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Carbon Fiber Quad Frame

Posted by Graeme Lawton on July 1, 2013 at 6:25am

Hi Everyone,

First post here and this forum looks awesome. I'm just looking to building my first ArduCopter Quad. I fancy building a custom frame for it using Carbon Fibre, mostly because half the fun is building the thing, the more custom the better!

I've been looking at using square carbon fiber tubing similar to this for the arms: http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/Category/Carbon-Fibre-Products/Carbon-Fibre-Angle-and-Section.aspx

Do you think this will be strong enough, and what Diameter do you think will be best for fitting the wiring internally etc? I was thinking the 10mm (8mm internal) would probably be about right.

Any tips or advice anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

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Replies

  • Graeme Lawton July 4, 2013 at 5:25am

    Thanks to Doug for sending me his sketches of the chassis. I've decided to go with Aluminium over CF as it's sooo much cheaper and should do the job just fine.

    I've ordered it, now I'm just waiting for it to arrive before I can begin making a mess of it!

  • Graeme Lawton July 1, 2013 at 9:17am

    Thanks for the reply. I've just read through your blog. Thanks for taking so much time posting it all, it will definitely be helpful.

  • R. D. Starwalt July 1, 2013 at 6:56am

    Greetings and welcome to the flock!

    I applaud your DIY spirit and am happy to meet another kindred.

    CF is a viable product but very oversold, IMHO, as the ultimate material for multirotors. All materials are a trade-off between price, properties, and fabrication methods. I tend to lean to lowest-price-per-gram in my build philosophy.

    That material looks very nice and should serve your ideas well. To get an idea of my build take a look at my blog post HERE.

    The 3DR 'B' chassis was the pattern used for my first build. The lines and prototype work now ongoing is to shorten the arms and widen the body plates in an effort to contain all the electrics internally rather than using the 'wire ties around a tube' method. To be sure it works but I think it takes the casual-minimalist approach too far.

    Good luck and stay with us!

    -=Doug

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