construction of the HEXA frame & camera mount

While still waiting for the TX/RX to arrive,

I started to design and build the HEXA frame for upgrade

each arm is made of 14x14mm 1mm wall square tube,

arm length: 40cm from center, 80cm from motor to motor.

center plate is 16cm dia., two 2mm thick plates.

Also, i have done weight calculations and measurements:

Frame: 470g

camera mount: 460g

motors: ~500g

battery:~500g

DSLR camera: 950g

Lens: 550g

electronics (ESC, pilot, servos): ~500g estimated

For a breathtaking scary total of 3930 GRAMS

well, that scared me a bit, i will consider:

-drilling plenty holes in the arms and everywhere i can to take material off

-using a lighter DSLR (can save max 300g)

-using a smaller swivel plate for the camera mount (though the smaller ones have much smaller center hole, thus heavier)

here are a few pics of the construction:

If the motors will allow this and that beast will take off,

i will use a 8000mAh 14.8v battery, it's around 900gr

Still have to think about / order:

- wireless USB solution for connecting the DSLR to ground

-wireless video and cheap tiny camera

- try out HK's 9050 3-blades props if they are better than the jDrones 12x45

-design landing gear

-design a swivel mount for the camera yaw axis

Comments are appreciated !

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Comments

Justin Stiltner April 13, 2011 at 10:16pm

The lazy susan bearing you have there is not intended for a pull load on its bearing, only a compressive load. meaning if you mounted the bearing in the traditional fashion and below the airframe, you would not see any action of the ball bearings, but instead a sliding action between the plates where they are crimped together. You may want to look at some of the plastic bearings offered by the company igus or some others to save weight here.
ARHEXA April 13, 2011 at 10:16pm

Phil, thanks,

but 166 grams sounds a lot, 800w sounds too much, and 70$/ea is expensive.

the current jdrones motors should give about 250W i think,

if i do the upgrade i'll go for 400w or 500w turnigy's that i found for ~100g, ~20$
Phil Warner April 13, 2011 at 7:12pm

i already thought of ordering bigger motors...

I have 6, NIB Scorpion SII-3020-780 motors for sale that would be perfect on your hexabeast. I was going to build one myself last winter but I never got to it.
ARHEXA April 9, 2011 at 12:00am

Yes the 4kg is an optimistic guess.

I will use mostly the 17-40 4 L lens, which is 550g.
of course that if i'm having good success with it, i'd think of using heavier tele lens ;)

I have to re-think about the motors.
currently the jDrones motors i have are these
http://store.jdrones.com/product_p/ac2836358.htm
the table shows 1300g thrust per motor X6 = 7800g....
and that is with 3S lipo. i will use 4S,
so it might be still doable, though i already thought of ordering bigger motors...
we'll see...
Markus Jahn April 8, 2011 at 12:17am

That explains the prop issue quite much. Still looking for first 1 bladed props to reach the market:

Nightflyers prop tests

That guy also has videos of one bladed helicopter.
ARHEXA April 8, 2011 at 12:09am

yep, paralleling lipo's might be a good choice.

i have the 12x45, why would be more economical than the 3-blades ?

but before that, i have to see if it will take off with one lipo :)
Markus Jahn April 8, 2011 at 12:05am

That is some heavy beast. Flight times are going to be the biggest trouble. Even with 8000mAh I guess your flight times will be around 5 minutes. I suggest you go for two 4000-5000mAh(25C) lipos parallel. That way you will only have to replace one cheaper battery when they start to fail.

You will need the bigger 12x45 props to have enough lift for stable flight. They also should be more economical than three bladed props.

Will be looking forward to see the progress of the build.

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