DRONES

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moosearedeer

3D printed drone build for drone beginners? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/drones

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I'm looking for a well documented 3D printed drone build for beginners to drone flying.

I'm not new to 3D printing and have a degree in electronics so I have quite a bit of experience soldering and working with electronics. I even used to work for a drone company and even contributed to Ardupilot development, but I've literally never flown a drone (successfully) before.

My main interest is just getting into the hobby a bit, learning how to fly it, and getting some cool drone footage. Eventually I may want to get into FPV.

I want to start with a 3D printed design because it is likely I will break this drone quite a bit while I am learning to fly and I figure it will be cheaper and faster to be able to print a new body when I need it.

Does anyone have a design they can recommend? I'd like one that can at least support a GoPro on it.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

When I started doing drones I really wanted to do a 3D printed frame. I had a new $3,000 printer back of the day and it was adding to my sunk cost fallacy.

You will destroy set 3D printed frame every time you have a decent wreck. Another hour of stripping everything down putting everything to a new frame

You can buy a carbon fiber plate frame and base for practically the price of the plastic your feeding through your printer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

"I had a new $3,000 printer back of the day and it was adding to my sunk cost fallacy. "

Are you me?

Haha. Interestingly my $3000 "printer" is also a laser and CNC so I can CNC carbon fiber (with appropriate safety precautions) when I get to that point but I kind of want to start with a 3D printed one to begin with.

I'm certain at a particular point I will decide I'm annoyed having to 3D print each time and just buy a frame or cut one myself but until I hit that frustration I'm fine with throwing some money at some filament.