Hi,
All of us are uncomfortable with the landing gear of Pocket Drone, and I'm last days thinking about it and this is a prototype of what can be a descent landing Gear.
I was at Leroy Merlin and bought some "pipe holders" - a bag with 4 pieces.
So, first I measurement and I fold this holder like this:
I cut exactly on the and of the fixation hole and then, I mark the size of the PD's "retractile" landing gear and start to saw the piece like that:
After some adjustments - Aluminium is not a nice thing :)
This are the Landing gear installed at Pocket Drone
Some details.
Even in this beta version, this landing gear works better than the original ones.
I will do some improvements - install some rubber between the landing gear and PD's arm - to improve vibrations absorption and improve landing gear stability - I would use work "fixation" but the main idea and why I backer this PD is to has a pocket so a fixed landing gear is not my scope.
I will post more updates soon - after my research about rubber - I don't know a lot about it too - so if someone can help I will appreciate.
for now, this is how PD is:
Update - Beta 2 version :)
Well,
This solution was ok but not nice so......
because PD landing gear support is a "circle hole" and my landing gear are flat, the landing gear was not completely fixed/stable:
And the combination of plastic + metal for a landing gear was not the best option for impact absorption, so I went to a paper store and bought some rubbers :)
After try all - the green ones is too soft and the pentel was too hard, hotwheels was too fins so I choose the strange rubber with barcodes:)
After looking the default PD holders and my eternal wish for - easy to remove and install I take the rubber, done some measurements and start to cut.
Since my first Crius AIOP I acquire a lot of experiences about vibrations and absorption and how great is the rubber how great will be the absorption - and for a landing gear it is important.
I just measure and cut the rubber like that:
This is the bottom view of the rubber. There is a role - that is because the original landing gear has an "arm" to keep the original landing gear locked - Ok is a joke but in the concept of the original landing gear someone has this idea - so, this hole will be over the little arm, and with that the rubber stay close as possible to the arm.
So this is how the rubber are attached to the arm:
Look the original landing gear support - the role to attach the landing gear is the most close to the metal landing gear - to fix the rubber on the arm - amazing you don't need glue or nothing - how I cut the rubber almost exactly size of the space between the landing gear holder plus the metal landing gear - they both exert pressure and with that the landing gear and the rubber stay on place and all my goals - impact absorption and a good landing gear for PD are meet.
The landing gear at the background was without the cut on the bottom of the rubber - so the cut is important :)
Was little late when I finished so I didn't fly yet but I drop PD from 10/15 centimeters to the ground and the landing gear works.
I will fly today and post comments - but the next step is improve the metal - I think a EVA or another plastic think in the middle of the landing gear will improve strength and resistance.
Comments
H E A V Y
I personally use 36mm long nylon spacers with a ~15 metal screw to attach them to the arm of the 250. Much shorter screws mean the spacer will breakaway on a hard landing, pick something about 15mm and they just stay on without taking too much space or weight.
Vini - All I have done is call it like i see it while tenaciously trying to help and educate you all to the extent that I am able.
Don't get me wrong... I just love being heaped in appreciation... but I must put things in perspective.
My contribution towards getting Pocket Droners in the air is about 0.0001% that of Randy who has posted above. It is the incredible talents and the many 1000s of hours of hard work by people like Randy Mackay, Andrew Tridgell, Arthur Benemann and so many others (to many to list) that come together to create the amazingly capable Arducopter firmware and associated applications (plus everything else made possible by the Ardupilot project). It is they who deserve your appreciation.
Hi Mitchell,
You are correct about the impact- that is the reason I start to analyze the idea to use rubber - probably - in my first thoughts I'm thinking in use rubber for erase pencil or something like that because is cheap and easy do manipulate. I cannot take picture but there is a big space between inside the original landing gear holder on PD arms, and this space the landing gear can move up and down, so with a rubber there, I think is best solution for impact absorption - I will buy some today and start the tests :).
Quadz Thanks a lot for all your words - this is a initial idea and I'm not doing 0.0001% of what you already made for us :)
Well done Vini!
Your landing gear looks awesome and is clearly an improvement over the standard items. The cheapness and ease of using such a readily available part is a big bonus that will make it easy for other to replicate your approach.
I really like the fact that they remain removable so not to completely destroy to the compactness and portability of the Pocket Drone. From that point of view I think you solution is the best I have seen so far.
Hi Vini,
Think you have the right idea but wrong material. The motor arms will absorb more of the landing impact force than the aluminium pipe holders will.
I'm not very well educated in plastics, but there is surely something else that would absorb more of the impact and last much longer than this.
A lot of people use foam, these may not look as good, but they get the job done. Cover it with something if you want the looks, but don't ignore the well established toughness of both these substances, everything you need to know about this is out there already. Aluminium land gear like this requires either very favourable weather or excellent piloting, otherwise you will be replacing it in no time.
I don't have a pocket drone but I have been silently and sporadically following the rocky deployment. Good to see you taking matters into your own hands.