Discussions

I throw myself upon the masses for a suggestion on this one.

My box 'o stuff from Hobbyking arrived today. Cables, connectors, ESCs and oh so shiny motors... however in my zeal stick too closely to the C in QSC (quick, simple and cheap), I seem to have erred severely in my motor choice. I suppose that it's a problem inherent when you decide not to buy a kit. You risk a certain amount of trial and error when trying to collect parts and bits that all fit and play together nice.

The picture at left may seem to be upside down, but then again, it seems my motors are too. The shaft comes out the base of the motor that thought would simply bolt on to the platforms at the end of the arms of the frame.

A set screw and C clip hold the shaft in place in the motor. However the flat part for the set screw, and the channel for the C clip make it so that the shaft simply cannot be pushed out the other end. I could, but then there would be nothing physically holding the shaft in the motor. My sense of self preservation tells me it probably be a really really bad idea to mount the props of a multi rotor on to unsecured motor shafts. I'm seeing some very dim options to solve this one, and cheap is definitely going to lose a little ground here.

• I could attempt to return the motors to Hobbyking, which is a terrifying prospect. I have no idea how well they deal with returns that fall into the "this customer is a moron" category.

• I could have new shafts machined that would come out the right end. I have neither a machine shop, nor any friends, acquaintances or enemies who have access to one.

• I could over-engineer new motor mounts, and mount them from underneath the arms of my tri. The risk of having things come out too fragile out of place seems pretty high on this one.

And so, I throw myself at the masses, wondering if anyone else out there has any brilliant and simple ideas. In the mean time, me and my fledgling tricopter are going to sit in the corner with a suitably stupid hat on.