So I have some vacations coming up and already have some quads and a hex I figured I needed a fixed wing to round out my aerial camera fleet. (for now) heh. So I took the plunge and picked myself up an X8 to fill up with electronics.
I'm running an ArduPilot Purple, with a Castle 75 esc waiting for Hobbyking to drop of my new Scorpion motor until then I have a 700W max 50Amp local hobby store motor to power the bird. I'm running 1.2 video feeding through MinimOSD with a Sony 720 line mini cam. I have a roll and tilt GoPro mount in the works that I'll post up some pics when I can get some play time on the router this weekend. Communication is done through a Futaba 10C 72Mhz and some 900Mhz XBees.
I've only made a few mods for now like adding a second motor mount plate that bolt through the foam to the outer plate.
I made some electronics trays and filled in the lower camera cut out with some foam and Gorilla glue.
I ended up bringing the control linkage up through the wing, leaving it on the bottom seemed like a bad idea for a belly lander. I have never flown a or built a fixed wing, but I said the same about the multirotors and DIYDrone's gear and community made it simple, awesome and enjoyable. Only crashes were ah-hem user error. So I'm hoping for the same luck with this bird. I do have tons of hours now on RealFlight sim just to make sure I feel comfortable with the controls. That being said any input from from you guys will be greatly appreciated. I'll update this blog as things progress and as I get the camera mount going. But for now heres some more eye candy. Be happy and safe all!
Comments
These also with an iPhone on the X8...
http://www.hypr3d.com/models/4ff8cc289ceae20001000062
http://www.hypr3d.com/models/4ffb8be22592560001000027
I made an excellent discovery with the X8.
an iPhone4 fits perfectly in the nose tray at the front. Just carve out a small hole for the lens and you can do this....
http://www.hypr3d.com/models/4fe6981b50656b0001000043
Glad to here it went well.
Has anyone made any improvements on the PID's posted?
Ok, the launch hook was strong enough, however the 10m blue bungee managed to move the X8 2 metres and stopped on the ground.
Need 2 or 3 x bungees.
Hand launch was a success, and to my surprise had to dial my dual rates up mid flight from 50% to 100%. Unlike the ZII, the X8 is slow and uses much more throws.
Here's my retractable launch hook for my X8.
Unlike the Zephyr you don't have any thing to stop the launch hook getting damaged on landing, so I made it retractable using a spare Parkzone retract.
subscribe...X8 actual built...APM2+airspeed on its way... very little experience with APM1+bixler...really appreciate the PID sharing ! will fly it in FPV mode+EZuhf wich downlink actual GPS course live on GoogleEarth...
That much throw is fine, I have at least that much.
Use plenty of expo on your first flight if you are worried.
How much throw are you talking about? I've got +/-12mm for elevator and +/- 20mm for combined elevator and ailerons. When I engage stabilise and move my sticks I get about 25mm, that looks ridiculous and seems like a recipe for a crash.
Stabilise on mine is fairly agressive as well, try it in FBW.
It flies fine, the X8 needs a fair bit of agression on the controls to make it move.
HI guys, it been a while since I used Arduplane and I've just stuck on in my X8. I've set my dual rates down to 50% on my radio and in manual mode the control throws are fine. I've done the radio calibration, however, when I switch to stabilise, the controls move more the full servo limit, which causes me concern, as that amount of throw is going to be crazy.
I thought that once you did radio calibration, the APM would take your max/min values from your radio (set at 50% throws) as the servo limits?
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