Axel's 3D printed quadcopter (carbon fibre arms)

thingiverse

**A new better version of this quadcopter available here: ** https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2741818 This quadcopter is designed to be lightweight. It uses 14 mm or 16 mm carbon fibre tubes as motor arms. All other parts of the frame are 3D printed. I printed the parts in PLA, but maybe PETG or ABS is a better choice to make it more crash resistant. The motor cables are routed inside the carbon fibre tubes, making the quad look really clean. The quad uses 6-inch propellers and is slightly larger than a standard race-quad. The total flying weight is 630 grams and it has a flight time of about 7 minutes while cruising around at a comfortable pace. Using a 3 cell 2200mAh battery. This quadcopter is perfect if you want something to fly around Line Of Sight with and maybe do some flips and tricks. The size and shape of the quad makes it easy to see in the sky, compared to normal race-quads. This quadcopter is also perfect if you want to do some calm FPV flying and want longer flight times than normal race-quads. This quadcopter is not very crash resistant. If you know you crash a lot, or if you are new to the hobby of multi rotors, I recommend trying my other design first. It is slightly heavier but a lot more durable and easier to repair. Link: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2230803 The first prototype version of this quadcopter is the one with red motors and motor mounts in the images. It uses those carbon fibre tubes: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/carbon-fiber-round-tube-330x16x14mm.html They are 16 mm outer diameter, 14 mm inner diameter and 330 mm long. I bought 2 of those and cut them in half to create four 165 mm long motor arms. The 3D printed parts are made to fit any tube with a 14 mm or 16 mm outer diameter. The motor mounts are firstly glued using CA glue to the carbon fibre tubes, then the tubes are glued to the base plate. The camera mount and rear mounting plate are screwed together using short M3 screws and nuts. The top plate is held in place using four 3D printed spacers. The holes in the spacers are slightly smaller than 3 mm, making it possible to thread M3 screws directly into the plastic. The spaces are available with three different hole sizes. Of course, you can also buy aluminium spacers if you prefer that more. I have also built a second quadcopter with 14 mm carbon fibre tubes. The one with blue motors in the images. Tricks video here: https://youtu.be/eP1WFb1E-70 Maiden flight video here: https://youtu.be/HPbkTWLpQ8I Build video here: https://youtu.be/8wl7gxEV0Ps More info and more high res images on my website: http://axelsdiy.brinkeby.se/?page_id=1390 **Edit 2017-07-11** Added Fixed FPV camera mounts if you don't want to use a servo for camera tilt. Three angles are available, 0, 10 and 20 degrees. **Edit 2017-07-14** I crashed my quadcopter and realised a weak point in the base-plate, now I have updated it to hopefully make it a little stronger. **Edit 2017-07-28** Since this project was very successful, I have updated the design slightly to make the quadcopter more durable. I have also added versions of the motor mounts and base plate that works with 14 mm carbon fibre tubes. Now there is also motor mounts with integrated landing gears available. **Edit 2017-08-15** Edited the description and title slightly and added a few new images. Also added plastic spacers that can be used to prevent metal screws from shorting out something on your flight controller.