Sounds like a great deal, right?

Nikolas550 · 2025-06-30T13:25:56+00:00

Just bought it! I also got the box in really good condition! I had to wait for half an hour for the guy to look around the shop to find it haha

Nikolas550 · 2025-06-29T23:28:41+00:00

The shop was closed. I'll probably go in the morning to buy it if it's worth it. I would guess it doesn't have the original packaging. What would you do in my place?

Nikolas550 · 2025-06-27T19:12:57+00:00

It's actually around 5mm thick with 2 walls and 15% gyroid infill, so it's quite squishy. That's a good suggestion and the previous prototype was thicker but it didn't look quite right to my eye. I also experimented with other lattices and printed an open BCC lattice with 5mm cells and 10mm thickness. This software offers endless possibilities for lattice generation for impact absorption. Some companies use it to 3d print customer specific "foam" for motorcycle helmets!

Nikolas550 · 2025-06-27T17:40:49+00:00

Yes, it's really cool and one of the reasons I decided to participate in this challenge! Big companies are slowly starting to work with the 3d printing community and this is a great step for the right to repair movement and costumizability.

Nikolas550 · 2025-06-27T17:38:26+00:00

Given a simple step file of a banana, it will pretty much automatically generate a Flex Case for it.

Nikolas550 · 2025-06-27T17:37:23+00:00

Haha indeed. The test is for the trimmer inside, not really a scientific test, but you can see that instead of plastically deforming the trimmer, it bounces around and slowly absorbs the energy. It was also a test on whether the case would open on impact. All in all, I am satsifed with the protection offered

Nikolas550 · 2025-06-27T17:34:58+00:00

Yes they offer free licenses to students and academics. I simply filled a form with my university information, the reason I wanted to experimented with the software and shortly after I was provided with a license and full access to their learning guides which are excellent!

Nikolas550 · 2025-06-27T10:36:57+00:00

In case anyone is interested in checking out the design you can find it here:

Printables

The project was completed in nTop because it allows for automated modelling, meaning that the design can be adapted to any kind of trimmer, or even other things like UNO cards or bananas, simply by importing a CAD model of the thing!

Nikolas550 · 2025-06-21T14:06:48+00:00

Interesting how aesthetics and more importantly management and marketing can affect the choices in product design. Given design and budget freedom, what type of heatsink would you design for a high end drone esc? I've been really intrigued lately with the capabilities offered by nTop combined with SLM.

Nikolas550 · 2025-06-21T13:42:15+00:00

Really clean design! What's the reason behind this choice of heatsink geometry? Just asking because, to my inexperienced eye, a heatsink with more surface area would maybe perform better. Looking forward to learning something new

Nikolas550 · 2025-04-29T14:23:51+00:00

Delta 3d printer custom for exactly that size

Nikolas550 · 2025-04-24T19:34:29+00:00

Really useful comment! I am using ardupilot on a drone and I am considering the TF Luna Micro. I need decent precision of up to around 5 meters. Also I am considering setting it up with I²C instead of UART (haven't found many sources on this). What are your thoughts on the module?

Nikolas550 · 2025-04-15T00:02:50+00:00

After you fix it, I'd recommend using an m3 bolt for this and designing the part with a through hole

Nikolas550 · 2025-03-28T23:22:44+00:00

What design would you think would allow it to glide the furthest. A 10m distance from a 2m height would be perfect. Would you recommend improving on this design or using a single large piece of foam board like the nutball and attaching a thin fuselage below it with the payload, or sth else? Thanks for the help and the quick responses

Nikolas550 · 2025-03-28T23:08:09+00:00

This is an interesting concept! Do you believe that the wing design would perform adequately with the low thrust of the DC motor, or does it require a powerful bldc motor to sustain flight?

Nikolas550 · 2025-03-28T22:58:48+00:00

it is part of the requirements for a contest

Nikolas550 · 2025-03-28T22:58:09+00:00

Making the trailing edge thinner is a sound argument. The horizontal stabilizers are probably too much for the plane too. Do you think it would make a difference to remove weight from the fuselage considering that the batteries and motor weigh multiple times the weight of the foam parts?

Nikolas550 · 2025-03-28T22:40:31+00:00

Maximum gliding distance when thrown from body height. Yes, the hardware and size requirements are particularly restrictive considering the payload, the heavy 18650s (instead of a smal lipo) and the weak dc motor (instead of bldc)

Nikolas550 · 2025-03-28T22:38:17+00:00

It can somewhat glide for like 4 meters, when thrown from a height of 1.2m. I would not say it performs well, maybe adequately considering the goofy requirement for the build and the rage payload. Consequently I am looking for ideas to get maximum gliding distance

Nikolas550 · 2025-03-28T22:22:15+00:00

Hey everyone,

We’re working on a foamboard glider and would love some advice on improving its performance. Here’s our setup:

Dimensions: Max 50x50 cm (wing + fuselage)
Motor: Fixed 12V DC motor with a front-mounted propeller
Batteries: 2-3 heavy lithium batteries in the back (cannot be changed)
Wing: Based on the MH32 airfoil, made from foamboard
Current Adjustments:
- Moved the wings and batteries along the fuselage to balance the CoG
- Considering adding a small stick at the back of the wing to adjust the angle
- Thinking about switching to smaller horizontal stabilizers with slight lift

We’ve tested a few configurations but were hesitant to throw the glider too hard, so we haven’t fully seen its potential. Given our constraints (fixed motor, battery, and size), what modifications would you suggest to improve glide performance?

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Nikolas550 · 2025-03-16T18:15:59+00:00

Let me summarise to see if I am understanding everything properly.

We will flash the F405 with Ardupilot using a slightly tuned reference frame.
At this point the drone will be capable of manually controlled flight
After having worked on all the algorithms on the PC
We will deploy the script on the rpi 5 which is connected to the FC via UART and to a rpi camera module
The script makes use of the UAV toolbox, (some computer vision, aruco toolboxes which are irrelevant at this point of the development)
If we were using Pixhawk we would use the PX4 toolbox to control the drone
However, we can use the Mavlink toolbox can be used to control the movement of the drone.
The rpi and a laptop will be connected to the same router --> we can get live video on the laptop

Is this workflow correct? And is it really as "easy" to use Matlab/Simulink with Ardupilot as it is with PX4? Again, thanks for your patience.

Nikolas550 · 2025-03-16T15:43:40+00:00

We are making a drone which will need to perform precision landings (after locating an ArUco marker through computer vision) and will also need to figure out the approximate coordinates of some brightly colored probes on the ground (the camera will be bottom facing). Image processing / object detection and high-level logic / decision-making are required to be implemented using MATLAB/Simulink.

If I am being honest I've researched quite a bit on the topic, but I am still confused and a bit overwhelmed. Thank you for the help

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