Cnc aluminium mastclamp

Hi, I want my mastclamp cnc milled from aluminium and I am looking for the best option. I searched on this forum for cnc companies and found “sunpe”. I did ask them for a price and that came out at about $360 included shipping to the Netherlands. I find this too expensive and now I’m searching for other alternatives. Maybe there is someone here that can help me? Best for me would be someone based in Europe because of import taxes. The parts that I need are the mast clamp (2 peaces) and a cone (between motor and prop) I have the drawings ready, in solidworks.

These are the parts that I need

have you considered the “lost shell” method? 3D pring with zero infil, then pour molten Alu into the mold to create? Ill send some photos of mine. We are trying it this week - should be a laugh

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have you tried 3Dhubs .com ? they have a online instant quote tool. You may then be surprised how Sunpe is competitive :slight_smile:

@Beninspain looking forward to see your experiment. Have you tried the lost shell method to cast a propeller ?

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Prop will be next. Ill video the process.

@Beninspain For nice blade surfaces, have you ever tried lost PLA in plaster in sand for an incredible finish quality ? It could be a one shot (no half molds) and propellers molded in a horizontal position as plaster is soluble in water as seen here:

Casting a prop horizontally seem very similar to this process: a hub (boss) with spokes (blades) …

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I gues you are right about this that there price is competitive. But I don’t like to spend like €400 (with tax included) for only a mast clamp. I can buy a foil for that as well. Maybe I will try the 3d printing trick with 0% infill and epoxy. But I just like aluminium parts and my 3d printer sucks .

Which motor do you have?
What would you be willing to pay for a mast clamp?

Have you considered Injection molded parts ? Might be useful if you don’t want to spend that much money on it.

I have the flipsky 65161 120kv motor and my mast is liquidforce. €200 is what I would spent as max.

I am not sure how that works? I always tought a mold would be expensive as wel?

They basically create a CNC mold of your piece and put the chosen material type in it at high temperature. Looks cheaper to me, because you won’t be using the CNC mill as much as a full CNC’ed part would.

Jezza used injection molded technology for his mastclamp.

@Jezza : can you confirm please ?

Edit : seems even cheaper than I tought. The alu piece also looks cheap to me…

Does fr has mast clamps for a liquid force mast as wel?

I’m running FR clamps yes (I had to machine an adaptor to the motor). I much prefer the Alu clamp as it grips the mast better and does not slip.

With Injection moulding its hugely expensive to set the moulds up. I have debated making some clamps from Delrin/Acetal for a while but just haven’t got around to it yet.

I think he does have a clamp for LF, but you would have to confirm with him.

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I guess I found that he has mast clamps. Can anyone help me how to order?

Give him a shout on facebook…

I have also been looking for tough pouring plastics that dont require injection moulding. These would work well for mast clamps and battery housings alike. Maybe even for props…

Do you have a picture of the adapter that you made? Was it for a flipsky motor?

Don’t have any pics, but it was for the same motor yes.