Share your drone info thread

Gerhard Laubscher July 23, 2015 at 2:09am

Hi Group,
I admit, I am a new and a complete novice re RC and UAV, drones et al.
Reading a lot about drones, following all the internet discussions
and rc groups, I finally committed myself :)

I am technically/electronic-minded-abled person though :)

Herewith a summary of my components I have selected for my Quad Build

Air Frame : Tarot 650 Sport with Electric Landing Gear
Motor : Tarot 4114 KV320
ESC : HobbyWing Xrotor 40A
Prop : 15.55" Foxtec Brand
FC : Pixhawk (incl GPS, minimOSD, 433 telem etc)
Radio : FrSky X9D + (Taranis) > Mode 2 Receiver : X8R
Gimbal : X-CAM 3-AX
Cam 1 : FHD Tube cam for FPV
Cam 2 : GoPro Silver 4 recording
Vid TX : 5.8Ghz 600mW
Ground Station : Diversity 7" with DVR function
Batt : 6S 8000 25C >> Zippy, Gens Ace, Tattu, Turnigy nano ?? Any good??
(Power Module can handle up 30Vin,
with the corresponding V/I monitor values to interface with the PixHawk)

Application : Aerial Vid/Photo hobby interest

I will post pics once constructed.

On completing the construction,
I want to venture into configuring the X9D for the Quad.

Prior to doing any Flight configurations with the X9D,
my first attempt will be to configure the X9D to operate the Electric Landing Gear (ELG)
To boost my confidence?? :)

My thinking here is >>
To configure the X9D to operate the ELG,
I assume one select a switch eg SF, which is On/Off operation
opposed to SH which is Momentary?
(Or should one use a Momentary >SH< for ELG operation, I think not)
iow > using SF in one direction ELG retract (for flying), SF in other position ELG extend (for landing)
How do one configure that on the X9D, assuming assigning CH8 on X8R rcvr for ELG operation?

If someone has done likewise and is prepared to share their knowledge, I will appreciate it.
I have looked at many build-vids/how-to vids/ to broadening my knowledge,
to date I have been unable to find info to help me implement this basic function.

Any vid-links etc that you can point to will help me, I think.....

I realize with this question it shows my novice approach and newby status,
BUT if I can configure the X9D to perform this elementary Function,
see the ELG operating, it will put a BIG smile on my old whaSog!!....

Thank you once again for your valuable and knowledgable feedback.

Regards,
Gerhard

Cala > Gerhard Laubscher July 23, 2015 at 5:12pm

I don't have that radio but here you can see my Tarot if you want to take ideas http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/my-second-cuad-a-tarot-650 I'm not an expert but if I can help with another thing, I do it ;)

Paul Atherton July 20, 2015 at 12:20pm

I've been interested in building drones and RC in general since Xmas 2014 when I got a tiny Cheerson CX-10 bought for me as a present. Well, I'm a bit obsessive when it comes to new hobbies, so I ended up doing a lot of studdying on the forums, and built my first drone. It was a:

F450 clone frame
Sparky v1 FC running cleanflight
Turnigy Plush 30a ESCs and Multistar 2213-939kv motors with 9047 APC props
3s lipo

Looked like this initially:

Then I added landing gear and a gimbal:

and switched the configuration around a little, so now the FC was on top and the battery in the middle. I was doing this in readiness for my Pixhawk controller which was on order and knew that the Pixhawk was best isolated and up away from electrical noise etc. Well, the pixhawk (clone) arrived and I then had a bunch of learning to do about APM:

I soon learned that the Turnigy Plush ESCs flashed with BLHeli v12 didn't play well with Pixhawk (it was really random on power up which ESCs would actually initialise - due to new bootloader code in BLHeli), so I switched the ESCs for X-Rotor 25a and it flew quite well with no apparent issues.

Then I crashed! It was actually due to the PosHold doing a flakey and the copter deciding to go off flying by itself in a seemingly random direction! I tried to take control but not before it hit the deck and smasked my landing gear and the fibreglass mounts I had built to retrofit the gear to the F550 frame. So then came a new design idea!

