Figure 1 - SolidWorks CAD model of the centre mount.
G'day to the greater DIY community,
This is my first (of hopefully many) blogs regarding the design and fabrication of my monster baby,
the MH-01XL Hexacopter.
I have been diligently working away at the office for the past few months and in the spare time working on a robust design for a hexacopter with easily replaceable parts, this is the second permutation of the design. It features interference fit connectors (XT60 & JR) for the power, signal and ground, can be printed on most 3D printers (although the prototyping work I did was done on a Dimension Elite model), which can also be secured with grub screws to ease any paranoia.
Figure 2 - 3D Printed parts of the model, including the sockets partially fitted to the 25mm CF tubes
Figure 3 - Cutaway CAD model of the final fitting.
In the figures above I have fitted the XT60 connectors, the JR plug and sockets are omitted. (waiting on parts to arrive)
Please note that the main chassis frame is only shown in Figure 3.
Originally this was designed with a heavy lift model in mind, with mountings for 25mm CF tubes for the arms and a fairly heavy duty frame. The design allows a user to loosen off the top chassis bolts for the individual arms and a replacement can be fitted in under 60 seconds, (ESC, motor and boom) it is keyed using the XT60 and from the initial test build it performs admirably.
Figure 4 - POC for all six tubes mounted to the centre hub.
In Figure 4 I have positioned the motors and mounts at the extremity of the tubes, this is not final, I'm intending to mount them as close as the 15" props will allow with a lightweight protective ring around the entire circumference to protect both the hex itself and also to turn it into less of a spinning wheel of razorblades.
In the next week I will try to find some spare time to post details on the rest of the chassis.
Please feel free to post any criticism, suggestions, thoughts etc...
Cheers
Luke
Comments
Very nice. I was thinking of something similar but I was going to use bare 4mm connectors. The idea to use the XT60 instead is gold!!!!
Awesome!!! A good design / build log in this area will probably do huge things for the hobby. Just be sure about what you want from the project before you hit post!
Using the OSH license may help a little here, but if you plan on selling your design, cloners will sadly make that more difficult. Expect any open design to be cloned in less than 6 months. A great example is the OpenLRS. That guy has created a fantastic thing for our hobby, but now there are clones everywhere.
Good luck!
Sure are, just want to get the prototype built and flying before making the release public
Wow, this looks really cool! Are you planning on sharing your designs eventually?
It look good.
How about make the arm integrated with PCB? Maybe it can reduce some wire weight...
I would do what Team222badbrad said. Installing the esc's in the booms/ under the motor's makes it more complicated, not really necessary. Besides that, long battery-esc leads are bad for the ESC.
Hobbyking has some 3 bullet/pole ESC connectors. You could use those and eliminate the ESC signal/power connector completely.
This would allow you to mount the ESC's inside the frame and just run the three wires out to each motor.
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__10255__3_5mm_3_wire_Bullet_c...
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