Hero photo / render goes here
A light, modular mount for a Raspberry Pi and LiDAR on a compact drone frame, where the board is bigger than the space it has to fit. Validated with FEA before anything was printed.
The problem
The drone needs to carry a Raspberry Pi and a LiDAR sensor, but the frame is very compact:
- The Pi is significantly larger than the available footprint.
- There are only a few bolt points to attach to.
- The support structure and the areas where forces act don't line up, so the mount sees bending moments.
Requirements
- Rigid under constant motor vibration and the mechanical rotation of the LiDAR itself.
- As light as possible, because every gram costs flight time.
- Modular, with plenty of zip-tie slots and mounting options for wiring and future changes.
Design process
To addThe concepts you considered (sketches or early CAD), which one you picked and why. Explain how you dealt with the offset between the bolt points and the board.
Concept sketches / early CAD
Final CAD with dimensions
Analysis
My usual method is to print the part and test its limits physically. Without the components on hand, I validated the design digitally instead: I fixed the support points, applied the expected loads in SOLIDWORKS SimulationXpress and checked the stress distribution to confirm the mount could handle the job.
To addFEA setup (fixtures, loads, material, mesh) and the results: max stress, max displacement, factor of safety. What did you change after seeing the results?
FEA setup: fixtures + loads
Stress plot (von Mises)
Build and test
To addPrint settings and material, photos of the printed part on the drone, and how it held up in testing or flight.
Printed part
Mounted on the drone
Results
To addFinal numbers compared with the requirements, e.g. mass in grams, factor of safety, number of iterations.
What I learned
Digital iteration and validation pay off before committing to a design and spending more resources. FEA let me catch problems without waiting for parts or wasting prints.
To add1–2 more lessons, or what you would do differently next time.