Next, I began work on the body of the drone, which would primarily consist of a couple large 3D printed shells that would house all of the other components. I knew this would probably be the most complex step in the CAD, so I made sure to be incredibly meticulous and design in an organized and parametric manner.

I started by planning the general layout of the drone, before I got into any design. Based on designs online, I decided on the following:

• 2 thrusters towards the back of the drone allowing for forward and backward movement

• 3 thrusters placed in the front and back of the drone accounting for all degrees of freedom (2 in the front, 1 in the back)

• A camera module in the front of the drone (housed in another small acrylic tube)

• Just enough space inside of the drone for the tube and any other internal components

• A waterproof adapter at the very rear of the drone allowing for a tether to connect my computer with the drone

With all this and a general idea of the shape of the drone in mind, I created the body of the drone by sketching a bunch of profiles of the drone’s cross-section, then lofting.

I then proceeded to split the body of the drone into 3 separate parts, cut out holes for each of the 5 thrusters, then shell out the body to make it hollow.

I then added all the mounting elements for each of the motors, which at this point I had decided would be DYS X2812 900KV brushless motors. Furthermore, I also added notches for screws to allow the panels of the body to be secured together and supports to keep the large acrylic tube in place. 

And that’ll be all for the first part of the body CAD. While it does seem pretty simple the way I explained here, it did take a lot more time and work in reality. Even at this point, where the main thrusters, camera, camera mounts, ethernet connector, and other various details haven’t been implemented yet, the feature tree is already at least 100 lines long. I had to go through many iterations of the profiles to find the right drone shape, all while dealing with the dreaded loft tool; I went through a ton of issues with the shell tool not being able to handle the complex geometries created by the loft, eventually resolving it by splitting the body into multiple sections; and I also spent hours looking on amazon, drone shops, and other places on the internet for the perfect motors. Ultimately, though, I’ve learned a lot more about 3D print design and electronics as a result of the process, which has made it all worth it. Stay tuned for more progress on the thrusters, camera, and updates to the electronics.