Custom Tricopter Traveling Case / Box

I have been building multi-rotors for around a year now, started with a quadcopter and then came across David’s tricopter.  I just love how the tricopter flies, it really has a nice “swooshing” motion as David says, not to mention it folds in a good form factor for transportation. 

Realizing that moving all my RC gear around separately was a pain, I decided that having all the gear and the tricopter in once place would be nice.  Basically a grab and go case when I wanted to go flying or travelling,  the tricopter is a perfect candidate for this.

The case is designed to be sturdy and hold the tricopter, transmitter and accessories in once place.  One added benefit of transporting in a case is it looks much more inconspicuous than having a multi-rotor while walking from your car to where you want to go flying, I’m sure anyone who has flown multi-rotors know that even walking with the copter, it draws curiosity and questions from passerby’s. Eventually I will add my FPV ground station to the case too.

My design process started by measuring how long I wanted the case to be and how to store the transmitter in the case, the height was dictated by the transmitter.  I was going to see if I could make the case with the transmitter laying down but it would make the case to wide when carrying it.  From there I just played around with the dimensions until I was happy with it, the case is a clam shell, equal on both sides.   The final height of the case allowed for room to store extra parts, accessories and batteries.   I didn’t want the tricopter and the related accessories to rattle around when carrying it so needed something to hold things in place, I tried bungee cords but I got inspiration from the battery straps we use, so I used some nylon webbing, velcro and hotglue and made my own straps to a custom length.  I used ½" good one side plywood as the box material, you could get away with thinner plywood but I wanted something very sturdy and wouldn’t flex.

The Parts and Materials:

½” thick plywood, (3/8” if you want a case that is lighter)

2” x ¼” thick wood strips

Piano hinge

8 Case Corners

Vinyl for covering

½" woodscrews

1” Woodscrews or air-staples

Wood glue

Spray glue

Paint

The following is the build process:

Started with 1/2" plywood and cut out the sides end and bottom, my measurements were taken by measuring the length of the folded tricopter and the height of the transmitter.  Basically the transmitter will sit upright.

I recommend you cut the parts on a table saw if you have one to square everything up, a circular saw with a guide or even a handsaw will work, you are going to cover it so you will not see the edges.

I started with assembling the bottom and attaching the sides, since the case is symmetrical both sides assemble the same. 

I used wood glue and air-staples to assemble but if you don’t have an air-stapler you can use woodscrews.

Using some wood strapping I created a lip for the case where they will meet each other.  The side with the lip will be the bottom.  I glued and clamped the pieces in place.

 I test fitted the two sides and then test fitted the piano hinge.

The case open with hinge installed

Painted the inside

The edges were painted black, so if the vinyl covering for the outside did not get full coverage you wouldn't see any of the wood.

I traced out the case outline on a piece of vinyl that I picked up at the fabric shop. 

3M Super 77 contact cement for gluing the vinyl to the case.  I covered the case with vinyl from the fabric shop and used spray contact cement glue to attach, spray both the vinyl and the wood, wait till tacky and then bring the two pieces together.  Tip, don’t spray the glue inside!  The stuff gets everywhere and is tacky for a really long time. 

I created a tape dam around the inside of the box and then sprayed the lip so no overspray would get inside when gluing the vinyl to it.

Trim the overhang.

Reinstall the hinge

Case latches installed!

The case corners

The handle installed!

Nylon strapping and some little plastic strap loops for the custom straps

Attached in the case with some aluminum bar with holes drilled into it and screws,  Velco was hot glued to the straps, (use a battery strap for reference how to make one).  I still need to do the top but this gives you an idea.  Also do one for the transmitter as well.

The strap in action.

Test fit of the tricopter and transmitter, lots of room for other accessories in the top half.

 The finished case!  Grab and go flying.

My website: http://eclectic-workshop.weebly.com/