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
My current landing gear on my big quad are four aluminum strips screwed to the legs. They're sturdy as anything, although they don't really look that nice. I may go to something nicer-looking like what you have, however.
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 Michael!
Isn't that Gear a bit heavy for the F550? Mine is loaded with all kinds of modules, i.e. Fat Shark, 2 cams Ground Station Module, Can Hub, ... On top of that, I have an H3-2D Gimbal underneath this platform...
But all in all, I like the way it looks! VERY solid, for sure! I couldn't help noticing the Motors' wire colours. What kind (brand) of Motors have you got mounted on this? And what about the ESCs? What brand are they?
Regards,
Daniel.
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.