ZMR based Tricopter : UPDATED

June 21, 2015|bluefishnz

Im sure many people have a ZMR frame or 2, maybe even some broken arms, or they have just moved on to a better full carbon frame. I have found the ZMR frames great and easy to change the layout for custom builds like I did in these builds.

I found myself in both camps, I moved a ZMR build over to a EMAX full carbon frame for my learner FPV rig. This left me with a spare ZMR frame, so I got to thinking ... which is always dangerous.

I love tricopters and after unsuccessfully reducing the size of my Titan tricopter I decided to try and make a tricopter out of a ZMR frame. This is the hightlights reel.

The full build log here : (to lazy to completely reproduce here)

http://www.bluefish.net.nz/2015/06/zmr-frame-mini-tricopter.html

Heres a quick video of the finished version:1 flying.

This is the completed little beast. The key parts ot the design are the customised tilt assembly.

Firstly a huge shout out to David Windestal, Captain Tricopter !!. He designed and made public under CC Licensing an awesome 3D printable tilt mechanism which is the basis for the tilt assebly in this little tricopter.

I modifed the 3D print to allow the tilt assebly to be zip-tied to a ZMR arm. I also changed the motor mount to have a thicker top plate and a recess to allow the use of servo arms as my 3D printer didnt do a good job of the built in spline. This also allowed the use of differnet servos.