Today I maiden my wooden hobbyking Quadcopter and it went fine!
I have flown rc helicopters quite a bit, but that was a couple of years ago. Then i heard an interview with Chris Anderson on Leo Laportes podcast 'Triangulation' and I was intrigued about the drone part of the hobby.
Me and a friend ordererd two ArduPilots and got into it again.
Part list, I went for the 'el cheapo' line:
Model: HobbyKing Quadcopter Frame V1
Radio: HobbyKing HK6DF 2.4Ghz FHSS 6Ch Tx & Rx
4 ESC: Hobbyking SS Series 18-20A ESC
4 Motors: FC 28-22 Brushless Outrunner 1200kv
Prop: 8X4R Propellers (Standard and Counter Rotating), have 9x5 Propellers as well
Battery: ZIPPY Flightmax 2650mAh 3S1P 20C. To small, but it fits in the quad
Weight: 800 gram / 28 oz / 1.76 lb
Greetings from Anders, Sweden
Comments
Agree with you, good platform for tests, mainly because it's cheap.
@Kirill robust as for testing, playing around. I will not send a camera or adding more weight to this. But its cheap, buy it and make it better.
Thanks,
Bought mine as test bed too, but I will make it rigid with some Cf, I will post a blog when it flys.
My next frame is scratch built with 2 T-Rex600 Cf Tail booms and landing gear set.
SK 3530- 1100 motor maybe a bit too much for HK frame...
Is frame enough robust? I considered purchasing this frame, but finally thought that it might be too fragile.
@Mark Colwell the armes came pre-glued and were straight. But then do flex, I have done nothing to them. This model was just a testbed for the ArduPilot. Im going to build something larger (keeping the ESC and engines).
/anders
Anders,
Nice flights,
I have a HK Quad frame like yours. HK glued all arms together, but one is slightly twisted. Was yours OK?
I think HK frame is a bit flexible. Did you add anything to make it more rigid?
Twisting arms or motor mount will cause instability as IMU may see vibrations and try to compensate, possibly at a resonance of twisting. Not to good for flight.
I use Turnigy SK3530-1000s and Plush 30A ESCs.
HK sent 3 motor all the same and one that came from a previous batch,One prop nut was bad too, it destroyed threads on shaft when removed first time. So I ordered 4 different HK motors. Same story, 2 were fine and 2 had windings touching rotor magnets.
I was able to fix this and check other batch for same issue, all were fine. I glued loose windings down to motor housing with JB Weld as this was done on other batch. I also remove some excees glue from around magnets.
I am now building a motor test rig to check all motors for equal performance.
I have a TG9x RC set with FrSky DJT module with Telemetry for JR radio and blue HK back light, also option for 500mw booster.
I plan on hard wiring a 6-pin programming port for firmware updates, much cheaper for me to do.
It is a bit harder to program than my DX-7, but not to bad.
@apocolipse, thanks the tips. Yes, this radio is abit on the low end side, im used to JR 9x and Spektrum DX7 but it works. A bit expo would be nice :)
Now I need to figure out what settings to tweak to make this stable. It's a bit wobbly, hard to determine why, CG, misalignment of engines or the gusty wind. Firmware in the movie above is 2.0.40, just tried the 2.0.42 and its the same. Settings are the default (exept from the ordinary radio, +-, setup).
regards Anders
Very nice. Just a suggestion for you, still on the cheap-o from HK line is the $50 Turnigy 9x radio, toss a $40 smartieparts programmer board (designed specifically for the 9x) and you have a $90 radio that has features of a $2000 radio. I have a HK6DF 2.4ghz 6ch as well and totally prefer the turnigy 9x :P, hell i prefer the 9x over my $200 Futaba 6ch
nice