SD1 1.6 Inch Drone
A 1.6-inch micro drone for a school challenge: the printed frame had to stay under 40g. Built with Fusion Generative Design; final PCCF airframe about 10g.
- Role
- Designer & builder
- Context
- School 40g challenge
- Constraint
- Frame under 40g — achieved 10g
- Tools
- Fusion Generative Design, PCCF 3D printing, 1.6″ micro platform
- Status
- Built & flight-tested
Problem & goal
See how far under the school's 40g printed-airframe limit a usable 1.6-inch frame could go — and do it with Fusion Generative Design, which is not the usual path for a student airframe.
Constraints
Only the printed frame counted against 40g, but on a platform this small every gram affects stiffness and mounts. Generative geometry also had to be printable and strong enough to fly — not just look good in software. Setting those loads, keeps, and manufacturing limits correctly is the hard part; the solver only works if the problem is defined well.
Process & decisions
I set the problem up in Fusion Generative Design, cleaned promising results for PCCF printing, and kept adjusting constraints when early frames came out over weight or too fragile once lightened, until the airframe settled around 10g and held up in use.
That workflow is what made generative design worth the learning curve. Instead of modelling one parametric frame a day by hand, I could explore on the order of 500 CAD candidates in a day, compare them, and pick the direction that actually earned a print — something that feels genuinely rewarding when you are chasing a hard weight target.
Result
The finished SD1 flies on that ~10g PCCF airframe, chosen from a large generative design set rather than a single hand-modelled shape. Flight footage, build photos, and an interactive CAD model are below.
What I learned
Generative design is powerful, but not easy: you still have to define the problem carefully. Done right, though, the payoff is speed — hundreds of options in a day versus roughly one if you build every candidate parametrically — and then the judgement to turn one of those options into something that actually flies. That made SD1 a useful counterpart to the hand-designed, CNC-milled MK1E.
Flight demo
SD1 micro drone flight footage (DJI). Videos stream from Google Drive.
Photos
Build photos of the SD1 micro drone and airframe. Swipe, drag, or scroll to browse.
Swipe or drag to browse photos
Airframe design — 3D model
Interactive CAD preview of the SD1 1.6″ micro airframe (STEP). Drag to rotate, scroll to zoom, right-drag to pan.