Comments

• Adric Landman February 11, 2013 at 2:16am

  Thanks guys for organising this I had a great time.  It was great to learn from you guys and hopefully I will be flying next time I see you all again. 
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  Michael Johnston February 10, 2013 at 7:55pm

  Good success and learning yesterday guys.

  With respect to the next challenge.... I'm working on straight down aerial photography as the next project with the Flamewheel quad.  A handy how-to intro for UAV photography can be found at

  http://conservationdrones.org/hardware/

  scroll down to the section about cameras.

  Stitching of photos can be undertaken using dronemapper or Microsoft ICE amongst others.

  And Tim - the link to the landing gear is

  http://www.centuryheli.com/products/productdetail.htm?prtnm=HWC2008...

  MJ
• Tim Wilkin February 9, 2013 at 7:56pm

  So, just back in from the field where the 2nd Melbourne group fly-in was held at Deakin Uni's Burwood campus...

  We had 9 along for the fun, of which 3 were my colleagues/students. It was good to meet new faces (Matt, Adric and Karl) and catch up with David A and Michael again.

  The objective for the day was autonomous flight and we had several copters achieve this goal, so well done to the team. We learned a lot from the experience, including a few interesting things about what happens when you mix a quadcopter, a 25 kph gusty wind and autonomy. Thankfully everyone took a flying quad home, although there was some field work for 2 quads. Dave provided what I think was the most spectacular crash (a cartwheel) from loiter mode that went awry (we're still trying to work out what caused it). What was was so amazing was that the only damage was a broken prop... that 3DR version C frame is "robust"!

  We did manage to capture some video from the day, including a jelly-like capture from one of my auto flights. My micro-HD video just isn't up to the vibrations put out by the j-drones frame/motor setup.

  On that note though, I had previously had a lot of problems with loiter/alt-hold which my investigation put down to vibration. Some decent damping (in the form of earplugs deployed as APM mounts) and performance of APM 1 (rev 1.6) running 2.8.3 firmware (iirc) was quite impressive. In a gusty wind it was able to hold a loiter inside a 3m radius waypoint for some time. If you haven't set up your APM with vibration damping, I highly recommend it!

  We also had a quick discussion at the conclusion of the day and the aim of the next meetup will be aerial photography/vision/fpv and sometime around mid-march... more details to come.

  Thanks to everyone that came today and made it a very enjoyable day and congratulations to those (including me) that achieved their first fully autonomous mission with their copter.
• eddy niaz February 5, 2013 at 11:55pm

  Hi @David Anders: we have 20A SKF ESCs in stock, which are identical to 3DR ESCs, however they come with the SimonK Firmware pre-installed. For more info please visit: http://www.baskindustries.com/aerospace/store/products/20a-skf-esc.php

  Cheers
• Moderator

  David Anders February 2, 2013 at 9:37pm

  I think you're certainly right... Geez...  I might have to move - not sure I like that at all. (:  I said hello to someone in the lift the other day and they looked like I was speaking in another language.  Maybe I should have!?
• Tim Wilkin February 2, 2013 at 7:49pm

  I think it's definitely the Prahran area... I worked there for several years and you got used to the "types" that floated in and out.

  Perhaps it's a sign though, that people are so blaze to new tech now that someone holding an over-sized electric egg beater and grass cutter is just "normal"?
• Moderator

  David Anders February 2, 2013 at 5:51pm

  I replaced the motor and whilst it's moving a little better, it's still not all that good.

  Dave S, do you have some 3DR ESCs in stock?  I suspect that might be the next troubleshooting spot.
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  Phil Gordon February 2, 2013 at 4:01pm

  True Dave. Lived in Prahran for years mate so I know all about the nature of people.
• Moderator

  David Anders February 2, 2013 at 3:47pm

  Ha!  I'm sure it would.  It wasn't so much a comment of people look at my quad, it was more an observation of people's nature since being in Melbourne.  Interesting none-the-less.
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  Phil Gordon February 2, 2013 at 2:45pm

  Next time Dave have it hovering in the lift.

  That will get their attention.