Solidoodle stock rods not useable with linear bearings (Page 3 of 3)

Any chance you can post the stl for the parts you did? I really like the idea of the better support for the x mount... 

Thanks!!!

Here are the left and right side carriage blocks I'm using. If you want to use the right side you'll need a 5mm shaft and bearings as it has been modified to use ball bearings and a steel shaft rather than the pulley spinning on a bolt. As I recall I used a cutdown mainshaft and bearings for an Align Trex 450 RC helicopter but any 5mm shaft and appropriate bearings will do. If you need the exact bearing dimensions I'll measure the spares I have or you can just measure the hole they go into after printing the block. All dimensions are metric, even though I live in the USA, I refuse to use the Imperial fractional inch measuring system unless absolutely necessary...

P.S. you might have to open the lower holes for the stepper with a 3mm drill after you print, I run everything through my copy of Netfabb to make sure slicer can parse it and for some reason the repair script keeps wanting to close those holes!

If I remember correctly I tried to keep the motor in pretty much the same place as the original replacements put it vertically, the main goal was mainly tighten up the bearing seats and make it as durable as possible, went through several iterations before I stopped at this one. Obviously based on Lawsy's original design which is very good, I just print way too much in a heated build chamber for them to stand up for an extended period to the abuse I put my SD3 through. Almost cut a set out of 6061 on the mill but decided to see if I could come up a set made of ABS that could handle the usage, so far the original set I printed of these two is still going strong after well over 100 hours of print time.

Making things like this is primarily what I use mine for...

Same here...  I've been looking into getting into uavs/copters and your pics are making me drool a bit

Not quite a tricopter, it's actually what's known as a Y6 hex. Tri's only have 3 motors and the rear most is on a servo controlled pivot that provides the yaw function. The Y6 like most normal quad or hex derives its yaw from changing motor speeds. In this case the top motors spin counterclockwise and the bottom all spin clockwise, by changing the speeds of the clockwise vs counterclockwise the torque reaction causes the frame to rotate around the center point. Two reasons most people use the Y setup vs. the more traditonal motors all in the same plane, one the widely spread arms in the front don't come into view if you're using the craft for aerial photography/video, and second because there are two motors on each arm it can usually survive the loss of a motor in flight without instantly crashing, a big consideration if you're carry a camera.

I do a lot of what's called FPV or First Person View flight. The little camera on the front of the orange quad is connected to a low power transmitter that sends the video signal down to a receiver on the ground and from there to a set of video goggles that the pilot wears. Basically the view I get while flying is exactly what that little camera is seeing, just as though I'm sitting there on the frame!

The Y6 is entirely my own design, I did all the layout, CAD work, printing and building mainly as a prototype for a client that wanted to proof of concept an industrial design of their own. I liked the way it flew so much I decided to build one for myself

None of my craft use Heli style gyros, all of them have dedicated multirotor flight controller systems and just about all of them also have onboard GPS for holding position in the air as well as return to home function if it loses the radio signal. Anyone that thinks tweaking firmware on a 3D printer controller can be daunting probably shouldn't start playing around with opensource flight controllers...

Hard to say what the full flight time will eventually be on the Y6, I've only had it flying for a couple weeks and the batteries don't last nearly as long in the freezing cold as they do in warmer weather. I can squeak out 10 minutes as it sits, flying in 30 degree F ambient temps. Temps 40 to 50 degrees warmer should yeild an increase of 2 or 3 minutes, possibly more. Yes that is a DJI Naza on the Y6 and also on the little orange one, I have many, many more of all types/brands and capability though only maybe half of them currently mounted on a frame.

You don't ever want to come to my house then, here in the man cave I have something like 15 or 16 multirotor aircraft of all sizes and shapes from little indoor fliers to rather large 6 motor carbon fiber framed craft that can carry a decent sized camera, used mostly for aerial video recording and occasionally still photography.

I see you're in MA, if Mansfield is within reasonable driving distance you're welcome to stop by the club flying field some weekend to check out some of my aircraft as long as you promise not to get any drool on them

I may take you up on that, I'm up in Tyngsboro but not too far away from Mansfield at all...  I promise not to drool too much on them.

I think this is the latest version, I've tweaked it couple times since V1...

I added the tension arm too although any of the existing ones will work, including the original clear one that comes with the SD

You're welcome!

One other thing you may want to do is download a beefier fan shroud for the E3D, I printed this one and found it to be a lot sturdier than what comes with the kit... http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:146012

I made the dimensions of the lower extruder fit the beefier shroud so you may find the stock one rattles around a bit as its not as tight a fit.