PDA

View Full Version : Jcb's Quad copter Project,



jcb121
13-03-2013, 11:08 PM
So, Going out in an hour or so, so no huge write up!

I've been building this since halloween time going through multiple frames and multiple electronics!

so I present you my unfinished quad,
8442
But I can do better then, so I did.
I haven't finished it yet, but here are some prototype arms I've been making:

84438444844584468447
but these are a bit short now I've seen them in real life and too heavy at about 45gs

so I'm starting longer but lighter ones
84488449

they should weigh about 30g and are 30mm longer but harder to make. hopefully they wont be too weak, I look forward to destroying a few!

D.C.
14-03-2013, 08:26 AM
That is a lovely truss, if you are still having problems with weight there are some nice frame designs 'floating around' made from fr4 fibreglass.

Quadcopter frame design (fiberglass). (http://www.instructables.com/id/Quadcopter-frame-design-fiberglass/)

dstivens
14-03-2013, 10:03 AM
84508451
im just finishing off my quad. yours is looking really nice so far. I took a simpler approach to my frame and it seems to fly really nicely. Got to make a decent battery mount and a couple other bits then ill post some more photos.

Is there a reason you went with a 'truss' style arms instead of flat ones similar to mine?

jcb121
14-03-2013, 05:27 PM
I just thought it would be really cool to have a truss style frame, they aren't too heavy for the quad but it's more of a competition with myself to get it as light as possible!

I was planning on using the same arms for a hexacopter or larger and have some thing super stable that won't flex in any direction.

Are your arms 5mm thick aluminium? How much do they weigh? What kV are your motors and the prop size you are running on them? Flight board?

I'm very much a noob at anything rc wise. The last rc vehicle I had was made from Lego.

Philly
14-03-2013, 05:47 PM
I just thought it would be really cool to have a truss style frame, they aren't too heavy for the quad but it's more of a competition with myself to get it as light as possible!

I was planning on using the same arms for a hexacopter or larger and have some thing super stable that won't flex in any direction.

Are your arms 5mm thick aluminium? How much do they weigh? What kV are your motors and the prop size you are running on them? Flight board?

I'm very much a noon at anything rc wise. The last rc vehicle I had was made from Lego.


Ever thought of using trex 450 booms, they're very light and very cheap :)

jcb121
14-03-2013, 06:06 PM
I'd rather make it myself,

dstivens
14-03-2013, 06:07 PM
the motors are hacker Style Brushless Outrunner 20-50S (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__4699__hacker_Style_Brushless_Outrunner_20_50S.ht ml)
i use 8045 props.
and use a multiwii lite CRIUS MultiWii Lite Edition Flight Controller v1.0 for mini Quadcopter $16.72 Free Shipping @GoodLuckBuy.com (http://www.goodluckbuy.com/crius-multiwii-lite-edition-flight-controller-v1-0-for-mini-quadcopter-.html)

i think the arms are 6mm but i cant remember how heavy they were, i think its close to 500g flying weight. To be fair i could save alot of weight on the arms and the center plate but wasnt sure on the stiffness of the design and may swap the ali center plate for a glassfiber one. it flys pretty well and hovers at less than half throttle which is pleasing. just need to learn to fly the thing better now haha.

I also have a hexacopter which is one of these Flyduspider Hexacopter Frame Set (http://flyduino.net/Flyduspider-Hexacopter-Frame-Set_1) which is really nice but a bit scary to fly and expensive in props if it all goes wrong.

something id suggest is not to use connectors between your motors and esc's as ive had one work loose before which isn't good mid flight. I think other people have had this issue before also.

jcb121
14-03-2013, 06:44 PM
Cool, I've got a a set of 1200k and 2200kv motors.

The 2200kv motors can apprently draw 342w so I bought some buff ESCs but they're kinda redundant now and just heavy as they have a proper heat sink on them.

