Is there a shell or housing available for home built quadcopters to protect the electronics from ...

[G+_Jeth Rigoroso]

Is there a shell or housing available for home built quadcopters to protect the electronics from the elements (similar to consumer RTF quads like the DJI)?  Mainly the motors, since they've got exposed windings and magnets.

 

At the moment the only idea I have is to 3D print one, or Instamorph it!

[G+_Taylor Graham]

The motors are brushless, and the wire inside is acrylic-coated magnet wire. Brushless motors are essentially waterproof. Lots of water will eventually decrease the performance of your bearings, but the rest of the motor will be fine.

[G+_Larry Havenstein]

Not only that but covering the motors will effect motor cooling.    The cover would need to be a heat sink probably adding weight.

[G+_610GARAGE]

Like Taylor Graham said, the motors will be fine if the get wet. But they will decrease in performance. Moisture inside the windings can mess with the motors ability to produce a magnetic field. It won't destroy anything, but I would not want to get a super high performance quad wet. Just thought I should point that out.

 

If all you want to do is to protect your electronics from getting wet, you don't really need a total quad housing. Just get a small pelican case, or a plastic project case (sealing the lid with silicone) and stick your receiver and flight controller in that. Drill a couple of holes to get your wires out, and seal the holes with silicone.

 

Esc would be pretty simple if they are like Ready to Fly quads' esc. Remove the old heatshrink tubing. Place new heatshrink on. Put some silicone at the ends of the heat shrink tubing, and shrink the heatshrink tubing. It will make a bit of a mess, but it should seal your esc pretty well without inhibiting cooling. And that is only if you want a waterproof your esc. With just the heat shrink, I would say that they are water resistant.

 

All power connectors should get dielectric grease on them to prevent corrosion and help with conductivity.

 

The battery is the only tough one. Batteries with hard cases would be the best. Then you could just squish a bunch of silicone into the holes on the case.

 

Keep in mind that I never did this before. This is just from general waterproofing experiences

 

 

If you have your heart set on a housing, you could sculpt one out of foam. Of mabey, you could cover your quad in saran wrap, or wax paper and use spray foam to cover your quad, making sure to use the saran wrap or wax paper to make a seam in the middle so that you could split the foam apart.. Both messy, but should work.

[G+_Eddie Foy]

You're flying in the rain?

[G+_Ron Nichols]

I've used home built vaccum forming with good success.

[G+_Eddie Foy]

Been meaning to try vacuum forming (worked at placed that did it years ago.  )

Just recently saw an Instructable where they recycled the plastic shopping bags for Vac Forming.

[G+_Ron Nichols]

I bought plastic sheets online. Put the in the oven for a few minutes and then put it on my shop vac vaccum table. I found the sheets best because the product would be uniform in thickness. My other attempt was with clear plastic water bottles but that was not nearly as good.

[G+_Ron Nichols]

I made landing skis for the snow this way too.

[G+_Jeth Rigoroso]

I don't plan to fly in the rain or land in water but a covered quad would be nice. I'm not a fan of the idea that the receiver, flight controller and battery are directly exposed to the elements. During takeoff and landing a lot of dust is kicked off.

 

Also, I have plans to build another quad for areial videography without the NASA rover look.

[G+_Ron Nichols]

Jeth Rigoroso Yup. Sounds like vaccum forming is perfect for you. Just make a mold of your quad's body out of decent strength foam to use as the template. If you have a shop vac then the entire project will cost you under $20 for a custom housing.

[G+_Taylor Graham]

Why wouldn't you just use conformal coating? Its lighter, inexpensive, gives you the ability to easily waterproof all of your electronics, is removable, etc. It even allows heat transfer, so its a much better choice than epoxy.

I've coated my recent build with silicone conformal coating. It weighs almost nothing and you basically just paint it on your electronics. Clean your motors out if they're going to be getting dusty, covering them is not a good solution.

[G+_Joseph Politi]

What I did was use Corrosion-X and black liquid electrical tape for all electronics and connections. You can also use Turbo coat for PCBs too. Learned it all from this website:

 

http://flitetest.com/articles/waterproofing-electronics

[G+_Taylor Graham]

Corrosion-X is cool for connectors! Conformal coating does have a few advantages over liquid tape though. It promotes heat transfer, is lighter, is clear, and is removable.

[G+_Jeth Rigoroso]

Great ideas guys!