ArduCopter Frame development

We all are working hard to get this done as soon as possible. And as relief the pain of wait, here are some previews of new ArduCopter frame designs for the masses to look and to comment.

Current design will have two center plates like most of multirotors have, it also have carrier boards to carry electronics like APM, APM shield and Receiver. Another carrier board will be mounted under main frame to be as a battery holder it also creates supporting base for future landing gear addon.

It's been planned to have a power distribution board above center plates.

Square center plate having X setup, it also holds + setup on this board

Center plate with carrier board. Carrier and also power board (not shown) can be rotated with 45° steps on all designs. Power board will have 10 mm spacers and carrier 20 mm.

Square frame with carrier (rotated +45°) and power board.

And last but not least round Quad/Hexa center board. Quad power distribution included. Both carrier and power boards can be mounted either above or below center plates. They also fit on both square Quad plates and round Quad/Hexa plates.

We are closing finishing line so not any major changes should happen. Tho this is still preview on what we have been working behind the scenes.

First frames are being build as we speak..

I will post more pictures on development wiki https://code.google.com/p/arducopter/ during new couple of days.

Cheers,
--jp

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Comments

Sergey Mishin August 1, 2011 at 11:22am

Jani, please post hexa frame design.

Thanks!
phill October 26, 2010 at 7:56pm

sweet thanks
Developer

Jani Hirvinen October 26, 2010 at 7:33pm

Yes, they all are in our repository under my branches. I will update them to main trunk too
phill October 26, 2010 at 7:28pm

is there a cad or adobe file. so i can laser cut this frame parts ?
Developer

Jani Hirvinen October 8, 2010 at 6:02pm

I'm using quite many programs. These pictures are drawn with a program called OmniGraffle. OG is for Mac only and it is similar like Visio. Then for frame 2D development I use TurboCAD, 3D frame assembly and mock up is done with Google SketchUp. For final 2D/3D CADCAM drawings I use ArtCam and Cut2D programs and then running CNC machines we have Mach 3 programs.

Material parts are 1mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 5mm.

Yes I could say ArduCopter manual and ArduCopter parts are evolving constantly. We are always creating something more for it.
Moderator

John Church October 8, 2010 at 2:12pm

For one, a tricopter generally requires more moving parts- Like a servo and tilt mechanism for yaw control. A Quad has symetrical torque generated by two pairs of counter-rotating props.
Loti October 8, 2010 at 1:46pm

Can somebody explain the diferences between a tricopter and a quadcopter ? why is it better to have 4 rotors ? I thought that 4 was more complex than three.
Loti
Developer

Jani Hirvinen October 8, 2010 at 9:13am

Yes we are working to make it easier for everyone, this is still alpha version so we have a long way and many things to give more to our users. It just takes some time to combine all ArduPilot mega (airplane, helicopter, quads, etc) codes to one big family that work together.
Tom October 8, 2010 at 7:34am

Jain i just want to thank you all for the hard work you all have put in do you know if at a later date you will make the soft ware a little easier for people that don't have reel good computer skill? Tom
Vincent Mees October 2, 2010 at 12:45pm

any news of ETA?

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