Noticed carbon fibre gimbal gaurds can be very expensive, about $35.
So i decided to make my own, for about $10.
Mine is not as pritty looking as the expensive ones, but does the job great.
You can buy carbon fibre laminated sheet very cheap. Just cut to shape and your done.
Mine is bigger than others, 20 grammes weight, rather than 13 grammes because i antisipate it carrying a small palyload in the future. Its also extremely strong, thicker than online items, the idea is any hard impact will transfer to the legs and shell which is far cheaper to replace than the camera and cable.
I used to make carbon fibre sheet, its not too hard to make if you have patience, i had lots of sheet left over from another project.

My tools: Drill with bits/sand paper/small saw/pen/paper/tape measure/carbon fibre sheet.
If anyone wants more details, dimensions ect, let me know, happy to help.

Necessity is the Mother of all Inventions

That looks great!

I just made a rough pass at one made from acrylic.

I cut it with one of my lasers.

Yours is MUCH stronger.  I am just kinda making this to flatten the grass

TenCentsWorth Posted at 2015-2-8 08:57
Can you give us some details on your laser please.

Regards

I own four lasers for another business application.  I just get to use them for my hobbies when I wanna   they are C02 lasers.  I use them for engraving mostly but they cut pretty well depending on the material.  e.g. they won't cut carbon fiber well, but they cut wood and acrylic well.  They will engrave or etch just about anything except metals.

They are pretty spendy at about 30-40k each depending on what size/features/power I require.

so, the moral of the story is, a drill, dremel, and some ingenuity will save you a TON of money!   Kudos to Tony!

TenCentsWorth Posted at 2015-2-8 09:18
Thanks. I think maybe a 3D printer would be the next best thing.

I should take this opportunity to ...

LOLOLOL, Phallic Symbol, I almost choked on my Mic Ultra Guy.    It's a "MiniGun"  I'm ex-military, I thought it would be pretty easy to see, maybe not so much.  I may need to change it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M61_Vulcan  There ya go Guy.  6000 rounds per minute.  20mm rounds.  and when mounted on an AC130 they can be programmed by computer to put a round in every square meter of a football field in 5 or so seconds.  pretty neat little piece of equipment.

I know right,  Soooo sorry Tony!  You have an awesome gimble protector there.

One concern with the string is whether you may get caught worse than normal in a tree branch - since the string may end up snagging multiple places...... I'd rather see very thin birch plywood, etc.....

Any suggestion as to where we can buy the carbon fiber sheet?  I purchased a clear one and it's not very strong.

Here is one place, this link is to the cheap stuff.  Not super strong, but they have better stuff as well.  Not all CF is of the same quality.
http://dragonplate.com/ecart/categories.asp?cID=91

TenCentsWorth Posted at 2015-2-8 10:06
Good point I am yet to trial it (not that I will try and get tangled!).

A thought regarding the p ...

From a physical engineering standpoint the ratio of surface area vs air space will be dependent on the tinsel strength of the material vs the expected protection requirements. e.g. make it strong (thick) enough to protect the payload while making the product as light and porous as possible.

From my limited experience I don't see these plates as a large drag on the bird as far as wind resistance is considered (depending on your flying habits of course)   

I made mine from 1/8 inch acrylic because I think that if I "tangle in a bush, or land in tall grass with a rock" It will protect the camera, but if I fly at top speed into a tree trunk I don't care what it's made of, it's not going to save anything.

I feel sorry for you guys that have to worry about trees. I live way out in the AZ. portion of the Sonoran Desert, and the last thing I have to worry about hitting is a tree. Saguarro, Cholla, Prickly Pear, Barrel, and other forms of cactus, yes, but not trees! I know, but I couldn't help it.

SavannahQuad Posted at 2015-2-8 08:43
That looks great!

I just made a rough pass at one made from acrylic.

I like that!   You wouldn't happen to have a pattern to scale or even a drawing with dimension so I could copy would you?

Thanks

Here is my zero dollar first try at the bottom protector - made from that cheap corrugated sign material. I also installed the Phantom Fix 2 GImbal thingy to hopefully hold it together.

Maiden flight on the new bird later today - in the snow, of course!

Nice, is it a type of plastic ?  I made lots of holes in case the wind gets hold of it, what's the weight like ?

It can't weigh more than 10 grams or so - very lightweight!
I had some old lawn signs in the basement that were made with it - you can probably find it in the trash at the local sign shop or else they would give you some of it.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbra ... -COR-2436/202090128

As far as holes, it's much smaller than the body of the Phantom which is above it, so I don't think it will hurt much in terms of wind resistance. I took two flights with it and it worked out fine.

I suspect it will protect the bird against most of the offending rocks and branches and other stuff that might hit the camera - and if I want to put my engineering hat on, the fact that this one "gives" may even protect the camera and gimbal better. Then again, if one intends to crash land perfectly level from 100 feet up on a rock...the carbon or heavy plastic might do a better job.