Can I use 3D printed for making drones?

[mariah1902]

Hi! my name is Mariah and I am new over here. This is my very first post in this forum. Let me introduce myself first. I live in Bangladesh and I am studying computer science and engineering for 3 years now. Being an engineering student I have to come up with very clean ideas and also efficient ideas that will be nicer than other projects as this is very competitive. My project for now is to make a drone which will actually fly for half an hour non stop and also will be capable of flying with a camera on its top. The big thing about this project is that no drones can fly for half an hour non stop and if I can make it I have chance of winning the contest. So my idea of making the drone is to choose a material that is so light weighted and also strong. I at first choose aluminium for that but even aluminium is heavy as when I put the battery and the camera it does not hold up so long. Then I came to here about 3D printers which actually makes solid objects and are very light as I heard. I never saw one before with my own eyes and that is why I searched down this forum for some help. To be honest I am very close making this thing but I just need the right material for this, If I choose metal for the structure it can never fly for half an hour. I even used a very tiny camera so that it does nit wight too much. Therefore I choose plastic and it has to be strong. I do not own a factory and that is why I cannot shape a plastic to my desired shape. I know some good hard plastic but I cannot just shape them with my hands. So I now have interest in 3D printers by which I can make any shape I want at home. So those of you who really used on 3D printer can you please tell me how strong is the plastic used in it?. Will it be able to hold one battery and a camera?. where can I buy one of these 3D printers?. If they are strong enough them I am really interested in buying one for myself as I build lots of stuffs and it can help me in various ways. One time I took participation in a RC car race competition and I lose for a heavy material used for my RC car. I would never let that happen. I would never let wight win anymore. If 3D printing machine makes 3D objects with plastics then I can easily make shape of the parts that I used for my car. Now that the car race is gone this time I wont let this happen with my drone. Please if someone knows about 3D printers ket me know as soon as possible. Should I buy it?, will it help me ?. Please let me know.

[TomSands]

I think that you can make parts for a drone with a 3d printer, I am not sure about making it whole.

[lysagrey]

think you can do the whole thing and just install the motor later but I am not sure it will fly very well, I am not sure that you should actually try to do it yourself. I know that a lot of people are doing it but I prefer to do just buy things like that. I recently actually have been on the market for a drone as a gift to my nephew. He has been nagging his parent for a drone for a while now an I decided to give it to hm. Since most stores were closed I had to look for online options. I had very little idea as to what kind of drone to buy for him so I started by doing some research. I was surfing the great wide web when I came across this really cool blog that had a whole post abut drones. (You guys can check it here: https://buyersimpact.co.uk/ I have been using it for as reference ever since). I managed to find a model that would appeal to a 14-year old as well as not turn me bankrupt in the process. He is very happy with the gift and I am a cool aunt haha

[curious aardvark]

drones are an item that is frequently made with 3d printers.

For material I'd go with pet-g, it's lighter than abs or pla and very tough - so crashes 'well'.

You can certainly make a much lighter shell and body for the drone with 3d printing.

So yeah - go for it.

As far as where to buy a 3d printer - these days , almost anywhere from amazon to some local electronics stores.

Plenty 3d printed drone designs and parts on thingiverse.com: https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q...&sort=relevant

Sounds like a great project !