Acrobrat-ish Frame

thingiverse

Going to get this out of the way: If you're interested in the Acrobrat frame, BUY IT! It's an awesome frame and you should support Tommy and the work that he has put into it. I own one and love it. Also, a carbon frame is just better. I am a new pilot and crash lots. I have gone through four carbon base plates and recently purchased a 3D printer so I figured I would see what all the fuss was about with printing FPV frames (how do they fly, how do they hold up, what material is best, etc., etc.). This is really just an exercise in curiosity and getting my feet wet with CAD design. That said, this frame flies great! Design thoughts: Most of the time I broke the frame in the same spot (middle arm support, a few mm from the body), so I tweaked this frame with fillets to strengthen that area and added runners to combat flex. I also notched the side plate tabs so the original bushings could be used with the printed side plate as the base plate is much thicker than the original. I like landing skids, so I incorporated them into the design. Shrugging. Flyability: Like I said, it flies great! I know it's heavy, but I really don't have any complaints. It doesn't resonate thanks to the original design and the bushings, and I really can't tell the difference between this and the real thing. Durability: I have crashed this frame, as in real crashes... dives, gates, trees, concrete, hard landings, etc. I fly it like a real CF frame knowing I can print another one. Durability has been good (better than expected honestly), with only the most extreme crashes actually breaking anything. For example, I was flying a bando in the desert and went up (about 200+ft-ish), lost video, and it ended up frapping into the rock-strewn desert floor at full speed. This destroyed the frame, but all my components were fine surprisingly (again, a testament to the original design). Having crashed the real CF frame, I feel this would have destroyed it as well. However, smacking into a tree or clipping a branch at full tilt typically does nothing except bend props. All this said, give it a try, or not, whatever. It's a work in progress. I used Tinkercad on the base plate and Fusion 360 for the side plates (didn't know Fusion when I started this project). I am currently working on a more dimensionally accurate 4" version of this in Fusion as well as one with traditional standoffs just to see how much difference the bushings make (for science!). I may also play with the idea of a straight TPU canopy but haven't flushed this out in my head yet. Components I am using: 1407 HGLRC Flame motors, FlightOne MilivoltOSD stack, Runcam Split 2, RushFPV Tank Ultimate mini (Awesome VTX...), Frsky receiver, Axii 2 mini MMCX antenna, Redline 850mah XT60 batteries. Other crap: Jumper T8SG+ Carbon controller, Aomway Commander goggles with dual Axii 2 stubby antennas. If you want to watch me crash, check out: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZaUhK-mRFrjV8DyIfLh3Yg If you are still reading this, you should buy the original CF frame... Also, because I guess this needs to be said: YOU DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO SELL THIS FRAME!