I can't help it...It's an illness I tell you...

I have clinical multi-projectitis.

It's incurable.

After seeing the GRASP lab video sof quads literally jumping through hoops, I HAD to make one of my own.

The beginnings:

Although everyone else seems to be going open-rotor, I want zero collateral damage to people, pets, and the living

room walls, so I decided on a ducted-fan design.

4 EDF combos from Hobby King

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11166

Combined thrust of 4400g.

Combined mass of 424g.

The 5Ah 4S 40C LiPo from my currently grounded Swift Heli:

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10307

Mass: 578g.

For testing, the initial fuselage is a chunk of extruded poly insulation.

5 Deans connectors and a new soldering iron later (the old 30Watt one couldn't make a decent joint for the wiring harness), this is the result:

I christen her "The Ugly Pink Quad."

At present, she's brainless. I just did a test with a little solderless breadboard sending the throttle signal to all EDFs simultaneously and, not surprisingly, things were learned:

1) With 4400grams of max thrust pushing 1220grams of pinkness, it only took about 1/3rd throttle position to hand-hover.

2) It wants to rotate.

Next issues: Basic landing gear (The motors are outrunners), basic brains, and an IMU

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Comments

James Cann January 20, 2011 at 5:38pm

Ducted fans are totally enclosed, with a set of stator blades beneath. Essentially, if I were to dremel off the surrounding duct, and the stators, I would have a small, high speed propeller that had much less thrust.

Mostly I choose the ducted fan route to have a built-in finger/furniture/pet safety margin.
James Cann January 20, 2011 at 4:08pm
James Cann January 20, 2011 at 4:02pm

Unfortunately, the speed controller is toast, and lost a screw at less than half-power the other day, so the Ugly Pink Quad is on-hold/no more. The redesign will be a tri or bi-rotor, more robustly built.

Info soon.
Choppy January 20, 2011 at 1:42pm

I think he means kick off two diagonally opposed fans to couteract the torque of the motors. I've seen it done on hovering quads when all the props are of the same rotation. Actually, it wasnt a quad, more of a quin? Had a IC motor in the middle for main thrust and 4 brushless motors on the outside. Hovered nice. How is this project going? (I assume you have gone totally mad and have too many projects on the board like me...)
Darren January 20, 2011 at 10:47am

@hamish, not quite sure I understand your post... but IYO what way is not wrong? ;)
Choppy January 19, 2011 at 3:22pm

On another tangent, as quads use low KV motors for better control resolution, would longer arms (moment) be better for high KV ducted fans? That is put them out further?
hamish January 19, 2011 at 2:39pm

If u vectored them , surely it would be stable when still, but would turn one way alot easier and faster than the other way?

u doin it wrong
Choppy January 19, 2011 at 1:29pm

Darren's idea is good too, BAE use it in their UAV.
Darren January 19, 2011 at 10:09am

How about instead of fighting gyroscopic forces on tilting the motors... use vectord thrust using either moving paddles or moving end duct like the rc jets are using... rpm then becomes thrust, and vectored thrust becomes stability and offsets can be added in to over come lack of counter roating edf's
Choppy January 19, 2011 at 2:15am

How about a simple approach to fix the yaw? Use a brushless motor and prop with a gyro like fixed pitch a tail rotor.

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