Not much space if you're going on holiday with the family in a Renault Clio. This design fits into a 52cm toolbox with transmitter and all accessories.
Just thought I'll share my crash resistant design that has evolved through many drops and repairs. On impact it is now usually just a matter of replacing a rivet or a prop. The electronics and battery can quickly be removed for installation on another airframe.
The props are 15" RC timers and as shown I get about 23min flight time with a slightly damaged 5000mAh 4cell Lipo at 1500m above sea level, 25 deg C.
The difference in spacing between front and rear props doesn't have a noticable effect on stability and it flies waypoints very well.
I'll post basic plans if anyone is interested or if you want an airframe let me know.
Update: Plans for the airframe
Comments
Yes Daniel, I saw that concept and like it. Will probably do that for the fuselage top and bottom plates.
In the meantime I quickly built a smaller version for 10" props. Just reduced the arm and fuselage tube lengths by 42mm. It was put together from the same dxf'ed plates and parts I had lying around of a previous design. Easy to build...easy to fix.
Wow 10mm booms are thin, but I those 1/2in aluminum square tubes will probably make it easier to mount and drill.
Have you considered this custom material, it might be the best of both worlds. http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/cheapest-diy-rigid-and-ligh...
mdrm, I think just about any archery shop should sell crossbow arrows. Go for the most rigid ones you can get. I got mine from a shop in Pretoria and paid R100 (about $10) for 800mm lengths. They fit perfectly in the 1/2" square Aluminium tubes I have.
I'm waiting for carbon plates as it'll reduce weight and help with electromagnetic shielding. I'm only doing it since I don't crash as often anymore and want to see what endurance I can get. Also looking at mounting the electronics box on earplugs or foamy doublesided tape underneath the velcro to see if vibration isolation makes a difference.
For experimenting with code and risky flights I'm thinking of putting together an Aluminium one with my 850kV motors and 10" props.. Only starting design now.
Murray, you mentioned Ø10mm crossbow arrow shafts for booms. Can you suggest a supplier?. Your design is great, I am busy slowly building a folding quad that has been motivated by yours as well as others. Have you had any design changes after your last photos, or thoughts on how to improve on the design?
Hi Jeff, What version of Arducopter are you running? I'm still using 2.8.1 and it worked fine with default PID's. If you have a video or can describe the unstable behaviour I might be able to offer suggestions.
I'll also suggest keeping the CG in the center of the props and not using any trim. Trim will also reduce your flight time.
As far as carbon props go I've been pleasantly surprised. They can take harder crashes and seem to last much longer before needing replacement. They actually worked out cheaper than Nylons for me.
Good find Jeff. BTW what was your flight time with the 750kv + 1245s? Have you ever considered These Props instead of Carbon fiber?
That's pretty unusual that the ESC would be strained from low amp motors.
Still waiting on parts but I wanted to update and hopefully get some feedback. I have been spending a lot of time trying to tune the PID values on my quad since I got the new motors and props. The great news is that I am able to achieve 21 minute flight time. The quad is drawing 14~15A at hover (hover at half throttle). Everything is staying pretty cool except the ESC's get warm after 21 minutes. The bad news is that I am not having a great deal of success finding stable PID's.
My current setup is:
rctimer HP4215 460KV motors
14x4.7 plastic props
Turnigy 4s 5Ahr 20c hard case battery
rctimer 30A esc (simonk)
My quad was a lot more stable with the 750kv motors I was originally using. So I am wondering if anyone else has noticed that slower motors and larger props are more difficult to tune.
My quad is a constant work in progress so I am not using the same parts as in the pictures anymore. The setup that is pictured only gets about 10min flight time. Here are the specs for that build:
D2836/11 750kv motors
12x4.5 SF props
3s 3Ahr 20c battery
rctimer 30A esc (simonk)
rctimer arduflyer flight controller
rctimerr 900MHz telemetry module
immersionRC 600mW 5.8GHz video transmitter
FrSky 2.4GHz diversity receiver
I have found that the best way to increase flight time is to use the combination of very low kv motors and very large props. I wanted to get the 360kv motors that Murray is using but, since I still crash a lot, I can't rationalize buying the CF props.
I compromised and bought HP4215 460KV from rctimer and I am using 14x4.7 plastic props from HK. I am very impressed with this motor and I highly recommend it. They are efficient, smooth, and quiet.
I am still waiting for some more parts to come in so I can't say exactly the flight time yet. During my tuning flights I have been noticing about 10 amp draw at hover. I am using Turnigy 4s 5Ahr 20c hard case battery so just doing some simple math I should have a 30min flight time. I will post again soon with the full specs of the new build.
I had my plates CNC milled at my university's machine shop. Most machine shops with a CNC can do this work if you bring them Murray's DXF file.
I would also like to thank Murray again for making this design available. This frame is very robust and, just as he said, when I crash the rivets break. I bought a cheap rivet gun and some rivets that I take when I fly. So when I crash I just have to put some new rivets in and usually use some new props because they get bent.
Hey Jeff Griffith,
Your version of his design looks great. Can you share some things about it. Like flight time, props, motors, escs? I'm hitting a wall with my quad only getting 11-13 minutes of flight. Thx
Hi guys,
I am very interested in this build. Could you provide some videos of this flying etc?
Also if you have any hints how could I order those plates, would be much appreciated.
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