kah00na
Senior Member
Wooden Bat Bones Frame Build (with templates)
I've like the Bat Bones tricopter since FliteTest released it. When David made it into a V-Tail, I really wanted to build one. I've made three other Tricopter frames out of 1/8" plywood and wanted to do the same thing with the Bat Bones. The problem I had is that I couldn't find any templates or actual sizes of the plates... so I made my own.
The carbon fiber used by FliteTest can stand to have all the holes cut out and still retain enough strength to use it as a frame. I don't have the same confidence in 1/8" plywood. The templates have all the original holes but I didn't end up cutting them out because I want the extra strength and my cutting skills aren't all that wonderful. Here are some of the pictures of putting the frame and arms together.
I cut out the plates with a jig saw and drilled the holes with a 9/64 drill bit.
I took this to see what it would look like assembled but I was one arm short so I put a purple one in temporarily to see what it would look like.
Of course the plates had to be spray painted black.
These are some corner brackets I picked up at Home Depot that will be used to mount the rear motors.
I cut a piece of wood at 40 degress and then bent the corner brackets to match the angle. I also drilled another hole in the bracket that would line up closer to the center of the 1/2" arms.
I stained the arms because it looked like the FliteTest team stained theirs in their videos instead of leaving them unfinished. I mounted the brackets on to them with 1" 6-32 screws.
I definitely wanted to have the holes in the top plate so the KK2.0 board could sit on the lower plate to give it a little more protection in the event of a crash.
I used locking nuts to hold most of it together so they won't work their way lose. I also used wing nuts on the front portion of the arms so they could be loosened to allow them to fold backward for storage and travel.
The total weight is 173 grams. The FliteTest website says the original Bat Bones is 1.3 pounds (589 grams) - that may be shipping weight but that seems high. I'm anxiously waiting for the electronics to arrive and to see this thing fly!
CAD TEMPLATES (Thanks EdinSimon!):
EdinSimon created CAD drawings of the templates. They support both a tricopter or v-tail version of the Bat Bones frame.
View attachment Batbone Body - Bottom Plate & Tray-CAD.pdf
View attachment Batbone Body - Top Plate & Landing Gear-CAD.pdf
HAND DRAWN TEMPLATES:
They aren't perfect because they were drawn by hand. I don't have my motors to see if 8x4 propellers will touch when the motors are mounted but I think the "V" made by the holes is at a large enough angle that they should be fine.
View attachment WoodenBatBonesTopPlate.pdf
View attachment WoodenBatBonesBottomPlate.pdf
I've like the Bat Bones tricopter since FliteTest released it. When David made it into a V-Tail, I really wanted to build one. I've made three other Tricopter frames out of 1/8" plywood and wanted to do the same thing with the Bat Bones. The problem I had is that I couldn't find any templates or actual sizes of the plates... so I made my own.
The carbon fiber used by FliteTest can stand to have all the holes cut out and still retain enough strength to use it as a frame. I don't have the same confidence in 1/8" plywood. The templates have all the original holes but I didn't end up cutting them out because I want the extra strength and my cutting skills aren't all that wonderful. Here are some of the pictures of putting the frame and arms together.
I cut out the plates with a jig saw and drilled the holes with a 9/64 drill bit.
I took this to see what it would look like assembled but I was one arm short so I put a purple one in temporarily to see what it would look like.
Of course the plates had to be spray painted black.
These are some corner brackets I picked up at Home Depot that will be used to mount the rear motors.
I cut a piece of wood at 40 degress and then bent the corner brackets to match the angle. I also drilled another hole in the bracket that would line up closer to the center of the 1/2" arms.
I stained the arms because it looked like the FliteTest team stained theirs in their videos instead of leaving them unfinished. I mounted the brackets on to them with 1" 6-32 screws.
I definitely wanted to have the holes in the top plate so the KK2.0 board could sit on the lower plate to give it a little more protection in the event of a crash.
I used locking nuts to hold most of it together so they won't work their way lose. I also used wing nuts on the front portion of the arms so they could be loosened to allow them to fold backward for storage and travel.
The total weight is 173 grams. The FliteTest website says the original Bat Bones is 1.3 pounds (589 grams) - that may be shipping weight but that seems high. I'm anxiously waiting for the electronics to arrive and to see this thing fly!
CAD TEMPLATES (Thanks EdinSimon!):
EdinSimon created CAD drawings of the templates. They support both a tricopter or v-tail version of the Bat Bones frame.
View attachment Batbone Body - Bottom Plate & Tray-CAD.pdf
View attachment Batbone Body - Top Plate & Landing Gear-CAD.pdf
HAND DRAWN TEMPLATES:
They aren't perfect because they were drawn by hand. I don't have my motors to see if 8x4 propellers will touch when the motors are mounted but I think the "V" made by the holes is at a large enough angle that they should be fine.
View attachment WoodenBatBonesTopPlate.pdf
View attachment WoodenBatBonesBottomPlate.pdf
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