I decided to build on an extra deck to the underside of the quad which would act as both a battery tray for 2x lipos, plus the landing gear mounts. This is what I ended up building:

Then I decided that the extra weight of the 2 x LiPos and this frame would be too much for the wee quad, so decided to go back to the drawing board with a new plan!! So the quad got stripped:

The plan was for more lift, so an extra 2 motors, ESCs and a F550 frame were ordered. I did some calculations and really needed 11" props. I knew the motors and ESCs were capable of pushing 11x47 CF props and providing enough lift for the 2 x 5800mah 3s Lipos along with the 3 axis gimbal and GoPro. I first experimented and ordered extended arms from HK. These were a disaster as they were far too weak - twisted under load, so instead I went for the standard F550 arms with CF extensions to make the hexa a 680mm frame. This is how it turned out:

I managed to crash this one too - it did a flakey on takeoff one day - the APM logs pointed at a failed ESC, and managed to trash the landing gear again, so bought some HK retracts and built new landing gear. One of the HK retracts failed after a few weeks, so I ended up buying yet another set of retracts, this time Tarot ones. These are much nicer and far smoother in operation than any of the previous ones I had. I then set to improving the gimbal mounting, so I could get the gimbal controller mounted more neatly. This is a bunch of pics of what I made and fitting the (X-Cam 3 axis) gimbal to it:

Much tidier job, but within 2 weeks the gibmal went faulty - still waiting for HK to replace it!

Anyway, the hexa flies really well. Its final build spec is this:

F550 Frame with extended arms - making 680mm frame
Turnigy Multistar 2213-935kv motors
Hobbywing 25a X-Rotor ESCs (running stock f/w)
1147 CF props
Pixhawk clone running Arducopter 3.2.1
90a Crius APM power module(feeding Volts/Amps to Pixhawk telemetry)
UBlox m8n GPS module
FrSky X8R Rx
Teensy telemetry converter running Wolkstein code and LUA scripts on Taranis Radio
MinimOSD
415MHz telemetry radios
Tarot small retracts
2 x 5800mah Zippy Compact 25c 3s Lipos
2 x 5000mah Zippy Compact 25c 3s LiPos
Custom battery tray/deck allowing 2 of the above LiPos to be slotted in place, with retracts attached plus 12mm gimbal rails and gimbal hanging underneath.
PWM->S.Bus converter allowing control of the Gimbal from either the main radio or a slave
Boscam 5.8GHz 600mW VTx

Some pics of final build:

After I finished this, I realy got the build bug! I started on my latest build a Tarot 680Pro. That will be another post!

Edit - I finished the tarot build and really this F550 is sitting gathering dust now, so I'm thinking about selling it. Get in touch if you want further info. Even though I have borrowed the telemetry radios from this hexa for the tarot, I have another set on order so it will be sold with 415Mhz telem radios plus the 4 x LiPos mentioned in the list above. The only thing it won't be sold with is the gimbal and associated electronics.

Gregg July 12, 2015 at 8:21pm

love the inspire, I also fly a kraken 1300 octo, TBs discoveries, one with long arms/long range,one with short arms, 3dr x8 mapping ship.

image.jpg

AlbEagle July 9, 2015 at 4:19pm

Here is mine:

FRAME: S500 Glass Fiber Quadcopter Frame 480mm - Integrated PCB Version - Weight

FC: HKPilot Mega 2.7 Master Set

ESC: Q Brain 4x25A Brushless Quadcopter ESC 2-4S 3A SBEC

MOTORS: Turngiy D2836/8 1100KV

PROPS: 10x4.5 SF

BATTERY: Multistar 3S 5200 Mah

TOTAL WEIGHT: 1780g.

FLYING TIME: 7 minutes fully loaded.

