FIBONACCI 4 Concept Drone - As seen in Liftoff (Official version)

thingiverse

--- As of February 17th 2017 this design was also introduced in the Liftoff drone racing simulator! See also: http://www.liftoff-game.com/2017/02/17/update-0-8-4-released/ --- EDIT (May 24 2016): The most recent STL's have finally been uploaded. Months of testing and redesigning have resulted in the currently uploaded files. Most important updates include: The body angle has been lowered from 30 degrees to 25 degrees. This improves balance and aerodynamics. The 30 degree angle was too extreme in my opinion. Design was optimized for 1306 and 1407 motors. Motor mounts have been scaled down accordingly. (On request, I can still provide some 2204 motors, but I really disliked the 2-3 minutes flight times with those motors. I feel like 1407's are perfect.) Extra set of center parts included for a 4 in 1 board ESC instead of 4 separate ESC's. I have no personal preference. Both work equally well, but the 4 in 1 ESC is easier to wire. Some subtle 3d features added to the front end and and landing gear. Center screws for the 8 mm arms were made more easily accessible from the top. FPV Cam housing specifically for the IC120SHS camera (available at Hobbyking). Recommended parts: Motors: 1306, 1407 or 2204 (I prefer smaller motors personally) ESC: FVT Little Bee 20A, similar sized ESC's or 4 in 1 ESC board Receiver: anything small like the FrSky XSR or X4R Vtx: anything works, however the smaller the better. (I use the FXT series Vtx) Fpv cam: Turnigy IC120SHS or one of the various small CMOS cams around Lipo: 3s or 4s 850-1300mah I'm considering this design 99% finished. I will not drastically improve of change this design in the future. This one is basically done. However, keep in mind that this design is free for all to download and improve upon. So feel free! (In that sense, this design might never actually be "complete"... ;-) ) Feel free to contact me for further questions and feedback! EDIT (February 22 2016): I have been hard at work improving this design. After countless hours (I really mean countless. I have lost track.) I managed to eliminate all the minor issues which were present in the prototypes. The orange version in the pictures is the most recent iteration. I'm uploading the new STL files as soon as possible, as well as the SKP files. Enjoy! This is a 4-inch class drone designed onwards from december 2015 and is still a work in progress. The currently shared parts have some flaws in them, but they are being addressed as we speak. As I'm convinced that every design - drone-related or not - requires compromises to be made, the philosophy behind this frame is that I almost completely went for esthetic appeal and small size. Even if this required me to sacrifice some weight or user-friendliness. (Even though it turned out quite light and manageable I believe.) This frame is based around two vertical 1mm carbon fiber plates with 3d-printed parts holding them together. All necessary components (including FPV) fit in between these plates. Additionally, the arms are made from 8mm carbon fiber tubes. These have proven to be extremely rigid, as long as you use woven carbon tubes, not pultruded carbon tubes. Basically the ones with the actual "CF-look" are fine, don't go too exotic. Just make sure they are not the plain black CF tubes. Print Settings Printer Brand: RepRap Printer: Prusa Mendel i3 Rafts: No Supports: Yes Resolution: 0.2 (but 0.1 on the center parts and motor mounts) Infill: 20-40% Notes: Print the center parts lying down flat on the print bed. Take care to also change the part orientation to your preferences. Most parts print fine in multiple orientations. I have printed most parts using two shells (0.8 mm walls). 1.2mm should work as well, but watch your thin wall settings. Post-Printing Reaming holes All parts should print perfectly. However, some printers might make the 3mm holes too narrow. You should ream them after printing. Don't ream the 8mm holes in the motor mounts. They are supposed to print somewhat undersized so they clamp down on the arms when bolted down. Reinforce ABS parts using acetone I like to reinforce the landing gear and motor mounts before installing them. There are three options to prevent layer separation during hard landings or crashes: 1) Wiping them down with acetone. Parts become more durable every time. Repeat if necessary (only for ABS parts). 2) Dip the parts in acetone completely. Works faster, but more risk of deformation. Take care to dip the parts very quickly (only for ABS parts). 3) Run a bead of thin CA glue along the layers most likely to break. Works equally well, but might not look as good as the acetone treatment (works for all types of plastic). How I Designed This The rationale behind this frame was fairly straight forward. I was looking at some new generation frames, like the Shendrones Krieger, which seemed to heavily rely on aerodynamics and which incorporated a number of unconventional features. My aim was to come up with a similarly unconventional frame, but make it more esthetically pleasing. Design is often about making compromises. Some frames are geared towards performance, while others are more durable, more user-friendly, more esthetically pleasing, and so on. So I made it clear for myself that I would put the visuals in the first place, even if it performance and user-friendliness would suffer. That was a personal choice at that point in time. However, the frame turned out as it is today. Although the narrow frame doesn't make it easy to work on (at least for beginners), the performance is outstanding. So although it might look like I designed this frame to be aerodynamically efficient (because of the motor tilt), this was mostly done because it looks interesting and different from what we are used to. TL;DR This frame was designed to look nice and to inspire others. Feel free to build upon this design and share it. I want to learn from you as well! Enjoy!