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Tedrocopter Frame

Posted by Tedro on June 7, 2010 at 6:42pm
As most of you know, the booms/arms are T-Rex 600 tail booms. I've cut the booms to 33cm and connected them to a 4-way 1/2" PVC connector (from Lowes). Screw holes are drilled 7mm from the edge of PVC connector. The body, which will hold the Arduino Duemilanove and Aeroquad 1.7 shield (amongst other things), is a simple 7" x 3" project box from RadioShack. To connect everything, so far I've decided to use 6-32 threads with lock nut washers - each lock nut has a rubber washer after it to help with vibration. I'm still unsure about the land gear... I'd like the quad to float but I have yet to find anything with sufficient buoyancy.



Pontoon Style (maybe?)



Long legs for aerial photography?



6-32 thread & lock nut to hold PVC to tail booms


Tags: 600, booms, design, frame, ideas, t-rex, tail, tedrocopter
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Comments

  • Moderator
    Brian June 8, 2010 at 4:53pm
    The first place that comes to mind is www.flyingfoam.com, but there are others (loads) as well.
  • Admin
    Morli June 8, 2010 at 1:18pm
    Thats gr8 Tedro. But do test it on ground first well and then go fishing :)). Using simple balloons tied to boom would do the initial water testing before you can commit to more expensive option. I think I have seen it some where here.
  • Jason Kunc June 8, 2010 at 12:08pm
    you might also want to try out those pool fun noodle things they come in all sorts of shapes and colors.

    ...on second thought the plastic sheet thing might mess up the whole flying part..
  • Tedro June 8, 2010 at 11:42am
    @morli - i have a river near my house so i'd like to take advantage of the terrain... maybe try fishing.

    @brian - any good sites to buy foam blocks?

    @jason - the Pearl art store near my house closed shop, which was the only place nearby to get big sheets of plastic... i guess i'll have to travel into nyc to see what they have (hopefully that store is till open).
  • Jason Kunc June 8, 2010 at 5:29am
    maybe a big sheet of plastic, it would be light and spread the weight out on the water surface. look good though.
  • Admin
    Morli June 7, 2010 at 8:47pm
    are u planning to fly it over water?!!
  • Moderator
    Brian June 7, 2010 at 8:36pm
    What about a simple foam block under the box and a smaller foam foot under each head? Main foam block would keep the unit afloat, the feet would act like out-riggers to keep everything stable while floating.
  • Tedro June 7, 2010 at 8:15pm
    Thanks for the tips guys. I'll look into your suggestions.
  • Tedro June 7, 2010 at 8:13pm
    I'll probably end up going with the 600 skids on this first build. I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible until I learn the basics.

    Forgot to mention earlier... many thanks to Mikro/AeroQuad for the easy to understand build guide. The AeroQuad 1.7 shield arrived today so soldering practice this weekend, then the fun stuff begins... as long as the HobbyKing boat from China doesn't get hijacked by pirates.

    The second quad will probably start in July so hopefully the team here will be ready with the Mega code so I can try out the next level autopilot configs.
  • Ravi Gaddipati June 7, 2010 at 8:13pm
    PVC is rather heavy. Have you looked into thinwall ABS or thinwall PVC?
This reply was deleted.