Ok, I have been working on this on and off since December.
My tricopter that I had before was a frame kit motors and esc's from Hobby King and flight controller is APM 2.6. Last fall I was flying it FPV at around 150 feet when my tail prop broke. Long story short, had to rebuild most of it so I decided to go completely different. I have always been a fan of the steampunk look so I started to design. I took my time and worked on it when I could so it took me a while to finish. I still have some finishing touches to put on it but its about done now. I have to run some tests and probably do some adjustments to the controller settings before I start flying it completely FPV but it should be ready soon.
The only parts left from my previous version not including the electronics are the aluminium arms. That's it. Every other part is 3-D printed ABS plastic. The yaw control is no longer at the end of the tail. It is now in the body and the entire rear arm rotates. The front two arms are set up with a quick release system to fold the arms back quickly and easily. The battery fits into the lower hull and has a 3-D printed cap on the end that conceals the wiring. The battery itself has a track frame that locks into the battery compartment.
All the pieces are attached by small set screws and can be removed quickly to get to the electronics. The balsa wood covering on the arms snap into place and are vented so the ESC's won't get too hot. The top is all balsa wood and the top sails are tissue paper coated with a clear coat.
I'm planning on putting a video up soon so stay tuned.
Scott
Replies
What an idea… looks really cool!!!
The next step should be a steampunk RC transmitter… :)
Keep on good work!
Regards
Adrian
Here is a couple of views of the yaw control arm. The whole arm rotates. The servo is built into the main body and there is a solid shaft running through 4 bearings. They are very rigid and there is very little stress on the servo. Its an experiment so we will see how it performs.
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Here are some views of the FPV gimbal. This is set up with the APM so that it is stabilized to stay level when moving forward and backwards. I didn't like looking at the ground when I was flying forward at low altitudes.
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Here are some views of the ESC cover.
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Here are some views of the battery compartment...
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