DaVinci Aerial Screw

I've wanted to try building this 500 year old helicopter design from Leonardo DaVinci's inventions for a very long time. The picture below is my own quick sketch of what it's supposed to look like.



Or you can look at the real thing on the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_inventions_of_Leonardo_da_Vinci

As you can see, I've used the "H Frame" which we 3D printed for the Royal Institution "Coding for Year 9s" workshop. Unfortunately, I only had one of the original HubSan quadcopters with the less powerful motors available, so the weight was a bit of an issue. It came out at 42g, but with the bigger motors it should be a lot more powerful and spin the aerial screw faster. As it is, I would still consider that a scale speed as a person standing on the platform and turning the screw with the handles isn't going to turn it any faster. Certainly not fast enough for the thing to actually fly. And just in case you're wondering, yes, it really is held together with sticky tape.

I think that counts as a successful prototype as it proves that the aerial screw can be made to work and that you can build a highly original quadcopter that doesn't have to look like a carbon framed killing machine straight out of a Terminator film. The next evolution is going to be made from wood.

More information on the building and flying can be found here: [flightpad]