Drone webinar

Step by step instruction

Creating drones in AutodeskÒ Fusion 360TM

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Racing-Drone Design Fundamentals with Fusion 360
Authors: ELI DElia - Eagle Eye| Taylor Stein – Autodesk| Fabiola Clayton -
Autodesk

LEVEL OF EXPERTISE:
All Levels

• Section 1: Modeling A Basic Airframe (Page 4)

• Section 2: Creating the Motor Component Plate - Component Plate and Motor Booms
(Page 12)
• Section 3: Coming soon. Register for the webinar:
https://academy.autodesk.com/inspiration/webinars/design-now-and-running-fusion-360-
webinars#Americas

About the Designer:

Commercial Drone Designer, Fusion360 Expert Elite.
Founder of Game of Drones and Aerial Sports League. Owner
Hooligan FPV Pro Racing Drones. Eagle Eye Metrics, Aerial
Agronomy & Services.
Eli has a number of sports drones in the market. Has been
involved with fringe robotics since 1996. Now exclusively in the
commercial drone industry as a designer, engineer and certified
FAA Pilot in Command.

About the Speaker:

Education Program Manager at Autodesk, Certified Fusion 360
User, Certified AutoCAD Professional and User.
“Fab” has more than 20 years of experience in Higher Education
having worked as Instructor, Chair and Dean. She has a
specialization in Pedagogy and her Master’s degree dissertation
explored the influence of space in learning.

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Section 1: Modeling A Basic Airframe

1. Start Fusion 360.

2. On the left upper corner of the screen, in the Fusion 360 Browser, click on Units
to open the Units option.

• Notice that a dialogue box entitled CHANGE ACTIVE UNITS will open. You can
move this dialogue box by holding the left button of your mouse and dragging it
to a location of your choice.

3. From inside the CHANGE ACTIVE UNITS dialogue box, in Unit Type drop-down
menu, click Unit Type and make sure is set to Millimeters.

Units should be millimeter

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4. Go to the SKETCH tab located at the top of your screen and hover on the circle
icon.

• Please notice that there are five ways to sketch a circle: Center Diameter
Circle, 2-Point Circle, 3-Point Circle, 2-Tangent Circle and 3-Tangent
Circle. Select Center Diameter.

• Once you have selected the Center Circle tool, the 3 origin planes will
show in yellow on the center of your screen.

• These are Fusion 360’s built-in planes for creating your sketches and 3D
models. There are two vertical planes and one horizontal plane.

5. As you move your mouse over each of the three planes, you will notice that they
highlight. Hover over and then click the horizontal plane. Think of this as the ground
plane. You will notice that your view will automatically re-orient to the Top view.

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 6. Using the left button of you mouse, click one time on the center point that is in
the center of the drawing

Hover over the center point. A light blue square will appear when
you are exactly over the center point. When you see the blue
square, click one time to set the center point of the circle.

7. Move your mouse to sketch your circle. Notice that the circle will stretch based
on the position of your cursor. You will also notice that a smaller dialogue window
containing dimensions appear next to your circle.

Dimension dialog box

Center or Origin
symbol

8. Enter 210mm in the dimension dialogue box.

9. Press enter to complete the circle
10. Under Sketch, select the Line command.

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11. Draft a vertical line from center of

the circle to just past the top of the circle

perimeter and hit “enter

12. Select the line by clicking on it

with the left button of your mouse. The line

will turn blue. Hit “X” on your keyboard to

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 convert the line to a construction line. The line will become dashed.

13. Repeat the steps above

but this time, draw a horizontal

line from center to just past the

right of the circle perimeter and hit

Line is blue when selected “X” on your keyboard to convert

the line to a construction line.

14. Draw a line at a 45-degree angle with the horizontal line. You will notice

that two dimension dialogue boxes appear: one for the length of the line and one for

the angle. You can toggle between the dialogue boxes by pressing Tab.

15. Transform this line

into a construction line by

selecting it and pressing

“X”.

Enter 45 degrees

16. Select the Circle

and hit “X” on your

keyboard to convert it to a

construction line.

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 17. Create the motor mount,

by drawing a 25mm circle on the

intersection of the diagonal line and

the large circle.

