|
Vitamin J posted:Or renting! Yeah. Hobbypartz.com is the same company as xheli.com and nitroplanes.com. They ship from southern California. Also check out headsuphobby.com which is based out of Florida.
|
# ? Mar 15, 2014 07:28 |
|
|
# ? May 11, 2024 10:18 |
|
front wing flexing posted:Trip report on the Proto X. Arcturas posted:Oh god. Hobbyking's international shipping prices are murderous. Other than waiting a month for parts to get in stock in their US warehouse, is there a good alternative source for their parts? Turnigy frames, engines, transmitters, etc.
|
# ? Mar 17, 2014 12:49 |
|
NitroSpazzz posted:I was able to find a decent amount of HK/Turnigy stuff on eBay from US resellers. Prices ended up being about the same as ordering from HK and doing international shipping but you get it quicker. Thanks. I just checked and, unfortunately, the parts I need aren't available on Ebay. Turns out people are more willing to resell motors than frames.
|
# ? Mar 17, 2014 15:59 |
|
Oh yeah, when buying stuff from Hobbyking, it's usually a good idea to order extras...
|
# ? Mar 20, 2014 05:16 |
|
CrazyLittle posted:Oh yeah, when buying stuff from Hobbyking, it's usually a good idea to order extras... Its not a mistake its a feature for all those friction fit prop adaptors you have lying around
|
# ? Mar 20, 2014 18:08 |
|
CrazyLittle posted:Oh yeah, when buying stuff from Hobbyking, it's usually a good idea to order extras... That's why I sorta love hobbyking. Sure, you get the occasional junk, but it's cheap enough that you can buy two of everything and still come out ahead.
|
# ? Mar 20, 2014 18:52 |
|
Yup - that's exactly what I did. I also have a metric die set and a lathe, so even with the dud shaft I could still cut the threads myself.
|
# ? Mar 20, 2014 19:41 |
|
Ha, maybe it's so you can use an extra large prop shaft clamp. People like to hate those NTM motors, but I've used a bunch of them and have had great luck.
|
# ? Mar 20, 2014 21:28 |
|
Jim Silly-Balls posted:Post up when you get it, I'm interested to know how long it takes to ship from the international warehouse. Got it today.
|
# ? Mar 21, 2014 22:06 |
|
ease posted:Ha, maybe it's so you can use an extra large prop shaft clamp. People like to hate those NTM motors, but I've used a bunch of them and have had great luck. I still have my first one and it runs like a champ, despite being on its 4th (5th?) plane. I do find that the SK3 series runs much better, but they're also twice the price...
|
# ? Mar 21, 2014 22:38 |
|
front wing flexing posted:Got it today. Wow, that was super fast coming from china (I assume?) to the us!
|
# ? Mar 22, 2014 02:51 |
|
Jim Silly-Balls posted:Wow, that was super fast coming from china (I assume?) to the us! Yeah, I think so. I just unboxed it, very excited. Also, I'm addicted to my Proto-X. This is my third one, lost one to a crash and gave another away. The third one randomly came in white which is nice because it's easier to see. I added the prop protector thing I bough off of ebay, looks like someone just 3-D printed it. It works likes a charm and keeps the props in good shape. The blue things on the bottom are just cut up nerf darts to make the landings softer and more importantly protect the engines which are a little sensitive. It does add weight but I'd say I costs no more than 20 seconds of flying time, it's worth it.
|
# ? Mar 22, 2014 03:31 |
|
APM 2.5 clone #3 being delivered to my house today, let's hope it doesn't fail immediately like the last 2!
|
# ? Mar 22, 2014 18:02 |
|
So I picked this up for $30 at Radioshack, I really want to get back into RC planes and helicopters, so I thought I'd start with this: Has no flaps or airleons, just changes prop pitch to steer. When I first got it, it flew like crap and would stall at the slightest power application, added a penny to the nose and it evens it out, now it'll flying double the height of my house and if there is no wind it has excellent control!
|
# ? Mar 23, 2014 15:54 |
|
Vitamin J posted:APM 2.5 clone #3 being delivered to my house today, let's hope it doesn't fail immediately like the last 2! Which clones have you been trying? I had good luck with the rctimer arduflyer but that is a sample size of 1.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2014 16:58 |
|
CommieGIR posted:So I picked this up for $30 at Radioshack, I really want to get back into RC planes and helicopters, so I thought I'd start with this: We have had a ton of fun with these simple throttle only planes flying indoors. A few guys have used the guts on custom airframes. They seem to be getting harder to find. Everyone sells a variety of lovely little helicopters but the fixed wing options have all bust disappeared.
