Looking for advice on drone frame designing
Hi all, I'm trying to design a drone frame for this class I have and was wondering if there were any specific things I should keep in mind while doing so. I've never made a drone frame before, so this is all very new to me. The requirements I have are that we have to take three tennis balls from one platform to the other. The overall distance and height aren't that much, about 200cm in the x direction and 150cm in the y direction.
Right now, I already have all the components chosen, I'm just missing a frame. I've heard that the frame isn't the most important part, especially in my case where I don't really need a perfect drone. But still, I'm trying to make it as good as I can to reduce vibrations, and damage to my components when crashing.
Another problem I have, is that I can't really be using carbon fiber due to time limitations, and rules imposed on us by the professors. So I'd be mainly making it using 3D printing and laser cutting of MDF boards. I was wondering if there would be any recommendations as to what types of materials to use in that regard? I've heard using softer plastic would survive crashing better, but I'm worried about bending and vibrations, same as for the MDF boards.
So I was wondering if you guys would have any recommendations? I've looked at a few open source designs, notably the ones from TBS Source, but I'm still not that sure in which direction to go yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated!