Summary

This is a basic model for a medium/heavy lift UAV drone with autopilot capability using the Arducopter APM 2.5 controller (dyidrones.com)

Instructions

This is a general purpose hexacopter designed for 3D printing.

It uses simple hardware (3mm screws and thermset PEMS (see: http://youtu.be/VDVvFSR4EC4).

All of my parts are printed in ABS with .4mm layer height, 80% fill.

The body, without batteries, motors, ESC, radio, or autopilot weighs in at 620 grams - very light for this size and power hexacopter.

The arms are made from light weight aluminum and are field replacable.

Currently the ESC and batteries are tie wrapped in but I am designing a slide out drawer for the battery and mounting brackets for the ESC.

I have posted the BOM and xcopter calculator results for the motor, prop, ESC and battery sizing. Please note: Flight times will be much longer in real life because I doubled the weight to carry a 600g payload (ie: camera with live video).

You may wish to print two of the motor end in hot pink for visibility.

The holes in the top of the lid are for navigaton LEDs.

I have created a lot of ~5mm holes in various places for thermset PEMS. Some of these must have PEMS where the core and bottom plate connect thru the landing gear mount and to connect the landing gear to the mount. You will also need at least for of them on the core to mount the radio tray. The other holes are to reduce weight or for future options. I will post full assembly instructions as soon as I can.

More to come...Happy flying!

Hexacopter