|
# ? Mar 23, 2014 17:59 |
|
helno posted:We have had a ton of fun with these simple throttle only planes flying indoors. A few guys have used the guts on custom airframes. I'm going to try to extend its battery range with aux batteries and try to make it more wind resistant by weighting the wings, maybe using batteries as drop tanks. I also plan to add a longwire style antenna, it actually has phenomenol radio range for a cheapo rc aircraft Its a fun aircraft, its just so sensative to the wind and will get carried off
|
# ? Mar 23, 2014 18:55 |
|
Vitamin J posted:APM 2.5 clone #3 being delivered to my house today, let's hope it doesn't fail immediately like the last 2! mashed_penguin posted:Which clones have you been trying? I had good luck with the rctimer arduflyer but that is a sample size of 1. I'm also interested in which clone you're using. I currently have 2 official APM 2.0--one is full of fixes to some damage from a crash, and the other has been updated to whatever minor version contained the fixes to the power input (and maybe some other stuff). I'm considering adding an external magnetometer to it, which would bring it up to full 2.5 hardware, but I'm considering getting a new one for my sk450 dead cat anyway. Hobbyking has a nice bundle available, it just needs an external magnetometer (or 3drobotic's official GPS + magnetometer combo). RCTimer's version has this option, which is really cool if you are using their spider frame, but less so otherwise (The stackable GPS + mag board sorta defeats the purpose of moving the magnetometer up further away in the APM 2.5, but is good enough for a lot of cases).
|
# ? Mar 24, 2014 20:51 |
|
mashed_penguin posted:Which clones have you been trying? I had good luck with the rctimer arduflyer but that is a sample size of 1.
|
# ? Mar 24, 2014 22:15 |
|
Gah. I want to try APM for its GPS on the cheap, but all the horror stories about the clone boards being pure trash has me put off. Meanwhile MWC seems to be bad at GPS as well, so either I buy DJI or I spend just as much to get the real APM board and a boat load of configuration hassle.
|
# ? Mar 25, 2014 01:30 |
|
CrazyLittle posted:Gah. I want to try APM for its GPS on the cheap, but all the horror stories about the clone boards being pure trash has me put off. Meanwhile MWC seems to be bad at GPS as well, so either I buy DJI or I spend just as much to get the real APM board and a boat load of configuration hassle. From what I've read and personal experience the rctimer clone seems to be the most solid. There aren't that many reports of DOA boards from them and they actually have some sort of customer support.
|
# ? Mar 25, 2014 02:00 |
|
My replacement from Hobbypartz was DOA as well. loving hell. This one didn't even connect to the ground station software at all. Just placed an order with RMRC for a 3DR built APM 2.6 set. gently caress it.
|
# ? Mar 25, 2014 03:15 |
|
Vitamin J posted:My replacement from Hobbypartz was DOA as well. loving hell. This one didn't even connect to the ground station software at all. Just placed an order with RMRC for a 3DR built APM 2.6 set. gently caress it. At this point, I gotta wonder if you are killing all these boards with ESD or something...
|
# ? Mar 25, 2014 03:17 |
|
It's in a plastic case. Just pulled it out of the ziplock bag and plugged it in.
|
# ? Mar 25, 2014 03:54 |
|
When you eventually kill that one order the new miniature unit from hobby king and let me know how it works before I order a few. Could it be a bad BEC frying it?
