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helno posted:I have an old DX6i and have a bunch of the <$10 receivers. I use the cheap ones on planes that are small and light and enough not to let get to far away. I'm seriously considering jumping the shark and picking up a DX8. I've already started dumping cash into some tools. I picked up a new weller soldering station and I'll be acquiring a few more fine wood working tools soon. Any "must-have" tools for the shop?
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Oct 13, 2012 23:40
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Ponies ate my Bagel posted:I'm seriously considering jumping the shark and picking up a DX8. I've already started dumping cash into some tools. I picked up a new weller soldering station and I'll be acquiring a few more fine wood working tools soon. Any "must-have" tools for the shop? Don't like to double post but I decided to get a Turnigy 9x and do the ER9X firmware upgrade with a Frsky conversion. I got the bug pretty bad for fixed wing RC... I have eBay bids on 7 kits with plans to order the Seniorita and the Riser 100. I have a shopping list for tools/supplies a mile long and I'm prepping the garage for kit building. I thought this hobby would be ungodly expensive to get into, but after doing research for a few weeks I've found it's not quite that bad. By going with the Turnigy the cost of a Radio system is about 1/4 of what it would be if I went with any of the others. I'm pretty damned excited. Now I just need a good charger... RcGroups has been less than helpful in that regard.
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Oct 17, 2012 17:41
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I have a bigass charger an iCharger 3010b but I rarely use more than half the capacity. Prior to that I had a n accucell 6 which did me just fine other than being slow on the big packs. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__7028__Turnigy_Accucel_6_50W_6A_Balancer_Charger_w_accessories.html Really depends on how you want to do things. Big chargers let you do things faster if you work in parallel. If you have many different cell counts of batteries you are better off with one of the multi chargers that have a bunch of chargers in one.
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Oct 17, 2012 21:45
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helno posted:I have a bigass charger an iCharger 3010b but I rarely use more than half the capacity. I was going to get that one, it literally went in and out of my shopping cart on HK 20 times. Right now this one is sitting in it: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__11444__Turnigy_A_6_10_200W_Balance_charger_discharger.html I thought getting 10A would be useful.
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Oct 18, 2012 04:24
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I've decided to start a scratchbuild foamie using Dollar Tree foam, because apparently I don't have enough to fill my free time. I wanted to work on something different...not your standard straight-wing glider or swept flying wing. After some doodling I ended up with this. It's something like a reversed flying wing. Straight leading edge, tapered trailing edge. Cambered body, two vertical stabilizers. Pusher prop for thrust. Simple elevons for control surfaces. Maybe rudders? Probably not though. There will be a pod that attaches to the underside for electronics and (hopefully) FPV/camera gear.  I'm going to use the cambered "Armin" wing method, since that looks easy and effective. Otherwise, I'm just going to wing it (no pun intended) and see how everything turns out. I'm worried about pitch stability. If I understand correctly, the aerodynamic center will be very close to the front since there is no tail boom and horizontal stabilizer. Which means the center of gravity needs to be even closer to the front. I'll be loading the battery, camera and electronics in a bay slung underneath at the very front, but I'm worried the motor is going to be too heavy ay the back. Maybe switch it around to a tractor configuration? Someone on RCGroups suggested ditching the elevons and installing a big central elevator instead.
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Oct 18, 2012 13:53
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^^^^^ straight wing flying wings not only have the stability issues you area already aware of but also have the added problem of looking exactly the same from all angles. Being unstable in pitch is a pain in the rear end but also being unstable in yaw makes for an interesting first flight.Ponies ate my Bagel posted:http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__11444__Turnigy_A_6_10_200W_Balance_charger_discharger.html I would choose this one over that one simply because the output leads and balance ports are on the same side. Otherwise they are pretty much the same as far as I can tell. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__12105__HobbyKing_ECO6_10_200W_10A_6S_Bal_Dis_Cyc_Charger_w_acc_.html Also get one of these and read up on how to use it. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__14856__Hobbyking_Parallel_charging_Board_for_6_packs_2_6S_XT60_.html helno fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Oct 18, 2012 |
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Oct 18, 2012 22:38
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helno posted:^^^^^ straight wing flying wings not only have the stability issues you area already aware of but also have the added problem of looking exactly the same from all angles. Being unstable in pitch is a pain in the rear end but also being unstable in yaw makes for an interesting first flight. I literally just dumped about $760 into this hobby (Hobbyking and Amazon) and setting up my workshop up. I split my order into 2 parts (US/China) from what it was originally and saved enough that I bought the AXN Floater and still saved money versus buying it all internationally. I actually ordered that exact charger today. I only spent about half of the total at Hobbyking, I'm really excited about getting into this. I have bids on about 7 plane kits on eBay, I'm hoping I lose most of them because I didn't realize how expensive it would all be combined. I'll have to get my hands on one of those charger boards.
