RESTON, VA — Hold the chestnuts. We have freshly cut gimbal mounts “roasting” on our laser cutter. It’s a sure sign that our friends from the DC Area Drone User Group are making a holiday visit to Nova Labs for a group build of 6 hexacopter drones.

Ben Comstock solders bullet terminals on battery leads

Hobbyists and a few small business owners were on hand. The topic of conversation veered back and forth between the potential of low cost and open source UAV solutions and guestimations about how and when the FAA will implement much anticipated regulations that would legalize use of drones for commercial purposes.

University UAV researcher Christoper Vo assists with hexacopter build.

Other drone activity took on the fixed wing flavor. Aerospace engineer and our new Director of Business Development, Bo Pollett, recently fabricated a fixed wing airframe mold from foam on our Blacktoe CNC. Bo will mold carbon fiber over the foam to create a structural airframe.

An airframe mold is routed from a piece of foam.

The finished airframe mold.