Aerospace & Drones
Generative Design Drone Frame
A customer's sub-40 g generative design taken to production — material and process advice, then a batch of ten in carbon-fibre ASA in three business days.
- Client
- Private client
- Timeline
- 3 business days
- Materials
- ASA-CF08 (carbon-fibre ASA)
The problem
The customer needed a drone frame that was extremely light and genuinely strong, inside tight size and weight limits — organic, load-optimized geometry that is hard to make cleanly.
Constraints
Under 40 g per frame. Thin generative webs that still carry every piece of flight electronics and survive the knocks of real flying. Ten identical frames on a short timeline.
Development approach
Advised on material choice and how to make the customer's generative design, chose a high carbon-fibre ASA for stiffness, heat resistance and strength-to-weight, then dialled in the process so the batch came out to the same spec.
Generative design produces shapes that look grown rather than drawn — thin webs of material exactly where the loads run, and empty space everywhere else. Making that geometry cleanly, at under 40 grams, is where it gets hard.
The customer supplied the design; we advised on the material and the making of it, then produced it in ASA-CF08, a high carbon-fibre blend of ASA chosen for stiffness, heat resistance and strength-to-weight. The finished frame weighs less than 40 grams but still carries every bit of flight electronics and handles the knocks that come with flying.
With the process dialled in, we ran a batch of ten to the same spec and had them out the door in three business days.
The outcome
Ten frames delivered in three business days — each under 40 g, holding all the flight electronics and standing up to real use.
Capabilities
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