Rubber Band Powered Flying Thing

I am a student from Portage Central Highschool taking Mechatronics Classes in Vicksburg. I wanted to challenge myself with this project. It was inspired by some other flying butterfly projects I had seen online but I went and completely reworked the design so its easier to build. After some messing around with popsicle sticks I came up with a design I thought worked well. I then used Fusion 360 to model my design and make it easier for other people to repeat and improve on. I hope you like it!

Supplies

-Rubber bands(a lot)

-Paper

-Clear tape

-Paperclip

-Pliers

-16 gauge copper wire

-Wire cutters

Step 1: Print

-First things first you need to get the attached files for the fusion 360 models and print this guy out.

Step 2: Clean Up

-Next up you need to remove all the supports and clean up all the holes so she is nice and spiffy.

- You want to make sure the hook fits and that the holes line up and go all the way through the model.

-I prefer using an exacto knife for this step.

Step 3: Attach Hook

-Unfold your paperclip and bend it in half.

-Pull the paperclip through the holes in the 3D model. Its nice to use the pliers to get the wire all the way through.

-This is how we are going to get the hook to stay in place.

Step 4: Clean Up Extra Wire

-Bend the wire over and cut it so it lays flat to the model.

Step 5: Paper Flaps

-Next you are going to need to draw out these shapes on paper for the wings.

-Before you cut them out fold the paper in half so you get two of the exact same shapes.

Step 6: Wing Skeleton

-For this step I prefer using 16 gauge copper wire because it is strong enough to hold up and not immediately bend.

-You just need to cut out a longer piece of wire at least 9 inches, make the shape shown in the picture, then measure and cut each side to be exactly 3.5 inches.

Step 7: Attaching the Paper

-Using the clear tape attach the circle bits to the wire facing opposite directions and the more triangle bits to the model itself.

Step 8: Loading Her Up

-We are almost there so now we just put 2 rubber bands around the wings into the center and thread them through the hole in the top of the model.

-Wrap the loose ends of the rubber bands onto the hook and you are ready to fly!

Step 9: Make It Fly!

You made it to the end! Now all left you need to do to make it fly is turn the blades and let it go!

Some Suggestions:

-Push on the wire and not the paper part of the blade.

-Release it sideways

Have fun!