RADIO: Turnigy 9XR (with FrSky DF Combo for JR) - Modified as a ground station - See video here :)

VIDEO: SJ4000 + SkyZone TS353 5.8Ghz 400mW FPV Transmitter + SkyZone RC805 -5.8Ghz 8 Channel Receiver + MinimOSD

GIMBAL: 2 axis e-bay gimbal (planing to upgrade to 3 axis goodluckbuy gimbal with storm32 board)

RECORDINGS:

9XR RADIO AS GROUND STATION

FLYING FROM OUTSIDE:

PICTURES:

Happy flying to everyone :)

AlbEagle

DSC_0469.jpg

Oliver Wetmore June 28, 2015 at 10:42am

Hi

Strayed from the DIY approach and decided to buy a frame. This is the Aeroxcraft 670 quadcopter which is very sturdy and fairly light.

DJI Naza v1 flight controller with GPS

Turnigy plush 30a esc

Eflite 480 motors

HQ 11inch props (very good props)

3s 6000mah lipo (10+ mins flight time)

Quanum Q-3d gimbal with Gopro 3+

I will most likely migrate naza v2 equipment from my scratchbuilt hexacopter into this frame since I prefer its flight

characteristics.

20150628_191654.jpg

Scott Meese June 22, 2015 at 10:21pm

Hello everyone. Newish to this site, been the creepy troll reading all about quads and UAV's etc on this site of awsomeness.

Here is my current quad, tis nothing special. Using this frame because I may have broke the PVC setup I had.

Here's the specs:

Motors: DJI 2212 920kv

Props: Generic 1045 carbon fiber (amazon)

ESC: Generic 20a w/ simonk

Frame: HK Q450 V3 (DJI Knockoff)(very good frame for learning to fly. Actually crashed it and and it rolled across the field like a wheel.)

Flight Control: CC3D (don't judge)

Battery: Turnigy NanoTech 2200 3s 20c

Transmitter: Turnigy 9X v2 flashed with Open 9x and backlight. This made a pretty annoying controller into an extremely useable one. (no smarty parts, was brave and soldered the wires)

Current build (#2) is a wood hex 550 using pretty much the same hardware except it will have APM 2.6 clone onboard, as I wanted to go more autonomous flight to do fly throughs of completed construction projects. I plan on giving the booms a 4º incline for dihedral for more stability. Yes, probably overkill for flying a go pro around, but I have to convince my wife its not just another toy =)

quad plant.jpg

Alpha June 21, 2015 at 11:42pm

Nice Setup, what is the flight time ?

Paul Atkin June 1, 2015 at 1:30pm

Here is a system I was playing with for now.

It is based on the Armattan FPV v2 TILT frame, about of 350g. 'Tilt' part of the frame was ignored and replaced with a gimbal. Whole frame is a multi-plate carbon fiber construct that is able to survive a nuclear blast, if needed.

Inner frame cage part is mounted on 6 rubber bobbins and vibration isolated, FC sits on additional vibration isolation pad - was probably an overkill but works fine. Total cost of all parts in this pictured setup was under $500 including battery and GoPro, as that was the point - to see what can be done using cheapest parts available on Ebay and a solid indestructible frame.

Propulsion - DJI old red 2212 980kV motors, Mystic SimonK 30A Black ESCs, 9047 props, 5000mAh Turnigy 20C battery.

FC - APM 2.8, GPS/Compass - M8N, Taranis X8R receiver, Teensy 3.1 board for telemetry into X8R.3DR radio telemetry transmitter.

Simple cheap $40 gimbal from Ebay, GoPro 3 White, Boscam TS351.

MinimOSD was taken out due to extreme glitchiness and a practical lack of purpose.

Total armed weight of the build - 1810g, flight time with all systems powered up and GoPro filming - 15m20sec until battery goes to 3.5V per cell from 4.20v initial charge.

2015-05-31 11.04.32.jpg

2015-05-31 11.05.06.jpg

Shashikumar May 13, 2015 at 11:00am

hello guys,
i'm currently using APM v2.6 for my quadcopter. i have set the flight mode to stabalize and i powered up the copter. i was also able to arm the board (and the motors started to spin). but later even for the full throttle the copter is not able to take off the ground. i kindly request someone on this forum to help me out to fix this issue. plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

thank you

Share your drone info thread

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