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I actually can not OS this because of US export restrictions on drones with over 60 minutes endurance. It's an unreal timeline that a garage-built drone using a $300 3D printer is export restricted.

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Tsung Xu

@tsungxu

Jun 9

Having no experience did not stop me from making a VTOL with world-class range and flight time, all in 90 days. This is the thing I'm most proud of building to date!

0:03 / 3:03

3:13 PM · Jun 18, 2025

209.2K

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Tsung Xu

@tsungxu

Jun 18

There's been so much interest in open sourcing the designs and print files for this. I would have loved to have seen how far people could have pushed the endurance on this or slightly modified designs. I suspect 5 hours+ would have been very achievable

And 220 miles (354 km) of range or more

I suspect many of the asks I had to open source where in geos with ongoing conflict or tension. My video was even featured on a niche Russian blog.

And to be super clear, I never shared any CAD files or print files with anyone. If an aerospace engineer with some UAV experience was motivated enough, they could build something better themselves, with even longer range.

Really appreciate this sentiment. Companies already are going all in on 3D printed airframes like Firestorm for defense. Think we'll see some for drone delivery soon using short chopped carbon reinforced filaments - fyi

@Keller

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R3PL1C8R Drones

@R3PL1C8R

20h

Replying to @tsungxu

Entire companies could have been started w/ your design as their foundation. But No. Even if there is some narrow legal path (and I think there is), it’s not worth the risk to you. They should make an easy way to legally share info with other US drone interests. China does this.

Tsung Xu

@tsungxu

20h

There's other point with the legal grey area David mentions. This VTOL had been shared a lot more than I expected. It's been picked up by 3D Printing Industry, Yahoo, MSN, Tom's Hardware, XDA, German, Japanese, Korean, Robotics Newsletters and many others. If I had done a

4.7K

Tsung Xu

@tsungxu

kids don't do this at home

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Denny

@dennythedev

23h

Replying to @tsungxu

> be Tsung Xu > learn and build a VTOL in 90 days > open source it > go to jail for violating national security Crazy time to be alive

I feel like this, along with the 250g FAA limit, are a double-edged sword in that effectively, civilian experimentation and innovation in drones is regulatorially prevented in the US. It can easily be seen that civilian use drones in other countries have been critical to the

Yes this is fair, though I can see the challenges because of the capability that you, I or any builder could have with some motivation and time to build a long range drone. Not sure what the middle ground is here tbh. But countries can be proactive in engaging with the

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Boxem

@Boxem

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Delete this post right now man

GIF

Do you have a link to this rule?

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Tsung Xu

@tsungxu

Jun 18

Replying to @OriflammeTech

BIS Commerce Control List 9A012 a.2 bis.doc.gov/index.php/docu a good overview here jrupprechtlaw.com/drone-export-c

Grey area, implications of the platforms end use plays a huge role, generally you should be fine but this is not legal advice. But technically if that rule was enforced, there's tons of projects/products that would be export restricted which are not.

Yes, though any shade of grey is not worth the risk though. Soon homebuilt multicopters will all be exceeding 60 minutes as well

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> be Tsung Xu > learn and build a VTOL in 90 days > open source it > go to jail for violating national security Crazy time to be alive

yep not doing that!

Maybe OS it with a smaller battery?

Tsung Xu

@tsungxu

23h

if that was the only change, way too many legal headaches to have zero risk of legal issues if actually changing airframe design, that's too much of a lift for the CAD equivalent of spaghetti code!

This is why the US is behind. Ridiculous restrictions making it illegal to do anything. You need to make sure non-citizens don't have any access, but then the gov sues you if you "won't hire" non-citizens. You are more likely to go to jail making drones than you are to get rich.

Yeah we should make it easier for grassroots innovation without fear of legal ramifications

I’m getting a Bambu A1 soon I know I’d love to try building one of these.

GIF

Centauri Carbon is even more OP for the price with 320 deg hotend, though idk about their experience and ease of use

Open source it with a smaller battery

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Tsung Xu

@tsungxu

23h

Replying to @coenhyde

if that was the only change, way too many legal headaches to have zero risk of legal issues if actually changing airframe design, that's too much of a lift for the CAD equivalent of spaghetti code!

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We open source weapons and firearms parts all the time, there is a supreme court case that covered the matter with some support. Its a 1A issue.

stick s heavy gimbal on it and you’ll be <60min

163

@r0b0t_sp1der

15h

Technically, almost all drones and definitely all of the stuff that rctestflight builds falls under some clauses for "guided weapons", due to range and controls.

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Mark Schmidt

@MarkSchmidty

You've got this backwards. You can, and should, open source it.

Kinzey Reeves

@kinzey_ai

20h

Very cool and congrats. Have you experimented with payloads and how much the weight affects the total flight time? You could open source the plans specifically for a payload that has a certain weight to sag the total flight time to less than 60 minutes. Little work around

We can do it in Canada.

You can do something like flightory.com, where you sell the design and assembly instructions. And if you have software then you sell it together. Basically call it "Kit"

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3D Printed RC Planes - Flightory

Your source for easily accessible UAV platforms. We specialize in 3D Printed Plane design. Find the drone that suits you, print and fly.

