Developer

ArduIMU Quadcopter part II (mini)

Hi all,
I have finished my second quadcopter with ArduIMU. This time is a "mini" version with only 28cm from rotor to rotor and has the new Jordi´s magnetometer integrated!.
This tiny machine is fantastic, with a great stability. Look at the hands-off part of the video inside house!!
Very funny :-) Video:


Specs:
Motors: 1811 2000Kv 10grams brushless motors
Props: standard 5x3
ESCs : Turnigy 6A
Batt : 2S610 Lipo
Weight (RTF) : 180grams
Again it´s a very cheap and easy setup. Because I use standard propellers I mounted left and right motors with some twist. I´d really love arduIMU flat hardware...


Look at the PPM output Rx, Is this a new 2.4Ghz receiver form DIYDrones?
No, it´s a "lighweight" (4.1grams) mix between Spektrum AR6110 Rx and Jordi´s PPM encoder. This is nice for DIY projects...


The code is improved from the old version. This one has the magnetometer integrated so now we don´t have drift
on yaw axis, better implementation for the D term on the PID controler (more responsive to user inputs), same safety improvements, fast ESCs update rate (166Hz), new PID tunning...

But this history had an interesting lesson for me... The prototype you see here are really the second one, the first one was a dissaster... (flys bad...)
Do you want to know the "small" difference between them? This:


For the first one, I use an U shaped aluminium arms to save some weight. Well this shape is very bad in torsion and generates a lot of vibrations. This vibrations saturate the gyros (our gyros are quite sensible on vibrations because the low internal resonant frecuency). You could see here a graph of the gyro output value vs Throttle and you can see clearly the effect...


I change the arms to the square shape (8x8mm) and problem gone!! Perfect stability... :-) Vibrations are our enemy (Lesson learned)

Here is the new source code: Quad1_mini_20.zip (see notes.txt inside)
Schematic (conections): Photo1 Photo2
Old post (first version) here

New ArduPilot Mega will be a perfect platform for Quad´s also, so stay tuned...

Jose.

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Comments

  • Admin
    Looks neat setup Yun, good luck.
    don't forget to take some video and share here. thanks
  • I am building mini Quadcopter with ArduIMU I'm waiting for motor and bat..these are out of stock in hobbycity

  • My X tubes each weigh 67g. Haven't weighed other stuff yet.The center part is from a cheep dome camera. It will be pan and tilt. The motors are CF2822. The ESC are 30 amp HK jobs. Props are 10 x 3.8
    2200 3cell LiPo battery. I may go with 2 of them.Separate battery for video and OSD unit.
    Electronics is UBlox GPS and ArduIMU with Magnetometer.
    I have an Ardupilot if I need it.
    Earl
  • My quad is starting to come together.



    The ArduIMU will fly this thing I hope. After assembly I am going to paint it black. Have all the parts now, so next is the hard part. Putting it together !
    Earl
  • Great job cant wait to see more!
  • Hello José, very nice work, listen... i have some arduino´s stuff around here and i´ll try to build one like yours but i can´t find any schematics on your project, is there any chance that you could update it ? Gil
  • Developer
    Yes Yun, I am working on the GPS part...
    Earl, your wish list is too much :-) I think it will be a part 3 soon...

    Jose
  • When is part 3 coming out ?
    Auto land and take off ?
    Wall collision avoidance ?
    SPC ? (stupid pilot correction)
    Looking forward to it !
    Earl
  • Got my motors and esc's today. Now to build. I think my frame will be 1 meter motor to motor. I need to put connectors on the ppm board. Can't wait to try.
    Earl
  • Hello, Sorry. I have see the I term in you post.
    Sorry my English is very poor.
    Thank you.
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