Description
- Are you a whoop racer looking for the sharpest performance without compromising reliability?
- Or perhaps a freestyle pilot that wants a robust frame with quick maintenance?
- Maybe you simply want a stronger alternative to those flimsy nylon frames to keep you longer in the air?
If you answer yes to any of those, then the Fractal 65 was designed for you!
— A little backstory —
The lifecycle of this craft started back in 2018 already, right around when brushless 0603 powertrains appeared and started looking like a solid next step in 65mm whoop class
Back then I entered the class with a UR65, and although it flew great compared to any other canopy whoop I’ve tried before, something was still off…
The nylon frame didn’t seem to hold up very well to the added weight and power from the brushless era design.
It needed to improve on 2 main factors; rigidity and weight.
So I went to work and came up with the first revision of the project, based on the CrazybeeF3 board and 0603 spinners.
Basically an UR65 powertrain on a carbon frame with individual ducts and 3D printed parts
And while it was great for my basher use, the weight, at 23g wasn’t quite up to my standard…so the project fell off, waiting for better hardware to support the idea…
For almost 3 years I kept flying the first revision occasionally until Happymodel released the right hardware that would make it all possible this time…
You may think there isn’t much to it, that I’m just pulling it out of my arse, but trust me, there is lots of R&D and testing that went into it; I wouldn’t have released it otherwise.
This frame was designed to the lightest it could, where it could, without compromising strength, where it needed it the most, in true aerospace engineering fashion.
here’s a little snippet of the FEA optimization I performed,
ensuring the stress gets spread out across the whole structure without concentrations
— So what about that frame? —
Remaining true to its original intent, the Fractal65 features:
- 65mm diagonal, squished X geometry, for 31mm props
- 1.5mm Carbon Fiber / Individual Nylon ducts hybrid construction
- Low-profile camera mount, no props in view, no tilt offset
- Low Center of Gravity, by bringing the AIO closer to the frame/motors
- Allows mounting with USB pointing up for easy accelerometer calibration
- No need for a canopy as all electronics are tucked safely between the ducts
- Maximum rigidity where it matters most; connecting the motors to the FC
- Easy maintenance, break one duct, replace only the single duct
- Lightweight, less than 19.5g with HM DiamondF4
As always, this is a project that I designed for myself first, that I put together in a product to share with any pilot that would like to experience the same level of requirements!
Designed with love, by a pilot, for pilots.
But don’t take my word for it, here’s what Team Pilot Glenn “Bellaciao” has to say about it:
I am using the whoop at Full Send FPV’s races every week. I’ve been finishing higher and higher, even got a podium the other day. It is extremely stable in flight, and working on it has been incredibly easy. I am surprised at how the flight controller has held up – it is more protected than I expected. Redpine is a dream. Putting an 85% throttle cap on it improves the battery vastly. For angle racing, the camera angle was too aggressive. After a buddy glued the camera to about a 30 degree angle greatly improved angle racing performance, at the cost of acro performance. I cannot state enough how much I love the flight performance, stability, and workability of this platform. I already am planning on building a second one to use as my backup racer, and want to use this as my racing whoop frame, period.
— What do you get? —
This frame kit contains everything you need to build your own craft, based off virtually any components.
I do however recommend a 4-1 AIO (FC/ESC/RX/VTX) to keep the part count to a minimum, but there should be enough room to stack a separate VTX or RX on top of the AIO
It has a 25.5×25.5mm mounting pattern for the AIO, and motor fixations for both 3xM1.4×6.6mm and 3xM1.6×5.5
The camera mount is 3D printed and universal – I will upload the STL and Step files so you may print your own spares or season them to taste 🙂
— Contents: —
- 1x Fractal 65 Base Plate
- 1x Nylon frame (used by trimming the ducts off)
- 2x Printed TPU fixations (camera, front and rear battery mounts)
- 14x M1.4x5mm steel machine screw for motors
- 4x M1.7x5mm self-threading screw for short board grommets
- 4x M1.7x7mm self-threading screw for long board grommets
Notes:
1-Only the frame kit is included. Full build pictures for reference only.
2-Due to continually ongoing development the actual product may differ from pictures.
— Video Reviews: —
Kyle I. (verified owner) –
I love my Fractal 65 build.
The fact that if you break a duct it doesn’t mean a whole frame replacement, Just get a new duct.
If you want a bigger battery holder just find or make one and 3D Print it out of TPU.
