DRONES

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

submitted 3 weeks 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 3 weeks 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 3 weeks 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.

[–] her01n 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I have made this. It may be a little what you are looking for, but it is definitely not well documented. Gopro holder is not yet in repo, i am going to add it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Thanks I'll look at this. Any recommendations for electronics for this?

[–] her01n 2 points 2 weeks ago

This is my current build:

Speedy Bee F7 V3 stack
T-Motor VELOX VELOCE V2207.5 V2, 2550KV motors
FrSky Archer RS receiver
DAL T5047C propellers
Kavan 4S battery

With this frame you should use a stack or all in one. Four single motor ESCs would be impractical. When searching for a controller you may want to check if it is supported by inav or ardupilot to keep your options open. All boards are supported by betaflight, but it's not very beginner friendly.