Frames Of Drone:-
The frame is the main body of the drone, like bones which give structure to our body the frame also provides that function in the drone. Due to its rigid and perfect structure, the attached hardware can perform its task perfectly and produce enough thrust to lift the whole system. “Remember the drone is nothing without its frame”.
Materials used to build a frame:
The frame of drones must be made up of a material which can easily absorb all the shocks and prevent the whole system from getting damaged during accidents, at the same time the frame must also be lightly weighted so that it must not add extra weight to the whole system. The drone frames
are always made strong so that they can perform excellently in rugged and harsh conditions.
List of materials which are used to design a good frame for a Rotor Drone:
1. Wood
2. Foam
3. Plastic
4. Aluminum
5. G10
6. Carbon Fiber
1. Wood:-
The wood is a great option and will greatly reduce build time and additional parts required. Wood is fairly rigid and has been a proven material over time and time again. Though the aesthetics may suffer, replacing a broken arm after a crash is relatively easy and very cheap. Painting the arm helps hide the fact that it’s wood, but it adds extra weight to the frame. Ensure to use wood which is straight( no twisting or no wrapping) because if we use a twisted frame then the aerodynamics will suffer a lot and we will not get an optimum flight.
2. Foam:-
Foam is rarely used as a sole material for the frame because it lacks the rigidity which is required for holding all drone parts together, therefore generally the foams are used as the shock absorbers integrated within the frame, these foam paddings play a vital role in preventing the damage may
occur to delicate parts such as flight controllers while a crash.
3. Plastic:-
This type of material is widely used as the frame because of its availability in the market Its cheap price overall decreases the cost of the system during the build of the copter. Plastic is easily available but there are a few major drawbacks. The plastic frame is easily bendable therefore during crashes the arms brake and thus the replacement increases the overall cost, not only this, the plastic materials cannot withstand the vibrations generated by the motors thus the flight greatly impacts and there are more chances of getting the flight controller damaged due to instability.
4. Aluminum:-
Aluminium can also be used in making the frames of drone because it provides very high flexibility to the system and at the same time it is not easy to break the frame. Aluminium frames can easily absorb the vibrations generated by the motors. But there is one downside ie. It is a very heavy material as compared to all of the materials therefore the payload increases and thus the flight time decreases. Aluminium frames are generally used for very rough and tuff conditions and are rarely available in the market and are only developed on special demands.
5. G10:-
G10 is a variation of fiberglass and it is less expensive than both aluminium as well as carbon fiber it provides similar tensile strength and flexibility to both of these materials. It is a better option than plastic, wood and aluminium because it is very lightweight. Hence we can easily lift the payloads on the g10 frame body.
6. Carbon Fiber:-
The carbon fiber material is still at the number 1 position because of its lightweight and high strength. The process to manufacture carbon fiber is still quite manual, meaning normally only straightforward shapes such as flat sheets and tubes are mass-produced, while more complex 3d shapes are normally very difficult to design. Carbon fiber impedes RF (radio frequency) signals, so be sure to take this into
consideration when mounting electronics especially antennas.
