Disclaimer: I have an education from YouTube.  I am going to be doing things with carbon fiber that I am not qualified to do.  In fact, if you want to learn anything, please stop reading, this project is literally a waste of time.  Lots of this stuff kills you so dont do this.  Thank you.

I have a 3 inch basher quad.  Cheap motors, Jhemcu aio, $13 amazon frame (dont know what Chinese copy of what) and a thingiverse canopy that I have cracked two of.  My 3d printer is down and my jhemcu ghf411 (I think) isn't connecting (anyone know anyone that does electronics repairs, please lemme know) so I am waiting on a new board.  As I am waiting on a new board and had to disassemble, I thought I would try to "upgrade" the canopy to be stronger.  Again, I am not a good pilot and the quad is overweight.

I also have a good frame idea that I am gonna play with but I am waiting on supplies. More on that later.  So then I thought "why not get a carbon fiber canopy?".  Google shows none.  If y'all know where a carbon fiber whoop canopy is, please tell me.  Seems like a hole in the market to me that you dont see it more, considering rc people buy every gadget out there.  I guess plastic is lighter and good enough.

So I thought "lets try to make one" and here we are.  Again, I have no idea what I am doing so feel free to chirp in with any and all criticism and advice.  This build will take a bit as most stuff I need is en route.  If people want to know the frame as this is a "build" I will check my email it.  The motors are HGLRC Flame 1407 3600 kv (aka, what I had on my desk that fit) that I run 3 inch on 4s 450 to 650.  I hear the frame will run 3.5 but I haven't tried.  Vista is not de-cased though I should cuz its AUW was like 148 I think.  But I have the reaction speed of a 90 year old man that just had his first edible, so lightning quick is not my need.  This is why I am going with carbon fiber.  The print design is great, but I trim a lot of trees in my yard with my quad and plastic isn't holding up.  Also, in AZ you either land on rocks, concrete or smaller rocks.   

As I am making a mold, you could easily order canopy online for a few bucks and do the same thing if you dont own 3d printer.  Also, to keep cost down, I ordered online samples of carbon fiber fabric.  They are (I think) 4 inch by 6 inch for about $3 each.  I am also going to imbed m2 standoffs into the canopy.  My goal for this build isn't lightweight, I am already slinging a caddx that isn't decased.  The carbon is simply for fun and durability and I thought standoffs imbedded should hold up.  Looks and weight aren't on the list.

Cost so far if you had none of this in your house: about $10 for a canopy, $10 for condo or you could likely tape your holes, you're just making a mold.
   

You can see I won't be saving weight or anything notable.  Replacing 7 grams
   

Filled it with garbage, hot glue and then I eyeballed the fillers hardener mixture percentage, resulting in it stiffening up FAST so I just started slapping it on.  LOLOL
   
   

Belt sander and die grinder with abrasive pad in front of shop fan because sandpaper is slow.
   
   
   

Did that two x to fill in gaps.  Its smooth enough for me.  If someone wanted a beautiful mold and shine, then there would be much much more care into this part of the process.  I can't see the canopy when I am flying so I dont care.  
   

Here is after more sanding and it sitting next to the frame and the other canopy.  I am waiting on a brain that is 3 to 10 business days away.  I ordered silicone, but saw a vid where I may try to make my own out of tube silicone and acetone.  If I do I will doc it.
   

Finally I wanted a one time mold.  If I ever get serious about this and want several made with a better surface I would have tried harder.  Instead, I grabbed some cut offs from the garbage, my 18 gauge nailer and my hot glue gun.  Mold done!  This demonstrates you could use a cardboard box and Saran Wrap.  


I will post more as parts arrive.

Forgot one.  If you zoom in you can see still has nails and glue from the trash.
   

This should be fun. 

I did a similar process (but with fiberglass) to mold and replace the 1/4 panel windows on my 1986.5 Pontiac Fiero GT about 20 years ago. I decided I wanted a forced air scoop intake type thing. Then I decided to remove the spark arrester because who needs that airflow restriction, right? Yeah, then it caught on fire. Anyhow, I’ll be following along to see how this works out for you. Hopefully, it doesn’t end in fire.

(18-Mar-2022, 04:56 AM)Lemonyleprosy Wrote: This should be fun. 

I did a similar process (but with fiberglass) to mold and replace the 1/4 panel windows on my 1986.5 Pontiac Fiero GT about 20 years ago. I decided I wanted a forced air scoop intake type thing. Then I decided to remove the spark arrester because who needs that airflow restriction, right? Yeah, then it caught on fire. Anyhow, I’ll be following along to see how this works out for you. Hopefully, it doesn’t end in fire.

Thanks, and I hope it was clear that this is not a "revolution in fpv" im just trying to do something fun for about no cost as I have most everything to do it (minus the skills). 

I came back to the thread because in the mail I bought a run cam thumb camera cuz its 9 grams and $50.  I mean come on...... Anyway I may as well mold in the action cam mount since its right there right?  It would be two go pro hones and if I hate then, I clip them off.   What do y'all think?

I’m all for having fun an no/near no cost.

Since this is a one off mold, I say mold in the cam mount. Like you said, you can snip it off if you don’t like it.

(18-Mar-2022, 06:53 AM)Lemonyleprosy Wrote: I’m all for having fun an no/near no cost.

Since this is a one off mold, I say mold in the cam mount. Like you said, you can snip it off if you don’t like it.

Yeah that's what I am thinking.  Silicone 2 days away.

Didn't take my own advice and mold leaked silicone.  Made a new one with cardboard, hot glue and tuck tape.  Also, decided to mix 3 to 1 silicone with acetone and mixed till soupy.  Wasn't interesting or hard so didn't doc it.  Poured mould
   

Been kicking around ideas on how to mount canopy after the mold as essentially it will just be a shell.  Trying to simplfy it, I used the frame as a jig, put on some M2 Nylon standoffs.  Wrapped kevlar braided thread and superglued it.  Pretty strong and I will inlay with the carbon fiber and resin, to be secure.  Also, will it act as a bottom shelf for caddx.  Going to try to soft mount standoff stop stack when complete and now the standoffs will be at the correct dimension and spacing.
   
   
   
Cant see in this pic, but I also have m2 nuts on other side of stand offs.

Hi Matt,

Sounds very interesting. Let's see where it goes.

By the way, I often do things that can hurt me. Ha, Ha, 

A good landing for me is one where nothing gets broken and I don't have to walk too far. 

I’m trying to remember what I did back in the day… I’m pretty sure it involved expanding spray foam for the mold, and I don’t remember what I reinforced the mounting points with but I’m pretty sure it was embedded wood and rubber grommets.

I wanted to use metal washers, but temperature changes and expansion and what not made that a no go.

In your case, I’d say just layer up where the mounting points need to be and drill some holes.