Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone

418 points

a year ago

I made this 130 mile capable VTOL drone in only 90 days. It can fly for 3 hours on a single charge. That would make it one of the longest range and endurance 3D printed VTOLs in the world.

This is the thing I'm most proud of building to date!

Before this project, I was a total CAD, 3D printing and aerodynamic modeling beginner. I had only built and flown one VTOL before.

SPECS

Wingspan: 3.9 ft (1200 mm) Length: 2.5 ft (770 mm) Weight: 5.6 lb (2.55kg)

Airframe: foaming PLA (Bambu PLA-Aero) and PETG structural parts printed on A1 printer, CFRP booms and spars

Battery: Li-ion silicon anode Amprius SA08 cells, 6s2p pack by Upgrade Energy Motors: 2807 AOS for lift and cruise (unoptimized) Lifting ESCs: 4 in 1 Holybro Tekko32 F4 45A Cruise ESC: Flycolor Raptor 5 45A Lifting and cruise props: 7042 Gemfan (unoptimized)

Flight controller: Speedybee F405 Wing GPS: M10

Firmware: Ardupilot 4.6.0

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This video edit ended up shorter than I planned. Being my first Youtube video with significant post production effort, I underestimated the work required to make a longer in-depth video with voiceover, edited footage, etc.

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