DIY laser-cut quad

First: This build can be followed in detail at: http://dzlsevilgeniuslair.blogspot.dk/

Long time ago I bought all the gear needed to build a small quad. I was really busy at the time so they ended up in a box and was quickly forgotten. The other day they reemerged and rather than just putting them away again i decided to quickly throw them together, at least they could sit on the wall and look cool.

I did not have any frame so i quickly lasered one out of plywood:

My intention was not to build an actually flying model, rather a fancy rack for the gear, so I made it quite small to save space on the wall. After mounting the gear I felt encouraged to take it a bit further so I actually connected everything and took it for at spin.

It actually worked pretty well so I thought that now it is a flying model the arms should be a bit longer and there should be some more features.

Really satisfied with the result both look and flying wice I coulden't stop there and made a camera pod

All in all I am surprices that what started as a quick and dirty jub turned out really well.

Everything is made from 4mm. plywood. I realize that wood may not be the strongest material but certainly the cheapest so if I have a bad landing I simply plan to replace the broken parts. All parts are easy to swap without too much problems.

I swapped all the gear form the smaller to the bigger version in 20 minutes without unsoldering anything.

I am surprised how strong the frame appears. If you handle the individual parts they seem very light and bendy but as soon as you put a couple of screws in the center and motor mount the whole lattice becomes very rigid.

Just as an experiment I tried to destroy a similar frame made of reject parts. It takes a lot of abuse before breaking. I threw it at great force on the floor and it kind of just bounced back. I think the two layer lattice spread the forces over a larger part of the frame and you litterally have to stomp on it to break it :)

Havent crashed one yet bot we will see where the weak points are..

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dzlonline December 6, 2012 at 1:31am

Everything is made from 4mm. plywood. I realize that wood may not be the strongest material but certainly the cheapest so if I have a bad landing I simply plan to replace the broken parts. All parts are easy to swap without too much problems.

I swapped all the gear form the smaller to the bigger version in 20 minutes without unsoldering anything.

I am surprised how strong the frame appears. If you handle the individual parts they seem very light and bendy but as soon as you put a couple of screws in the center and motor mount the whole lattice becomes very rigid.

Just as an experiment I tried to destroy a similar frame made of reject parts. It takes a lot of abuse before breaking. I threw it at great force on the floor and it kind of just bounced back. I think the two layer lattice spread the forces over a larger part of the frame and you litterally have to stomp on it to break it :)

Havent crashed one yet bot we will see where the weak points are..
Moderator

Graham Dyer December 5, 2012 at 9:41pm

Very nice, my attempts at a plywood frame (not laser cut) showed a weakness, bad crash resistance... but I was using much heavier equipment :)

What thickness ply are you using? Any chance of sharing your plan/dxf?
Peter Meister December 5, 2012 at 5:29pm

Well done dzl! Very nice!
Carl Campbell December 5, 2012 at 2:13pm

That is a darn fine looking quad. Any thoughs on selling the frames? I have a number of 10 amp esc's doing nothing and would love to toss a quicky together.

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