Uber Design U180 - part casting by m4k3r

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

I’ve been following the RC groups thread for the insanely powerful Uber Design U180.
I saw my buddy fly the U180 the other day. It looks super cool and crazy fast. I was hesitant to jump in due to the comments of parts breaking during crashes. In the thread people were talking about trying to mold motor mounts and mid plates from actual parts. Previously I tried to mold from 3D printed parts and found it frustrating.
Background:
Creating 3D printable molds in CAD software is a hassle. The steps are well known. However, for every iterate of the part you need redo the whole mold making process.
I was really happy to find Jason Webb’s OpenSCAD script which does much of the heavy lifting. Check out his project http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:31581 There is also further info on his website. http://jason-webb.info
Updates
6/19/2016 – I created two versions of the bottomplate with different thicknesses (beefy and skinny). I also created a jig to drill the carbon fiber rods so it can be joined together with nylon zip ties. I designed a small support to secure the ESCs to the carbon fiber cross bars with zip ties.
The assembly of the Uber went well and I’m happy with the end result. See attached photos
Give them a try and send feedback.
4/26/2016 - The casting approach required the recreation of Theledman’s original design to be mold release friendly. The current designs are coming out of the casting well and the molds have been reusable with no wear.
All designs are dimensionally accurate for the motor mount holes and 10mm OD/8mm ID Carbon Fiber Tube. I created three different designs to address various approaches to the inner cross section connection to the motor mount.
Design 1 is most similar to Theledman’s design but requires the drilling of a hole for - 6mm OD/4mm ID Carbon Fiber Tube
Looking to minimize the amount of post casting work, I thought creating a boss was a better approach. Then I found jolars’ remix and my assumption was confirmed.http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1406948
Design 2 includes a boss for the - 6mm OD/4mm ID Carbon Fiber Tube. (The STL file has –sb- in the name for small boss)
Design 3 includes a boss for the - 10mm OD/8mm ID Carbon Fiber Tube. (The STL file has –bb- in the name for big boss). – NOTE pay attention to the changes in his BOM which uses all 10mm OD CF tubing.
Of all the designs, I believe that either #1 or #3 are the best approach going forward. Decision criteria. If you want to use the original BOM and are willing to drill the hole, go with Design 1. If you are looking for more durability and are willing to switch to all 10mm OD CF tubing, go with Design 3.
All the necessary files are included so you can remix or tweak on your own.