Hey guys,
I just wanted to share with you a little about my most recent project. I've been into RC for about 20 years, and have flown everything from helicopters (gas and electric), high wing trainers, 3D, pattern, pylon racers, EPP, SPAD (who remembers that craze!), gliders, giant gas....
More recently I've really got into multi-rotors (as a platform for autopilots). My first was an AR Drone made by Parrot. Whilst this does everything you want, it's not very satisfying as it came complete (at least for me, I can fully see the appeal to others).
I started looking around for a suitable platform and that's when I stumbled across the latest 3DR offerings. It was reassuring to find a company that had been created from an opensource community and was flourishing. It was also great to see the development of the kits and the quality offered.
I ordered the kit a little over 2 weeks ago and consistently followed my order status to see when it would ship. It did say "ready" for a number of days, so I decided to follow up with 3DR to see when they expected it to be dispatched. A very polite gentleman helped me with my enquiry and I was told that it would ship in 3 days. At this point I'd already seen some of the poor reviews that some have been posting about 3DRs service so I was a little skeptical.
To my surprise (and delight), 3 days later I received a shipping notification that the kit was on its way! This came complete with the FedEx tracking number (which I would be sure to immediately punch into the tracking app on my phone and continue to look at every couple of hours for the next 2 days) :)
The kit came in a very small box and I figured there would be something missing. I was reassured to see that it was just packed extremely well and everything was intact and accounted for. Then came the build. Initially I had feared that it would take days and that I wouldn't have everything I'd need. To the compliment of 3DR, the build only took 4 hours (from opening the box to firing up the motors etc). The instructions were extensive and the website was invaluable.
On a side note to anyone looking at purchasing one of these. Make sure you read through the website pages on the building etc before starting on the kit. There are some great tips (like not fixing down the ESCs until you test the motor direction) that if you don't follow; you may end up taking a few steps back to go forward.
All in all I've been really happy with the build (although routing the wires and mounting the ESCs were a pain). It all worked well. I'm sure there is a better way to route/attach the ESCs so if anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.
The copter is ready to go and I just need to wait for my battery to arrive and it will be good to fly. I've set it all up on an old 2.2Ah 3s but it doesn't have enough punch to get it off the ground (it's a really old abused battery). I have a 4.5Ah A-Spec Turnigy NanoTech battery on the way that should do the trick :)
I did try with the old 3s but at max throttle, the battery voltage dropped to 9.9V @40A and it was going no where!
I'm using a Hitec Aurora 9 as it is the most flexible when it comes to channel assignment. Getting the 6 modes was a little bit of a pain but a small science experiment soon resolved that issue. I also have a lightweight CF roll/tilt camera mount with a 900Mhz video transmitter to fit. I want to take it step by step so once I'm comfortable with the flying characteristics and modes, I'll strap on the camera really have some fun :)
There's a few more photos in the album below if anyone is interested.
On a final note, I've been playing with autopilots for the last 9 years and I have to say that the maturity and quality of the ArduPilot (including the excellent ground station), is the best I have found so far. I have a background in electronics and software and understand just how much work has gone into a product like this.
So... A big thanks to the community, keep it up guys! I'm really hoping to get some more free time soon and begin to contribute.
Comments
On another note, I'm pleased to report that I had my first successful stabilize flight tonight. I had attempted this yesterday but broke a prop.
Yesterday I took the Y6 outside and there was a fair amount of wind. I "believed" I could handle this as wind doesn't normally affect my flying... foolish boy. Anyway, suffice to say the bottom front right motor dropped on a couple of the flights and the copter fell out of the sky. I spent lunchtime looking through the logs and plotting graphs but nothing was making sense. I replaced the prop and tonight in the basement* had a successful stabilize flight :)
I'm not 100% certain that there isn't a problem with the bottom right front motor. It takes a little more throttle to spin up from cold (than any of the other motors) and I suspect the bearings are bad or the shaft was not 100%... we shall see. I measured the temperature of all of the motors and ESCs after the flight and that motor had the highest temp.
Even so, when in the air the Y6 was surprisingly stable and it was a pleasure to fly. It's not quite as stable as my AR Drone, but I have the sonar sensor and optical flow sensors on the way.
The best bit about it is the noise :) It sounds amazing with all 6 props spun up!
* I really do not recommend flying large RC vehicles inside! I took great precautions and have flown many other helis in the same space.
Gecko, you can test it for yourself.
Go into ESc calibration mode
LEAVE the throttle high.
If it goes into programming mode, thiose are NOT SimonK.
*Programming mode is entered when the following tones are heard. ** ** ** **
Hey Mike, there was a note in the kit saying the ESCs were direct replacements and not the ones featured on the site due to a delay in their delivery. I therefore presume that the replacement ESCs come with longer wires.
Hey Justin, as long as you read all of the instructions it seems to go very smoothly... like always though, measure twice and cut once :)
I didn't end up with any additional pieces. Actually I have to say that I was extremely impressed by the little piece of paper that detailed exactly how many additional nuts etc were included in the kit.. I always get paranoid when I have a spare nut/bolt :)
One quick question, can you confirm that the ESCs are running SimonK firmware?
Are you using ESCs from the Y6 kit? My power cables would be too short to secure the ESCs to the arms, I believe. I'm glad you've got yours together and working. Enjoy
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