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Oct 18, 2012 23:55
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Has anyone built their own airframes as opposed to buying one off the shelf? Could a larger vehicle be built from blocks of balsa or foam that could carry heavier payloads? I'm thinking of something capable of carrying in IP dome camera that could be imbedded on the underside of the fuselage to allow for 360 degree pan and decent zoom. On a separate note, is there any type of program that would allow an operator to freeze a camera on a certain point as in see a building, centering in on it, pushing a button, and having the camera stay pointed at the building while the aircraft might be flying in a different direction?
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Oct 20, 2012 04:22
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Hummer Driving human being posted:Has anyone built their own airframes as opposed to buying one off the shelf? Could a larger vehicle be built from blocks of balsa or foam that could carry heavier payloads? I'm thinking of something capable of carrying in IP dome camera that could be imbedded on the underside of the fuselage to allow for 360 degree pan and decent zoom. Yes, hobbiests have been doing just that since the ... 1930's? I've built a long series of planes with wingspans in the 6' range, out of balsa, plywood, and spruce. People do fiberglass, foam, carbon fiber, all the time. They also make real airplanes the same way. :-) The KR-1 and KR-2 are built just like a radio control airplane. http://kr2s.r-farley.com/Construction/fuselage4.html Seriously... If you want a "off the shelf" large airplane, they're out there. I'd recommend the Telemaster. That's a plane that's been the go to heavy lift r/c plane for at least the last 20 years. http://www.hobby-lobby.com/telemasters_216_ctg.htm The reason why you'd go kit, versus ARF, is it's easier to incorporate modifications into a kit, rather than an ARF, and if you're careful, nobody will build you a lighter plane than you building your own plane. A rig that will track a point in space is a very, very tall order. I wish you luck on that.
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Oct 20, 2012 18:56
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My second successful* FPV flight, first that I've been able to record. Mostly just just puttering around a big field, so I made sure the video was short. I mostly just wanted to share how my dog chases after the plane like a lunatic. Does anyone else have dogs that do this? https://vimeo.com/51854731 *I've flown a few more FPV flights, but the other ones ended in calamity for a variety of misconfiguration problems. This is only the second time that nothing horrible has gone wrong =)
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Oct 21, 2012 16:02
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I picked up a kit Friday, just figured I'd post some in progress pics. It's an Eagle 2, I got it for $40 at my LHS. The kit:  The fuselage:  My bench with sheetrock base for pins:  The stabilizer, pinned and glued:   The completed fin:  The right wing pinned out:  I'm really enjoying building it. I don't know if I'm going to go glow or do an electric conversion. I also don't know what size/type of servos to get.
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Oct 23, 2012 17:52
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edit : nothing to see here!
ease fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Dec 5, 2012 |
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Oct 23, 2012 21:56
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Nerobro posted:A rig that will track a point in space is a very, very tall order. I wish you luck on that. I guess that would involve some pretty heavy-duty software? Has anyone here played with GPS guided flight? I guess an easier answer to my question would be to put the aircraft into an autopilot mode flying a circle so the operator could focus exclusively on the camera postions. Either that or have two operators (one for the aircraft and one for the camera).