18. Create another vertical

construction line within the small

circle which will serve as a reference

to a slot.

19. Create a 5mm center

circle inside the smaller circle you

have just drawn, which will become a

Vertical construction line
hole to allow the motor’s drive shaft to

spin freely. You can see the small

circle in the picture eon the left.

Future slots 20. Under Sketch, select the

Slot command. Draw draft a slot just

vertical and aligned with the center circle (you can draw a vertical construction line

passing the center of the smaller circle to assist you.

21. The length is variable so you can use any dimension. Type in 4mm in

width.

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22. Adjust the top and bottom arcs to allow

distance from the top circle perimeter and the cent

circle diameter.

23. Right drag select the motor mount slot.

24. From the tool’s dialogue box check to be

sure all 11 elements of the slot tool are selected.

25. Click on center point and select the motor mount circle center point.

26. Change the default setting from 3 to 4 and click ok.

27. Right drag select the complete motor mount. From the tool’s dialogue box

check to be sure that at least 48 elements are selected.

28. Click on the Center Point of the largest circle and change the default

setting from 3 to 4 and click ok.

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Page 10
Section 2: Creating the Motor Component Plate -
Component Plate and Motor Booms:

1. Sketch / Center Rectangle tool. From drone center draft a rectangle, type in the

values of 160mm vertical by 45mm horizontal. click

ok.

2. Sketch / 3 Point Arc tool. From upper left Motor Mount, in line center with the

bottom slot tool, draft a 3-point arc down to the bottom left motor mount, in line center

with its top slot tool, click and drag the arc to just touch the center component plate

rectangle.

3. Repeat the process for the right side (you can also use the Mirror command to

create the second arc)

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 4. For top and bottom

arcs use the circle

construction line as a guide.

Draft a new arc from top left

motor mount to the

correspond position of the

top right motor mount and

drag the arc in to the center

rectangle as illustrated.

5. Repeat the process for the bottom arc to complete the motor boom layout.

6. To add more control over your design it is good practice to now Tangent

Constrain the arc tool points to their motor mounts.

7. Select an arc

tool, from the

Sketch Pallet click

on Tangent

Constraint and
Motor booms
select a motor
must be at least
12mm thick
mount. Repeat the

process for all

remaining arcs by

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re-selecting the arc/ tangent constraint, select the corresponding motor mount.

8. You may have to adjust your arc. Click the arc and drag it to the original position.

Tangent Constraint allows the center to move independently of the top and bottom arc

points, resulting in more fidelity of your design.

9. As a rule, the motor booms width should not be much smaller than the propellers,

for a racer of this size that equals 12mm.

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Step 3: Creating the Motor Component Plate -
and Stand Off Hardware holes:
Drafting the Power Distribution Board hardware holes:

1. Sketch / Center Rectangle Tool. From drone center draft out a square and type in

the values 30.5mm x 30.5mm, click ok.

2. Select the lines of the

square and hit X on your

keyboard to make a construction

square. (you can press Shift to

select more than one object at a

time).

3. Sketch / Center Diameter Circle Tool. From the corner of the construction

square, draft out a 3.5 mm circle. Click ok. right drag select the new circle.

4. Select the

Sketch / Rectangle

Pattern Tool.

5. Select the

horizontal arrow

handle and type in a

value of -30.5mm. Set

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the quantity value to 2. Select the vertical arrow handle and input a value of 30.5mm x a

quantity of 2. Hit return to complete the process.

6. Repeat the process for the stand off hardware holes.

7. Sketch / Center Rectangle Tool. From drone center draft out a rectangle and type

in the values 145mm x 38mm, click ok.

8. Select the lines of the rectangle and hit X on your keyboard to make a

construction square.

9. Sketch / Center Diameter Circle Tool. From the corner of the construction

square, draft out a 3.5mm circle. Click ok.

10. Right drag select the new circle.

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11. Select Sketch / Rectangle Pattern Tool.

12. Select the horizontal arrow handle and type in a value of -38mm. Set the quantity

value to 2. Select the vertical arrow handle and input a value of 145mm x a quantity of

4. hit return to complete the process.

