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3D Printed QuadCopter with Carbon Fiber Arms

Started by Jimustanguitar, May 29, 2015, 11:54:56 PM

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Jimustanguitar

Hey guys!

This is what's been keeping me busy lately. (the pictures are huge, so just go here to see it :) http://goo.gl/wD0f3K )


Back in November I set out to design and build my own quadcopter, and now it's finally finished enough to unveil! I published it on Instructables as an entry for their "Things That Fly Challenge"! http://goo.gl/wD0f3K And could win some cool stuff if enough people like it and vote for it.

You're all gear-heads, here's the design!

12 different 3D printed parts attach motors and electronics to carbon fiber arrow shafts.
Everywhere that plastic touches carbon is actually floating on o-rings to reduce vibration from hard contact.



The arms are solid from end to end and criss cross on top of each other at the center.


I also printed a silicone mold (I think I mentioned it in the grommet thread) to create some vibration isolators for the controller that has the gyros and accelerometers (lowering the noise floor helps them not have to think too hard).
I arranged the isolators so that each one is perpendicular to the other two, like the corner of a cube, so that I had equal vibration dampening in all 3 axes.



I was also able to make several components serve multiple purposes and reduce the overall part count.


Here's one of the early test flights: https://youtu.be/kLk5KPWx5A4


The best part is, you can build one yourself! Every printable file is uploaded to the Instructable, and I spent way too long writing up the assembly instructions to share as well :)


Hope it's not raining where you are and you can be on 2 wheels. Have a great weekend!
Jim

Jimustanguitar

Well those are obviously too big...

Anybody know the BBCode or HTML to make an image size to the width of the page?

fret not

Jim, did you print the propellers too?  Way cool!
Retired, on the downhill slide. . . . . . . . still feels like going uphill!

The Prophet of Doom

Very cool Jim - 3D printing and quadcopters both make me wet.


I use Microsoft paint to reduce picture size - usually to 30% for iPhone images

Jimustanguitar

Well, I never got around to resizing those pictures, but I will. I'm at almost 7500 views and voting for the contest closes tomorrow. Thank you all!

pinholenz

Very impressive! Congratulations on a great job. If there is any justice, this looks like a winner.
Only one '82.5  eXtreme Zen 550