Custom cutouts for m2p case and goodies

[wsettle]

I purchased some floor mats to try my hand at making a custom foam inset using an Apache 2800 case. After trying several tools to cut the material, I was disappointed in how it looked "hacked" up. When I read that someone CNCed the material, it dawned on me that a dremel with a spiral bit may work in a free hand fashion so I looked for a router table for my dremel and Menard's had one. It works like a charm.

So my question. What is the best way to trace the outline of what I want to cut, be it the drone, battery, charger, etc?

Using a sharpie and eye balling it is not very accurate.

Or, does anyone have a template they would be willing to share so I can print it out, glue it to the mat and use it as my cutting guide?

Maybe @supergimp or @Don't Wanna would be willing to share something I can print off to get me started?!?

Here is a pic of the $26 dremel router table and how the dremel cuts the floor mat. Not perfect but sure beats a knife or hand saw.

 

[Don't Wanna]

I use no templates. Place your drone on top of a piece of plain paper. With a pencil from above draw half the drone . stop at the center line. Fold at center line and then cut out the marked side . and you will both side the same. Make it a little bigger. Or You won’t be able to pull out the craft if it,s too tight. I never use a Dremel to cut the material it just pulls . I do use the Dremel from time to time the tiny little sanding drum the round off cut corners. A coping saw or a bandsaw has work the best for me. You can cut more than one layers of foam at a time, unlike what you’re trying to do one at a time. Try two or three pieces at a time to start. join them together with spray contact cement the car stuff not the kraft stuff. Also keep in mind the case has a taper. wider at the top narrow at the bottom. If you don’t keep that in mind and you make one it will not be able to insert what you’ve made all the way to the bottom of the case. Make sure you have everything you want to put in the case on hand before cutting. It will help with placement of the items you want to put in. Lots of luck

 

[wsettle]

Thanks @Don't Wanna

 

[supergimp]

I modeled my entire setup in Fusion360 by first designing each cutout in 2D (hours at the computer with each part and a pair of calipers) and extruding it to the depth I needed for each item. That let me organize my parts in 3D space since, if you look at my case, there is an upper and lower area. The biggest issue I had is that I use a 7.85" CrystalSky and I wanted it to straddle the openings for the Mavic Air. By modeling in 3D I could figure out that relationship. Then I figured I would need 5 layers of the Harbor Freight foam (0.4 in thick each) with three making up the bottom openings and two for the top.

Then I exported the projection of each layer (one for the bottom set and one for the top) and used the CNC software to generate the gcode to drive the machine.

I didn't see anyway to do it without CNC because my cuts were too deep to cut all the layers at once and I needed the layers to index on top of each other after being cut.

I'm happy to share the dxf files. If you have CAD you can create your own template from my shapes (Fusion360 is free for hobby and educational use). dxf files are pretty ubiquitous. I think even Adobe Illustrator can open them.

Crazy thing is, it's only been a few months and I now have a Mavic 2 Pro. I thought I was going to keep the Air just as a fun second drone, but the M2P is so awesome I don't see myself flying the Air much. It'll probably be up for sale soon. Unfortunately theres no way the M2P and all the CrystalSky stuff will fit in the 3800 case and I don't have access to a CNC big enough to cut for a bigger case.

Anyway, here are the dxf files if you want them.

 

[RoboticTundra]

For complex items we use to create shadow templates and send them to the folks who made our road cases. Place the item on a sheet of paper and aim a bright single point source light at it from about 10' away. Trace the inside of the shadow and you'll have a perfect fit. There is also some film from 3M that works well for this but I believe it's about $10 for a 14x17 sheet.

 

[wsettle]

Thanks @supergimp ! I have an older copy of turbocad I can use so I'll check them out. Very kind of you. I think the multi-layer case is pretty cool. I've got the goggles as well and trying to figure out how to carry it all is kind of fun.

When I lay everything out on a table, it's bigger than an Apache 4800 so I'll probably do an 2800 case for the m2p and a 3800 case for the goggles to keep everything as small as possible.

I've got a p3p and after flying the m2p, I doubt I'll ever fire up the p3p again. It's old tech comparatively speaking.

 

[wsettle]

@RoboticTundra , that makes sense and will give that a try as well.

Appreciate all of the tips guys. I have been practicing with the dremel and a spiral bit and found my chuck won't keep the bit locked in. Comes loose after a few minutes of cutting. My dremel is probably 30 years old but the bearings are still solid. It seems it's the tool free chuck that is not up to the task as I can't tighten it tight enough to keep the bit in place. So, I ordered a new chuck from Amazon that I can tighten with wrenches which should fix that issue.

 

[vwjones]

Hi all,

I know this is an old thread but it came up when I was looking for a Mavic 2 template for a case insert. In the end I did my own so I thought I'd share the DXF in case anyone else found their way here.

This is for a Peli Case 1510. I used some high density foam and laser cut it out of various thicknesses. The depth of the drone and battery pocket is designed to be about 70mm deep and the controller pocket is 50mm deep.

It's actually for 2 x Mavic 2, 2 x controllers, 4 x batteries (plus 2 in drones), an ipad, an ipad mount and some extra pockets