign to accommodate the optimised modularity. Subsequent tests showed it still had tail issues, it still needs to be refined.