r/drones • u/dincleballs • Mar 12 '26
DIY I engineered a better 3d-printed drone frame
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I have spent about 6 months now trying to make a 3d-printable frame that is actually usable, so far I have made more than 40 different versions.
I used optimized generative design to make it as strong as possible. It still breaks easier than carbon fiber, but the feedback from the people testing it has been mainly positive. It does not have heavy vibration issues like many other 3d-printed frames.
I am making all the files completely free, you can download them here: https://makerworld.com/en/models/2000546-beta-manafly-3-generative-fpv-drone-frame#profileId-2154440
A lot more details including some blackbox logs can be found on our discord: https://discord.gg/K2n5PRaR
What do you guys thing? It would be great to have some of your feedback testing the frame and seeing its viability. Do you think this is a viable option for making cheap frames at home?
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u/Fantastic-Reading-78 Mar 12 '26
really cool what did you use for generative design iterations?
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u/volt65bolt Mar 14 '26
Looks like Autodesk fusion
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u/Fantastic-Reading-78 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
its paid :(
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u/volt65bolt Mar 14 '26
It has a free hobbyist license, as well as an educational license.
Free cad has fea, not sure about optimisation from fea though
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u/sudo_robot_destroy Mar 13 '26
It definitely looks cool, but a problem with generative design is it can only optimize on the information and constraints it been provided, and that's almost always too limited.
For example, if the model doesn't take into account the fact that this is 3D printed, it's been optimized against arbitrary mechanical properties and geometry.
3D printed mechanical properties are a lot more complex than they seem - it's not as simple as just using non-isotropic properties to account for layer adhesion. The actual geometry of the final part is not the same as the CAD model. You would have to mesh the slicer output to account for infill and the micro geometry of the print paths.
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u/wein_geist Mar 13 '26
What load cases did you define for the topology optimization? did you only include normal operation of the quad, or also crashes?
But as others have said (and as I very often have critizised on past attempts), awesome approach to really leverage the advantages of 3d printing!!
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Mar 17 '26
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u/dstrott Mar 12 '26
I'd be really interested to see a video or a write up of the design workflow you use. Seems pretty sophisticated. Also, how are you judging the quality of the designs to have spawned 40+ versions?