A fully 3D printable and modular 5 inch quad that's quite good at everything, but most notably s e x i n e s s.
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updated October 7, 2024

Description

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This. This right here is my magnum opus. My masterpiece. My brainchild. This mechanical phenomenon has been months in the works. And now, with pride in my heart and tears of beauty in my eyes, I release it, my gift to this world, the ferocious Phoenix Drone.

Ah, would you look at that, the obligatory theatrics are behind us already. I suppose you'll be wanting to know a bit more than just the gargantuan size of my ego. Well, here you are then. This is a fully 3D printable (no supports needed), fully modular 250 mm drone frame. Each arm, as well as the top and bottom plates, camera guards, and rear cover, are their own separate piece, meaning that if you break something repairs are an breeze. Below, I will cover everything you will need to build this drone, as well as provide instruction on how to assemble it. 

Electronics:

 

Mechanical Parts:

  • 16x  -   M3x3 insert nuts (4 per arm)
  • 6x    -  M2x4 insert nuts   (or M2x3, it doesn't really matter)
  • 32x  -  M3x8 10.9 steel screws (4 per arm, 4 per motor)
  • 2x    -   M2x25 screw (for attaching camera guards)
  • 2x   -   M2x12 screw (for attaching camera)
  • 4x   -    M2x20 screw (for attaching FC ESC stack. You may need M2x22 screws if you                  stack is particularly tall but I got away with just 20)
  • 4x   -    M2x8 screw (for attaching rear cover)
  • 2x   -    M2x5 screw (for attaching VTX adapter)
  • 12x   -   2mm male bullet connector (3 per motor)
  • 12x   -   2mm female bullet connector (3 for each motor output on the ESC)
  • 24x   -  pieces of 20mm length, 3-4mm diameter heat shrink (for insulating bullet                             connectors)
  • 4x   -     5 inch propeller (5 inch props come in different pitches, a higher pitch means more power and more energy consumed, and vice versa)
  • 1x   -      20mm x 250mm velcro strap. I am using these: https://www.getfpv.com/lumenier-indestructible-kevlar-lipo-strap-20x250mm-3pcs.html 

Note: All screws were sourced from Aliexpress. 

 

Total Cost Estimate: 

  • Drone: ~ $230
  • Transmitter: $90+ 

Note: The cost of the drone can vary wildly depending on what components you use, the cheap or expensive end

 

Assembly Guide:

(please have some prior drone experience, that said I'll be happy to help just leave a comment or something if you've got a question)

 

