TX8 Octocopter Drone (10" props) by Brendan22

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

This TX8 design has more parts than my other “unibody” T-Copter designs. The result is a more complicated assembly procedure but that comes with the advantage that the longest print is only around three hours (compared to 10+ hours for the other larger designs).
Before you start printing this design please check that your printer is big enough. The plates require at least 160 x 170mm build area and the arms are 225mm long (although you may be able to print them on an angle to fit a slightly smaller bed).
Check out the whole "T" copter family:
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)
light but powerful X8 design
strong braced tube section arms with plenty of room to conceal motor wiring. Arms can be folded down or removed altogether for transport.
designed for a dual 3S or 4S batteries located near the center of rotation/thrust with room for up to two 6000mah 3S or 4200mah+ 4S batteries (160 x 50 x 35mm capacity each).
plenty of space to mount dual 4 in 1 ESCs - concealed but still well ventilated for cooling.
floating vibration reducing top plate is designed for the Pixhawk flight controller](http://store.3drobotics.com/products/3dr-pixhawk) from 3D Robotics - but is also fine with others
RF "invisible" frame - as opposed to carbon fiber or aluminium
Assembly instruction PDF in the downloads
2 x 5000mah 3S batteries gives 15+ minute flight time (and there's space for bigger batteries).
all up weight for my build (see instructions tab) comes in at 2.65kg including batteries, camera and gimbal - and hovers at about 45% throttle.
Sketchup CAD file is included so you can make changes to suit yourself.
Videos
First flight with Tarot Gimbal and Go Pro attached
Another flight - at the river this time
Tubular arm versus "conventional" arm design