My 3DR quad frame is finished, and I mounted the 880 kV motors and 12" props. This thing is a BEAST! It takes off like a rocket, although the flight times are rather short. All in all, I love the frame build. Thanks, Jeff, for helping me out with the bolt issue.
John
Comments
Thanks for all the comps! How well the painted prop tips show up all depends on the sky, Mike. They are most visible if the sky is overcast, and a bit harder to see against blue sky. As for the ESC mounting, it required a lot of fiddling to get them in there, but the results were worth it, I believe.
My current flight time on the 2200 mAh bat is just over ten minutes.
Alex, good point about the props; I was planning on hoisting a GoPro into the air, just as soon as I am proficient enough to video more than really rough (or upside-down) landings.
It is a very durable frame.
John
Cool idea for mounting your ESC!
You say short flight times? how long is that?
what battery are you using?,
and you might want to try with smaller props (10x45), unless you are going to be lifting heavy loads?
Very cool build of your Arducopter 3DR Kit, esp the paintwork, nice work :)
BTW, I like the books behind the quad, especially the one at the top :-)
Nice looking quad. How well do the painted tips show up when spinning? Is the paint reflective (would be nifty to get that reflective stuff that is similar to street signs...) I notice you use a diagonal mounting with the upper plate, but a standard X mount option for the APM, I had not even considered that while setting up my 3DR, thank you for the out of the box thinking. When I was looking at + mounting mine (upper and base plate orientation matching) I did not have sufficient room in front/back of the APM. I have forward-facing pins for sonar, xbee, and a row of back-facing pin on my IMUs also, so there just wasn't room. I also like the AC2-like mounting of the ESCs. Mine are just on the arms, but yours looks much cleaner. I would switch if I wasn't already using that space for other gear. Thanks for sharing!
That's a great looking build, John! Glad to hear it's working - we're shipping better sized motor-mounting screws with all the quads from now on. Thanks for bringing the issue to our attention!