DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Lightweight carbon fibre frame?

scro

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2019
Messages
1,741
Reactions
1,607
Location
UK
Has anyone explored the idea of taking the hardware from a mini and building it in to a lightweight carbon fibre frame? Would it be very easy to make a frame that's lighter than the stock mini? I know the stock shell is pretty light, but if you dispense with the folding arms and go for rigid ones there's surely a good few grams to be saved there? I guess the ultimate goal here would be to make the mini a little bit more nimble and boost the flight time a bit, but primarily just have some fun making a frankenmini?
 
  • Like
Reactions: lanceriley
I haven't explored it, but I have thought about it. I have built a drone from scratch and am building my second drone now. I use carbon fiber frames for my builds.

I'm not sure how much weight you will save. My current frame is a Xilo Phreakstyle Slam with 5" arms. The weight for this frame with frame hardware is 121 grams, but it is a very strong frame.

Here is a frame with room to work in that is on ly 45 grams. It is a very good and strong frame: Armattan Gecko 4" Frame

You can look for 4" toothpick or race frame designs that are much lighter, but also smaller so arranging the electronics can be a challenge. But then again, where is the fun if it's too easy ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: igor011080 and scro
Yes, it can be done. Did it many years ago with an early Phantom's parts. Used a Tarot frame. Here's a few pictures of the build.
 

Attachments

  • 129386764_899457897523828_6935381098326763478_n.jpg
    129386764_899457897523828_6935381098326763478_n.jpg
    319.5 KB · Views: 113
  • 129814855_204365817848441_5147583056665627542_n.jpg
    129814855_204365817848441_5147583056665627542_n.jpg
    244.1 KB · Views: 111
  • 130541911_742571099801910_4714675457418046533_n.jpg
    130541911_742571099801910_4714675457418046533_n.jpg
    148.9 KB · Views: 110
  • Like
Reactions: Mrprop365 and scro
Yes, it can be done. Did it many years ago with an early Phantom's parts. Used a Tarot frame. Here's a few pictures of the build.
Very cool!
 
I've got this idea bouncing around in my head of rebuilding the MM components into a lightweight frame. I kind of like the H-frame design of the Inspire, but wonder if it could be scaled down (without the raise-lower mechanism) to be as light, or lighter than the stock MM frame.
 
Would carbon fiber end up being heavier than the plastic used? Would be at least stronger for sure), and also curious about if it would hold heat in or not.
CF has a higher strength to weight than just plastic so it should be possible to make it lighter. The difficulty comes with making something structurally simple but lighter. The MM shell is quite complex, with paper thin sections of plastic reinforced with ribs inside. DJI put a fair bit of effort in to removing as much plastic as possible without losing too much strength. The key areas of weight optimisation I can see are in the arms and hinges. The arm profiles are C shaped which is poor in torsion. Round tube is far superior. Also the hinges take up a significant portion of the weight budget, so making fixed arms could remove a chunk of weight.

As for heat retention, I'd imagine a CF frame to be much more open than the stock shell so heat would not be trapped inside. Good for warm climates, bad for cold climates.
 
  • Like
Reactions: soah
I have been thinking about making some carbon fiber and or Kevlar parts in a made to order type of way for whatever someone needs or wants I just tryin to find out if there’s be a demand for it that would potentially grow into somethin worth while Im experienced in aerospace composite lay up and tooling and fabrication that requires maintaining .000”s tolerances
 
  • Like
Reactions: lanceriley
I have been thinking about making some carbon fiber and or Kevlar parts in a made to order type of way for whatever someone needs or wants I just tryin to find out if there’s be a demand for it that would potentially grow into somethin worth while Im experienced in aerospace composite lay up and tooling and fabrication that requires maintaining .000”s tolerances
very interested with this... goal is to make the mini3 pro lighter... while using the larger capacity battery...
maybe advantage is very minor.. but everything helps right? more fly time too?
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,584
Messages
1,554,091
Members
159,585
Latest member
maniac2000