AOS UL8 V5 Frame
Status: ordered (CNC Drones) — 2026-09-03
Designer: AOS RC (Chris Rosser)
Buy (cut-to-order): CNC Drones — AOS UL8 (~$128)
What it is
The AOS UL8 V5 is an 8″ long-range quadrotor airframe. It is the mechanical backbone of this build: arms, motor mounts, stack mounting, and camera cage.
Key traits:
- Props up to 8″
- Flight-controller stack: 30.5 / 25.5 / 20 mm
- X-Cell soft-mount (anti-vibration) for the stack
- Motor mount diameter ⌀16–19 mm (fits F100 2810)
- Frame weight about 227 g including hardware
- 7075 aluminium cam cage
- CNC kit does not include TPU/3D prints — print those yourself (or buy from Rotor Waypoint / Brain3D)
Why we chose it
We need a proven 8″ long-range frame that cleanly fits a full Holybro Pixhawk stack, not a freestyle toy frame.
- Designed for efficient cruise and payload headroom on 6S / 8S class builds
- Official stack sizes match Pixhawk 6X Mini (30.5×30.5 mm)
- Soft-mounted stack helps IMU quality for ArduPilot
- Cut-to-order carbon from CNC Drones is a known, repeatable source
- Cine variants (UL8/UL10 Cine) were skipped: a BMPCC 6K is out of scope (too heavy for this platform)
Motor choice: T-Motor F100 2810 1100KV (ordered) — AOS match for 8″ / 6S. See 15-tmotor-f100-1100kv.
What we are building
This frame becomes a long-range ArduPilot Copter on Xenobyte:
| Layer | Choice |
|---|---|
| Airframe | AOS UL8 V5 (this part) |
| Autopilot | Pixhawk 6X Mini + PM02D |
| Positioning | Micro M9N + H-RTK F9P Helical (dual GPS / RTK path) |
| Low-speed aid | H-Flow (optical flow + rangefinder) |
| Avoidance | LDRobot LD-06 360° LiDAR |
| Radio | RadioMaster TX16S MK3 MAX + XR4 ELRS |
| Power / props | 6S2P Li-ion · F100 1100KV · Pacer 60A V2 · HQProp LR8×4.2×3 |
Goal: a reliable outdoor / beyond-visual-line-of-sight-capable research and mapping-style platform — not a cinema drone.
Specs (short)
- Props: up to 8″
- Motor mount: ⌀16–19 mm
- Recommended motors (AOS): 2808–3210 @ ~1100 KV (6S) / ~825 KV (8S)
- Frame weight: ~227 g incl. hardware
- 3D prints: not in the CNC kit
Sources
- Official design: aos-rc.com — AOS UL8 V5
- Fabrikant: cncdrones.com — AOS UL8
Related
- Cine variants (not ordered): UL8 Cine / UL10 Cine — only if a much lighter camera is added later
Decision report
What it is
AOS UL8 V5 — 8″ long-range quadrotor-frame (Chris Rosser / AOS RC), CNC-cut via o.a. CNC Drones. X-Cell soft-mount, 30.5/25.5/20 stack.
What it’s for
Mechanische basis: armen, motorsteunen, camera-cage, stack. Gericht op efficiënte 8″ LR, niet cinema-Pocket 6K.
Our choice
UL8 V5 (niet Cine) — past Holybro-stack + LR props; Cine/UL10 te zwaar voor deze missie.
Alternatives (approx. prices)
| Alternative | ≈ prijs | When |
|---|---|---|
| AOS UL7 V5 | ≈ $110–130 | 7″ props, iets lichter |
| AOS UL10 V5 | ≈ $140+ | 10″ / zwaardere lift |
| AOS UL8 Cine | hoger | BMPCC/FX3 — out of scope |
| Generic 8″ LR frames | ≈ €80–150 | Minder documentatie/tuning-guides |
Online tests & reviews
- Officieel: aos-rc.com UL8 V5
- Fabrikant: CNC Drones AOS UL8
- YouTube: AOS UL7, 8 and 10 V5 Build Guides (Chris Rosser)
- Blog Cine-variant (ter contrast): Unmanned Tech UL8/UL10 Cine
Photos
