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FPV Spanky Maiden

JAB1a

By JAB1a
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JAB1a

JAB1a

Posted
Posted

Hi All,

 

These are the maiden flights of my new FPV frame, SpankyJAB.

 

I had already made 3 different designs of my own 240mm quadcopter but I just could not get the weight down enough to the point of excellent performance.

 

The video begins with footage from my first ever FPV flight of the Spanky, I did a quick VLOS test and all seemed AOK and the frame seems very stable. I have not done any tuning of PID's or balanced the props at all as I was just too excited about having a fly.

 

Dartmoor was very windy that day, I found the quad loved going with the wind (down hill) but because it is so light it had troubles flying straight into the wind unless I was at full tilt. After about 5 minutes of flying on the open moor I got bored with no objects around to buzz, so off to my local testing ground to play with the tree's.

 

Best viewed full screen at 1080p

  • 2 weeks later...
JAB1a

JAB1a

Posted
  • Author
Posted
So is that your design or off the shelf?

 

I am afraid I have to omit its an off the shelf frame, I built three different designs of mini quad but I just could not get the weight down enough to still have plenty of power, the amount of hours I spent tinkering and testing I thought in the end I will just get something that someone has already ironed out all the problems so I can sit back and have fun.

 

This is a Spanky Mini FPV frame, the all up flying weight is about 550g, compared to my final design quad of 700g+

JAB1a

JAB1a

Posted
  • Author
Posted
So what tripped your up on your frame weight - design, materials or machining?

 

I built the three min quads with the same mind set I did with the big quad... "build it to survive or at least minimise repair costs", this mind set does not lend itself to the idea of 'weight saving', the last quad was built to last, all electronics were contain inside the frame, the frame was dialled in and so smooth to fly but SO underpowered due to the weight, momentum was its worst enemy as it just did not have enough punch to counteract a tight turn.

 

The main parts of the frame were 4 plates, 1x2mm G10, 3x 1.6mm G10 using carbon extruded rod as the arms. If I did it again I would use 1.6mm on the base plate and 1mm for just 2 other plates...

 

LJQa3yAl.jpg

JAB1a

JAB1a

Posted
  • Author
Posted

"Complex man logic" I like it ;)

 

I am flying this lil'beast via FPV (First Person View), on the quad there are two camera's, one (the footage you are seeing above) is just for recording the flight so I can upload it to Youtube or Vimeo, the other is connected to a 5.8Ghz video transmitter (housed on the quad itself), When I fly the quad I am wearing a pair of video goggles at is getting a realtime live feed from the camera on the quad so that I can fly as if I am inside the quad as the pilot rather than trying to fly it 'Visual Line Of Sight'.

 

Get yourself a nice cheap and cheerful Hubsan X4, they are under £30 and they fly just like the big quads but at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the repair cost when (not if) you crash ;)

JAB1a

JAB1a

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  • Author
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@plexer those motors are perfect, they are the bigger brother of the motors I am using at the moment, they were not released when I pulled the trigger on mine (1804's), If I was to get more motors then those are the ones I would get (at least 1806's). They spin up a lot quicker and have more torque.

 

The top photo shows the 1806 motor compared to the one I use at the moment (1804), you can see the size difference is quite a bit. Excellent choice @plexer

JAB1a

JAB1a

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That frame also looks very good, nice and cheap if you break it, at that price I would suggest you buy two so you have a bag of spares. People say these quads are almost impossible to break due to the materials used but I beg to differ...

 

JAB1a

JAB1a

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  • Author
Posted (edited)

@plexer If you are buying from Banggood you could get these...they are basically the same motor...

 

DYS BE1806 2300KV Brushless Motor 2-3S for Mini Multicopters -

 

Or these which I near might have some quality issues...

