Gliders (balsa & styrofoam) // How-To | I Like To Make Stuff

Опубликовано 4 августа 2015, 12:40

It's REALLY easy to make gliders using Easel and the X-Carve, and while you COULD do the same with a knife, where's the fun in that?

Here's what you'll need:
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Balsa Wood strips 1/16" - amzn.to/1In6Wyf
Balsa Wood strips 3/32" - amzn.to/1KpDeef

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I started a design, purely out of my head, in Illustrator, but there are free design software options, like Inkscape, as well. I just made sure the slits for the wings and tail were as wide as the material I was using for the wings.
Saving the design as an .svg file, I imported it into Easel and scaled them up to my final size.
I copied the wing and tail pieces to a new file, since they use a different thickness material than the body.
I used 3/32" balsa wood that I got from a craft store.
Balsa is very thin and soft, so the X-Carve can cut it quickly and easily.
For the wings, I used 1/16" balsa.
Make sure to use "tabs" in Easel, to hold the pieces in place while they're being cut out.
The tabs were quickly cut away with a sharp blade.
I slid the wing and tail pieces into the slots, and it was almost ready.
I added two paper clips to the front for a little weight.
Then I spent way too much time decorating the glider with markers.
I decided to also try making a glider from dense styrofoam insulation from a big box store.
I scaled the design up a bit, and resized the slots to match the new material thickness (1").
I tried, miserably, to shape the wings and body with a rasp to help it fly better.
Finally, I screwed in a heavy screw to the nose to add some weight.
Here's my complete balsa glider!
Here's my complete styrofoam glider!
Check out the video above to see how they flew!

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We have lots of projects including woodworking, metalworking, electronics, 3D printing, prop making and more!

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Gliders (balsa & styrofoam) // How-To | I Like To Make Stuff
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