FPV Quadcopter basic parts list (JABcopter)

[JAB1a]

@MYK-IT Cheers mate, I could talk about this hobby all day, I'm addicted. Hopefully you will never see me on TV for a stupid multicopter act, I try and minimise risk and threat to others so hopefully no one will bother me like the Blacksheep team etc get.

 

Great forums for this hobby are:

FPV HUB - Index

Multi Rotor UK

 

Both are UK based and have some of the most friendly and helpful people for any of your troubles

@FragglePete I see RCTimer has a deal on at the moment for the APM2.5+, GPS and telemetry (433Mhz) ~£80 WOW thats a bargin!

[FragglePete]

Oh look! @JAB1a I've just ordered that kit !!! Cost £95 in the end.

 

Pete

[JAB1a]

@FragglePete What? you got the APM2.5+, GPS and telemetry (433Mhz)?

 

How jelous am I now!

 

Wicked, you should have lots of fun with that, full autonomy. Let me know when it arrives

[FragglePete]

Yes ! Eeep. Wasn't planning on spending that on the Controller, but thought 'what the hell' - it'll push back getting the other bits in now but I can wait.

 

Pete

[JAB1a]

Well in the long run it will serve you better because if you ever wanted those features you would have to purchase this FC anyway so might as well get it out the way now No doubt worth every pennie. The real time telemetery is going to be wicked!

[Zimmer]

Finally got mine in the air over the weekend... I've quickly realized that it's worth stocking lots of spare props and prop adapters when your first starting out!

 

Ended up buying Turnigy AeroDrive 2822's @ 1100kv, decided to play it safe with the ESC's and got the Turnigy Plush 30A's from HK (SimonK's firmware is going on them this week). 8x4.5 props seem to be working nicely with very little heat from the ESC's when left at full throttle for a while.

 

I'm running the MultiWii 2.1 code on my FC and my next challenge is to figure out all the PID tweaking for stable mode, plus hook up the I2C magnometer and barometer I have ordered from SparkFun.

[JAB1a]

Sounds great @Zimmer, do you have any photos or video footage of your efforts yet? I would be interested in seeing it

[plexer]

Currently printing this Scorpion V-Tail Quadcopter by foxdewayne - Thingiverse at 75% 2hrs 31mins in for the body at the moment with 6hrs 29mins left to go

 

Ben

[pcstru]

Currently printing this Scorpion V-Tail Quadcopter by foxdewayne - Thingiverse at 75% 2hrs 31mins in for the body at the moment with 6hrs 29mins left to go

Nice. PLA/ABS printers aren't fast - which is really annoying if the print goes wrong after 6 hours!

 

Meanwhile : Eric Schmidt calls for legislation on private ownership of drones. Imagine that, a google exec worried about peoples privacy!

[JAB1a]

@plexer That frame looks wicked but it looks like you are going to have to land 100% flat each time otherwise those back props are gonna die. Maybe an extended landing gear to keep it off the ground. What flight controller are you going to use with this? might be a nightmare to setup for this config but if it works then you will be laughing. Good luck with the printing

[plexer]

Going to run the multiwii stuff on the mega I bought.

 

Currently printing one seciton of the body at 75% just to see how it comes out if I do print it all at 75% gotta look at the motor mounts as they aint gonna fit.

 

Ben

[JAB1a]

@plexer wicked project. when you say '75%',do you mean you are printing it at 75% of the original scale or is this something else you mean?

[plexer]

Yes scaled to 75% of the original.

 

I'll have to fire up the other 3d printer as well I think

 

Ben

[plexer]

mm 4hrs in and then you realise it's not printing correctly, lol

 

Ben

[JAB1a]

hmm that's interesting, is there a reason you did this or is it just to save time during printing? looks like you might get away with using 8x4.5/4.7 props if your going that size but I would suggest going for 1400Kv motors to get the higher RPM rather than the 1000Kv's.

 

You have 2 3d printers?!? wow what a useful tool

 

Yes scaled to 75% of the original.

 

I'll have to fire up the other 3d printer as well I think

 

Ben

[plexer]

It was just a time thing really based on how long it said to print allthough has I've now found out there is an issue with the sliced file so I've had to abandon the print for now.

 

Ben

[JAB1a]

Oh nooooo! nightmare, I guess that is one of the annoyences of a 3d printer, Damn it! good luck when you restart

[plexer]

Printed a centre structure for building an X quad the other day and just ordered some 600mm square aluminium tube to construct the frame

 

Ben

[JAB1a]

That sounds a lot simpler to make and construct, so have you given up on the v-tail quad?

 

Here is my Quadcopter doing a range test, I would of got a lot further but I was staying low to minimise the damage caused when I lost signal, the true range (if I was say 100feet off the ground) would be about 1000meters.

 

Best viewed full screen @720p

 

After this flight the quadcopter was fine and was flown back to the car LOS. Then came destruction, I was testing Manual mode (all gyro's/accelerometers turned off) when I went inverted but my lesson was learned quick....reduce throttle before going inverted!..so long story short the quad has had another full rebuild Version 4 with test flights tonight after work.

[plexer]

That sounds a lot simpler to make and construct, so have you given up on the v-tail quad?

 

 

MAKE | The six bottle test

 

I've given up on the v-tail at the moment as the files just not slicing for me and unable to fix the import stl, the person who designed it says it printed fine for him with his setup but hey.

 

Will start with the aluminium bar x quad and go from there.

 

Ben

[plexer]

Started.

 

 

Ben

Edited May 8, 2013 by plexer

[JAB1a]

Nice Plexer, I like those motor mounts and look forward to more updates

[plexer]

Indeed the mounts are an openscad version of the ones from the repository I am using but that allows me to tweak things easily like hole spacing and even the width of the aluminium bars being used.

 

I've drilled some holes through to construct the frame and will cut the other bar and drill it today and bolt it together if I can find some right sized bolts and nylocs.

 

Once I know how much the frame weighs and the arduino mega + sensors I guess I can work out the motors needed as the weight of the received batteries etc... should all be published?

 

Ben

[plexer]

What about these for motors? Turnigy D2836/8 1100KV Brushless Outrunner Motor (UK Warehouse)

 

Ben

[JAB1a]

Those motors look good. A Lipo 2200mAh 25C 11.1V 3S is about ~185g, My flying weight is roughly 1.2Kg with all FPV gear added.

 

I use 20amp ESC's with 1000Kv motors using 9x4.5 Props. The other route would be get 1400Kv motors and use 8x4.5 props and use a 4cell lipo for some serious control in the air.