My DIY frame for a H-frame quad I did it from balsa wood which costs me $10. There is 3 layers of balsa wood for body and 3 layers for arms. Layers are glued with carpenter glue. The weight is 1Kg with all included as motors/props, ESC, APM2, telemetry (XRF), GoPro w/case, 2200 3S Lipo.
No vibration (comparing to aluminum), no radio interference (comparing to carbon fiber), no weight (comparing to fiber glass).
The size is 19inch x 19inch.
Arms can be removed for transport. Each arm is fix to body with 2 screw/bold and velcro straps.
ESC are mounted under the airflow from each props for cooling.
GoPro cam is on the front and you can not see the props. The CG is under the APM2, since GoPro has the same weight with Lipo.
It is flying pretty stable and I do have like 9 min hovering with this setup.
I would remove the GoPro case (100g) and find a light case for lens only and add a gimbal for GoPro (+2 servos). All weight will be less than 1.2 Kg.
Adding the FPV gear (500 mW Video TX, OSD Remzibi, V-dipol DIY antenna and microphone) would add a few grams more.
Replies
look at the aerial pictures I did at 80m altitudes with this wood frame.
was easy to go at 100m, but 80m is better for panorama pictures and more "legal" :-)
http://www.aerialtasks.com/Photos.aspx?AlbumID=1
Yes! Wood is underrated as a copter material.
Is it just my imagination, or are your front props tilted forward?
Beautiful.
What are the dimensions of the balsa? Is that 3 strips of 1/4 x 1/2 for the arms? And your deck is maybe 3 inches wide?
Thanks...
Love it. Perfect combination of low and high tech to get something flying. Too many of us try to perfect the design and miss out on the important part of just go fly.
It looks birds like my QuadX H-Frame...
Enjoy...
Birds like my QuadCopter with APM2
See below link with a flight with this QuadX H-Frame with GoPro cam
https://vimeo.com/52821618
It is flying well, stable, I need to adjust some NAV_P for loitering, I did use the default parameters from MP Quad and then I did adjust some params. See attach file. I do not use sonar or optical flow.
Quad-X_H-Frame4.param
Very glad you are running now. Excellent!
One of our members is using Turnigy Plush ESCs but is having trouble with erratic front/back liftoff then crash.
What did you do to set the ESC up for use with your APM2?
-=Doug