Another week or two has passed, and I have been mostly working on one major project. I decided to bring forward the cargo carrying project because I can recycle some hardware from a previous project and, thanks to your donations I was able to buy another 10 sheets of laser ply. This time around, I could buy a slightly thinner laser specific plywood (2.5mm), so I can save a little weight over the original 3mm thickness.
The cargo drone is aimed at short trips from one position to another, carrying an underslung load. The drone body is reinforced for the loads, and the paracord/rope used to carry the load passes through a tube so that it doesn't damage the plywood. I set myself the challenge of carrying 5kg of payload for a total of 10km. Ideally, the payload would be dropped off at the 5km point, but you can't be sure someone will always be there to accept the cargo. I also decided to save weight by not using a winch or an electric release.
I designed two drones for this task, and I will make the darker grey one (on the left in the above picture). I decided this one had a better chance of success because the motor arm modules are mounted to the drone body in a stronger, stiffer way. I can explain about that more in a future post.
Batteries are located in the top half of the drone, and the bottom half has most of the electronics. Due to its flat sides, dropping mechanisms could be mounted on the fuselage and the drone operated in this manner rather than carrying a cargo.
Now I have two drones to build...next is making the programs for the lasercutter.
