I rescue the airframe from the garage and bring it into the snug warmth of the lounge, where I find that the badly-glued rotor-arm snaps off like a dead twig. Plastic is immune to epoxy and metal is not far behind unless prepared meticulously, and you can still see the clamps.
Next up I go for a foam in-fill, and can you see my mistake? Yes... we didn't measure twice and cut once today!
There's a fix for everything however, with the possible exception of death.
Foam meets three aims:
(1) It subdues vibration
(2) it forms a comfy collar around the waist
(3) it reinforces the central chassis
I'm designing for kit-production here and the foam inset will eventually be formed of four identical quarters formed from a single mould.
But that's for later, and being a Northerner I can't bear to see food going to waste and thus I recycle PU foam that once saw service in a hydroplane I designed, and subsequently lay in the loft where it served as insulation. It's the 'Home Guard' of foam, and no doubt delighted to receive its call-up papers once again.
It stands proud, literally, of the top of the frame and will have to be ground down to 50 mil.
We thought of every possible way of doing this, including milling, which looked like it would be finished just this side of Christmas.
Eventually I had a brainwave over tea and cake, and settled on a camping saw. This features in survival kits at outdoor leisure stores, but is unavailable in even the largest DIY outlets and I fear this is because it is equally useful for taking the heads off annoying neighbours.
Finally note that I have marked the 'forward' sense of the drone with an arrow, because if you flip it over the leading rotor-arm would be set to the right instead ~ right-handed pilots are likely to prefer a clear view on that side however, along with a side-stick controlling pitch and roll.
The choice however is yours, and this is likely the world's first universally-handed airframe.
