450 The old dog has new tricks My Trex 450 out of my 3D printer

[toranarod]

As I said in the new members introduction I was just learning to fly a Helicopter after 35 years in RC in fixed wing. I have seen lots of heli guys over the years.
For some strange reason I get the bug now. go figure?
I was always told you need lots of part and spare helicopters to lean to fly. I guess they where of a time before The PC and flight simulators when I got advise like that.

But they where right I have smashed up a few 450 Trex choppers getting a handle on flying one of theses rotary wing machines.

So I could have a good supply of choppers I printed them on my 3D printer and just purchased parts on eBay since the quality of the parts did not mater as I was crashing them faster than the parts could fail. I got a record time. I could construct a new Trex 450 from parts a raw materials in 4 hours back in the sky
same day while the weather was good.



This is now evolving into other things. I have some nice cosmetic changes to the helicopter I will post.

 

[EyeStation]

Impressive work there!

 

[trainrider06]

Whew weee, you could spot those for a mile those skids look really stable too!

 

[murankar]

Man those are some colorful clones. Cool trick with the FPV gear on the frame. I guess you fly naked with the fpv gear?

 

[Lee]

Very cool.
Is there any issue with strength?
The 3D printed parts I have looked at seem very brittle.

 

[toranarod]

Very cool.
Is there any issue with strength?
The 3D printed parts I have looked at seem very brittle.

This is a good question and something I am still testing and working on. The materials are industrial grade ABS plastic. The entire process is up to me, I designee and modified all the structure in the Auto Cad before it goes to the printer. I work on a trade off between weight and structural integrity.
The walls of the frame are 3 mm thick and have a 1 mm honey come octagonal internal structure. that makes it around 80% hollow. I have tried many variation on theses figures. Even completely solid.

In flight testing I have tried to break the helicopter with all kinds off violent manoeuvres.
All so I have crashed the chopper but not intentionally. The frame is like the rest of the chopper sometimes it survives unharmed and sometimes not. so far I have found the over construction to be very much up to the job of being a good material for RC helicopter construction.
The trade off is versatility and functionally. I can mix and match parts form any helicopter parts on the market put servos where ever I like any size servo and rotor head. change balance to suit the battery s, I am working on a Trex exoskeleton of the blue thunder chopper.

 

[Lee]

Very cool.
I saw on the Tested youtube channel, a 3D printer that introduces a carbon filament to the mix.
Seems to be a huge difference in strength and stiffness. The carbon can be placed in between any layers you like.

 

[Admiral]

I had thought of a 3D printer for small accessory parts but never the whole frame, Excellent job.

 

[Lmhawk01]

The 3d printing is so awesome , are you going to sell the camara pod on eBay


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[toranarod]

If you want a camera pod i can print you one. to small to worry about cost, free to a good home to other helicopter enthusiast . Just pay postage.

- - - Updated - - -

Here is my latest modifications to my Trex. This is a complete photo of parts in the helicopter pictured behind .Note the tail boom surround .
this looks cool on the chopper also hold the servo and protects the boom form bending in small crashes. the boom is only 16 % solid so its weight is not an issue.

 

[amastron]

Looks cool, never even thought you could do this in a printer. Mine only does paper so that's out. Is there any reason you haven't done the blades in the printer?

 

[mattbeau]

This is really cool. Have you had any problems with vibration. Is it suitable for flybarless?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[toranarod]

This is really cool. Have you had any problems with vibration. Is it suitable for flybarless?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes I did at first in FBL. With 3D printing it was possible to fix problems like that. No more vibration.

 

[mattbeau]

Very cool. So when are you going to sell the kits? I have a 450 looking for a project


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk