{"id":6875,"date":"2021-07-29T09:30:47","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T09:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getfpv.com\/learn\/?p=6875"},"modified":"2021-07-29T09:31:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T09:31:40","slug":"manufacturing-your-first-fpv-drone-frame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getfpv.com\/learn\/fpv-essentials\/manufacturing-your-first-fpv-drone-frame\/","title":{"rendered":"Manufacturing Your First FPV Drone Frame"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Congratulations! You’ve worked out your first design and you’re ready to get it manufactured. Maybe you\u2019ve followed our design tutorial<\/a>, a youtube guide, or just felt your way through it. Whatever it is, congratulations on making a design, and working through the process of getting it cut. Here are some tips, links, and general knowledge to speed you along on your journey to holding your design IRL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was submitted through the GetFPV Community Program<\/a> by Kai Lin. You can follow Kai on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclaimer: This article was written solely by a member of the FPV Community. Views and advice in this article are that of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of GetFPV.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Preparing Your Designs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Cabron<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

3D model to 2D drawing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Depending on what software you use, the method for taking a 2D drawing from your 3D model might be different. However, in the end, the file that you need to end up with is a .DXF file. Many modeling softwares have guides for how to get a 2D .dxf from your 3D model, so be sure to check the guides and tutorials. Here, I will show you how to get a .dxf file from your 3D design in Autodesk\u2019s Fusion360. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this demonstration, we will be using an arm and export it into a .dxf, the preferable format for CNC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting a clean sketch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first thing to do is to make a new, clean sketch of the part. Using the project<\/strong> tool under the create toolbar, project the surface of your part, turning off the Projection Link<\/strong> checkbox if it’s on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fusion360<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When the part is hidden, your sketch should look like this\u2014 blue lines with an inner profile to the arm. The next thing we need to do is make sure the angle is correct. For multipart frames with independent arms, all parts should be at a 90\u00b0 angle, as seen above. For unibody frames, the best orientation is aligning the arms at a 90\u00b0 angle, or as close as that can be for a stretched or compressed X frame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last part of this sketch is making sure the points and lines are fixed. This way we can make sure that our design is protected from accidental editing. Go to constraints<\/strong> and choose fix\/unfix<\/strong>, the function with the lock icon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fusion360<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Drag a selection window, covering all points and lines of your sketch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fusion360<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once you have done this, all the points and lines should be green, like this. Make sure that there are no additional lines or accidental points in the sketch, and you are good to go! Finish the sketch, and rename it for easy access later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exporting the sketch as a DXF<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Fusion360<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Right click your sketch under the browser<\/strong> tab, and go down to Save As DXF. <\/strong>It’s that easy! Now, different places have different naming conventions. I find that the best universal naming scheme is \u201c(part name)_(thickness)_(special instructions if any).\u201d In our case, that would be \u201carm_4mm.\u201d If we were to chamfer this arm, it would be named \u201carm_4mm_w\/CH.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations! You now have a part ready for cutting. It is recommended to upload your file into a viewer or reupload it into your design program so that you can make sure all lines and points are present in the design, and also that there are no accidental or random lines. https:\/\/beta.sharecad.org\/<\/a> is a good resource for checking this. Great job! You are now ready to get your design cut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mechanical Limitations and Design Requirements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Minimum radius<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"CNC<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cnc routers (the machines used to cut) use circular end mills of varied diameter (shown above). Because of this, all inside radii (fillets, rounds, slots, and holes) must be \u00bd the diameter of the bit used. Inside corners and curves cannot be straight, sharp angles like as seen in the picture below. However, outside curves can be sharp. A design with an inner angle of 90 d would result in an actual part like the image below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n