I'm using a kk 5.5 blackboard with kaptain kuk 4.7 firmware and I have an issue with it. when I increase the throttle, one of the motors will spin up and then stop again. I think it might be something to do with the frequency of the chip not playing well with the esc chip :S

what size battery do you have and what sort of run time do you get? I was a bit horrified when I looked at ecalc and it said I would have 5 minutes of flight!

dstivens
14-03-2013, 07:06 PM
from what ive read it seems the lower the kv the better? i used to use a kk board but i found the multiwii boards iare far more stable, especially when in stable mode (would you believe!). plus you get a nice gui to program them with which is nice :joyous:

i have heard of issues with the esc update speed being too slow and making it to slow to react to small changes but not of your problem sorry. maybe your gyros need reversing or something? i do remember messing about with my kk board for quite a while before i got it to work right.

my hex has a 4000ma 40c battery and it seems to last about half hour not sure about my quad ive only flown it briefly before the wind got the better of me. when i get home tomorrow ill get some photos of stuff for you.

Philly
14-03-2013, 07:49 PM
I designed a flight controller for this very purpose, just not finished building the quad yet :)
8453

Got the boards, just waiting for parts so I can test, its 10DOF and is GPS ready :) Its 5cm x 5cm.

jcb121
14-03-2013, 10:05 PM
That looks very nice! will you be basing your firmware on the code already available?
I was thinking about making a flightboard, if you board works with gimbals and such then I might be interested :)

i just took the wrapping off my ESCs and they have pads for programming it! win! gunna put Simonk Firmware on them :)

jcb121
15-03-2013, 07:02 PM
So flashing went successfully, they're much better with the new firmware and the throttle works properly.

I kinda almost finished my new arm,

847384748475

but as you can tell it's unfinished,
I had a little problem with it in the CNC. a structural issue that I'll learn from on the next model!
8476

Each side takes me about 5-6 minutes to do, but changing the tools and re-finding zero can take ages. I need to develop a manufacturing process :) and what order I do operations in.

Jonathan
15-03-2013, 07:15 PM
Each side takes me about 5-6 minutes to do, but changing the tools and re-finding zero can take ages. I need to develop a manufacturing process :) and what order I do operations in.

It would be easy to make with a rotary tale and tailstock, but not really worth getting one for just these parts. Have you done any analysis to see if they're strong enough?

jcb121
15-03-2013, 07:44 PM
I can stand on it without it deforming and I weight 90kgs, I think they'll be strong enough :)

and I was thinking this would be easier with a 4th axis.

Swarfing
15-03-2013, 07:45 PM
first class analysis me thinks :thumsup:

Fivetide
16-03-2013, 12:13 AM
Wowo awesome mate .. you thinking about selling the frames when you have a fully working flyer , my Dads been looking for a project like yours to put together..?

mocha
16-03-2013, 02:47 AM
+1 for a bad case of quadcopter infection! lol. No time to build one so bought RTF came today and now it rains for 4 days! grrrreat!

Philly
16-03-2013, 11:44 AM
That looks very nice! will you be basing your firmware on the code already available?
I was thinking about making a flightboard, if you board works with gimbals and such then I might be interested :)

i just took the wrapping off my ESCs and they have pads for programming it! win! gunna put Simonk Firmware on them :)

It was desined around the Multiwii 2 code and has extra pins broken out for gimbal usage etc :) I'll dig one out and take a photo for you :)

Arms are looking good now, I'm not patient enough to make them, I bend too many :D

Philly
16-03-2013, 12:11 PM
8479

Knew I had a pic somewhere :)

jcb121
16-03-2013, 09:11 PM
I just bought a multiwii board on ebay

MultiWii Flight Control Board With Camera Gimbal Control | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121079854962?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649)

so one of you PROs are going to have to help me with it!

I'm looking forward to making the gimbal

jcb121
20-03-2013, 05:23 PM
So I'm 3/4 of the way there!
Also how the board sits in the frame.

