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DIY hook to carry and release cargo underneath 'Copter

Posted by Stefan78 on February 21, 2013 at 10:00am

Hi all,

Apologies for the video in portrait, hope it is still visible.


True to the DIY element of this community, I've devised a small, cheap and simple way to attach items of any kind to my Quadcopter and via a servo to release it.

It's quite simple yet effective, using one servo and some pieces of metal and a screw to mount it underneath my hexa (custom frame built entirely from 3DRobotics parts).

You can see I have been doing a lot of bending to get the right angle etc. Now that's DIY! ;-)

Photos from three angles:

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With one switch I can now release anything I'd like to transport around, e.g. Waterballoons, Cupcakes, Parachutes etc.

I had all the parts necessary already lying around and the build is really simple. I had to bend a lot of the small metal parts into the shapes I wanted them using simple pliers.

I had been racking my brain about such a thing for a long time, and today was the Eureka! moment.

Hope you like the idea!

Tags: hook, cargo, carry, clamp, drop, lift, release, servo
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Comments

  • Stefan78 February 22, 2013 at 12:08am

    @Carl La France: Hi Carl, your comment made me chuckle. Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately for the wife I have not made any beautifications yet. I did actually go out and look for some translucent food containers but they were either too heavy or the wrong size. So I've parked that for the moment, but I will keep an eye open if I come across something usable. Thanks.

  • Stefan78 February 22, 2013 at 12:06am

    @Hugues: I had a spare channel and switch available so I used that directly, rather than trying to link it through the APM. So the signal cable from the servo is directly connected to the receiver. Note though that I did separate the power wires (+/-) from the signal cable. Connecting all three wires directly to the receiver can lead to brown-out of the receiver due to peak power demand. In stead, I connected the power wires only to the APM and plugged them into RC7 (anywhere between RC5 and RC8 should work).

  • Carl La France February 21, 2013 at 9:00pm

    Hi Stefan 78  I like your  release mechanisum did you get a chance to "Beautify your Hex for the wife?

    Have a Great day!

  • SaadT February 21, 2013 at 4:28pm

    This might a good, cheap option

    http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__13365__HobbyKing_Glider_Nose...

  • earthpatrol February 21, 2013 at 3:47pm

    Hi Stefan,

    Nice work.

    I built a detachable payload carrier that uses basically the same approach of a servo based pin/latch mechanism for release. I'm really pleased with how it works. Here's a photo of the payload-er attached to HooperFly carrying tennis balls for the pooches: http://diydrones.com/photo/hooperfly-man-and-dogs-best-friend

    I'll try and take some closeup photos of the device and post them. I'm looking forward to see how your testing goes. Keep on creating.

    Cheers!

  • Stefan78 February 21, 2013 at 2:22pm
    It's a Hexa, not a Quad. I mix it up in the article as I only recently modified the frame to a Hexa.
  • MR60
    Hugues February 21, 2013 at 2:14pm

    Hello,

    How did you program the Transmitter and/or APM to trigger the servo ? Did you modify the APM code for this or is it standard ?

    cu

    Hugues

This reply was deleted.