VTOL drone: here is Marco Robustini’s 3D project

In recent times, the largest number of pilots and operators of drones choose ad for UAS solutions made wing. The reason is simple: Major autonomyincrease of speed and the ability to load. Drones that take off vertically, but are not a win-win. The problem lies in the large spaces required for the take-off and landing phases that penalize their use.

These are the many solutions for fixed wing drones: i VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing). They are drones that can take off and land vertically like helicopters. One type are the Tail-Sitters, special aircraft that put their tails down and take off or land vertically. A unique project that concerns this type of drones are the sources of 3D modeling and from Press available. Its creator is Marco Robustini, already known for his skill in piloting, design and construction. His project has the name of eXplorathe first fully 3D printed non-vectored Tail-Sitter UAS.

The project was born as a demonstration or a test for the Ardupilot platform on this type of frame. A project where you edit, print and fly something.

Using composite materials would have certainly reduced weight in ODV (flight order), but the 3D printing applied to fixed-wing UAS is amazing, especially in prototyping. In addition, the frame is extremely resistant and durable, even if the housing, or rather the profile, is composed of a single outline with a thickness of less than half a millimeter. What guarantees the absolute sturdiness is the type of filling, in jargon “infill”, that we used: the Gyroid. It comes from nature, butterflies have an absolutely similar structure in their wings, and nature, unlike us, is never wrong. Lightness, firmness and resistance. I stood on a grand piano resting on the ground, it didn’t give the slightest bit, some obvious creaking but nothing dramatic, a video on my youtube channel documents it.

founder Marco Robustini

THE cost of the 3D printer and electricity to run the eXplora. You print with less than 20 euros worth of plastic by using common filaments such as PLA, TPU and ABS. A frame comparable in composite has a possible cost of more than 2 thousand euros for the end user. A properly configured printer produces better prints.

The project eXplora is here experiment low cost for commercial development on this type of flying machine. The drone can fly for 30 to 60 minutes, can carry payloads such as cameras for photogrammetry, FPV and other types of use. Strong wind is the enemy of VTOL in the landing phase. Each part of the project is in STEP format (Standard for the exchange of product data) and is also referred to as ISO 10303. Anyone can collaborate with eXplora and design a modification to make it vectored.