0.60λ Σ/Δ pair on a 15" quad — braced mount
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8-strut braced — redundant / fail-safe, ~371 Hz
green FR4 · orange copper · grey ties cross each boom · tan Ø5 rods splay to
the CF frame · cyan wall-diagonals lock YAW, the DF axis:
4 radial rods leave yaw an unconstrained mechanism the 1.6 mm board can't hold
(steep rods react ~94% out-of-plane onto a board ~1300× too soft) — the diagonals
react each node AXIALLY → stiff in all 6 DOF (~370 Hz, above the 2P prop band).
8 struts = fail-safe. The BEST minimal 6 is an octahedral hexapod on a 3-POINT
kinematic attach (1 on the reflector-tie mid-span between the boards, 2 on the dir1/dir2
tie at the boom bonds; base triangle anti-aligned on the plate): a yaw torque puts ZERO
out-of-plane force on the board (carried in-plane, the ~90× stiffer direction) and
3-point support can't warp the boards — BUT the reflector rear corners end up ~200 mm
from any support and droop 0.66 mm/g flapping at 24 Hz, so the amber G10 REAR
SPAR (15×5, full width) + RIBS (12×6) are part of the design: board modes
24→44 Hz, sag →0.04 mm/g, +110 g — then it beats the 8-strut on every
stiffness number, at the price of NO redundancy (determinate = collapse on one
strut/bond loss). Stiffener PLACEMENT is RF-driven (FDTD @0.60λ): a spar along the
reflector line costs 0.40 dB Σ F/B, so it sits at the board REAR EDGE (behind
the reflector copper) and the ribs at the OUTER spine edge, ~10 mm off the feed
slot — measured cost ΔF/B 0.05 dB. Splitting the rear point into two (4-pt, 6 struts)
fixes the droop without a spar but leaks in-plane loads out-of-plane at the un-paired
attach points → ~23 Hz coupled sway; V-pairs at ALL four points = the 8-strut.
Beam fires +x.