In the Beginning…

This is the project that started it all, and the main reason I started these projects is that quadcopter frame designs are, for the most part, horribly inefficient. I can’t exactly say what the goal should be when it comes to quadcopter frame design, so I decided to start experimenting. One aspect was obvious to me from the beginning: flat motor arms defy absolutely all engineering reason.

This is the first design that clicked in my head in late 2015. It was created using parts from 2 Diatone Blade 250 kits (fiberglass). Due to the oncoming winter, not much progress was made other than trying out different arms and building methods. The main concepts here were:

1. Angled arms to reduce air resistance (arms are no longer perpendicular to the thrust)
2. Angled motors (helps to improve upon concept 1)
3. Wedge shaped body to reduce air resistance at high pitch angles

The frame didn’t last long since I was already making improvements on the design and building the next iteration. However, I did get a chance to fly it a few times.