Overview
This project started with a request from one of my teachers, who wanted a miniature reproduction of a set of helicopter blades. He gave me the original part, which only included the rotor and a single blade.
The goal was straightforward: reproduce both the rotor and the blade, then assemble them into a complete piece.
Modeling
I used Fusion 360 to model both the blades and the rotor. I started by measuring the original part so I could recreate it as accurately as possible. From there, I built the different sections of the blade while paying close attention to its characteristic angles and curves.
The blade itself was a good exercise in modeling a part made up of several elements with more complex shapes. It took a fair amount of patience and precision to get to a satisfying result.
The rotor, somewhat paradoxically, was simpler to model. Once I had one side done, I only had to rotate the whole thing two more times by 60° to create the three blade mounts.
3D Printing
For the printing side of the project, I used my BambuLab H2C. It gave me enough room on the build plate and let me take advantage of its multi-material system to color the blade tips red for a more realistic look. The blades are printed on their edge to improve both surface quality and strength. PLA Silk+ tends to have weaker layer adhesion, which makes parts more fragile overall. With blades this long and thin, printing them this way was important to reduce the risk of them snapping too easily.
After the first version, the holes for the blade mounts were too wide. They required a lot of glue, and even then the parts did not hold together properly. I adjusted the hole dimensions to make them tighter, which gave the assembly a much better fit without needing glue.
Conclusion
This project helped me improve my 3D modeling skills while also exploring different printing techniques to achieve a clean, high-quality result. These miniature helicopter blades are now ready to be used as display accessories or in scale-model projects, and I am very happy with the final result.
