Tri Copter inspired by RC Explorer

AdmiralDV

Junior Member
Hi All

I'm quite a fan of David's Tri-copters, but unfortunately because of the exchange rate, not all is always as easy/affordable as it is suppose to be.

Lucky for me I do have some CAD skills and there is always someone some where with skills and materials.

So looking at whats available here in South Africa, no square wooden dowels, not even talking of Carbon Fiber...

But there is composite manufacturers, fiberglass, carbon fiber etc.

So I started drawing, working 'with' 3mm carbon fiber in mind, made a couple of sketches.

1.JPG
I still like the fold-ability of the Tri so I tried to still do that

2.JPG
I overlayed the canopy so on plan looked good but later I had to edit it a bit, to fit what I had.

3.JPG 5.JPG
I've drawn the servo, motors, esc's etc in to see that all will fit, arms won't fold all the way back but will depend on esc placement and zip-ties.

4.JPG
Here is just bit of a cross section, I've got 30mm stand-offs to I had to change the canopy side panels a bit.

There is a guy in our local 'Multi-Rotor club' that got some Carbon fiber and a CNC, so I send the drawing files to him to be cut, still need to see how the frame will work out and fly.

At this stage i'm flying with this:
20160726_214101.jpg
Drilled out aluminium arms and 'poly-stone plastic' body...

Will be transferring all components to new frame when I get it.

If you guys have any tips or suggestions please let me know.

Derik
 

AdmiralDV

Junior Member
Okay so after waiting a while for all the pieces to get cut and a new PDB? I finally got the Tri built.

The guy supplying the Carbon Fiber didn't have any 1.5 mm so he recommended 2.5 mm Fiberglass until he gets stock.

20160902_065800.jpg

As mentioned before, I had to adjust the canopy for the standoffs I had, but I noticed that I didn't calculate the lock nuts in
the height so had to do ad a spacer in the front to hold the canopy in place.
20160902_065813.jpg

20160902_065836.jpg

20160902_065855.jpg

Last night was the final setup to +/- Davids Tri flight setup, re-flashing the the ESC's.

Now to but on the Props (5x4.5 Triblades) and see how it flies, but only after work today (still 6 hours away)