What's the best thickness plate for a small drone?

[lo_0l]

I'd like to build a small drone. What thickness of carbon fiber plate should I be looking for?

[lo_0l]

I don't know, but @John Kimball might!

[John Kimball]

Just like all materials, this would depend on the weight of the drone and how much lift it needs. If you are replacing an aluminum plate, you can use the exact same dimensions as the plate, but a carbon fiber plate will be 2x lighter and 5x stiffer than the aluminum plate. That said, you can then decide to use a thinner plate to reduce weight even further, but still maintain adequate stiffness. The only drawback is that there will be a minimum thickness to create stiffness. For example, you can not use 1 ply of fabric to create a stiff plate. The stiffness will increase with each additional ply added.

All that being said, A small drone (about 6" main body) should be able to use a 0.0625" plate, while something larger may need something thicker to support loads.