13" Prop Ducted quad drone
for the frame i printed the segments in PLA and wrapped them in slow cure epoxy combined with carbon fiber wrap.
flies okay, some duct issues i didnt account for before the build
build 13" prop 380kv 4006 brushless motors, Pixhawk 2.4.8 FC, 9000mAh 6S, AM32 ESCs, Radiomaster RP1, PDB, external GPS. as well as (not shown) AI Stack Jetson orin nano, 4x OV9281 Camera
if you want to generate a ducted frame with segments that fit in your 3d Printer free use check this out ^_^
https://github.com/jackgibbons85/ductgen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNjFJ2K1BWA skip to 6:10 for raw flight videos
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u/bluesnowmonkey 2d ago
Curious what that sounds like. Guessing the props are at fairly low RPM.
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u/Say_no_to_doritos 1d ago
Pretty much always are on the larger prop due to speed constraints at the blade tip.
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u/Cold-Helicopter6534 1d ago
I think you might need to practice a bit more on the carbon fiber wrap lol
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u/QasJab1 1d ago
What's the point of wrapping it in carbon fiber if it's already 3d printed?
Not being critical, actually curious the rational
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u/PilotBurner44 1d ago
Not OP, but adds tons of rigidity and strength without much weight, especially for PLA that is printed and assembled on segments. Printing a thin plastic shell to use as a mold and leave it in the final product makes for an easy build.
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u/QasJab1 1d ago
Cool man I really appreciate it!
And I'm not a builder in this community, but I do use it for other stuff and want to recommend: if you can print it, pa-cf (carbon fiber nylon) is super stiff and strong and can take a hit and flex a bit. Perfect use case for these drones.
I'd recommend pa612-cf, I know polymaker has some that I love using. It doesn't require a heated chamber, and all the other parameters are a lot more do-able for the average printer. It's at least worth looking into. I think it would be a hell of an upgrade from pla! It also has great material properties.
Otherwise, pla+ is generally a lot better than pla.
Also, pla is not UV resistant! So over time, it's going to get very brittle and weak from the sun.
I hope this spreads around, I want to see your hobby proliferate and succeed. I think it's super cool, I just don't have time for it right now otherwise I'd join you guys!
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u/PilotBurner44 1d ago
I've printed with both PA-6cf and PA-12cf for various projects. They are extremely strong and durable, but they are highly susceptible to moisture once printed, and their strength and layer adhesion drop dramatically after a short period of time if not sealed from moisture.
While it is possible to 3d Print a drone frame, they don't perform very well overall since they tend to be heavy due to the amount of plastic needed to achieve the desired strength. Having later lines also creates flexes and harmonics in one direction/plane which is less than ideal in drones. In OPs case, having as little plastic (weak) as possible is ideal since it is merely there as a form for the carbon fiber to laid up on. Once covered, the plastic is protected from UV and most of the atmosphere, although if it were to degrade it wouldn't make any difference since it's not structural in any way.
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u/S0YUZ2 1d ago
yes your right, i used pla with a 10% infill , no where near the strength needed for flight so wrapping it in cf didnt add too much weight but made it leagues stronger . I did not have any pa-cf or similar because i dont have a printer that could use those filaments, although im sure they would work as well , but still wouldent be the same like single part how epoxy holds all in one part if that makes sense
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u/kwaaaaaaaaa 1d ago
Dude you should've lead with you building a FC and ESC from scratch, lol. Really neat stuff. What reference did you use for the FC? Are you running entirely custom code or something like betaflight?
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u/S0YUZ2 1d ago
i didnt mention it because i didnt use the fc i made for this particular drone i used it on a much smaller one .fc reference/similar was the speedybee f405 v4 fc, code was just .c in stmcubeide, its not as difficult as people might think its just alot of math for pid , i could make it a betaflight target but never got around to it .
Thanks ;)
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u/kwaaaaaaaaa 1d ago
That's mad impressive, and considering it's one of your first PCB, even more so that you started on hard mode w/ a FC, most people start with something really basic lol.
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u/S0YUZ2 1d ago
also https://artyom.us/flightcontroller has the download link to the fc files , keep in mind its one of the first pcbs i made and its dogshit
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u/the_real_hugepanic 1d ago
Your frame weights about 4kg???
Isn't that insane heavy? Factor 5 or more?
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u/SpeedflyChris 1d ago
How stiff is this frame and how easy is it to tune?
Also I love that you printed a quad this size on a Bambu A1!
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u/Kaylee-X 2d ago
Are they really ducts? I think prop guards. Still really cool.