"Bo,
I have been pondering doing exactly what you are doing... I've been too busy to actually execute. In my research, I found a toy that operates on the same premise: the Air Hogs Switchblade.
You might find the link below to be…"
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Mike Thorlin
- Male
- Scottsdale, AZ
- United States
- Blog Posts (6)
- Discussions (10)
- Groups (3)
- Photos (26)
- Photo Albums (2)
- Videos (1)
Mike Thorlin's Groups
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X8
130 members
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Telemetry over cellular …
249 members
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ArduPlane User Group
691 members
Mike Thorlin's Discussions
APM2.0 5V power failure
Started Sep 23, 2012 0 Replies 0 Likes
So I think I did some damage to my APM2.0. Hoping I can get some good troubleshooting/repair advice here.I was installing an Ottopilot voltage-current sensor. As part of the calibration, I needed…Continue
Mike Thorlin's Page
Latest Activity
Mike Thorlin commented on Darrell Burkey's blog post Kangaroo Crash ;-)"That is awesome!!! You guys have huge rats in Aus...
I once crashed my Skywalker, after the crash, the camera kept rolling, as did yours. Nothing nearly as interesting, but I did catch two City of Phoenix cops who found the plane…"
Mike Thorlin commented on John OBrien's blog post Finally Got the maiden flight of APM 2.5+ done"Looks great John!
Where were you flying? I live in Scottsdale az well (Shea/Via Linda) I can tell it's in the general area, but don't recognize the roadway...
If you are interested in getting together for a flying day, let me…"
Mike Thorlin commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Moon Express team at NASA using ArduCopter as lunar lander testbed"Chris,
This is exactly the sort of thing that I mentioned in our earlier correspondence. While your products are looked at as the desired end result for hobbists, they are at the same time providing great tools for the professionals,…"
Mike Thorlin posted a discussionAPM2.0 5V power failure
So I think I did some damage to my APM2.0. Hoping I can get some good troubleshooting/repair advice here.I was installing an Ottopilot voltage-current sensor. As part of the calibration, I needed to read the ~5V input from the ESC to the APM. To do this, I just measured the voltage across the 5V pin and GND pin on the PWM output connections going to the ESCs. I made my measurement, it was 4.63V (odd, I expected 5V or slightly higher).Either way, I accidentally shorted the 5V pin to either…See More
Mike Thorlin commented on james sowell's group X8"HI Geoffrey,
I am going to take the same approach (for the Skywalker) that jim C took:
http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/uav-skywalker-parachute
His seems unweildy (strings/shock cord wrapped around the length of the fuse to avoid the…"
Mike Thorlin commented on james sowell's group X8"I want to do parachute recovery of my Skywalker and X* (when I get one)... I wish I'd seen the aerocon website sooner, I just bought a 58" parachute for ~$30... It's a good chute, good construction and material, but…"
Mike Thorlin replied to Joey Speranzo's discussion Foldable wings"Joey,
This project sounds like a lot of fun! Years ago there was at least one concept at NASA (or a NASA contractor) that revolved around deploying a UAV (they called them RPVs at the time) in the Martian atmosphere. It involved a…"
Mike Thorlin commented on Mike Thorlin's blog post Quadcopter Park Flight with video..."Dennis,
Thanks for viewing the vid. Yes, I'm using an APM 2.0, one of th early versions with the separate daughter board on top with the integrated GPS. So far I like it. I had previously mounted it to the quad…"
Mike Thorlin commented on Mike Thorlin's blog post Quadcopter Park Flight with video..."Hi Carl! Yes, I enjoy seeing videos of other Droner's regions... I especially like the videos I see out of Europe. I have decided to add a large piece of foam in the Aft area of the Quad, mostly for visibility, but also for…"
Dennis Baldwin commented on Mike Thorlin's blog post Quadcopter Park Flight with video..."Very nice. Aside from when you're maneuvering the quad around the vid looks fairly stable. Are you flying with APM 2.0?"
Carl La France commented on Mike Thorlin's blog post Quadcopter Park Flight with video..."Hi Mike Good to see you are back in the Air! What I like about FPV is I get to see what it is like in other parts of the world .I can see mountains in the background! I am not a Quad guy But There are people on here that might have some suggestions…"
Mike Thorlin posted a blog postQuadcopter Park Flight with video...