I snipped the three wires from the Caddx Ant Lite and three wires from the camera cable with AIO for soldering.
Just an amazing all around frame honestly, see the pictures of my build.
@kyleirelandtech
Fractal 65
Fractal Engineering – Fractal 65 – Frame Kit
Caddx Ant Lite FPV Camera (4:3)
Happymodel X12 5in1 AIO (ELRS)
A30 Female w/ 20AWG Silicone Wire 80mm
Fabric Tape Between FC and A30 Positive/Negative
RCInPower GTS V3 0802 22000KV Motor (x5
NewBeeDrone Azi Tri Blade Props 31mm (1.0mm Hub) – Clear
GNB 300mAh 1S 80C LiHV Battery (A30 Cabled) (x6)
Throttle Limit = OFF to Scale
Throttle Mid = 0.5 to 1
Throttle Epo = 0 to 0.7
Custom Battery Mounts;
https://www.printables.com/model/975859-fractal-65-modified-battery-holder-gnb-300mah-80-c
Brandon (verified owner) –
Kyle “King.Kieck” Kieck (verified owner) –
To be honest, I have little experience with whoops. But I can tell you that Injection Molded plastics is not the way to go for whoop frames. I ordered a mob6 with 2 extra frames. All 3 were warped in some fashion. I bought an F65 and couldn’t be more pleased. It lacks the flexibility of plastic frames, protecting components much better. I’ve also noticed there is less vibration while flying. Making the swap from a Mob6 to Fractal added less than a gram to overall weight and honestly the only noticeable differences in flight are more stable flight and video. I will be purchasing more from Fractal in the future. As for durability…common sense should tell you that carbon fiber is more durable. No plastic threads for your screws to strip out in a crash/repeated building, more rigid & robust, etc. I’ll just ask you this…In a sword fight, would you prefer a sword or a drinking straw?
LIam WillPowerFPV Wilson –
Absolutely love these frames! I’ve got 2x F65’s, 2x F75’s, and the Pro Max 75, and they are my favorite frame for freestyle. Its not even close. After years of flying 5″ school bus frames, the camera placement on the Fractal frames feels comfortable and familiar. Tough as nails! My routine throughout winter is to go down to the parking garage in my apartment building, setup pvc obstacles and BASH them into the concrete. I’ve only broken ducts so far, but incredibly, less breaks than on the meteor 65 frames. I use the meteor ducts to keep the props well below the ducts, thus completely protecting my motors from bent shafts. Also, well protected is my electronics and camera.
It’s not my favorite for racing due to the battery being below the motors, thus creating a pendulous effect and making precision turning less predictable, but for floppy floppies and, power loops and general freestyle, that actually becomes an advantage. The low resonance means I can run very aggressive tunes and very little filtering, resulting in an incredibly locked, smooth and powerful Ripper. My favorite setup is using the Diamond, Pinch, and 26-27000kv 702, HQ triblade 31mm whoop props, meteor 65 ducts with 2bstruts clipped per hoop, and a BT2.0 pigtail with folded cell 1s 300mah packs. Gary Kent’s Justice preset, Bluejay 48k and the Legend of Zelda theme startup. I get close to 3 min of flat out shredding. Great work, Yves! I’m a massive fan, and you’ll be getting lots of my winter whooping budget, even though these things never BREAK!! 😅🙏 🫡
Damien kinchen (verified owner) –
Neat little kit for your whoop. I didn’t have much luck with my mob6. I guess I may have messed something up making the switch. Doesn’t have much power at all since. In any case, it’s a neat little kit. Seems like it’d be pretty durable. Wish I hadn’t messed my aio board up. Lol
JB (verified owner) –
This 65mm frame and the 75mm are best in class. Low frame vibration meaning less filtering and super flight characteristics with a good tune. In terms of durability, great and I really like the flexibility of being able to change prop guards and the battery holder type from say a 300 to 450mA type back (No frame change). Overall, great frame and once you have one you are likely to ditch the all-in-one type plastic frames. My only reason for giving it a 4 and not 5 star rating is the camera mount and fixings. You do not have the flexibility of camera choices. Some cameras come with back covers and those that don’t risk damage to the components and shorts. To find and maintain a consistent camera angle is difficult. I have overcome this by designing my own mounts that fix both problems for me. I appreciate this will not be a problem for others and that it is personal choice. Finally, great frame, I am going to order more 65 and 75mm frames for other projects and to support the great work by fractal engineering.
