Drone materials

[robschew]

Hi,

I’m working on a project aimed to print a drone. Which material do you recommend for 3D printing the structure of a drone?

[InsideNothing]

All the drone part requests I have printed were in black abs, some to be milled out of aluminum

[Steelmans]

@robschew I’ve printed lots of drone parts in ABS at a high infill but have also printed in Polycarbonate for small parts that need to be really tough.

[InsideNothing]

What temp does your polycarbonate extrude at, just curious

[Steelmans]

I’m using PC-Plus it is around 270 degC

[Polariz3d]

ABS is surely an option, but PETG is also worth considering. Easier to print than ABS, it has good mechanical properties. If some part need to resist high impact and don’t need to be very stiff, nylon is also an option. I wouldn’ use it for the main structure, until it’s “infused” with carbon fibre. PC-plus needs a temperature that not every printer can handle, but the PolyMax is as easy to print as PLA and it is really strong.

[3DMatters2Us]

Hello. I would recommend printing with FormLabs Tough Resin. Its what I use for printing phone cases and other things that need to take a beating. Make sure whomever prints with it cures it under UV light for the recommended amount of time.

Todd

3dmatters2us.com

[EK_Isele]

Depends. Carbon Fiber reinforced PLA if you don’t need to worry about temperature resistance or carbon fiber reinforced nylon if you don’t want to worry about your drone getting soft in exceptionally high temperatures (i.e. sitting in a car during a hot summer day). Carbon fiber reinforced PLA is definitely stiffer though under normal temperatures.

[Polariz3d]

Carbon fibre filament (ABS, PLA, Nylon) are surely a good option for any structural model, but, by personal experience, it is not for the faint hearted (or for very shallow pockets :P). I tried a few and, even if of good quality, tends to clog some nozzles and on the long run will wear out the a brass nozzle. Another misconception I’ve heard around is that it makes the model lighter… carbon fibre plastic is still plastic and for the same model weight will be almost identical. If you want to push the amount of material and weight to the lower limit, you need to check carefully material properties, printing orientation and structural stiffness/compliance. There is also a very new material I found out just today: Innofill Pro… just for saying, but maybe there are many more around.

[Justincomisk]

I’ve experimented with a few different filaments for my 3D printed Skyblade quads. Abs and Petg were were too flexible for the arms. The quad was highly unstable to the point that I was unable to even hover in place without the motors racing up and down. Any flex changes the angle of the motors, causing severe overcorrection. The rigidity of pla fixed the oscillating problems, albeit less durable. This might be less of a factor with smaller motors/propellers (skyblade uses 10" props and super powerful motors). Good luck!

[Voldemaras_Pilv]

Hi,

Cool project, what kinda drone are you printing?

Will it be any like DJI Phantom 4? I think that’s the most amazing on market.

More info about it http://ismaniosiosdovanos.lt/produkto-kategorija/ismanieji-zaislai/dronai/

[Robert_57]

Taulman Alloy 910.

Easy to print as long as you can get to 250. Toughness of Nylon, stiffness near Polycarb, no fillers to clog or abrade your nozzle. My 2c.

[Robert_57]

[TripleTriangles]

Hello Robschew,

Between ABS and PLA, I’d go with ABS instead of PLA because of its better flexural properties that would be useful for crash situations: ABS might survive while PLA will undergo a brittle fracture.

Go with a darker ABS color though such as black, because normal white ABS or other lighter colors will UV degrade overtime outdoors.

Regards,

Dennis

[Tribricks]

Carbon reinforced High Temp PLA (like proto-plasta’s) : extremely stiff, high impact resistant and if you do the annealing process right, resists up to 110°.

Indeed you need to swap your brass nozzle for a stainless steel one or a brass nozzle with special coating like the one sold by microswiss. You also need to go for a larger than usual nozzle (0.6 is a good option for most people), making it difficult to have prints with small layers (but for the sake of toughness, you will prefer a “big” layer height). I’m using it quite often and once you sorted out the right extrusion temps and first layer height, it prints quite well.

However it is quite expensive…

There are also Carbon reinforced ABS and Kevlar reinforced ABS (the latest has the advantage of not being abrasive. No nozzle change needed) !

[krosnyak]

Taulman nylon alloy 910, they have black and white. All the strength of nylon without the flex.