I took the quad out the a nearby park for a more extensive flight.All went very well, got 10+ minutes of great video. The quad was carrying a 5000mAh battery and my Contour video camera. I still am having difficulty identifying the orientation of the quad when it's quite a ways off, you can tell in the video where I am trying to establish which way a given control will move it. Alignment of the video camera was poor, it was a last minute strap-down with velcro and zip-ties. I'm working on a…See More
Mike Thorlin commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Finally: replace just the bent shaft, not the entire motor"I bent the shaft of a Detrum 810kV motor on my quad. I had decided to replace the motor but then, just for kicks, pulled the motor apart and attempted to straighten the shaft. I removed the shaft (tough to do, but i was able to push it out with a…"
Mike Thorlin replied to jbabio's discussion 2.4Ghz Xbee Pro S1 - Antenna replacement"I am also trying to replace an antenna on an XBee, but a bit different. I have a 900mHz XBee with the RPSMA connector. The RPSMA connector was torn off in a hard landing (crash) and the XBee is otherwise undamaged. I see a pad for…"
DeveloperMark Colwell commented on Mike Thorlin's blog post Skywalker Flight #4 - Resounding success...mostly
"Go for the 3DR they are great and have less interference to GPS, I have to keep Xbee Pro 900 6" away from Ublox. 3DR have adjustable power out for range testing."
Profile Information
- About Me:
- I am an engineer with 20 years experience in avionics, manned space, communications and defense projects.
- Tell us a bit about your UAV interest
- I have always been fascinated by UAS and unmanned systems in general.
- Hometown:
- Scottsdale, AZ
Mike Thorlin's Photos
Comment Wall (2 comments)
- At 5:45pm on May 28, 2012, Carl La France said…
Hey Mike How is the rebuild going? I know you probably have some thing in the works
Take care and have a good day!
Carl
- At 9:11pm on June 30, 2012, Mike Thorlin said…
Hello CarL... Apologies, I've been away from DIYDrones for a bit...
Still haven't fixed up the Skywalker. I was waiting for a new telemetry module. They are in now so it's just a matter of finding some time.
As I was waiting on the XBee module I decided to jump into the Quad Copter stuff for a bit - easier to jump outside to a park or the back yard for a quick test flight... If I wanted to fly the Skywalker I have to drive about 20 miles away and between that and the prep, it takes a half day.
Take care
Mike Thorlin's Videos
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Skywalker-PostCrash
Added by Mike Thorlin 0 Comments 0 Likes
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Skywalker-Flight#3
Added by Mike Thorlin 4 Comments 0 Likes
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Skywalker-Flight#2
Added by Mike Thorlin 0 Comments 0 Likes
Mike Thorlin's Blog
Quadcopter Park Flight with video...
Posted on August 18, 2012 at 8:30pm 4 Comments 0 Likes
I took the quad out the a nearby park for a more extensive flight.
All went very well, got 10+ minutes of great video. The quad was carrying a 5000mAh battery and my Contour video camera. I still am having difficulty identifying the orientation of the quad when it's quite a ways off, you can tell in the video where I am trying to establish which way…
Continue Stepped over to the other Dark Side... Quadcopters
Posted on June 30, 2012 at 10:00pm 8 Comments 1 Like
After the Latest Skywalker crash I decided that the build-fly-crash-build-(repeat) process was too slow, and I wasn't learning as fast as I'd hoped.
I'd seen an ad at Hobby King for $20 Quadcopter frames... sounded like a good deal and I already had a matched pair of motors/ESC and APM2 so I decided…
Continue Skywalker Flight #4 - Resounding success...mostly
Posted on May 13, 2012 at 5:30pm 21 Comments 1 Like
So my buddy Shad and I headed out to my flying spot to fly the Skywalker.
This time around I used my new roof-top antenna mount, with VTR and Planner PC mounted inside the SUV in the back seat. I found a mount designed for an iPad which worked to hold the ASUS tablet behind the passenger seat headrest. …
Continue Ground station antenna mount...
Posted on May 11, 2012 at 12:30pm 5 Comments 3 Likes
I had previously setup my video receiver and telemetry set on a tripod with a PVC "mast" to establish height and antenna separation. Xbee on one side, video receiver on the other. My ASUS tablet PC hung in a case on the cross-bar between the two masts. Video runs down to a Digital-8 video tape recorder, sitting on the ground because it's weight was difficult to balance on the wooden platform between the tripod and the PVC frame. Power is provided by an AC inverter in…
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Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The fourth round is an accuracy round for multicopters, which requires contestants to fly a cube. The deadline is April 14th.A list of all T3 contests is here.
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