Discussions

   The traditional heli wiki has a page on how to setup traditional heli. However it is very old and it talks of APM 2.X rather than the current PixHawk. I build a traditional heli and it fly’s pretty good. For other people who might want to build their own here is a short build log. This does not go in too much detail, so if you have any specific questions, I would be happy to answer.

    I must say that following the instruction I ordered a 450 size heli. However in hind sight I think getting a 500 size would have been much better. I would have more space to install the electronics. The PIXHAWK with all the accessories need quite a bit of space and 450 seems to be a bit small for it

    I used a 1 mm thick carbon plates to make box like structure to install the controllers. 30mm nylon spacer are used to build the box. For vibration damping I am using white foam from hobbyking. This works good for me as the log shows that the vibrations are within  2m/sec-sec  ( About .2 g) and I get good performance.

   My part list is shown below. As you can see, I used very cheap components and it works great. I was pretty sure that this cheap servo's would not give good performance, but they did.

HELI:
 http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__14516__HK450_CCPM_3D_Helicopter_Kit_Align_T_rex_Compat_Ver_2_US_Warehouse_.html
ESC:
 http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__48056__Hobbyking_YEP_40A_2_6S_SBEC_Brushless_Speed_Controller_US_Warehouse_.html
ESC programmer:
 http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__20698__HobbyKing_YEP_ESC_Programming_Card.html
Motor:
 http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__30673__Turnigy_Typhoon_450H_2215H_Heli_Motor_3550kv_450_class_US_Warehouse_.html
Vibration foam:
 http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__26456__Anti_Vibration_Foam_White_Latex_Foam_.html
Cyclic servo:
 https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=22529
Tail servo:
 https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=28113
DF13 cables:
 http://www.dx.com/p/red-pre-crimped-cables-for-df13-connectors-5-pcs-308164#.V6Ek1PkrJaQ
http://www.dx.com/p/black-pre-crimped-cables-for-df13-connectors-5-pcs-308162#.V6ElVPkrJaQ
DF13 casings:
 http://www.dx.com/p/flight-controller-series-apm2-5-px4-pix-df13-5s-connector-white-2-pcs-307344#.V6ElUfkrJaQ
1mm Carbon plate:
 http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__9781__Woven_Carbon_Fiber_Sheet_300x100_1_0MM_Thick_.html
30mm nylon spacer:
 http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__22737__5_6mm_x_30mm_M3_Nylon_Tapped_Spacer_10pc_.html

This is the rough sketch of the parts installed on the plates.

top side of upper plate:

top side of lower plate:

bottom side of lower plate:

I am running the ESC in governor mode and RSC_MODE in setpoint mode.

Initially I had installed the GPS/Compass on the bottom plate. However in the log I saw huge amount of noise in the MAG1. This was definitely due to main motor because the noise was only when throttle was high. So I moved the GPS/Compass away from motor on the tail and now there is no noise in MAG1. I can even fly waypoint missions and it works great.

Future work. I have a 50 size Nitro heli. Next project is to install PIXHAWK in it. Another blog coming up as soon as I am able to do it.