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Oct 29, 2012 20:04
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Yes, that takes some heavy duty software. Tracking targets with a cameara is still pretty cutting edge stuff. Not bleeding edge anymore.. but it's close. I think that your idea also starts to cross into some very hazy legal grounds. If you have a something that can fly a preplanned flight path, and track a target on the ground, you have 100% of a modern cruise missile.
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Oct 29, 2012 20:17
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Nerobro posted:Yes, that takes some heavy duty software. Tracking targets with a cameara is still pretty cutting edge stuff. Not bleeding edge anymore.. but it's close. Yeah, I understand how that could be a bad thing if in the wrong hands. I have seen videos of fail-safes where if the aircraft loses signal it automatically flies "home". Are there laws against using a pre-planned route? My interest is being able to concentrate totally on camera operation and not have to be worried about navigating the aircraft at the same time.
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Oct 29, 2012 20:28
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Automated/unmanned (UAV) flight is currently illegal in the US, as there's no legal licensing path outside of a very narrow group of edu/research projects, and they're all hand-screened by the FAA. Hell, even FPV flights big enough to carry a DSLR or other video camera and filming for profit are not legal. It's *possible* but more like a "not you, not ever" kind of way. You have to get a commercial pilot's license, and then you have to get the aircraft licensed by the FAA. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Oct 29, 2012 |
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Oct 29, 2012 21:37
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CrazyLittle posted:Automated/unmanned (UAV) flight is currently illegal in the US, as there's no legal licensing path outside of a very narrow group of edu/research projects, and they're all hand-screened by the FAA. OK. So there are size restrictions on RC aircraft? Where can I find out what crosses the line size-wise?
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Oct 29, 2012 22:58
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That's my understanding of the law as it stands today. There's grumbling here and there about those laws being changed, but *edit* no changes have gone into effect yet. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Oct 29, 2012 |
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Oct 29, 2012 23:08
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CrazyLittle posted:
So if someone slaved the controls of a Cessna to a human operator remotely and flew it around for fun within sight would that not break a law except as long as the aircraft was flying over an "other than congested area" as per FAR Part 91?
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Oct 29, 2012 23:29
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Hummer Driving human being posted:So if someone slaved the controls of a Cessna to a human operator remotely and flew it around for fun within sight would that not break a law except as long as the aircraft was flying in over an "other than congested area" as per FAR Part 91? I'm pretty sure there's other laws regarding the operation of "small aircraft." The rule of thumb for FAA regulated airspace is, "if there's no rule allowing it, it's not allowed."
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Oct 29, 2012 23:41
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Helicopter pilot watches as someone flying an RC P-51 crashes on the top of a tree. He goes in and retrieves the model, lands on the improvised RC landing strip and returns the model to the owner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffEYqGGYXRk loving A
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Oct 30, 2012 16:21
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Good news, AMA's publishing more clear guidelines allowing for FPV and auto-pilot models. http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/blog/2012/11/01/ama-revising-fpv-policy/
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Nov 1, 2012 21:35
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I got my Turnigy 9x radio in, soldered in the connections for the USBAsp programmer and installed the ER9X firmware. So far I'm pretty impressed. I'd like to try and fly my AXN Floater from Hking, but I've got issues with my motorcycle I have to sort out first.
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Nov 2, 2012 16:50
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I built a simple 2 axis camera gimbal for my tricopter. Here is the first test run. Not bad for about $10 in parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouu35Ukgt_k
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Nov 11, 2012 22:23
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Nicely done!
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Nov 13, 2012 01:33
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This seems like as good a place as any to post this: As a final project in my aerospace class, we are working in teams to build balloon-assisted RC airships. Obviously, we chose to fashion ours into a flying squirrel.   The construction is mostly finished, and we skated by at 60 grams less than the 1kg weight limit. Now, I get the fun job of learning how to fly this thing without breaking it.  I should have some stability test and flight videos soon.
