Just got started - now seriously building my own airframe!

[Hands0n]

I appear to have got it bad - elsewhere I've been posting already my early learning-to-fly experiences. I guess I've been an RC addict since my teen years but never got round to doing anything about it.

Anyway, settling in to the H450 airframe (see http://www.multirotorforums.com/sho...ly-a-quad-getting-there-slowly-And-experience) I've been watching no end of YouTube video to see whats what. Inspired by Flite Test I've decided to make my own airframe! Yes, indeed, you read that right. The longer term intention of mine is to do FPV and I wanted a stable easy to fly craft and I believe that I have found a likely candidate in the form of the H-frame built of wood as the chaps at Flite Test have. You can see their craft in action here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJWwXA5cHJc

I'm using Pine wood as it is light and strong. The materials I picked up from Wickes for around £14 and there is sufficient wood there for at least two air frames.

The FC is going to be an APM2.5 with GPS, RTL, Loiter and all the other good stuff that these class of FCs have.

The frame is waiting for the glue to set, it will be fully set by midday Tuesday, then I'll spend the rest of the week building it and setting up the FC (assuming all of the kit arrives soon).

Here's the frame so far ... View attachment 12017

Am I bonkers? Probably But lets see where this takes me.

 

[gtranquilla]

One of the great secrets of a super strong structure is to use soft material in the middle and reinforce it with a couple of layers of fiberglass or carbon fiber on the outside.
Using quality epoxy as a binder and vacuum bagging one can achieve tremendous structural strength and pine is an excellent internal material for that.
Here is an example: http://www.dragonplate.com/ecart/categories.asp?cID=3

I appear to have got it bad - elsewhere I've been posting already my early learning-to-fly experiences. I guess I've been an RC addict since my teen years but never got round to doing anything about it.

Anyway, settling in to the H450 airframe (see http://www.multirotorforums.com/sho...ly-a-quad-getting-there-slowly-And-experience) I've been watching no end of YouTube video to see whats what. Inspired by Flite Test I've decided to make my own airframe! Yes, indeed, you read that right. The longer term intention of mine is to do FPV and I wanted a stable easy to fly craft and I believe that I have found a likely candidate in the form of the H-frame built of wood as the chaps at Flite Test have. You can see their craft in action here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJWwXA5cHJc

I'm using Pine wood as it is light and strong. The materials I picked up from Wickes for around £14 and there is sufficient wood there for at least two air frames.

The FC is going to be an APM2.5 with GPS, RTL, Loiter and all the other good stuff that these class of FCs have.

The frame is waiting for the glue to set, it will be fully set by midday Tuesday, then I'll spend the rest of the week building it and setting up the FC (assuming all of the kit arrives soon).

Here's the frame so far ... View attachment 15284

Am I bonkers? Probably But lets see where this takes me.

 

[Efliernz]

Awesome :nevreness:

Wood - a much under-utilized resource for multis! I have my 18th and 19th multi builds on the bench at the moment. 2/3rds have been from wood.
Wood absorbs vibes, is cheap to fix and replace, easy to work with and handles crashing without kinking like aluminium booms Custom additions to the frame are so easy to do.

Biased... hell yeah! I have build 6 trainers for other club members and they all have lasted much longer than the fibreglass/carbon/plastic moulded HK machines.

keep at it

Pete

 

[Hands0n]

That Dragonplate material looks awesome.

Thanks @EflierNZ - Loving the thought of using wood, although it is heavier than the F450 frame by 212grams at 494gm vs 282gm. It feels very Wright brothers

More pics on the progress later.