13. This completes the basic sketch for the Motor Component plate.

14. Next extrude the plate to create geometry. Adjust the view by click and dragging

the View Cube.

15. Modify / Press Pull Tool. Or Q on your keyboard.

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16. Select the Motor component plate. The selected elements will turn blue. Avoid

selecting any hardware holes.

17. In the Press Pull Dialogue box enter a value of 3mm, click ok.

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This finalizes the Motor Component Plate.

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Step 4: Edit/ Insert other files into your Design:
1. First, let’s edit our geometry to round out the sharp edges. Select the Modify / Fillet
Tool.

2. Select all 4 corners

of the new component

Select Fillet or
just press the
plate’s perimeter. You
hotkey “F” on
your keyboard
might need to orbit your

model in order to select

all 4 vertical edges.

3. In the Fillet Tool

dialogue box enter a

value of 5mm, click ok.

4. Note: It is crucial to round off any

sharp edges with a fillet of 5mm in

order to add significant strength and

durability to an airframe. Sharp

corners and edges create potential

breaking points in a harsh crash.

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 Crashing is unavoidable in drone sports so take steps in the design stage to

increase your airframe's longevity.

5. We will now insert the component plate. The component plate design file
(Component Plate.f3d) can be found in the folder

https://autodesk.box.com/v/DroneWebinarSeries

6. To upload a file, click the Upload button inside the Data Panel. To open the Data
Panel, click this symbol on the upper left corner of your screen.

7. Another dialogue will open with 2 options: Select Files or Drag and Drop.

Click here first

Select method for uploading a
file

8. Select the files from the folder you have downloaded the Fusion 360 files that have
been shared with you.

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9. Click Upload

10. The files will show on your

Selected filed will show here data panel. Make sure all files

belong to the same Project.

Make sure they are on in the

11. Before inserting the
same location as the motor plate file into your Fusion 360
you have just designed.
Design, let’s create a place

“holder” for this new

Click upload
component. This step is

important to tell Fusion 360

that this is a new component

and not part of the motor plate we have just designed. For more about components,

bodies and assemblies, go to

http://help.autodesk.com/view/fusion360/ENU/?guid=GUID-E37B0456-A867-429F-

BF69-6A4626DD31E7

12. In the Browser, right click on the Motor Component Plate at the top and select
New Component.

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13. The new Component will show in dark
grey. You can click on it and change the

name to Component Plate.

14. Repeat steps 5 to 14 and download the

Camera Bracket.

15. Now, let’s insert a file into our design. In

the Browser, click on the Activate button to

make

that component active. That will be where

your file will be inserted.

16. In the Data Panel, right click on

the image of the file you want to insert.

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17. In the dialogue window, click “Insert into Current Design”.

Turn component ON/ OFF

18. Another dialogue window will open

giving you the option to place the new

design in the desired location (Object to

be placed will show highlighted in blue

until you accept the location).

19. Since we create all of those parts

using the Origin as reference, it should

open in the right location. Click OK in that

dialogue window to accept the location.

20. Repeat these steps to insert the Camera Bracket.

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Step 5: Modifying Model’s Geometry:

1. In order to modify geometry of inserted

components, we need to break the link of

that file with its original design. To do that,

simply select “Break the link” in the

Browser.

2. Now, we need to create the slots for the

Camera bracket. On the Browser

Hierarchy on the left turn the Camera

Bracket off by clicking the light bulb.

3. Click the top Component Plate.

4. Right click with you mouse to

show the marking menu and select

Crate Sketch.

5. Your drawing will move to show you the top view of the Component Plate.
6. Select the 2 top slots by using the right drag window.

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7. Select Modify/ Press Pull. You can also activate this command by pressing the
hotkey “Q” on your keyboard.

8. Change the Operation to Cut

9. Select the bottom Component

Plate.

10. Drag the arrow until you see red

slots cutting the bottom part.

11. Press OK.

Your new 210mm “H” FPV Racing

frame design is complete and

ready for CAM or 3D printing. Be

sure to save your work!

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Step 6: Insert the Power Train

1. Download the “210H Components” file here. and add it to your Fusion360 Drone
Racer Database. Use this file to study the drone’s power train, wiring and video

components.

