I have a DJI F550 Hexacopter, and I purchased the landing gear for it, and all the legs broke in just a few lightly hard landings.... those legs are way way way too fragile!!
So I decided to do my own DIY landing gear, and I am really happy with what I came up with :)
I went to Home Depot to look for some wooden sticks to make my landing gear, and I looked around and I was in the pipes area, and I found the perfect thing!
I found a Plastic Hose Pipe Splitter with the hole diameter perfectly matching the wooden sticks I found there (7/16 inch). So I purchased 12 pipe splitters (70 cents each), and 2 wooden sticks ($1.30 each).
The wooden sticks are very easy to cut with a cutter just cut a little bit all around the wood, and then just snap it. Very easy to repair the landing gear in the field, or even pre-cut some sticks and bring it with you...
So far, I had harder landings than the ones I had with the original landing gear, and my DIY landing gear still did not break.
What I like the most about this, is that it is easily removable, since the sticks go inside the plastic pipe splitter by force / friction, so there is no need for glue, or screws... easy to remove, easy to repair, also surprisingly light! and best of all... very cheap!
Replies
Hi Owen,
I was thinking to use aluminum also. I was holding in one had an aluminum rod, and another hand wood stick (the one I used in my landing gear), and the wood was MUCH lighter than the aluminum... Also, I was thinking, that the wood sticks are much easier to replace if broken... not that the aluminum landing gear would ever break... but I was also thinking that the wood landing gear might act as a bumper (equivalent to a car) so that the drone itself will take less damage in case of a hard landing. If I were to use aluminum, then it would transfer the forces to the drone, so I would rather replace/repair the wooden sticks than the drone... just a theory :)
Anywyas... can you post a picture of your landing gear?
Hi Daniel,
The landing gear is very light because the wood is light like a feather :) and the plastic pipes is light too... the black thing at the bottom is a soft foam used for pipe insulation, that is light too.... I don't have anything that I can measure weight in grams, but the whole thing feels light, so I am happy with that :)
The motors: NTM Prop Drive Series 28-26A 1200kv / 286w I hate these motors, the bearings on it break at the lightest crash, but I could not find any other motors that are 1200kv and also for 4 cell battery. I am flying my drone with broken bearings, the motors are more noisy, but it flies OK; I cannot afford to replace the motors every time I crash it. I already purchased 20 of these motors!
Battery I am using: Turnigy 5000mAh 4S 40C Lipo Pack
Propellers: 8x4.5 Carbon Fiber Propellers 1pc Standard/1pc RH Rotation
ESCs: NFS ESC 30A Multi-Rotor ESC SimonK Firmware (OPTO)
Since the ESCs don't have female bullet connectors, I removed the bullet connector on the motors, and soldered the wires.
Once I get the correct PIDs on it, and I can get the altitude to work properly, I will add the Tarot gimbal under it, with the GoPro, also, I will add the camera and transmitter for FPV at that time. But right now I am still trying to make it stable, and still learning how to fly it.... so it will be a while until it will be complete.