G+_Brent Burnette Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ? would it be possible to transplant the 'guts' of the trainer quad to some sort of alternate chassis (ex. Dowel rod arms, aftermarket deck)? I know the trainer is low end and likely proprietary parts, but could mods make it more resilient? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_610GARAGE Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I have the trainer and I don't think that another body is going to make it more resilient. First off, the body is pretty tough, It is an enclosed plastic case which is ideal for impact resistance. Second, the most fragile part of a quad are the blades. It may be possible to replace them with a thicker blades, but it is still spinning at a couple 1000 rpm. If it hits something, it going to get damaged. With all that said, it would be quite difficult to transplant the motors. Since they are gear driven, and the body is also the gearbox, it would require either cutting off the end of the arms, or fabricating a custom motor/prop mount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Brent Burnette Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 Since there were some weight reduction things done I just wasn't sure if the body itself could be reduced, obviously at the expense of sturdyness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_610GARAGE Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 You could cut a hole in the center top of the chassi, but I would not suggest this. The components inside need air to stay cool, If you start modifying the chassis too much, you could interupt this air flow and cook motor and the motor controller. Probably, the only thing you could do is to remove the led lights and light guards. If you like to live life on the edge, you could also remove the landing feat and the gear guards on the bottom. Other than that, I don't think you are going to reduce chassis weight in any meaningful way without going to carbon fiber, or something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Taylor Graham Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 If you're looking to save weight, take off everything you can. Landing gear, prop guards, etc. The plastic shell is the frame, there's nothing but wires underneath. I doubt you could create a lighter/more durable frame with any other material. Worried about durability? Buy extra props. Everything else will be fine for the most part. If you're trying to protect the quad i wouldn't worry much. Parts are available and cheap, and its pretty tough. I've yet to mess up a prop and I've been slamming it into a great number of things, sometimes with a significant amount of force. Just crash this quad until you feel adept enough to buy/build a better one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 The trainer is actually an INCREDIBLY efficient design for the money. -- The body is actually a shell of VERY thin plastic. Remove either half of the shell, and it loses all it's rigidity. This is actually a good thing... being so light, impacts don't really impart that much energy on any single part of the quad. That's why we can play "drone wars" in the studio without really worrying about destroying them. The only real damage we see is to the ends of the arms (if we take off the guards) -- You CAN break the screw mount off the "motor bubble"... but I've been running my quad with no mounts left. :) Short answer... not really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Bram Moerman Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I remember as a kid having a propellor toy powered by a string wound on a spindle. The plastic propellor was part of a ring structure which acted very nicely as a guard for the blades (and fingers). I haven't seen this on any quad copters. Perhaps an idea for 3D printing of props. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Bram Moerman It wouldn't be practical at these RPMs. If the ring is off-center or unbalanced even a little, it would cause dangerous vibrations and oscillations. Oscillations at 20k RPM can turn your prop into a shrapnel generator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Nathan K Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 The Syma X5 is very durable. I have dropped it out of the sky onto a roof. Launched it into the sky to find it in the middle of a concrete pad, that cracked the gear guard under on motor. Flown it full speed into a light poll. Flown it into a tree. And Have it bounce off the front of a car hood\windshield that was going 25ish. Other then gluing the cracked guard I have not replaced anything yet. It still fights fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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