2. Repeat Step 4: Edit/ Insert other files into your Design on page 19 and insert the
210H Component. This file is also available in our webinar series folder

https://autodesk.box.com/v/DroneWebinarSeries

3. Don’t forget to break the link so you can see the 210 Component Hierarchy tree.

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Note from the Drone Designer, Eli Delia
Aerodynamic Racing Drone Design

“After analyzing our drone design in the wind tunnel simulation (Autodesk’s Flow), you
can switch back over to Fusion 360 and open the X 210 drone file. The drone’s core
electronics can be configured in a number of combinations to improve power to weight
ratios in line with the build’s center of gravity.
You can reconfigure the airframe’s layout and
electronics considering Flow Design’s wind
force effects, reducing drag and turbulence
on the drone’s angle of attack.

Beginning with the airframe Hide the

FPV components in the browser, you can
then rotate or pitch the motor plate by 30º. Work out a Layout so the
drone’s battery pack in the rear. Center and level flight controller aligned with the
receiver and FPV camera components are level and center to the x axis as illustrated
below.

Above, see mages of the side and front views.

Motor plate and components pitched to 30º. Center of Gravity is balanced between the
forward camera and the rear battery pack. Good luck!” Eli Delia.

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Step 7: Creating the Fuselage

1. In order to start the design of the

Fuselage, we need to add reference

planes where we will add sketches that

will not be in any of the existing XYZ

planes. To do that, click Construct/

Offset plane.

2. Select the front of the Camera

and on the offset value, just leave the

default 0.

3. Press OK. Please note that the

plane extends infinitively in all direction

and the transparent orange square is

just a graphic representation of its

position. However, you can make it

visually larger by hovering your mouse to the edge of the plane until you see a green

line and then by dragging it to the desires

position.

4. In the browser tree, hide the

drone’s geometry by clicking the lightbulb

at the model’s top level.

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5. Select Construct/ Midplane and create a plane passing through the center of the

middle square of the top Component Plane.

6. Create a third plane using the back of the Top component plane as a reference.

See screen shot below with all planes.

7. From the Sketch menu select the

Rectangle/ Center Rectangle.

8. Select the first construction plane

and the center of the camera slot as

the center point. Draw a square of 50

x 50 mm.

9. Select Stop Sketch from the

Sketch Pallet.

10. Repeat the steps for the center construction plane then stop sketch again.

11. Last, select Center Diameter Circle from the Sketch menu and drag out to the

border of the last, most rear construction plane and select Stop Sketch.

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12. In the Browser, right click the front Center Diameter Square sketch and select

Edit Sketch.

13. Choose the Fillet tool from the Sketch menu and click each of the square’s

border lines clockwise until the entire square is rounded off.

14. Enter a value of 10 in the Fillet

dialogue box and hit OK.

15. Repeat these steps for the center

square sketch.

16. Click on the Form Icon to go into

the Sculpt Environment.

17. Under Create, select Loft.

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18. Click each sketch profile in order from front to back

19. In the Loft dialogue box / Width Spacing, enter a value of 8

20. On the Length Spacing enter a value of 4.

21. Click OK.

22. Select the faces of the left half of the lofted fuselage model and hit Delete on

your keyboard so only half of the model remains. TIP: hold the shift key while selecting.

You might need to orbit your model in order to select all faces.

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23. From the Create menu, select the Cylinder tool. Select the “ghosted” angled
motor plate.

24. From the back-motor mount hover over the

center hole and click and drag until the edge of the

circle to create a cylinder.

25. Change the Height faces to 3 and the height to

15 mm and hit return.

26. Select the two center faces of your cylinder and delete them
27. Now, we will use the Bridge command to
connect it to the body of our drone. However,

the drone body does not have enough edges

on its faces, so we will need to create them.

Go to Modify/ Subdivide command.

28. Select the face where the drone’s broom

meets the fuselage.

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29. Select Modify/ Insert Edges. TIP: we will need the same numbers of faces on

both sides in order to enact the Bridge command.

