Background
This project is inspired by the Micro Long Range project, by First Person View (FPV) pilot Dave_C. His open source project which my build is based on can be found here. With Dave's work as a starting point, I sought to improve his design for my personal use. Starting with his files for a carbon fiber frame, I manipulated them to better suit my particular needs, and then committed a CNC cut from a commercial manufacturer. I then designed and 3D printed custom flexible mounting solutions for various components. One interesting 3D print was a custom housing for a GoPro that I disassembled. Taking apart GoPros is useful for these projects as it removes a significant amount of weight (no battery, no housing) while maintaining very high quality video. Overall, this build allows for 4k video from a drone that can fly for long distances in a wide range of environments thanks to its low weight.
Execution
To start this project, I needed to manipulate the original open source files. I designed the frame around the dimensions of particular electronics components I planned to use. There were also electronics I was excluding from the build, so I reduced the length of the fuselage to compensate. I decided to keep the overall geometry of the frame consistent with the original to avoid performance issues. Dave put many hours into testing and refining his frame, and I didn't want to change the flight characteristics or durability. Other small adjustments were made to better suit my needs, and after four iterations it was sent to a CNC facility to be cut
For the GoPro, I started by taking orthographic pictures of the torn down camera with a caliper calibrated to 10mm for scale. I cleaned up the images, and imported them into Fusion 360 where I used the image of the calipers to bring the images to scale.
From there I traced over the screw holes and outline in a sketch, and built the model off of that. After three prototypes, the result was a near seamless extension of the GoPro, serving to protect the exposed electronics and provide for simpler mounting.
With a custom battery solution and fine tuned video downlink, this drone can fly for nearly 30 minutes while shooting 4K video, with a maximum range of over 1.5 miles.
