After a long arduous process of getting my copter up in the air, it finally flies. I was happy with it for a week or so but am now unhappy with the CD Case body/frame that I'm currently sporting. So I decided to design a frame that was perfect for my needs.
I did all the work in AutoCAD(sorry about the colors). It's a mashup of my own design and the official Arducopter design, among others.
First up I have a Quad & Hexa version. These main plates (as I call them) are the foundation of the frame.
![3689423450?profile=original](https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3689423450?profile=original)
Next up I have the carrier plate...this gets stacked on top of the main plates and the APM gets mounted to it.You'll notice the similarity of the slots to the official Arducopter design...
![3689423572?profile=original](https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3689423572?profile=original)
On the bottom of the main plate I have my battery tray.
![3689423615?profile=original](https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3689423615?profile=original)
Stacked up, it looks like this.
I use all #6-32 screws with varying lengths. I also use vibration isolators for the APM & Camera mount(more on this in another post). To finish it off I'm going to cover it with a 6" Diameter acrylic dome on top.
![3689423667?profile=original](https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3689423667?profile=original)
The arm grips.
![3689423628?profile=original](https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3689423628?profile=original)
I have all this mocked up in laser cut acrylic and am trying to find someone to cut out the final pieces in G10. I don't have a CNC router and am trying to cut them freehand, but it's proving to be very difficult. I am planning on building a CNC router at some point, just not yet... More posts to follow with more pictures of the mocked up frame and my freehand attempt of the final version.