30. Select the 2 faces of the fuselage that match the drone’s boom and delete them.
31. Repeat the process to the other boom.
32. On the Modify tab, click the Bridge command. Select the edges of the hole in the
fuselage by double clicking until the it becomes yellow.

33. Select the hole on the cylinder as the second point. Click OK.
34. Repeat the same process for the front motor.
35. With the Modify /

Manipulator tool, select both motor

mount cylinders and adjust their

position from resting on top of the

motor plate so they line up center

to the height of the motor plate.

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Mirror Duplicate the Results.

36. On the Symmetry menu, select Mirror

Duplicate

37. In the Mirror Duplicate dialogue box, select

the 1st select the T-Spline mesh, then the Z axis

plane. Select OK.

38. Often, the center top and bottom splines will

need to be joined together. Select Modify/ Merge Edge. You can also use the Bridge

command to perform this action.

Select T-Spline Body

Select vertical plane

39. Following the dialogue window, select the top edges in order to merge them. If
needed, repeat the Merge command on the bottom of the drone body.

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 Close the bottom

40. Close the bottom of the motor using the Modify/ Fill Hole Command. You will
need to select the Fill Hole Type in the

dialogue box.

41. You can continue to adjust the Body of

the drone using the Modify options until you

are satisfied with the resulting shape.

42. You might need to adjust the size of the shape using Edit Form command

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43. The rear battery bay and the forward sports camera placement will both balance
the craft and dramatically define the model’s overall shape.

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Step 8: Fine tuning the T-Spline Drone

1. Now focus on the forward camera port. Using the Edit Form Manipulator tool,

double click the open camera port splines so they are hi-lighted as a blue ring.

2. Select the very center of the Manipulator tool for global scaling. Hold down the

option / alt key to CREATE new faces around the camera lens.

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3. Now, let’s add faces to the back to create an opening for the antenna by selecting
Modify/ Insert Edge.

4. Delete the 2 newly created faces.

5. Using Edit Form, shape the back of the

fuselage as you desire.

6. Use the Modify menu / Flatten tool to level off

and make surfaces uniform. Leaving the dialogue

box settings to default is usually best.

7. Click Finish Form to exit the Sculpt environment

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Step 8: Finishing the Drone

1. In the Model environment, under create, select the Thicken command

2. In the Dialogue window, under
Faces, select the Fuselage. Under

Thickness shows

Thickness, enter the desired value. In this

project, we used 1.00mm

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3. Switch to Render workspace.
4. Select the Appearance Command.
5. From the dialogue window, you can simply drag the material to the area of the
model you want it to be

applied.

6. Click Close when

done.

7. To add a decal

such as a logo, click on

the Decal command.

8. Select the face were the decal will be place.

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9. Select an image and use the options given to position, rotate, etc.
10. While in the Render environment, add a background to your image. Do so by
clicking on Scene Setting in the Setup Tab.

11. To
Simply drag an environment to the canvas
render a

photorealistic

image of your

drone, select

the Render

command.

12. Select

Local

Renderer.

13. Your image will show on the bottom of the page.

14. Double click on the

image to open a dialogue

box. You can select to

download or share the

image to A360 or Fusion

360 gallery.

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YOUR WORK IS COMPLETE!

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Here is a complete racing drone parts and components list provided by Eli Delia.
Please notice that Autodesk does not endorse any particular vendor and this list is for
reference only.

Drone Power train:

• 4 x 2204 / 2100 kv Motors by RCManChild
• 4 x 22 Amp RCManChild ESCs
• Power Distribution board w/ built in BEC
• Naze32 Flight controller w/ "Borris B." firmware programmed on Clean Flight.
• Orange 6channel RC
• FPV kit (Camera, 5.8gHz Transmitter, Antenna)
• Turnigy 3cell, 1800 Lipo Battery.

Additional Drone Hardware:

• 8 x 25mm Standoffs
• 32 x 3m x 6mm button head screws
• 3M double sided tape
• Velcro Straps
• Zip Ties

Pilot:
• FatShark FPV Goggles
• Orange 6 Channel Radio Controller
• Lipo Battery Charger
• Metric tool kit
• Drone Back Pack

For more check out www.eagleeyemetrics.com and www.Hooliganfpv.com

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