Variable Pitch Quad Rotor - M/UAV
DIY project ranging from a 600cc 120HP etec Ski-Doo engine, UltraSport 254 tail rotors, extruded aluminum blades from Vortech, aluminum / steel tube structural components, and a carbon fiber reinforced polymer monocoque frame.
Comments
I am quite aware of how these systems work as I have a couple of them sitting in the other room, also conventional helicopter systems, having studied aviation and also worked on real choppers
Please note: be it a collective pitch quad or a fixed pitch quad is irrelevant They both require Flight control systems & cannot be controlled properly with direct linkages to a cyclic or RC system.
You are basically using the same systems as a normal chopper uses on its tail rotor but 4 of them sprouting from a 4 way gearbox in the centre.
What stage are you currently at?
If you sit on this thing during test flights like Ritchie is saying then yes you would be a fool, Common sense tells me you will fly it as a UAV first though, I know some guys that are going to fly a Gyrocopter as a UAV.
Your control system/ Gyros should be able to counteract the fact that no one is sitting in it if your pilot seat is not at centre of gravity. A quad copter is a dangerous craft for a human to sit on they rely too heavily on gyros etc one stuck gyro and this thing will flip fast This is not real common but can happen conventional helicopters are capable of auto rotational landings a fixed pitch quad is generally not Robert yours should if you hook it up right, I cant see it being something to rely on though I would have a fast deployable parachute or ejection seat which would be standard with a military test vehicle.
Even a small quad if one paremeter is out it can just flip when you try to take off sounds like your blades are around eye level.
Where are you located? if you get this going I would love to see it :)
Holy crap its not a model its your personal Scorpion gunship from Avatar :O I thought this was a large scale model not a fully enclosed and working version.
My suggestion is now a REQUIREMENT. If you want to not die on your first test then you have no option about a model. You could be lead rotorcraft developer at Lockheed Martin but I'd say this. If you just want a cockpit build that first and use your many crashes in the model to get the rest of the airframe safe. Building a scale version would cost you $750 tops but development would probably push you to $1000 but then you would have sorted the fly by wire system and would have a better than 50:50 chance of not over powering one side and flipping directly into the ground and having one of the blade mount itself through your chest.
The military have experimented with this and have only one type in service because its so hard to get right and you are doing without their $$$ billions and without doing the small scale testing and prototyping they do. Even the forefathers of flight used testing vehicles for their ridiculous designs what has made you think your massively complex design let alone articulation and electronics systems is going to be safe first time you use it when built with budget parts. Even basic self build helicopter is $40,000.
You might not think you have the money to do it twice but is your life worth $1000 in test platform if so carry on.
If your id is overpowering your ego and telling you to not listen to the people on this forum who have spent years getting a very basic quadrotor to work well with many thousands of people helping then carry on.
If you are a developer for rotorcraft at a military contracted aerospace manufacturer stop lying and show use the test vehicles that have given you the confidence to surge on with this.
Boundaries should be pushed but only when lives (human or animal) are at as little risk as possible. You are worth more than $1000 and I don't know you at all.
I have wanted to build a quadcopter large enough to fly on for ever. I want to use an APU from a jet to power electric motors. same with your copter, it might be better to use 4 or 8 electric motors 1 or 2 powering each rotor. u will have better torque managment.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Helicopter_theory.html?id=SgZhe...
Either read this online or buy the book. Force yourself through this bad boy three times, and you will gain unmatched knowledge in rotary wing aerodynamics. Then you guys will actually be able to make calculations to simplify your rotor blade design for these UAV projects at any scale. Completely takes the mystery out of how helicopters work.
I highly recommend buying this book.
I hear ya, there are a million things I would do if I had a million $$$ :P
Here is a link to autoCAD training I reckon if you went through all these tuts you should pick it up.
http://www.lynda.com/AutoCAD-training-tutorials/160-0.html
Other than that perhaps look at paying an engineering student some bucks to put a model together
Good Luck!
I don't think I can afford to do it twice. I estimate doing it small scale with custom parts will match the cost of doing it full scale with discount parts. I guess I will test out the subsystems as I build them...
CAD is an excellent idea though - if I knew how to use it. I hold many titles, but thats not one of them. I do need some custom parts machined though, and hopefully using eMachineShop will teach me the basics of CAD.
Even if I never actually use it, this particular project WILL have a fully functional cockpit. Talk about a Pandora's Box.
Basically what ritchie is saying is pretty much the same message I was trying to give,
Likely hood of getting this thing properly calibrated and working the way you want on the first shot is unlikely, as a wide knowledge base of the electrics and mechanics is not available for this.
why not build a small one as well, to keep from ending an epic project in tears.
A functioning CAD model would help you out heaps as well, nutting something out down to the last bolt before even building it is a blessing that should not be ignored.
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