|
# ? Mar 25, 2014 11:20 |
|
Got my Nano CP X today, together with the factory brushless upgrade and 6 batteries. First CP heli, so obviously I crashed a bunch of times. After I went through all 6 batteries, I installed the BL upgrade, and ran into a problem. The tail just wags way too much. Now I don't think I really had any excessive tail wagging without the BL upgrade. I mean, I may or may not have had any, but I don't remember having it. It probably wobbled a bit but you can hardly expect a tiny (CP) helicopter to be completely rock-solid. The thing is that the tail wagging is really obvious and annoying now, so I can't but conclude that because I don't remember it having before the upgrade, it just wasn't there. (Or at least way, way less.) So I switched back to the stock motor, but the wiggle is still there. It's really annoying seeing it just wiggle so much while hovering, and when turning around it's not at all smooth either. Any ideas? I've read that a bent feathering spindle could be the cause. Maybe I bent it while getting the stock motor out? I really had to pull on that thing to get it out and I may or may not have pushed on the blades a bit. I guess maybe I should fly a bit more first because apparently it can take a few flights to break it in? But I suspect that will do exactly nothing. I'm really not looking forward to replacing it or even getting it out to check :-/ At least a replacement would be rather cheap. (And I can order it together with a replacement canopy for my MCX2. Apparently that gets shredded rather easily when a CP X crashes into it. )
|
# ? Mar 25, 2014 21:11 |
|
uXs posted:Got my Nano CP X today, together with the factory brushless upgrade and 6 batteries. First CP heli, so obviously I crashed a bunch of times. The gyros, including the one that keeps the tail steady, are on the main board. If that wiggles around it can couple back into the feedback loop and cause the wag. So make sure that is screwed to the frame securely. For that matter, make sure the frame is not broken, and that the landing gear is not broken, a wiggling battery could also cause it. Make sure the tail is on securely as well, and that the tail blades are not bent over or flattened (though this usually causes the heli to blow out and not wobble). FWIW I went through an MCP X and two Nano's trying to learn heli 3D. My skills improved a lot but I got so frustrated fixing them all the time that I stopped flying them and just gave them (or the remains) away. Something always needed replacing or fixing, and my two Nano's both needed new 3 in 1 boards after a few weeks of flying. I really hated taking them out flying after a while because I always needed new parts and it was 10 bucks here, 20 there, eventually I had spent more than it was worth on parts. I finally bought a nice 450 from a friend after a while and instead of using micro heli's I've been practicing on Realflight. I've learned a lot more a lot more quickly; the larger helis fly entirely differently. Not trying to discourage you of course but if you get fed up with the Nano then there are other ways to have fun with helis. i own every Bionicle fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Mar 25, 2014 |
# ? Mar 25, 2014 21:45 |
|
Well, before I got it I was seeing the Nano as a first step towards ever bigger stuff. It's also fairly hard to find a large open space here to fly. I can fly the Nano indoors so that's a major advantage. But after seeing how easily the Nano blades just ripped through the MCX2 canopy, my desire to fly bigger heli's has taken a bit of a blow. The head speed of these CP helicopters is quite a lot faster than on the MCX2; I guess I knew that there would be a difference but it hadn't quite registered how big that difference would be. I guess I'll get used to it pretty quickly? (Maybe too quickly even.)
|
# ? Mar 25, 2014 22:01 |
|
Is there a good list of reputable online vendors anywhere? I know of Hobbyking, Horizon Hobby, Hobbyzone, Lazertoyz, and a couple of others, but are there any big players I haven't heard about yet? Anyone to avoid like the plague?
|
# ? Mar 25, 2014 22:41 |
|
EpicPhoton posted:Is there a good list of reputable online vendors anywhere? I know of Hobbyking, Horizon Hobby, Hobbyzone, Lazertoyz, and a couple of others, but are there any big players I haven't heard about yet? Anyone to avoid like the plague? That really depends on what you're trying to get. I've had good results from the ones you listed, and also these: http://www.towerhobby.com/ http://www.headsuphobby.com/ http://www.philshobbyshop.com/catalog/ http://www.hobbypartz.com/
|
# ? Mar 25, 2014 23:32 |
|
https://www.amainhobbies.com is pretty good too.
|
# ? Mar 26, 2014 03:10 |
|
CrazyLittle posted:Yeah, Just because the FAA can't fine you for it doesn't mean you won't be held liable for damages/injury. I'm still a pessimist and think that the FAA's gonna pass SOME regulations that preempt a drone free-for-all. Maybe licensing or registration of some kind. My bet is the new rules require a shitload of money/resources to comply with, effectively shutting down anyone smaller than Amazon/Google/etc. from running drones commercially. License fees of $100,000, required million-dollar drone insurance, and/or some sort of expensive drone safety system to prevent damages in case of crash.
