T6 / Y6 hexacopter by Brendan22

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

Check out the whole "T" copter family:
TX8 Octocopter
T6 Hexacopter
T4 Quadcopter (10" props)
T4 Quadcopter Mini 315 (7-8" props)
T4 Quadcopter Mini 250 (5" props)
Tubular Crossfire 2 quadcopter
I've added a post on the forums over at DIY Drones for discussing and improving these designs.
Features:
completely 3D printable (without support)
simple assembly
coaxial design (2 motors per arm) provides redundancy to keep flying in case of an ESC, motor, or prop failure
strong braced tube section arms with plenty of room to conceal motor wiring
designed for dual (3S) batteries located right in the center of rotation/thrust with room for up to 2 x 6000mah batteries (although 3000mah and some foam padding might be a wiser option)
easy cable routing with beveled cable "tunnels" (and even a few cable tie mounts)
plenty of space to mount ESCs - concealed but still well ventilated for cooling
top plate is designed for the new Pixhawk flight controller from 3D Robotics - but can easily be tweaked for others
RF "invisible" frame - as opposed to carbon fiber or aluminium
Frame weight is approx 300g. All up weight including 2 x 3S 3000mah batteries and my over-sized 880kv motors is 1,700g.
Hover flight time test was 15 minutes and 30 seconds using 5,900mah out of the 2 x 3S nano-tech 3000mah batteries. Another flight was 17.5 minutes, fully loaded (2.34kg) with Tarot T-2D gimbal, GoPro, 1W FPV transmitter and used 9,700mah out of 2 x 3S Multistar 5200mah batteries.
Sketchup file included so you can make changes to suit yourself
Background
I've been experimenting to find a strong "tubular" profile that could be printed reliably. The angled sections in these designs are 35 degrees to vertical - so well within the typical 45 degree capability of most printers. They arms only present about 11mm of flat surface to minimize obstruction to airflow.
The rest of the design are a collection of ideas that have accumulated over the past year building various quadcopters and Y6 configurations (3D printed, aluminium and bought frames).
Videos
On-board video
Tubular arm versus "conventional" arm design
Revision History
17 July 2014
No version number change but a couple of tweaked files:
T6BatteryPeg.stl was lengthened a bit as I realised it was too short for the new 1.02 body :-/
T6TarotMount.stl just had a small cosmetic change.
Don't forget to check out the T copter springy legs for some more leg options including the new "bent" leg specially designed for this copter.6 July 2014 - Version 1.02
Slightly increased battery compartments size to 157mm long by 50mm wide by 30mm hide. (NOTE: This makes the body 6mm longer than the previous version so body, top plate and bottom tray are NOT COMPATIBLE if you printed version 1.0 parts)
rounded off the front and rear corners - purely cosmetic.
Changed files:
T6Body.stl
T6BottomTray.stl
T6TopPlate.stl
14 Feb 2014
created T6BottomTray v2 which features angled sides (looks a lot less boxy) and also bolt and cable holes to attach a Tarot gimbal. Also uploaded some first flight videos!
16 Feb 2014
Revised T6BottomTray v2 - moved the cable hole to make it easier to route the cables for the Tarot gimbal.
Added T6TarotMount which is a spacer block for attaching the newer plastic Tarot anti-vibration mount to the bottom tray.
Added new longer legs with awesome springy feet. These add some clearance below the Tarot gimbal. The feet are a bit "mad scientist" but they seem to work 8-). Here's a quick video of the springy legs.