Open source 450 rc helicopter

thingiverse

This is an open source printable helicopter that should be compatible with any trex-450 rotor heads. A DFC rotor head, fully printable but yet to be tested, comes included with this model. Consider using a DFC swashplate to avoid damage from the blade holder linkage coming off the swashplate if you decide to print and fly it. A direct drive fixed pitch tail rotor is used to simplify the mechanical complexity of the frame. Everything except for a motor frame was printed in PLA, but it seems rigid enough. A THPA20S 90w 2800kv motor with a 5x5 propeller was used for the tail rotor, and you can replace it with any similar one. To assemble this helicopter, you'll need m3 and m4 hardware of various sizes, aluminum square pipe 400x10x10x1mm, aluminum round pipe 8x1mm, four 8x3mm bearings for the head, five 11x5 bearings for the main rotor shaft, a trex450 swashplate, main gear assembly, and a 5mm main rotor shaft. I brought it to a hover today. A printed head really works! I had to tune controls sensitivity down to 60%. Be careful with servo endpoints - limit them to about 65% and test without blades to reduce damage in case a linkage comes off the ball end. Consider using very soft blades. You may also want to use longer blades. I uploaded modified head linkages (solid_v2 and solid_v2_long). It's strong enough, but setting up the head can be a real pain. I'll work on it further. I tested it with an hk450v2 stock head from hobbyking today, and it flies great! I added some photos of the heli in action. I think it's totally safe to fly with trex compatible heads. I haven't tried if an FBL one will fit though - it should if you can fit it on an original. New parts have been added: a new one-piece tail with rotor guard and stabilizer, as well as two variants of the landing gear. SAFETY NOTICE This is not a toy! Be extremely careful when flying helicopters. This is not a quadcopter - blade strike may cause serious injury! Don't fly this thing with people around! The printed rotor head or entire transmission frame may blow up in case of linkage failure! Never fly over people, cars or other objects you can harm! Keep out of reach of children! The printed head included in the archive requires one's piloting skills to be higher than average to fly without electronic stabilization. FLY SAFE