Some other "Shapeways" orders displayed in this forum inspired me to design some of my own stuff. This Mount Tray was designed primarily to give me an idea of the quality from shapeway's printers and get an idea of the material properties. I have not done any structural testing, however ill do my best to describe what i received.
Model Info
- Made for Bixler 1.1, although it does fit my legacy 2012 1.0 ? Bixler with some small differences.
- The clear canopy will still fit over the mount and electronics. May take some creativity to make easily removable
- GPS tray is for a uBlox-6.. unsure if other gps's have the same hole pattern.. but you can make it work with others
- APM 2.5 or 2.6 with Case fits snug laterally in Tray , slides forward/aft longitudinally
- Receiver tray is for Turnigy 9x Reciever, but my 9XR Orange 9 channel reviever would fit also
-Material choice- "strong and flexible" from the shapeway menu, with white color.
-Most walls are 2mm thick, some are 3mm
-I do not have an exact weight yet, but it is significantly lighter than any mount i have used, including the laser cut wood mount available at hobby king.
I- have not stress tested it, but my impression is that it would take an significant impact to break this mount even with the thin walls. It's elastic characteristics make it feel stronger / more flexible than wood. its is more flexible than injection molded plastic, but probably not as rigid.
-All measurements were done with a micrometer on the Bixler. (no 3d scanning or drawings to go by) It fits perfect with my initial un-wired fit check.
- I plan on using zip ties and/or Velcro strips to fix the GPS and APM 2.5 to the mount / plane (I have used on other mounts with good success in the past)
Fire away with any questions. In conclusion, i am very satisfied with the quality i received, and it exceeded my expectations in weight / strength / precision. The only downfall i can mention is that this was $40.00 US, and that's a right on my threshold for too much for a cockpit mount. But my understanding of what i can create in the future was worth the cost.
If ANYONE is willing to print this on a Makerbot replicator or "equivalent" extrusion home 3D printer, I would gladly pay you a reasonable amount just to compare quality and materials.. or At least send me a photo!! I really want to dive into this 3D printing, once i know what a Makerbot is capable of!
Link to Shapeway Part
https://www.shapeways.com/model/1258815/bixler-cockpit-mount.html?li=my-models&materialId=6
.STL attached
Replies
Very cool. Can I buy one ?
I might need one of these, tell me how does taking it on and off work are there any issues with the AP sometimes being misaligned?
Gary, As for alignment it has been great and very repeatable. I used a Velcro strap that wrapped around the APM and bixler fuselage, and it was the most solid and repeatable mounting solution i have had.( that was without the clear plastic windscreen). The stock servo wires from your rudder and elevator in bixler 1.1 make it a little hard to remove the tray and insert new batteries, but if you extend your servo wires and sensor wires it is a very nice way to get in and out. I do have issues with the output servo rail interfering with the GPS tray at the back of the tray, and i tried to make a quick fix to this file but its still a bit tight and might take a little dremel work to solve. I'm now working on a Pixhawk version, but would like to go back and get rid of the interference on the output rail.
Hi Trevor,
Perhaps you read my post about propeller guard I made with Shapeways last year.
Now, I print quite detailed parts myself
If you wish it, send me the STLs of this project, or others, and I can print them for you, with pictures of the prints here.
If possible, having the native CAD files is even better.
EDIT: I got STL from Shapeways.The mesh is not manifold. It is easy to fix this, can send you the fixed STL.