MyMiniFactory & Extreme Fliers Announce 3D Printed Micro Drone Competition

MyMiniFactory and Extreme Fliers are sponsoring a new 3D design competition as part of the Extreme Fliers Indiegogo campaign for the Micro Drone 3.0.

The companies say the contest is all about getting people to use 3D printing and 3D design to create awesome looking drone shrouds. This design brief and contest is open to anyone, and the top 3 designs as selected by the largest number of downloads at the end of the voting period will get a brand new Micro Drone 3.0 conformed with their submitted design.

They say entrants don’t have to be professional designers to take part, and MMF offers a long list of tips for 3D designing and for 3D printing.

It all begins with a detailed, support free model. They say the support free requirement is “the difference between a product that’s ready straight off the bed and one that requires a lot of clean up and post processing.”

To enter this, or one of the other competitions, it’s a simple as using free software such as SketchUp or TinkerCad and downloading the basic design template as a starting point.

The designs will be 3D printed with FDM technology and they should be submitted in the .STL format. They add that if your chosen design is in multiple parts it will be printed and assembled by the MyMiniFactory Team, so instructions for assembly may be required for more complex products.

You will need to keep some specific design guidelines in mind for the Micro Drone 3.0 contest. Since a Micro Drone can hold now  18g of total weight when in flight, that needs to be a design consideration.

The Micro Drone 3.0 can be purchased on Indiegogo for $150 USD, and the kit includes a Micro Drone 3.0 with with an HD Camera Module and a Virtual Reality Headset. The kit also includes a battery, charger and professional handset remote control – along with a selection of CAD files to 3D Print custom frames.

MyMiniFactory says designers can submit as many entries as they like, and that they can find additional tips on design and 3D printing on their site, including the FAQ.

All parts of the design must fit within a build volume of 15 x 15 x 15 cm, and once you’ve submitted your design, you still retain complete ownership. Keep in mind, however, that once printed the .STL source files of an entry will be made available to the public free for download.

Will you enter this 3D printed drone contest from MyMiniFactory and Extreme Fliers? Let us know in the 3D Printed Drone forum thread on 3DPB.com.