 

http://www.banggood.com/EMAX-MT1806-KV2280-Brushless-Motor-For-Multirotor-p-933931.html

 

A lot of talk on the forums about the RCX motors are that the bearing arrive dry which has caused a few to overheat in flight...best advice is strip them as soon as you get them and add some high speed bearing oil to them (Rc car thin bearing oil is good)

Edited by JAB1a
JAB1a

JAB1a

Posted
  • Author
Posted

@plexer

That's a good question about the 4-in-1's, I have never used them, they seem a great idea as you save extra wires and some weight. My fear would be if one ESC starts to go wrong, if you can buy the bits to replace the individual parts then its the smart idea but if you have to buy a hole new 4-in-1 then its not worth that.

 

Those Emax 12Amp ESC's seem great and an excellent price to boot, grab yourself at least one spare (just incase).

 

I use the MiniAfro 12Amp ESC's with the same SimonK firmware.

Radio Control Planes, Helicopters, Cars, Boats, FPV and Quadcopters - Hobbyking

 

I see they do ultra lite versions now as well

Radio Control Planes, Helicopters, Cars, Boats, FPV and Quadcopters - Hobbyking

 

plexer

plexer

Posted
Posted

Radio Control Planes, Helicopters, Cars, Boats, FPV and Quadcopters - Hobbyking is the current link for ultra light afro esc shame they don't stock so many in the UK warehouse.

 

Banggood is good as you get free shipping but last escs I got from there were rubbish so I got from another supplier.

 

The 4in1 you can change the power board and esc boards but it depends on if you can actually get them as individuals allthough for that price just get another 4in1 to use as spares.

 

Going to get a fllip 32 bit controller for this new quad.

 

The Flip32 (V2.1_Rev5.) - Flight Controllers

 

Ben

plexer

plexer

Posted
Posted

Although I'm not convinced about the emax esc's as they claim to be improved simonk code but appear to be running on silabs chips which are not simonk compatible that would be bheli.

 

hmmmm.

 

Ben

JAB1a

JAB1a

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Radio Control Planes, Helicopters, Cars, Boats, FPV and Quadcopters - Hobbyking is the current link for ultra light afro esc shame they don't stock so many in the UK warehouse.

 

Banggood is good as you get free shipping but last escs I got from there were rubbish so I got from another supplier.

 

The 4in1 you can change the power board and esc boards but it depends on if you can actually get them as individuals allthough for that price just get another 4in1 to use as spares.

 

Going to get a fllip 32 bit controller for this new quad.

 

The Flip32 (V2.1_Rev5.) - Flight Controllers

 

Ben

 

Ah quality can be an issue from these wholesalers but hopefully Banggood sorted you out a replacement or refund? vgood idea about getting a spare 4-in-1 as I also can't seem to find the parts separately available to replace the broken parts.

 

I am using an Acro Naze32 flight controller, the Flip uses the same firmware and software, 'Baseflight' (multiwii 2.3), both boards do the same job a Openpilot CC3D does (but with refiner code than openpilot) but for £20 instead of £80-£90. Excellent choice ;)

 

I got one of these for my Birthday a few weeks ago.. New SYMA X1 SpaceCraft 4CH 2.4G 4-axis 360¡ã 3D LCD Gyro RC Helicopter Quad copter: Amazon.co.uk: Toys & Games been playing in the garden when it's not too windy. Think I need to put the L plates on again! :(

 

That's a great way to learn and seems a very capable lil'quad you have there, plenty of spares and mods to be done when you want to have more fun at a later stage as well.

JAB1a

JAB1a

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Will be buying some more batts from banggood, noticed they have earn $3 by referring a friend - either of you want to? :)

 

Count me in, thanks. PM me the link to the product you want and your email address and I will get that done now ;)

  • 2 weeks later...
eyetea

eyetea

Posted
Posted
Slightly on topic still.. Ordered charger + spare batts for my Syma X1, got the charger, batts + power lead in separate order though so not arrived! Roll on uninterrupted flying! Well recommend the X1 for a starter - It seems to be able to take a beating!
JAB1a

JAB1a

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Posted

@plexer the price of that frame is excellent, for the price of a Spanky you could get 5 of these frames, use one and have a ton of spares.

@eyetea That's great news, you will be flying like a pro soon, it takes a while for muscle memory to kick in so just keep at it and keep us posted ;)

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