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3D Robotics

Laser cut your own ArduCopter replacement parts

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 19, 2011 at 10:00am

3689390184?profile=originalI keep breaking my ArduCopter arches, so rather than order replacements, I just laser cut my own through Ponoko. I've uploaded the design, so you can do it too.  Select 3mm clear acrylic, P1 size. It should cost $8.20 plus shipping for the four arches shown above. Note that these are laser cut, not CNC milled, so they don't have the notch on the side that fits snugly on the arms. But they work fine all the same.

 

Thanks to Sandro Benigno, you can also order a set of five replacement dome rings, as shown here:

3689390236?profile=originalAll the other parts are in the ArduCopter repository, but need to be converted to SVG format to laser cut. If you see something you'd like to make, let me know and I'll convert and upload it to Ponoko. Most can be laser cut as easily as CNC milled, but in some cases you might need to do a little finishing work, like counter-sinking some holes. No biggie...

 

UPDATE:

 

I've added the Main Square:


3689390248?profile=original

 

And the Legs:

 

3689390286?profile=original

And the carrier board:

3689390197?profile=original

 

 

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Comments

  • ip9 February 27, 2011 at 6:48am
    Thanks i'll take a look. In the mean time if you could export a copy to 3ds that would be great. Is it possible to export all as the assembled model you posted the render of? For my purposes doesn't need to be very detailed, just need it to see if my camera idea would work in the standard frame before i try and start making things.
  • ip9 February 27, 2011 at 6:02am

    Thanks  -  i'm just trying to find some suitable CAD software to use as an outlet for my sudden bout of inspiration :)

     

    sketchup is quite neat, but seems limited (cant join solids etc in the free one it seems). Does anyone have any suggestions for FOSS/Cheap CAD software?

  • ip9 February 27, 2011 at 4:20am
    Hi Dave,

    Are you able to output that assembled model to something that can be loaded into Sketchup, or another free/FOSS 3D/CAD package
  • Aaron Curtis February 25, 2011 at 11:02am
    Whoops, not attached, posted here.
  • Aaron Curtis February 25, 2011 at 11:00am

    So, attached is the simplified motor mount I made in case this is useful for anyone. I'm using an ancient CNC mill and have to manually type in holes and arcs. I'm doing it in aluminum so there's no point in the led slot anyway.

    Again, very sorry to have cast doubt on the excellent ArduCopter team who have created a brilliant product and done a great job of engaging with the community. You guys are the model of how an open source, open hardware project should be led.

  • Developer
    Jani Hirvinen February 25, 2011 at 4:53am
    Dave, i can make them available to web download too. Just hold and i setup filesharing for them. SVN can be tricky sometimes.
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson February 24, 2011 at 10:54pm
    Dave, you need to know how to use a SVN client, such as Tortoise. You can google and see many tutorials, so I'm not going to type out another one here, but we do have a short tutorial in the manual:
    http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/Tortoise
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson February 24, 2011 at 10:35pm
    Aaron, what are you talking about?? I linked to the repository with the cad files in the post above.
  • Aaron Curtis February 24, 2011 at 9:59pm

    So, I have CAD'ded some Arducopter clone motor mounts. Should be finished tomorrow (in aluminum) and I'll upload cad files on Sunday. Pretty soon we will have a full set of community CAD files with which to make DIY replacement ArduCopter parts.

    Fun working on this stuff, although I think it's still very strange that the ArduCopter folks have not yet released cad files. This is supposed to be an open hardware project, correct? Then why did Jani have the cad files removed without replacing them?

  • Simon Arthur February 21, 2011 at 6:28pm
    If you're unhappy with the strength of the acrylic pieces, I'd suggest having some polycarbonate ones waterjet cut. Even better, though a little heavier, would be an aircraft aluminum like 6061 alloy.
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