3D printed drone frame: Prepare for takeoff

• Create lightweight parts

Creating lightweight parts has become essential for many industries, such as automotive or aeronautics. Keeping a light structure helps to optimize the final product, and weight optimization is one of the most regular requirements.

Lightweight parts are also a massive advantage for the drone industry. Weight is quite crucial for a flying device. Additive manufacturing allows innovation in terms of design, from hollowed parts to exciting structures such as lattices. This is true for all your drone parts, and obviously, it is true for your drone frame. 

Rethinking your drone frame’s structure can result in a significant weight reduction. Design for Additive Manufacturing allows for completely innovative structures that can change how drones and drone frames are made. The result? A lighter, more robust, more functional drone!

• Complex design and assembly

While manufacturing an automated electronic device, you need to manufacture several parts working and interacting together: for drones, robotics, and electronics, additive manufacturing offers numerous advantages. 

A drone frame is a central component in your drone, where all the other components might be attached. Adding integrated features directly connected to your drone frame is possible, meaning you don’t have to print these parts and elements separately.

Using 3D printing is an opportunity to create complex designs and geometries, impossible to create with traditional manufacturing technologies such as CNC machining or injection molding. Additive manufacturing allows printing fully assembled parts, which can be a significant advantage for your whole process, as it is a way to save time by shortening the assembly process, reducing the number of components, and also reducing weight.

• Limitless innovation for your projects

With additive manufacturing, you can create the project you need, not the project you can. 3D printing allows you to design according to your products and projects, not according to stock fittings. Do you need a new innovative feature for your drone which requires perfectly adapted parts? Feel free to test and iterate your connectors or mounts, thanks to the short lead times and flexibility offered by 3D printing.  

• Maintenance management, spare parts

Rather than maintaining an inventory of drones or drone parts, it is possible to use digital manufacturing services and produce any number of parts when needed.

This advantage is mainly for people willing to manufacture a series of parts, but maintenance management can also be optimized by additive manufacturing. You don’t have to worry about an entire stock of spare parts; you should invest your energy in creating a digital inventory that will improve your maintenance and risk management! On-demand manufacturing can be used to produce spare parts when you need them. 

• Mass-customization

Are you creating drones based on specific customers’ expectations and requirements? In this case, you might need to build drones with particular parts and features. Customization is costly while using traditional manufacturing methods such as injection molding. But with 3D printing, it is way easier. For small series, 3D printing will be a cost-saving technique, as you can print the exact amount of parts you need.

Thanks to additive manufacturing, it is possible to create drones perfectly adapted to your projects. The design can be optimized and customized to fit all your needs. Each drone you make can be adapted to its future application.

• Start saving time

3D printing is helping you to shorten your lead times. Don’t wait any longer; get your parts in just a few days. Compared to a manufacturing technique such as injection molding, where making molds and manufacturing the actual part takes weeks, additive manufacturing allows you to get your parts printed in just a few days.

Benefit from a quick iteration process. Speed up your iteration process and your whole product development process using additive manufacturing.

• Finishing and materials adapted to demanding applications

 3D printing is now offering advanced surface finishes for your 3D printed parts. Get a finished look with UV protection, depending on your chosen finish and the area.

The additive manufacturing industry is now developing high-performance materials adapted to the most demanding applications. Sculpteo and BASF are joining their efforts to offer you the best 3D printing material selection for your technical projects, from drones to robotics or electronics.