After the Latest Skywalker crash I decided that the build-fly-crash-build-(repeat) process was too slow, and I wasn't learning as fast as I'd hoped.
I'd seen an ad at Hobby King for $20 Quadcopter frames... sounded like a good deal and I already had a matched pair of motors/ESC and APM2 so I decided to take the plunge and order the balance of the components needed to build a basic quad copter.
The motors were Detrum 810kv's with 25A ESCs from HobbyPartz. I'd picked them up to experiement with twin fixed wing stuff and small wings...
Assembly was easy, though I was short on bolts/screws. No big deal.
HobbyKing 550mm Quadcopter frame
4x Detrum 25A ESC
4x Detrum 810kv
APM2
Below are pictures of the finished quadcopter and then some videos from today. My 11 yr old was cameraman... kinda shakey... Yes, the "fuselage" is a potato salad tub from a local deli.
Comments
Nice! I used the same frame as you but I put the PDB in between the frame plates, the APM2 under the top piece (with one standoff removed) and my radio rx and Xbee on top.
Ok,so the peanut galley is having much fun at my expense regarding my perception that Quads crash less than airplanes. I get it and I enjoy it too...
So here's my response...
I've flown my Skywalker 5 times. That includes 3 "landings" that required repairs or a complete fuse replacement. Probably 20 minutes total flight time.
Just this past weekend, I put no less than 60 minutes of time on the new quad, strictly in stabilize mode. Dozens of takeoffs and landings. The only repair I have had to make is to re-attach some leaves to one of my wife's silk plants that I flew too close to in the house.... Yeah, I know, I'm on exceptionally dangerous footing flying in the house (just little takeoffs ,landings and hover ops). The next time I break anything that I can't fix on the sly there will be hell to pay...
Scariest part about flying indoors is when the quad is 5-7 feet in front of me, and reaches an altitude where the rotors are spinning on the same plane as my eyes and I can't help but imagine what would happen if one or more rotors were to break and send plastic shards into my eyes.... Gotta start wearing eye pro....
I think he was saying that his Skywalker wasnt crashing enough.
Thanks Andreas. Nice to know I'm not the only one. My wife says I do more maintenance on my hexcopter than flying it. Unfortunately, she's right on that one.
Wait, you decided to switch to quads, from planes, because you were having too many crashes and too slow fly-crash-repair cycle?
And you thought quads would help you fly more and crash less.. Pardon me one sec...
MWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa
snifff. Ah, nothing like a good laugh on a Sunday morning. Thank you sir!
@Ellison: That's like a lot of engineers that I used to work with. They wore suspenders AND a belt. Just in case...
Good redundancy with the rubber bands and the nut on the prop. Nice build.
Hey Mike Is that velcro wrap or Band aids! Looks Good ! I know the sequence like most "dedicated DYI'ers on here "Build. Fly Crash , Build Fly Crash Etc. " Have a good day!