|
# ? Mar 26, 2014 14:37 |
|
RadioPassive posted:My bet is the new rules require a shitload of money/resources to comply with, effectively shutting down anyone smaller than Amazon/Google/etc. from running drones commercially. License fees of $100,000, required million-dollar drone insurance, and/or some sort of expensive drone safety system to prevent damages in case of crash. I think there will be vastly different rules for those trying to operate on exclusively private property with owner permission and those trying to operate in the full public airspace. They will likely require liability insurance equal to the maximum possible damage that your drone falling out of the sky could cause, which will likely be large but not much more than the usual liability insurance that any sort of transportation company carries.
|
# ? Mar 26, 2014 16:44 |
|
I dunno how you define "maximum possible damage", though. Crashing on someone's car while it's parked is pretty different from crashing on someone's car while it's driving down the highway. And I've love to see what happens when you crash a bunch of carbon-fiber rods into a high-tension line.
|
# ? Mar 26, 2014 18:56 |
|
Sagebrush posted:I dunno how you define "maximum possible damage", though. Crashing on someone's car while it's parked is pretty different from crashing on someone's car while it's driving down the highway. And I've love to see what happens when you crash a bunch of carbon-fiber rods into a high-tension line. There are many methods to do this. We already do this for planes and space launches, I don't see how it would be harder to do with drones. Here are the rules for commercial space launches for example: http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/licenses_permits/launch_reentry/expendable/financial/
|
# ? Mar 26, 2014 19:14 |
|
Wojcigitty posted:The gyros, including the one that keeps the tail steady, are on the main board. If that wiggles around it can couple back into the feedback loop and cause the wag. So make sure that is screwed to the frame securely. For that matter, make sure the frame is not broken, and that the landing gear is not broken, a wiggling battery could also cause it. I checked for loose parts again today and didn't find any. So I tried flying again and it seems tail wag is severely reduced. It still wags a bit, but a lot less than it did yesterday, I think. I'll fly around a bit more and see what happens, maybe it really has to break in a bit. Edit: I'm finding it odd that I can fly like a madman with my mcx2, all around the room in no matter what orientation, while I still haven't succeeded in making a single full turn with the nano cpx. When it gets even a little beyond 90 degrees I just lose control. You'd think that I'd be used to controlling stuff nose-in, but nope. uXs fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Mar 26, 2014 |
# ? Mar 26, 2014 20:30 |
|
tehk posted:When you eventually kill that one order the new miniature unit from hobby king and let me know how it works before I order a few. Yesterday I drove to Snowmas, CO which is 3 hours each way, to meet up with another FPVer and I bought a genuine 3DR 2.5. Last night I got it flying and tuned up a little bit (the auto tune feature is really cool!). Just now I finished installing the FPV gear and hopefully will fly it in a few hours. Vitamin J fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Mar 26, 2014 |
# ? Mar 26, 2014 22:08 |
|
Vitamin J posted:Slanderer was right to be suspicious, it didn't connect via USB the other night because I was trying to connect via the OpenPilot software :facepalm:, I'm working for a UAV company and am getting burnt out lol. I still don't trust it so I'm gonna flip it I think. Cool setup. I'm torn between spending money on my big quad making it better or building a new mini quad next. I think the mini quad is going to win out. I'm thinking of the QAV250 at the moment which looks really cool.
|
# ? Mar 26, 2014 23:48 |
|
J- I might be interested. I'll try to hit you up on fpvlab
|
# ? Mar 27, 2014 00:09 |
|
|
# ? May 11, 2024 10:18 |
|
What's the general opinion on getting 12v on 4s for fpv gear? I have some lawmate grey channel 1.2 gear that I am getting tons of performance with but I am not satisfied with how I am handling power on my discovery. I don't have the tbs core since I am sort of worried about putting so much cash into the breakable bottom plate on a quad I use for low, fast, and long range(for a quad) fpv plus the osd it includes is not very useful. I get power to the camera now using a 450mAh 3s battery mounted on the nose, but I am thinking about ditching the battery. Does anyone make a OSD besides the core that also functions as a regulator/BEC? If not who makes a reliable solution just to step down the voltage? I am in the market for a full feature OSD so hopefully I can kill two birds with one stone. I made cable to get 12v from the balance port using some pin headers, but I only hope to use that on days where I forget to charge the tiny battery.
|
# ? Mar 27, 2014 04:50 |