Modular drone gate system

What is this?

This is a set of 3D models and instructions for printing your own drone gates to create indoor circuits for "tiny whoop" sized (65mm & 75mm) drones.

The pieces are designed to be modular so you can:

• Choose your hoop size by connecting 3,4 or 5 wall pieces together
• Add a battery holder which can be used to power an LED light strip
• Attach a hoop to a 20mm PVC pipe (readily available here in the UK for about 80p/metre) or any pipe with a 17.5mm internal diameter for floor or ceiling mounting
• Hang a hoop using the hook connector
• Join hoops together or create a spiral
• Create a floor standing gate using 2 or 3 wall pieces, then use the 4-way connector to create feet. 

What else do you need?

All of the following is optional, but I highly recommend using LED light strips as they'll make the hoops much easier to see.

• For LED lighting
  • 5V LED strip lights
  • 4x AA battery pack + 4x AA batteries
  • Glue gun + glue
  • Electrical tape (although you can use any tape)
• 20mm PVC pipe for half-hoop gates, floor stands and ceiling mounts
• For floor stands, some plywood or other material to secure the pipe vertically
• For ceiling mounting: string or wire (although PVC pipe is better)

What do the pieces do?

• Wall - for creating the walls of the hoop.
• Joiner - for connecting walls together.
• Joiner to female adapter - a joiner which can also connect to something else, has a female end.
• Hook - for hanging a hoop from the ceiling, has a male end (connects to a female). Print on its side.
• Battery holder - for holding the battery pack, has both male and female ends.
• Pipe connector - for mounting a hoop into a pipe, has a male end.
• Male to male - for connecting things together, typically hoops.
• 4-way connector - For floor mounted “half circle” gates, and for supporting horizontal PVC pipe in a spiral (see photos).  

Printer settings

These parts slot into each other so you'll need to have a properly calibrated printer. Here are my print settings.

Printer: Ender 3 Pro

Material: PLA

Infill: 30%

Layer height: 0.2mm

Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm

Supports: Yes, for angles of 50 degrees or more.

Bed adhesion: Brim (to stop warping)

Build instructions

Creating a hoop

Hoops are made of curved walls and joiners. Print the following to make a hoop which is just over 1 metre in circumference:

• 4 walls
• 3 joiners
• 1 joiner to female adapter - this is so you can connect the hoop to something else (more on this below)

Once printed, connect the walls into the joiners to create a hoop.

Creating a half-hoop gate

Print the following: 

• 3 walls (or 2 if you want a smaller gate)
• 2 joiners (or 1 if only 2 walls)
• 2 4-way connectors 
• 6 pipe connectors

Now cut the following lengths of PVC pipe: 

• 4 15cm for the feet
• 1 50cm for the horizontal support

See photos for how to connect these together.

Add LED lighting

• Print the battery holder
• Stick the LED light strip onto the inside of the hoop (see photo)
• With a glue gun put a blob of hot glue on each LED - this acts as a light diffuser and makes the LEDs easier to see (see photo)
• Use some electrical tape to attach the LED controller to the hoop - this stops the cable from straining the end of the LED strip
• Connect the ends of the hoop together using a joiner-to-female piece
• Slot the battery holder into the female slot
• Connect the battery pack to the LED lights
• Use the infrared red remote to set the colour - I find flashing mode is best for visibility

Top tip: If you make multiple hoops with LED lights you can use a single remote to switch them on and off, set the colour and the flashing pattern.

Mounting the hoop

From the ceiling

The simplest way to mount the hoop is using the hook attachment and hanging it from the ceiling using wire or string. However, this has the disadvantage that if you nudge the sides of the hoop it will spin round. A better solution is to use a piece of 20mm PVC pipe and the hook.

Build a floor stand

Hoops can be floor mounted using the pipe connector into a 20mm PVC pipe (internal diameter 17.5mm). I got a piece of plywood approx 25cm square and used a pillar drill to create a 20mm hole in the middle, then pushed the pipe in. See photo for example.

Design notes / product choices

Walls

Length

The wall length is 350mm, so 4 walls gives a circumference of 1100mm. I chose this because LED light strips come in 1 metre lengths so can be stuck to the inner wall of the hoop with 100mm to spare. This spare space is used for the joiner to female piece, and for attaching the LED controller.

Thickness/Curvature

I chose 3mm thick, curved walls because they are stiff enough to hold a circular shape without using too much material.

I experimented with flat walls of 2mm and 1.6mm which were then bent into shape after printing. At 1.6mm they held their circular shape for about a day but then would sag and the hoops would start to look distinctly oval. At 2mm the walls wouldn't bend uniformly so, whilst stiffer, were impossible to get into a circular shape from the outset.

Width

The walls are 10mm wide because LED strips are 10mm wide.

LED light strips

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B7HJT9GT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I chose these 5V LED strip lights (rather than the more commonly available 12 and 24V lights) because it avoids the need for a voltage converter when being powered by batteries.

These lights also came with an in-line infrared receiver which controls the RGB values of the LEDs via a remote so you can change the light colour and pattern. Without this you'd be stuck on a single solid colour.

Lastly, they're powered using a USB socket which makes it very easy to connect to the battery pack.

The cost including battery packs works out around £8.50 per hoop (excluding batteries).

Battery packs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09F3M74XY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

4 x rechargeable AA batteries give an output voltage of 4.8V which provides a nice bright light.