You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • heh heh heh.. maybe we will see this as a favorite of folks who toss their gear unprotected into the trunk and then expect it to work when hauled back out.

    Construction types, roof repair, ag and yes LEO(s) ALL need a physically tough drone that can take some about of knocking about without being totally disabled/broken.

    The so called indestructible body does have its uses in applications specific drones used for various industries in the near future and there is video on youtube that show them being shot out of the sky with a 12ga and dropped from 400ft up, the standard 3DR APM autopilot was in the demo I saw and did NOT seem to be affected by the rough

    treatment at that point.

    As far as the water proofing? both the "AquaQuad" and this Game of drones quad are vastly overpriced cost of materials and engineering wise.

    Enough so that sales to industry types will be nil and I expect the body to show up cloned from china very shortly after release.

           The other place indestructible clamshell drones that can be sealed and cleaned are needed is in  radiation field mapping in disaster areas  such as Fukushima although the design needs some modification and possibly scaling up/down depending on instrument package.

                hzl

    ps as to the original use?? its a LOT of fun.. drone combat that is :) and best left to knockabout drones such as this...

  • @ Bill Patterson: I know you're probably being modest and careful not to be overtly promoting your product in this forum but could we please have a teeny little clue about where we can get a look at your nifty-sounding mini-H frame?

    Also, regarding the waterproofing potential of this frame, the clamshell design is nothing new, it looks very much like the "Aqua Quad" (not sure of exact spelling) discussed in these forums at some length a while back.

  • @Brian: Same problem as in a crash - a bullet would likely take it down instantly as all of its energy  would transfer to the aircraft and its components. Some component or another would fail, at least temporarily, from such a shock.

    This thing is a poor solution to a problem that doesn't exist. All it's going to do is promote reckless flying by inexperienced people who tend to crash and who don't understand basic physics.

    This thing will stay intact when the neighbor's pit-bull gets ahold of it. Otherwise it's useless. 

  • I actually sell a Mini-H frame made from Polycarbonate that is designed to dissipate impact energy. The arms pivot and shear off nylon bolts and there is a large contact area between the arm and the body to provide the energy absorbing friction. It's a vibration-isolating design as well, with a wet/dry design.  It comes drilled for 30x30mm mounting holes, but I'm sure someone could adapt it to APM. Not sure how applicable the APM is for close proximity FPV flying though.

    I'm a strong believer in Polycarbonate frames after breaking every carbon frame I ever bought. While the frame in this blog post might not be designed to protect electronics from shock, I think it's big appeal would be in water proofing it.

    Flying this frame around the beach, lake or doing close-in surf videos and water sports is where I think this frame would really shine. 

  • Perfect Todd. Plus it would float!

  • If I could make a small multicopter frame out of anything readily available it would be EVA foam hands down.  A molded EVA foam frame with ducts would be really lightweight, impact/vibration absorbent, water repellent, UV resistant, and cheap to make after tooling. Did I mention it is also good at resisting shearing? 

  • I think a frame made of an EPP type foam would be better. Or perhaps a strong shell with cushy interior to protect FC. Also some sort of prop guards.

  • only with a specific thickness, one layer is useless

  • I don't get many bullets fired at my drones but would like to see a bullet fired at this. Material is supposed to be bullet-proof !@$% (polycarbonate probably) so love to see it shot at.

  • We trad-heli R/C pilots learned long ago that replacing stock plastic rotorhead parts with nifty aftermarket alloy and carbon fiber bits has the unfortunate side effect of moving the damage in a crash deeper into the machinery, where it can be more costly and time consuming to fix. The effect is quite visible in this fellow's video. Zip ties are tough. That they are stripping or shearing indicates there's little or no give to the frame. All sorts of bad things are going to happen to the "passengers" of this airframe in a heavy crash. Aside from which, frames are generally not so expensive, often representing only around 10 to 15 percent of the cost of a quad.

This reply was deleted.