Fivetide
20-03-2013, 09:05 PM
wow dude thats looking awesome :)

jcb121
21-03-2013, 05:47 PM
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/22/numunyvy.jpg
Just a few more bits and bobs to do, then I have to wait for this rain to go away :(

jcb121
21-03-2013, 07:58 PM
Ergh. It is finally done-ish.

I'm missing a few nuts and bolts but the frame is done! The weight in the photo is 900g and that's with a big 5000mah battery so I've done pretty well.

WandrinAndy
21-03-2013, 08:00 PM
I'm curious about the different colour of the props..... Do they have practical significance such as Port and Starboard?

jcb121
21-03-2013, 08:12 PM
front and back :)

dstivens
21-03-2013, 08:12 PM
I'm curious about the different colour of the props..... Do they have practical significance such as Port and Starboard?

normally its so you know which end is the front

jcb121
21-03-2013, 09:03 PM
I've just stolen my step-dads camera so time for some better photos!

852885298530853185328533

I just need some cable ties for the ESCs and hopefully it'll fly!

total weight is just over a kilo.

Lee Roberts
21-03-2013, 09:24 PM
Looks ace J, had to chuckle as i took delivery of two thousand of these today (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330169011093?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649), bet they would be just right for this and i would have gladly popped down and given you 100 just to see it fly, live in wigan though so guess i'll have to wait for your first flight vids.

Subscribed.
.Me

jcb121
21-03-2013, 10:09 PM
you can drive down if you want mate! :P

I wish I knew if it would fly or not.

full throttle means the props will spin at 13k rpm.

I've no idea if that x4 will generate enough lift. exciting times :)

Swarfing
22-03-2013, 12:29 AM
Quadtastic J, can't wait to see your hard work in flight. makes me want to get the old super60 out now

jcb121
26-03-2013, 12:07 PM
Well it flew, shortly. It was yawing like crazy but I managed to get it down safely.

i tried it again to identify the stick that needs reversing but I wasn't so lucky this time. I think one of the props hit something and it fell something like 15-20 feet out of the air.

only problem is one of the wires to the motor has been pulled and a single strand of copper has come off the stator.

so it crashes well!


unfortunately there are no pics as my step-dad is a muppet with a camera.

Fivetide
26-03-2013, 06:09 PM
Well it flew, shortly. It was yawing like crazy but I managed to get it down safely.

i tried it again to identify the stick that needs reversing but I wasn't so lucky this time. I think one of the props hit something and it fell something like 15-20 feet out of the air.

only problem is one of the wires to the motor has been pulled and a single strand of copper has come off the stator.

so it crashes well!


unfortunately there are no pics as my step-dad is a muppet with a camera.


damn I mourn your loss .. but yeahhh it flys :) hell its what makes such a great project fun .. lol

jcb121
26-03-2013, 07:50 PM
It's looking super now that I've cable tied it all up!

I feel a bit silly just buying one thing at a time from a web shop. But it has to be done. Last time it was and RX and this time it's a motor.

r0bsk1
26-03-2013, 08:52 PM
If its yawing badly double check the the rotation direction of the motors. Sounds like you have 1 going the wrong way. Dont reverse the sticks just yet. I had it when i built my hex....but then it got attacked by pigeons!

D.C.
26-03-2013, 11:38 PM
Well it flew, shortly. It was yawing like crazy but I managed to get it down safely.

unfortunately there are no pics as my step-dad is a muppet with a camera.

