DIY Apex Tricopter

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Make this tricopter with 3D printing or laser cutting. via instructables

I call this beast the Apex Tricopter. It’s not a true Tricopter as it has four rotors, but it’s certainly not a quad as it forms a triangular pyramid with a rotor at the apex (hence the name). This Tricopter can be made with either a 3d printer or a laser cutter, so if you have one but not the other you’re still in luck! This is a lot of information to fit into one Instructables but I’ll do my best. If there is anything that I missed or you’d like me to cover more in depth just leave me a comment and I’ll do my best to respond.

Step 1: Materials

Material for a light Tri:

1- Arducopter and GPS(Has not been tested with other controllers)

2-Transmiter and Receiver: Any 6 channel should work. In this Instructables I used an Airtronics

3- Motors: I used three 980kv motors for the tricopter motors and a 950kv for the central motor. These seemed to be a good size for the weight of the entire system.

4- Rear Servo: I used a MG995 Tower pro but a smaller metal gear servo would probably work equally as well with less weight.

5- Props: For my motors I used three 10×3.7 slow flys and one 10×4.5 MR

6-Lots and lots of cable ties, you’ll need them. I got a container of 500 for $10 at home depot.

8- Lock tight or a similar thread lock. You don’t want any of your bolts to come undone mid flight, if they do you will almost certainly crash.

9-Bullet Connectors (3mm)

10- #6 bolts and nuts of varying lengths

11- 3 cell 2200 mah lip battery

12-Charger

13- Four thirty amp esc’s. You could go smaller but if you ever want to upgrade this just makes it easier.

14- Power Distribution board

15-Wire

16- DX 60 battery plugs

17- 10mm square booms, each one is 30mm in length

18- Tilt Mechanism

Materials for a heavy Tri:

These parts are substitutes for the motors and props if you want to carry a large amount of weight.

1- Four 500kv Gartt motors

2-Four 12in props

3- Four to five cell 5500mah battery

Tools:

1- Laser Cutter

2- 3d Printer

3- Screw drivers

4-Drill(Optional)

5-Wire cutters

6-Soldering Iron

7-Heat Gun

Full tutorial


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