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Nov 14, 2012 02:20
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JohnSherman posted:This seems like as good a place as any to post this: That looks like great fun, can't wait to see pictures of the whole thing. I managed to do my first proper FPV flights last weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y67_N6n6Wg (Tacky music from Youtube included!  )It was windy as heck, but we were visiting the in-laws and they wanted to see it working, so peer pressure! Recording the stream from my Fatsharks directly to a netbook produced a video of .. er .. sub quality. There is a weird green bar across the bottom and the picture quality is crap. A lot more interference than I had in the goggles, and I guess it couldn't keep up with the live video and so cut some parts of the flight out  One great part it cut out was hovering above the train track (pointing into the wind) and filming a train passing underneath. It looked great for me! How do you guys capture the video?
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Nov 14, 2012 08:30
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I've seen this thing recommended as a good ground-station recorder. You have to power it off a 5v UBEC though (or something else that gives 5V): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024UJLRW/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A2TGMCZ4O2P52Z The video quality is supposedly meh, but adequate for recording the relatively low quality video feed from our FPV cameras. Everyone talks about this unit from FPV-Japan being good too: http://fpv-japan.com/item/fj-dvr-sd4/lang/en/ I think RMRC also carries that unit. Other than those two, I think people just use whatever easycam dvr they have laying around, although a lot blue screen on static. So an update to my scratchbuild project. I've completely re-designed the whole thing, adding an inverted v-tail and a fuselage/nose section. I just couldn't get the CG right for a flying plank.  Took it out for a maiden the other night. Flew for about 10 feet before rolling into the ground. I have zero dihedral on the plane, and no ailerons, so roll control is pretty abysmal. I'm pretty sure the rolling behavior is due to airframe asymmetries, but the inability to correct the rolling motion is definitely because of having no dihedral. I'm probably going to redo the fuselage section and add a few degrees of dihedral to the wings. Or maybe just cant the wingtips upwards.
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Nov 14, 2012 17:51
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polyfractal posted:I've seen this thing recommended as a good ground-station recorder. You have to power it off a 5v UBEC though (or something else that gives 5V): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024UJLRW/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A2TGMCZ4O2P52Z I saw that and immediately thought it needed canted tips. Give'em a try, I'm really curious to see if it fixes the issue.
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Nov 14, 2012 19:47
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So, when I checked last week, rctimer.com wasn't working, and today it's showing a default page. In case it's down forever, anyone have any ideas about other places I can source their stuff? Specifically, I'm looking for the shafts compatible with these motors: http://store.diydrones.com/Motor_AC2830_358_850Kv_p/ac-0004-04.htm as well as 20-30A Turnigy-clone ESCs (I forget what "brand" they sold) that still have atmega controllers (instead of the newer ones with a SiLabs micro). Any ideas? The stuff they sold was not of low quality, compared to general Chinese RC crap. I mean, sure, 1-2/10 of the motors I got were slightly unbalanced or something, but the cost difference was enough to make that not matter. That, and they were selling more reasonably priced clones of the Ardupilot 2.5. I was curious about those, if only because I'm wondering how those got made (since I thought there were sourcing issues on some of the parts, especially the altitude/air pressure sensor)
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Nov 14, 2012 21:35
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So I'm currently building a Quadcopter for FPV and possibly doing flyovers of costumers to show off their costume. I'm intending to use 1200kv ebay motors (And 8x4.5 props) with the Hobbywing Quattro 4x20A 4-in-one ESC and a KK Multicopter V2 board. The odd part about this, is I'm going to be doing a H or I frame body from scratch. Does anyone have any insights or tips into this body type? It seems fairly new but also really simple to give more platform space for cameras/fpv gear.
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Nov 19, 2012 00:19
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H frames aren't really new. A lot of people have made homemade H frames. They use the same control configuration as a X quad. They have somewhat different flight characteristics. I've heard someone compare the handling to a plane like in forward flight.
ease fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Nov 19, 2012 |
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Nov 19, 2012 14:26
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Hi guys, I don't think I've posted here before, but I'm a semi-regular in the RC cars thread - I'm selling off a couple of cheap planes and a couple of small 3D helis, if anyone is looking for something fun, or gifts, or whatever. Here's the SA Mart link: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3518632
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Nov 21, 2012 23:25
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So I'm looking to pick up a small, hand launch glider such as the Dream-Flight Alula http://www.dream-flight.com/alula.html but it doesn't come with a transmitter/receiver. Should I pick up the one they suggest (Hitech Minima 6E)? Also, what would be the best transmitter? Seeing as how I only need to operate a couple of servos, super low cost without the bells and whistles would be preferable. Thanks!