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Tsung Xu

@tsungxu

That would still make the print files available which is no bueno. Mo and the Titan Dynamics team also does great kits

Oriflamme Tech

@OriflammeTech

Jun 18

How is that calculated?

BIS Commerce Control List 9A012 a.2 bis.doc.gov/index.php/docu a good overview here jrupprechtlaw.com/drone-export-c

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that sucks, I was just about to look it up to tinker with what you designed.

Good work on an early effort. Very impressive.

As many commenters stated, you should release this work, start a crowdfunding campaign with 0 guarantees to supporters, use that money to hire a lawyer and they will tell you what you can and can't release.

Just replace the battery with a much smaller one and open-source the version with 30 minutes of endurance.

No way this is prima facie restricted -- endurance/range surely depend on myriad factors beyond the airframe

My intuition was Correct

Nooooooooooo

Can you send it to me? I am an American and I just want to build one lol

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Stick a smaller battery in it, such that it has a 45 minute endurance. Open source it. We all win.

perhaps you could open source one that doesnt have a $1300 battery in it

Just put a smaller battery in it ;) And open source that.

Grey af But you are incredible

sure you can

That's not how freedom works

What the fuck, watched the video yesterday and was impressed with the design. Hoped for some fusion/cad files, but I guess not. Stay safe

Bill

@RecursiveChange

11h

Half the battery size and OS it, let others fill in the gaps

Soul Evans

@ExTerMINater267

You can’t export the physical drone. You can post the documentation online for free on a forum. We then have the free ability to access that forum for that information.

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@Boxem

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It's your choice to publish your design or not but you should be covered by Bernstein vs United States if all you do is post drawings, specifications, CAD etc

Which restriction? Open source projects aren't covered by EAR as long as the distribution meets the standard of being a "published work" The only tech I'm aware of that individuals are not allowed to freely research and disseminate is nuclear weapons ("born classified")

For ESC heat dissipation, consider using the airframe for passive cooling in the future. Even with a carbon fiber frame, parts of the airframe exposed to airflow can be made of metal. However, this approach may be counterproductive in certain applications.

reduce battery size and use a slightly lower power motor such that endurance is less than 60 min and range is not beyond restrictions and opensource it.

The Engineer

@F1SaturnV

23h

If I had the time, I'd certainly design the model aircraft and open-source it. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time in the summer to. I'll make sure to include the electronics as well

Still very cool. I saw a short video of a guy who strapped a lightweight Super 8 camera to his racing drone with a wide angle lens for some dream-like aerial shots.

Kilian Hekhuis

@kilianhekhuis

44m

Well, you could open source *parts* of it, e.g. everything but the engine. Then you could open source the engine, separately.

Nail Garejev

@NAG3LT

13h

Reminds me of the situation with the US cryptography export restrictions, which had some very absurd parts until the late 1990-ies

en.wikipedia.org

Export of cryptography from the United States - Wikipedia

a name without special characters

@platosbeard69

17h

Those rules do not apply if it is not proprietary (as it would not be if you fully open sourced it)

司徒

@szetoinsitu

16h

Basically see the censored distribution of things right on the export limit. Like with a missiles and rockets, always just short of MTCR…

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How did you identify the export issues? I would not even know where to look for something like that

Medium Boss - 70b_Float16.Q8.gguf

@PopeUrban

20h

Sure would be a shame if someone "stole" your design and it was "discovered" on piratebay

YeeticusFlex

@YeeticusFlex

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Hoffman Tactical

@HoffmanTactical

Replying to @tsungxu

We open source weapons and firearms parts all the time, there is a supreme court case that covered the matter with some support. Its a 1A issue.

司徒

@szetoinsitu

21h

Just post the 50 minutes endurance platform and let everyone else make the logical upgrades?

D. G.

@Wingman4l7

17h

How much of the flight endurance is the plane design and how much of it is your use of an extremely expensive, top of the line battery?

C.W.Holeman III

@cwhiii

Reduce the battery to be within the requirements, the OS time.

Rusty Shackleford

@RstyShcklfrd556

All you have to do is put a tiny battery in the design spec. "Look it only has 30 minutes of power"

Francisco Cordoba

@fcordobaot

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Zapf

@ZapfLOL

How would this cause an export restriction? There are plenty of plans out their (and build lists, and frames all over) to achieve over 60 minutes with a standard fixed wing w/ or w/o a flight controller for the past decade.

Port Of Los Angeles Warns 'Difficult Decisions' Ahead As Shipments From China Cease

Port Of Los Angeles Warns 'Difficult Decisions' Ahead As Shipments

Perhaps you can dumb it down a bit?

Tien McCurry

@TankeryChan

Just make it use a smaller battery and a lead weight the size and weight of another object as a "counterweight"

This is so dope

This mindset only works in a world where USA is the leader. Because meanwhile chine sells you even cranes on AliExpress. God bless china.

Dr Whopper

@BKAngryKing

Just OS it with specs that include a small 15 min battery

Festering Corpse

@CatAsphyxiant

Drone export control is a losing battle. We don’t make most of the components for sUAS, you can’t stop that R&D from being done overseas where the components are made. It’s not much better than the USA telling people don’t make drones.