Hello everyone,
I have finally completed the build of my UAV platform. I'm talking just the plane here; the autopilot issue is a very different one and I'm still experimenting on it.
I always like to give back to DIYDrones, which conveys very valuable information to me daily, so here you have it.
Here is photo gallery. If anyone needs a parts list I'll be happy to provide one.
Side View
Under-Side PaintJob
Direct USB Connection Port
GPS and Receiver Installation
Battery and Differential Pressure Sensor Placement
USB Port Hatch
The Carrying Case
Made out of PVC tubing
Inside its Belly
Thanks for watching!
Comments
I've now seen the Odroid device mentioned twice in two days. Are you able to describe what this unit will be doing for you. Was previously described as a Rpi with nuts (umm, more processing power).
Terrific job on the build.
The blue capacitor is a simple filter cap for the Vcc voltage; just to comb out potential spikes in the autopilot power supply. They shouldn't be there in the first place, but you definitely don't want your autopilot resetting or getting a 6V spike out of nowhere.
As you can see, I cut out a square over the ESC heatsink from the beginning. I cruised a bit, landed, walked to the plane and measured the temperature right on the plate. It was 51oC. Not too bad, but I added two air intakes in the ESC compartment for good measure. It dropped the ESC temperature by 10oC in the same test, but I haven't done any more involved tests on that.
I'd really like to make some general purpose, single-value small data loggers some day.
The front gear is a generic (aluminium?) set of legs along with a pair of foam wheels. I bought it from my local hobby shop. The tail wheel was a bit more difficult to do.
I used this kit, which is pretty common, but the vertical wheel lead wouldn't go all the way up to the rudder, as it was too short. On top of that, the rudder is flush with the horizontal stabilizer, thus there wasn't room for the "control horn". I ended up cutting the bottom of the rudder to fit the "control horn" and making my own metal rod assembly, which was much taller, so as to go from the bottom of the tail, through the horizontal stabilizer and up until the rudder.
I added the extra cap bank based on this thread: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=952523. Make sure you read this link, found in the same thread.
Long story short, if you extend the battery wires more than a few cm, then you need to start adding extra capacitors, or else the life expectancy of the ESC is being reduced.
The APM is currently screwed on the wooden drawer with plastic nuts and bolts. I haven't investigated vibration problems yet.
If you have doubts about connector rigidity, I strongly suggest you do some extensions with good quality servo style connectors.
Very nice. Thanks for the great pics. I'm in process of building the same platform. The giant RCG thread is ok, but it's nice to see APM specific builds for ideas.
- What fixed gear is that and where did you get it?
- Did you add the extra cap bank for the long battery cable runs? I have seen this done in FE boats, but not so much on planes. Do you feel this is essential? What are the benefits?
- Is your APM board ridgidly mounted to the wood platform?
- I had difficulties with GPS cable connection integrity at the APM2.5 board. With a removable GPS mounting location, I would think about anchoring the cable to the platform as a strain relief. Due to my experience, I'm planning a permanent GPS installation with a stub cable that adapts to std servo type 4 pin connector for APM removal.
- Very cool carrier.
The Skywalker 2013 has detachable wings by default. You slide them in the long carbon fibre wingspar and then you mount the assembly over the fuselage and fix it down with rubber bands.
The servo wires plug into outlets in the fuselage before the wings are fixed down.
Very nice build! Could you provide some details of how you made the wings detachable?
ESC: Hobby King 60A
Motor: BEV RC AX2814
Propeller: APC 12x6
I'd say it's a bit underpowered; Right now I fly @ 2.7kg take-off-weight and I still need to mount long range equipment, and odroid and a camera. Still, it cruises under 11A.
Whats your Drive (Motor/ESC/Prop) setup?
Very Clean build.
I've always found the classic Super Decathlon paint scheme to be very good for visibility. The red one, not the yellow.
Sadly, it isn't. Beyond 300m a bad sun glare can really black everything out. The colour for best visibility seems to be a dull half white and half yellow under the wing, (white near the wing root) and an equally dull half white and half green/orange/blue over the wing (white near the wing tip).
That, or my eyesight is bad.
It's clear that I count on the plane being able to bring itself back.
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