  1. Welp, here goes. First things first, you're gonna wanna print off all of the pieces. I suppose now's the time for you decide what colors you want and everything. Don't worry, take your time, use the good settings, I'll still be here when you come back. Note: The camera guards must be printed in TPU, and so should the rear cover. If you have large camera, like the Foxeer Razer, print the large camera guards, and if you have a small camera, like the RunCam Phoenix, print the small ones. Also, you need to print 2 copies of arm A and 2 copies of arm B.
  2. Start by preparing the motors. You'll need to solder a male bullet connector to each lead. Take, one motor and one arm, and snake its wires down the length of the arm until they come out the other side, letting the motor sit in the motor cup, then straighten those wires by pulling lightly, and cut them down so that there is about 15mm or so of slack coming out of the arm. Don't throw out those bits you snipped though. Do this for the remaining motors.
  3. Strip back about 3mm of wire for each motor, and solder one male bullet connector to each of the motor leads, then carefully apply heat shrink so that only the actual “connector” part of the connector is exposed, not the housing. 
  4. Repeat step 3 but this using the female connectors with the bits of wire that you snipped earlier. They should each be about 20-25mm long, so you can cut them to length if you must. Don't forget the heat shrink (Though for the female connectors, you need to insulate the whole thing)
  5. Solder one of these wire wire bits to each of the 12 motor output pads on the ESC board of your stack. To make it easier, you should temporarily disconnect the flight controller board. These steps are important because connecting the motors via bullet connectors instead of directly soldering them allows you quickly replace broken arms by simply unscrewing the motor and broken arm, unplugging the motor, after which installing a fresh arm is a breeze. 
  6. Using a soldering iron, melt the M2x4 insert nuts into their spots on the top and bottom plates. For the top plate, there are only two in the back, but the bottom plate has two in the back and two in the very front as well. 
  7. We will now prepare the arms. Using a soldering iron on low heat, melt the M3 insert nuts into their spots on the arms. 4 per arm, two on top, and two on bottom. You can use a box cutter to remove any plastic that wells up, but do be careful. 
  8. Using 16x M3x8 screws, attach one motor to each arm. 
  9. Thread the 4x M2x20 screws through their holes on the bottom plate, then slide on the ESC board. 
  10. Solder your connector of choice to the ESC. This part is up to you, but I am using ~85mm of 14 AWG wire to attach a XT60-M connector. Now is also a good time to solder on the capacitor that came included with your FC ESC stack. Make sure the for both the connector wires and capacitor the polarity is correct.
  11. In this step, you will attach the 4 arms to only the bottom plate. Starting from the front left arm, and working clockwise, first connect the 3 bullet connectors between the motor and its ESC pads, then use 2x M3x8 screws to attach the arm to the bottom plate. As you do, use a pair of tweezers to stuff the extra wire down into the drone arm. Admittedly not the most elegant solution, but hey, it works. (Note: There are two different types of drone arm, they are mirrors of each other, make sure you install them so that edge from which the wires come out are parallel with the edge of the bottom plate)
  12. Congratulations my friend, the hard part is done. Smooth sailing from here on. 
  13. Connect or solder wires to your VTX, then use the spacers to attach your VTX. That way it gets better airflow and you can snake both the RX antenna and Battery wires under it.
  14. Connect the FC part of the stack to the ESC part, and slide it onto the screws. You can tighten the whole stack down now with the nylon nuts it should have come with. 
  15. Following the connection guide (omg please make sure there is a connection guide before buying a stack), solder the VTX wires to the FC. 
  16. Solder wires to your RX if it arrived unsoldered, then solder the connections to the FC. Make sure there is enough slack for the RX to rest either well in front of or behind the stack. The idea here is to snake the RX antenna either under the stack, VTX, and out the back if you place the RX in the front, or just right out the back if you place it in the rear but you may find it to be a bit of tight fit if you mount it in the back.
  17. Thread either ends of your T-antenna through the antenna holes of the rear plate, then send the receiver end of the antenna through either one of the hexagonal holes on the rear plate or the main opening. Then, use 2x M2x5 screws to connect the VTX adapter to the rear plate.
  18. Using only the lower two mounting points, attach the rear plate to the bottom plate using 2x M2x8 screws. Important: If you want to fly with a bottom mounted battery, you must first make sure that the battery wires are in the appropriate slot of the bottom plate. 
  19. Now we will combine the camera and camera guards. Plug the camera wires into your camera and solder them to the FC. Use 2x M2x12 screws to secure the camera between the camera guards. 
  20. Almost done! It's time for the top plate. Slide the top plate into position, and secure it using the remaining 8x M3x8 screws, tightening in a crisscross pattern. Lastly, drive 2x M2x8 screws through the remaining 2 upper holes of the rear plate. 
  21. Slide the camera guards and camera assembly into position, and tighten it with the 2x M2x25 screws.
  22. Last but not least, screw on the VTX antenna.
  23. Oh what, did you want more steps? That's it bro, you're done. 

 

Ok ok ok. I know. There's still a lot of configuration to do. That's why I never told you to mount the props, because you shouldn't until you've configured everything. I'm, not gonna go into detail about that here, but If you are new to this check out Joshua Bardwell on YT. As far as drones go, the guy's my lord and savior. He will teach you everything you need to know. I will say, if you find that your motors are spinning in the wrong direction, you can change that configuration. And with that I'll say, good luck, my fellow air faring comrades. 

That said, If you have any question, please leave a comment and I'll help you out. 

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