Bonerfpv –
Easy build ans steeds as a rock, build the 75 and 65…..both on 1s and loving every minute with it.
Mouse of Madness (verified owner) –
I swapped over from a Meteor 65 and upgraded to NewBeeDrone Flow 0802 27000kv motors while I was at it. It already feels like it’s flying on rails compared to the previous plastic frame, and I’m trying to dial in my new rates to match the increased performance. Looking forward to seeing how well this combo performs in my first IGOW!
Jon Paul (verified owner) –
I prefer the 75mm Fractal frame for it is much more efficient, but for small homes like mine 65mm Fractal is easier to fly, smaller and slower, but more maneuverable ! Great indoor frame, great durability, does require a high end lipo like WeBleedfpv 300mAh gives 3 – 3 1/2 minutes flight time, most other batteries only get 2 – 2 1/2 minutes flight time… My best performing 65mm Whoop along with my 75mm Fractal whoop :-)))
SwingFPV (verified owner) –
I got my Fractal 65 built! She’s a great flyer. I opted for a BetaFPV FC,ESC combo and put in my own Crossfire and Unify Nano. This did make it a little chunky but not terrible. But I’ve had bad experience’s with Happy Model AIO’s so I’ll take reliability over the extra weight. Flight Times have been around 3 and half to 4 minutes. Which is about typical for whoops anyway. I also went with BetaFPV’s Meteor Pro ducts which allows for a 35mm prop. Only problem here is the camera mounting. I solved that with a extra BetaFPV 75 camera mount which puts it above the FC. Excited to get some more Stick time with this dude and post some DVR. Granted if I get to race this I’ll have to change out the props to 31mm.
Ewiley (verified owner) –
Fantastic frame for indoors and even outdoor flying freestyle, racing, or just chasing the cat around the house. Razor sharp maneuvering and incredibly durable, with a very well thought out design
My build is here: https://rotorbuilds.com/build/30533
Thanks for making such an awesome frame!
Ramocolypse (verified owner) –
An awesome frame that you can build how you want and it is light enough and durable enough to do it. And it flies amazingly.
Jimi King Lucid FPV –
Loving this little ripper so far!! I can tell this will be my main racer once I get it tuned up!! Already flies like a dream with my rough tune on it. Loving the durability and the weight I’ve smacked into several walls and it just bounces right off and kees going!! Also lighter than most of my race builds to date!! Great work Yves!!
Fredjauzion (verified owner) –
I bought this frame cause his durability. And had some parts i’d like to re use… Flywoo AIO, versatile, flywoo nano cam, 802se 19500kv motors. With a happymodel erls nano received, it’s 20g. Some flight today and great on stock rate… Have to go further in tuning.
Great product !
Wes “intrspool” Minor –
This frame flies great and is extremely durable! Very modular as well. I decided to make mine a pusher, and started with a canopy, but after a couple races decided to change some things to lighten it up. Came up with a modified version of the normal camera mount and closer to the factory design. Currently have two 65’s built and now on to build the 75’s! Highly recommended!
Collin Walsh (verified owner) –
This frame is incredible. The drone flies like it’s on rails. I’ve had a blast with it indoors and outdoors. If your looking for a drone that can take a serious beating, then this is the tiny whoop you should be flying. The fractal 65 has seriously been the most fun I’ve had since I started this hobby. Yves has found the perfect balance between strength and durability for the frame, not to mention his unparalleled customer support. All said, I love the Fractal 65. I hope you have a chance to experience the best tiny whoop I’ve ever flown, you won’t regret it.
Keep up the great work Yves.
Drone On (verified owner) –
Great frame system and the weight stays low! Very durable. A quality frame.
Heads (Infinity Loops) (verified owner) –
I bought this frame kit for a few reasons. Firstly, this thing is durable. Designed to take a beating, but done elegantly. I appreciate the time it must have taken to torture test this frame. Second reason, versatility. I like to play around with different builds a lot, 1s, 2s, toothpick, ultralight. You name it. This frame offers a few different options as for building it out. So far i have really enjoyed this frame. I’m on my 3rd build on the original frame! Amazing work done at Fractal Engineering.
Pretty Fly for a White Guy FPV (verified owner) –
This little carbon fiber frame takes a beating. I prefer it over plastic frames because it prevents frame twisting and having unwanted flight inconsistancies and camera angle changes in crashes.