Good afternoon, guys. Did you have a nice weekend and enjoy a Mid-Autumn Festival with your Chinese friends? Yes, we have just passed the Mid-Autumn Festival and it’s time back to work. Friendly tips: the new special offers of snapping up is still on. Now I have to tell you there is going to be a 3D printed quadcopter.

Any readers who are looking a challenging new 3D printing project should definitely check out this cool folding micro FPV (first-person view) H-Quadcopter made by the guys over at Hovership. The Quadcopter is a very cool radio-controlled helicopter with four propeller blades (hence the quad in its name) that you can construct in your very own home for a fraction of the costs of similar models sold in stores.

Steve, the main man behind Hovership.com, started his website as a blog for enthusiasts, where he could post videos of his flights and share his designs and results. Since then, it has developed into a business that designs, manufactures and sells parts and accessories for various radio-controlled helicopters. They aim at DIY enthusiasts looking for low-cost but very cool designs, and they offer various guides to help you build your very own ‘copter’ such as tricopters, quadcopters, hexacopters and octocopters.

Interestingly, Hovership has uses 3D printing to cut costs and offer affordable options for all ‘copter’ enthusiasts out there. They even keep their DIY mentality strong by freely sharing their design on Thingiverse, while selling printed parts in their webshop for anyone who doesn’t have a printer at home. Steve explains how 3D printing has transformed the way he constructs helicopter:

“About 2 months ago I got a 3D printer, the MakerGear M2. Before that I was spending a lot of money to have Shapeways print all my little parts. It has been amazing to have my own (reliable) printer that I can draw up designs and immediately start making them into physical parts. Even better, I can keep refining designs at very little cost.”

It has allowed him to develop a standard design for the frame of a lightweight quadcopter with foldable wings, to which you can then add all the motors and accessories you want. Its design will allow you to add options for compact storage & transportation, integrated vibration dampening, and a number of mounting options for a Mobius, GoPro camera or other electronics. These other parts will still have to be bought rather than printed, and can be found in most hobby stores and in the Hovership webstore.

Nonetheless, this design will allow you to save some money, as a regular FPV quad frame will set you back about $100 or more, while printing your own in ABS will only cost you about $4 in filament. Other materials could be used, but Steve acknowledges that ‘I have only printed these parts with ABS which have held up well in crashes. PLA might not hold up as well but these parts are all cheap to print replacements for.’  Alternatively, Hovership will print it for you and ship it to you for $40 through their webshop. You can then work on constructing this awesome quadcopter in your own home, using their free guides.

While not quite yet offering you a freely printable helicopter that can actually fly, the guys behind Hovership are nonetheless illustrating how 3D printing can be used to produce cheaper options for this creative hobby. Check it out!

As we know, the Geeetech quadcopter is always the quality guarantee. So why not get one from here and make a comparison with the new MHQ quadcopter. It must be a lot of fun!