This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Project #1: MakerBeam Airframe
For my quadcopter, I decided to make my own airframe, using some cool aluminum beams I had lying around. The beams, shown in Figure 4.6, bolt together very securely and connect to multiple angle plates so that the thing won’t fly apart in midair.
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FIGURE 4.6 The MakerBeam chassis serves as a light and flexible platform upon which to build your quadcopter.
MakerBeam
Called MakerBeam (www.makerbeam.eu), the beams are pretty cool, bolting together with M2.5 screws, which employ an unusual connection method—the heads of the screws are square, and they slide into grooves cut into the aluminum beams. Connector plates are added to the screws; then a hex wrench is used to tighten the nuts (see Figure 4.7).
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FIGURE 4.7 MakerBeam’s threaded end-hole and clever grooves make it useful for making a quadcopter chassis.
The product has a cool idea behind it. In 2012, a crowd-funding campaign launched OpenBeam with $100,000 in development money. The idea was to create an aluminum building set that was open source, so anyone could create their accessories or expansions on the base design.
MakerBeam is an offshoot of that original project, with different connectors and slightly modified beams, but still retaining the spirit of the original. In the U.S., you can buy MakerBeam on Amazon.com (search for the ASIN of B00G3J6GDM).
You can also buy the original OpenBeam (www.openbeamusa.com) from Adafruit. It works much the same way, but uses nuts trapped in the grooves, rather than the heads of screws. It also offers downloadable designs so you can output your own 3D-printable connector parts.
Parts
You’ll need the following parts to build your airframe (shown in Figure 4.8). Note that all MakerBeam parts are found in the MakerBeam Starter Kit (P/N 01MBTBKITREG):
- Four 150mm beams (P/N 100089).
- Four 100mm beams (P/N 100078).
- Four 60mm beams (P/N 100067).
- Eight corner brackets (P/N 100315).
- Four right-angle brackets (P/N 100326).
- Four L-brackets (P/N 100304).
- M3 x 6mm screws (P/N 100359), though they offer longer screws not found in the Starter Kit.
- M3 nuts (P/N 100416). They also offer self-locking nuts (P/N 100405).
- A piece of wood. I used a 13×13cm square of 3mm-thick (1/8th-inch-thick) Baltic Birch for the platform, with screw holes 11cm apart.
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FIGURE 4.8 You’ll need these parts to build your MakerBeam airframe.
Steps
Once you have gathered all your parts together, follow along with these steps to build your airframe:
Make four identical assemblies, each consisting of a motor strut with a section of the central square. These sub-steps show how to make each one:
Slide two screws into the groove of a 150mm beam. Secure a right-angle bracket to those two screws using the supplied nuts and hex driver, as shown in Figure 4.9. (Note that I only tightened every other screw, so I could make adjustments more quickly. I’ll go through later on and finish adding nuts once the design is the way I like.)
FIGURE 4.9 Slide the heads of two M3 screws into the grooves of a 150mm beam.
Slide two screws into the groove of a 10cm beam. Connect it to the 15cm beam and bracket you already prepared, as shown in Figure 4.10. Secure it with two nuts.
FIGURE 4.10 Make a “T” with the two beams and secure with a bracket.
Add a corner-bracket to help secure the beams, as shown in Figure 4.11. Secure the bracket the normal way.
FIGURE 4.11 Reinforce the “T” with another bracket.
Attach an L-bracket to the top of the 10cm beam, positioning it like you see in Figure 4.12.
FIGURE 4.12 Add another bracket.
Once you have all four built, connect them together using the usual hardware. It should look just like Figure 4.13.
FIGURE 4.13 Add the four segments together, and you start seeing your airframe take shape.
Flip over the airframe so the flat L-brackets are on the underneath. Add four 6mm beams and secure them with L-brackets. Figure 4.14 shows how it should look.
FIGURE 4.14 Add legs!
Now you’re ready to add the wooden platform, shown in Figure 4.15. I laser-cut the precise shape I needed, but you can use any old (thin) piece of wood and hand-drill the holes. Don’t make it too thick! Baltic Birch no thicker than 1/8” (3mm) does the trick. Screw the platform into the threaded holes in the tops of the four legs using M3 bolts, secured with a hex wrench.
FIGURE 4.15 Attach the wooden platform to the tops of the legs.
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Does your quadcopter seem incomplete? It should, considering that there are no motors, props, or electronics. Be patient! In future chapters, you’ll have an opportunity to complete the build.