Hobbyking X650F Glass weight reduction idea.

Hobbyking X650F Glass Fiber Quadcopter Frame - Weight reduction idea.

My hobbyking X650F has under gone several modifications since purchase, so there is not really much that suggests that this  is the initial purchased frame. The center plate and landing legs are what is left. The motor booms were fractured and have since been changed to these lighter A835 13 x 13 alu tubes and the motor mounts were changed to a more stabil alu mount. The original frame was quite heavy and flight time was approx 8 minutes with a 3s 4000 mah battery. With the newest modifications flight time was up on approx. 13 minutes. The two carbon tubes that carry the battery and the gimbal broke and rather than waiting 3 weeks for replacement 10mm carbon tubes i decided to buy two 100mm alu. tubes from the local hardware store. They are more reliable for carring FPV equipment, but noticed that the video feedback has som Jello, i dampened the motors, the gimbal but there is still some Jello present, maybe the carbon tube are better at absorbing vibrations, will have to order som new 10mm tubes and test that. The Alu tubes weigh in at about double the carbon fibre tubes, i have been using them for some time getting roughly 11 minutes of flight time on a 3s 400mah battery.

Home made alu. tubes from the local harware store, very stiff and reliable, don´t break or bend under crashes, but give you an addition 30 grams weight compared to carbon fiber tubes of the same length.

I then thought of a small idea to save alot of weight when not using my FPV/gimbal equipment.

I grabbed some excess 10mm carbon fibre tube and made 4 pieces of 40mm studs 

They weigh 8 grams in total.

I removed the alu. tube that supports the landing gear.

I used the four studs in place of the alu. tube

Mounted the landing gear again.

I guess that this will not take heavy crashes but we just saved 52 grams and got myself an additional 2 minutes on the same 3s 4000maH batteries.