3D Printing a Quadcopter: Part 1

3D printers are great, you can print just about anything these days from key-rings to full car transmission models. So I have decided to push my 3D printers to a limit, by printing a racing quadcopter. I already have a cheap Syma X5C-1 and a brushless drone that can carry a GoPro, so I want to step it up with a racing Quadcopter.

First things first, what is a racing quadcopter? Well a quadcopter is a rc multi-rotor that has 4 propellers: 2 spinning clockwise, 2 spinning anti-clockwise. This makes for a very stable aircraft for all purposes, from photography or racing. So what makes a racing quadcopter, a racing quadcopter. Well they are made to have good handling, light and obviously quick they mostly use brushless motors and usually an FPV system. First Person View, is small camera that has the video feed sent to a small monitor on the transmitter or to a video headset. Check out this awesome video of racing quadcopters:

Do what do you need? A frame and electronics. So, obviously, I will be printing the frame and for the frame I will be using the  “Hovership MHQ2” by Hovership. You can find it on Thingiverse here : MHQ2 Quadcopter. There are plenty of quadcopter designs on Thingiverse, but I picked this one as it is very well documented and has several electronic configuration options. Another advantage is that the arms will fold in which is a big bonus as it make the transport of the quadcopter much easier. I will be printing the main body in PLA as it is very big and would be very hard to print in ABS. I will however print the arms in ABS( or maybe PETG) as they are the main part of the frame that will break in crashes, and as we all know ABS is much stronger than PLA.

So what about electronics then, well I have picked to go with the 3s power system. This is as this is my first racing quadcopter, I might upgrade to a 4S system later. So according to Hovership’s recommendation I will be using 1806 to 2204 size, 1900-2300kv brushless motors paired with 4×12 amp speed controller. Along with a 1300 mAh 3S 35C battery as I plan go have a GoPro on the quadcopter, so the battery is smaller to save on weight. I will course add a voltage monitor onto that LiPo battery to make sure that I don’t discharge it fully. Then I will need a transmitter, I’m yet undecided so please leave any suggestions in the comment

So here begins my long voyage of printing a racing quadcopter, part 2 will be soon which will feature the 3D printed frame. If you have any suggestions for the quadcopter let me know in the comments. If you enjoyed this blog and want to support 3D Printer Chat, leave a comment or even share a post.