Hi guys, it's been a long time since my last post here, i've been making frames for the last few months, and i've been learning and having so much fun that i needed to share it with you.
For some time i was obsessed with the idea of a tricopter with folding arms, one which i could carry around in my back pack, and just grab my bike and go for a ride with it. but i kept having the same problem, every time i crashed (believe me I crash a lot) the frame suffered a fair amount of damage in the arm joints, mainly due to the arms being hollow carbon tubes and the hole drilled to join them to the frame crated a very weak point. Then was the issue of weight, having two plates that clamped the arms in place, plus all the nuts and bolts, really effects the weight of the entire setup. A completed frame, without any electronics weighs how much? around 350 400 grams?… too much for my taste, and of course, cuting the wires when folding it...
Then it was the issue of complexity (I'll give it to you, you break an arm or a motor mount, you replace it and go flying again) having all those moving parts and weak points, is a big deal breaker for me. So i said to myself "How about if i loose the folding arms? well i would loose the ability to just put it in my backpack… but it is really that important to have folding arms? What if i make it smaller? well i could loose some stability… could i? after all no one have done a small tricopter they just heard that small tricopters were unstable, no one have actually proved it, after all, today Flight controllers have better gyros and electronics… nahh, what the hell, let's do it!! To the drawing board!!! i said (or in my language "A la mierda! A la mesa de dibujo!) and that is how the Unibody tricopter was born!
3mm thick 310mm carbon fiber body
560 grams total weight with electronics (without the battery)
my setup is as follows:
Sunnysky 980KV x3
Afro 30A x3
kk2 board 1.6fw
hitech servo
10x5 e-props
generic hitech receiver (prety good for a 20dollar knock off)
2200mah 20C battery
It is still an ongoing design, i have a couple of modifications to make it even stronger. Although as it is, takes crashes like a champ, and looks darn cool :)
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