ElectroHub Battery Tray and Accessories

by DarinW | April 24, 2015 | (7) Posted in Projects

ElectroHub battery tray and accessory mounting system.
Includes 1/2" boom landing gear brackets.

After purchasing the ElectroHub "Dragonfly" from FliteTest, in preperation for my upcomming build, I reviewed all the articles for the ElectroHub I could find, . In one artical I noticed a landing gear and mounting system that Eric Monroe had included on his Tricopter. I loved the modular design capibility of the unit, but thought it was too bulky and distracted from the simple beauty of the ElectroHub. So I set out to design a simular unit that incorporated Eric's modular mounting design, but with different material.

The mounting system I came up with,  is designed to bolt directly to the ElectroHub frame. It is modular in design. The main unit is the battery mounting tray. This tray is connected to the ElectroHub frame with 3mm x 20mm cap screws. Sandwitched between the tray and the ElectroHub frame are a set of vibration dampeners. These dampeners are 3D printed with NinjaFlex, which has elastic properties. A 3/8" wooden dowel is used to extend the tray to whatever length is required. Additional accessory mounting trays can be connected to the dowel rail system.

All of the parts are 3D printed and can be found on my Thingiverse account.
Battery Tray
Accessory Tray
Landing Gear Mount


 Battery Tray -

The battery tray is 3D printed with the four outside mounting holes. The two inside holes are optionally drilled to allow access to the ElectroHub plate screws.

The 3/8" poplar dowel is secured with spare 9gram server arm screws.

 

Accessory Mounting Trays -

There are two different accessory mounting trays. One is for a battery extension mount point. It can be placed in front of the battery tray or at the rear depending on your balance point. The other tray is for mounting secondary equipment and may be installed upright or inverted.

 

An intregrated zip-tie locking point is designed into the 3D printed dowel holes.

The zip-tie lock is designed to "pinch" the wooden dowel against the top of the support tube.

The zip-ties are small 2mm wide 80mm long and can be purchased on Amazon.
2mm x 80mm Zip-ties

 

 

 

Mounting to ElectroHub Frame -

The mounting holes line up with the outer predrilled holes on the ElectroHub frame.
The 3mm cap screws are retained with a nylon self locking nut.

 Landing Gear Boom Bracket -

The landing gear brackets are designed to snap-fit over the 1/2" motor boom. They are secured in place with 2mm x 200mm zip-ties

. The dowel is offset to allow clearance for the FliteTest Dragonfly's inverted motors.

 

Finished Looks -

 

 

 

This proeject has a been a great learning tool for turning an idea into a workable set of parts. The process of designing the parts in Solid Works, printing, testing and refining things that didn't quite work, has been enjoyable. I would recomend 3D printing to any hobbyist that has an engineering mind. I have only had my 3D printer since Christmas 2014 and I love that I can create things fairly quickly. The process of learing Solid Works has been slow, but very rewarding as I learn new techniques each time I start a project. 

This has been my first posted article on FliteTest, but I dont think it will be my last.

Thank you for taking a look.

COMMENTS

FPVamaury on April 27, 2015
80m long zipties wow! :) Really nice article!
Log In to reply
HarleyRev on April 27, 2015
awesome project and results ! Thanks for sharing
Log In to reply
gremlin88 on April 27, 2015
Awesome! I was going to make something similar, but it probably would've been too bulky the way I had designed mine
Log In to reply
macster5187 on April 27, 2015
Really cool! What are the details on your 3D printer and filament? Seems like it is working really well for you
Log In to reply
DarinW on April 27, 2015
You can find all the 3D parts and printer settings on my Thingiverse account. The links are in this articles introduction.
Log In to reply
The Groundhog on April 28, 2015
Excellent
Log In to reply
Drufus6541 on May 4, 2015
Very nice! The design is surprisingly slim and fits the electrohub really well. I especially like the modular design; adds lots of customization. This is yet another amazing project that makes me want to invest in a 3D printer. Thanks for sharing!
Log In to reply
MOcchionero on May 5, 2015
Nice build. Very clean... Something to aspire to!
Log In to reply
ericmonroe74 on May 8, 2015
Great work my friend!

Eric
Log In to reply
cdub49 on June 12, 2015
nice job you should have flite test or shapeways sell these for you. they are such that they would work on anything.
cw
Log In to reply

You need to log-in to comment on articles.


ElectroHub Battery Tray and Accessories