Wooducopter
The end of my most successful flight yet was in the form of a crumpled, standard Arducopter alumiminium frame. It was awesome, I've never gotten such a thrill out of 'disaster' in my life, because it marked the highest point of a long newbie journey for me - I flew for ten minutes with relative control. So I had a huge smile on my face as I bundled up the pile and scuttled home.
Fortunately, nothing was damaged beyond the structural - props, arms and motormounts all took a hiding.
Last month I bought, as a sidethought at the hardware, some 10x10mm wood - with vague fantasies about building David RCExplorer's tricopter with an HK KK Blackboard (I still want to do that, it's such a simple, elegant craft). In the meantime, however, I have used it to make Wooducopter. The only other variant is I went from + to X formation, mounted the motors directly onto the arms and started looking at GoPro attachment ideas... first thing is to see how it handles the Pinnochio treatment. Will it fly true? I'm a mere prop-balancing away from finding out how it likes being wooden and eversoslightly slimmer, motor to motor.
Any bets?
And yes, I know I'm a slob!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gareth Rens on -
Dude, your desk is cleaner than mine ;)
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Permalink Reply by Maki, Eric J on -
yeah, right! You can see bench in there! I wonder if I still have one under all this stuff...
Wood generally has some really cool tensile/compressive characteristics as well as shock and vibration absorption that makes it a great material for all kinds of stuff. The only problem is the random nature that the grain throws into the mix. Yours looks cool, I like the simplicity and if it flies it must be a winner!
On landing gear- After realizing that I don't land so well, I have been on the quest for non-bouncy, lightweight, resilient landing gear that can be replaced at the hardware store. I just cut five short pieces of soft foam rubbery pipe insulation and stood them on end under my quad glued on with a smear of 3x polyU foam- I really like it. I can drop my quad from above waist height and it bounces once, then its perfectly level again. hehehe... I need idiot proof landing gear- this seems close. I tried the curved spring wire idea, not impressed.
I like the way you fly Nick! Sounds fun... to watch :)
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Permalink Reply by Nick Mann on -
She flew well! Needs quite a bit of tuning, but it's a good frame. Broke one arm, of course... but I have more dat wood. And I'll now get a load more and spend an afternoon making a million spare arms. And maybe some different landing gear. Was using the jDrones plastic legs, cut in half. Think I might be better off with something in the 'bowed-wire' category.
Anyways, wooducopter flies. I even did an upside down recovery today, which was pretty exciting, heart racing as she fell upside down and I just hit the throttle and watched her right herself and GO, a foot off the turf! Didn't catch it in time for the next one, though... hence the breakage. I am a slob and a hoon and a vandal. And it makes me happy.
This is excellent. Two days to a quiet one, windwise, in this windy city of Perth, Western Australia. I will be ready.
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