Nice work, as good as the Wright brothers managed!
If you need a light weight camera for it I can recomend the 808 cams from eletoponline365 on ebay

HD Camera, Capacitors items in eletoponline365 store on eBay! (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/eletoponline365)

Those guys are the factory shop apparently so they actually make what they are selling, there are some knock offs floating around other sellers on ebay. There is a load of info the cams on Chuck Lohr's site and several uber threads over at rcgroups.com

808 Car Keys Micro Camera Review - Version #16 (http://www.chucklohr.com/808/C16/)

jcb121
28-03-2013, 09:58 PM
Nice work, as good as the Wright brothers managed!
If you need a light weight camera for it I can recomend the 808 cams from eletoponline365 on ebay

HD Camera, Capacitors items in eletoponline365 store on eBay! (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/eletoponline365)

Those guys are the factory shop apparently so they actually make what they are selling, there are some knock offs floating around other sellers on ebay. There is a load of info the cams on Chuck Lohr's site and several uber threads over at rcgroups.com

808 Car Keys Micro Camera Review - Version #16 (http://www.chucklohr.com/808/C16/)

Thanks for the heads up on that! I just bought one with the D lense. I also bought a 500mw transmitter so now I have a few weeks to get good at flying!

I also bought 3 spare motors and I should probably buy a few more props to destroy.

I'm using the 4.7 firmware from here (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1458663&page=5#post18609175) and the motors were setup in the correct config. :S

Ricardoco
28-03-2013, 10:10 PM
Did you find out what caused the Yaw?? I suspect it was just a balance thing..

Rick

jcb121
29-03-2013, 12:26 PM
no idea, I might just try flipping the yaw gryo and see if that helps.

it really was a spinning death trap when it took off!

could anyone on here help me with my multi-wii board? I've never used anything like it before and don't want to mess it up. documentation on my exact board isn't exactly easy to find either :(

r0bsk1
29-03-2013, 12:44 PM
I dont have the multiwii, i have the APM2 but the yawing sounds like you have a motor reversed. Have you checked them?

jcb121
29-03-2013, 01:00 PM
all the props were in the correct place, maybe one motor had the prop facing the correct way but the motor spinning the opposite way. but it did fly level and I imagine it wouldn't if a prop was forcing air in the wrong direction.

So i conclude that it must be a gyro thing.

r0bsk1
29-03-2013, 01:23 PM
Yep if you get an upward thrust of air it'll instantly want to flip on take off as that corner is forced in to the ground where as the other 3 want to lift.

Do you have a magnetometer? That can cause yawing if not calibrated.

jcb121
29-03-2013, 01:36 PM
no I don't think so, I'm currently using a simple kk 5.5 blackboard.

Ricardoco
29-03-2013, 01:52 PM
no I don't think so, I'm currently using a simple kk 5.5 blackboard.Im still convinced its a balance thing, i realise you have the same things on each spar but they must be in exactly the same position on each spar, if one of those boards on the side is 5mm out towards the rotor and the opposit one is 5mm towards the center thats a total of 10mm out and although the gyro will compensate to some extent i suspect it would be a little too much and you would be on the limit of your stick all the time with the gyro doing backflips trying to work out what is going on, remember that is still a light craft and the smallest imbalance could make a very big difference.. IMO that is

Rick

D.C.
29-03-2013, 04:10 PM
Thanks for the heads up on that! I just bought one with the D lense. I also bought a 500mw transmitter so now I have a few weeks to get good at flying!

If you struggle for battery life or weight they are easy to hack to run off your main battery, loads of vids/demos of how to do it floating around. The eletop guys even stuck a battery connector in there in response to complaints about having to solder a couple of wires to hack a new power supply in. Good attitude from a hardware company. :)

Clive S
29-03-2013, 07:50 PM
Hi I am not an expert on these but if you have a look at this it shows how you can fly it on a string indoors and be able to calabrate it quite easy without it crashing This is the way I did it to learn what the controls did and make sure the self level worked ok etc . I think the one in the vid is x config. Clive


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZPcww9MRRY

D-man
30-03-2013, 08:08 PM
A friend of mine built one of these with GPS for uni and was very impressive. I will see if I can find the video.

Stick at it fella you will get there

D-man
30-03-2013, 08:14 PM
http://youtu.be/l8UFyVNVr4c

That's video 2 of 2 the first one is in there somewhere. He's got some good videos good pilot too.