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Dec 3, 2012 18:54
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WaterIsPoison posted:So I'm looking to pick up a small, hand launch glider such as the Dream-Flight Alula http://www.dream-flight.com/alula.html but it doesn't come with a transmitter/receiver. Should I pick up the one they suggest (Hitech Minima 6E)? Also, what would be the best transmitter? Seeing as how I only need to operate a couple of servos, super low cost without the bells and whistles would be preferable. Thanks! I just sold my DX7 and plan on getting a Turnigy 9X. For the price it's the best tX out there, and there is even custom firmware being worked on which is awesome. It's also module based, and you can get the Orange DSM2 tX module for it so it will work with all spektrum/jr rXs. You're looking at around 50$ for it with their module and 8ch rX. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__8992__Turnigy_9X_9Ch_Transmitter_w_Module_8ch_Receiver_Mode_2_v2_Firmware_.html It's always out of stock and in demand. If you really want cheaper you can go with something like this : http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__24968__Turnigy_4X_FHSS_2_4ghz_Transmitter_and_Reciever_Mode_2_.html But seriously, shell out the extra 30$ and get a computer transmitter and you'll be set if you ever decide to fly a more complicated module. I looked at their website and they are charging 45$ for a single hitec rX. That seems insane. You could get a 9x, the orange rX module, and a orange micro rX for ~100$. ease fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Dec 3, 2012 |
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Dec 3, 2012 23:29
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ease posted:I just sold my DX7 and plan on getting a Turnigy 9X. For the price it's the best tX out there, and there is even custom firmware being worked on which is awesome. I bought a 9X just so my 5 year old son could use a controller without the risk of him burning money by dropping more my expensive Spektrum. Turns out, the 9X has survived more drops than my Spektrum has. Nothing broken on it, as opposed to my Spektrum having broken toggles. The FrSKY ACCST stuff is also very good. I get far fewer failed range checks using the FrSKY or OrangeRX receivers than I do using genuine Spektrum, even with satellite receivers.
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Dec 3, 2012 23:50
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ease posted:I just sold my DX7 and plan on getting a Turnigy 9X. For the price it's the best tX out there, and there is even custom firmware being worked on which is awesome. It's also module based, and you can get the Orange DSM2 tX module for it so it will work with all spektrum/jr rXs. If you get a Turnigy 9x, do yourself a favor and buy the smartieparts board, which gives you the USB programming interface to make flashing and model backups/programming braindead simple http://www.smartieparts.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3 Also if the "turnigy 9x" is sold out, you can also buy the Flysky TH-9X or Eurgle 9x as they are all the same device. If you want to get cheap receivers for it, the Flysky FS-r6b is a 6-channel rx for $9 at hobbypartz.com and the R8B is 8channels, respectively. The only real compelling reason to get the orange-TX module is if you want to use your radio with RTF models that are DSM-only. FrSKY ACCST is probably on-par with Futaba FASST and Spektrum DSMX. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Dec 4, 2012 |
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Dec 4, 2012 00:15
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Thanks for that, I will definitely pick up that board.
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Dec 5, 2012 18:47
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So I've been flying the Eflite Ultra-Micro and Blade aircraft for a while. I've got eighteen batteries or so. Three or four have blown up, either due to charging issues, or post crash problems. I've noticed my flight times are WAY down. The heli's sink soon. The planes don't climb well. So I broke out my Supermate DC6 to do real testing of these batteries. I'm about halfway through, and it seems most of my batteries are at 60%, if not 50% capacity. Right now, I'm just tracking how much power is put in to charge the cells. And there's certain losses to charging, so i'm getting inflated numbers. So far, my worst cell is a 150ma cell, that took 83ma to charge. Talk about toasty.
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Dec 9, 2012 07:05
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Bummer. How many cycles did you put through them, and how low did you typically go?
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Dec 9, 2012 07:33
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