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I am quite close to getting a little 3d aircraft. I think I'm going to pick up the pylon plane they make.
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Sep 13, 2011 15:18
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I want a little 3d plane. Hobby king has a ton of ones under 50$ that come with just the plane and motor : http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__434__191__Planes_ARF_RTF_KIT-Sport_2C_Aerobatic_26_3D.html
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Sep 13, 2011 18:17
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Nerobro, if you're serious about this hobby you should pick up a DX6i. It's a real radio and will let you have control past 1km. Also has a shitload of features and you can totally change the way the plane flies. I like to build not buy:  http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=532138
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Sep 13, 2011 19:26
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Something feels like cheating when it comes to using dual rates and expo. I learned to fly before ARF's hit the market. :-) Lemmie tell ya, buildinga plane just to crash it is a harrowing experience. My first "real" plane was a Future Flight Thermal Thing. A near 2m HLG that I put heavy servos in and flew off a high start. I built it with the wrong dihedral, yet it still flew well. I think it actually flys better than the one I built properly... I have also built from scratch.
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Sep 13, 2011 21:11
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Sweet man. I built a kit out of balsa long ago but never flew it, was too scared. I love foam though! Gonna put a camera on the old .40 trainer one of these days.
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Sep 13, 2011 23:00
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Getting a good radio right away is always a good idea and a DX6I is pretty cheap. The only limit I have run into with mine is I am always out of model memory and have to decide which planes to keep ready to go. I make my own as well but I have never been good at cutting out kits so I bought a CNC router to do that part for me. Designing planes in sktechup is so easy. I made up some new parts for my Tricopter frame and shot a short video of it the other day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AXlnqLi430
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Sep 14, 2011 02:19
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I'm a flyer rather than a builder, my most hand built plane, the Slow Stick is still a kit. I can however, not recommend the DX6i enough. Its a great TX. I think D/R and expo are cheating if you leave them on all the time, but for learning , they're nice to help you not stuff a brand new plane.
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Sep 14, 2011 15:47
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Vitamin J posted:Sweet man. I built a kit out of balsa long ago but never flew it, was too scared. I love foam though! Gonna put a camera on the old .40 trainer one of these days. Balsa flys amazingly. I am willing to bet, I could make a balsa version of my T-28 that's the same weight, and won't flex during maneuvers. :-) And given how beaten to crap my current airframe is, that might not be a bad idea. ...... now i'm going to spend $40 on balsa and a balsa stripper. I hate you.
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Sep 14, 2011 15:57
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Trip report: The Litehawk XL CANNOT lift an 808 keyfob camera more than a few inches off the ground. I'll need to remove the case and strip the copter of a few non-essential components to make it work, or... get a bigger helicopter, or a plane.
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Sep 29, 2011 02:40
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Second option!
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Sep 30, 2011 01:44
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Actually it appears that the battery is toast. I tried the copter afterwards with no camera, no body shell, and with the "sissy bars" removed, and it could barely get off the ground. I've got some more batteries and gears on order, and I'll try again. It's had a pretty hard life as babby's first copter so I'm not surprised that it's running a bit poorly.
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Oct 1, 2011 21:44
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So here's a quadcopter I built, with an onboard camera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGndj9ZLhLs I'm hesitant to put a bigger camera on there for FPV now because it feels like the KK boards are really unstable.
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Oct 2, 2011 22:28
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CrazyLittle posted:So here's a quadcopter I built, with an onboard camera. DT-750 motors and 1245 EPP props, right? How is your total weight? I have got 1045 props on mine and they work fine otherwise but they do not seem to produce enough lift to tax the DT-750 more than half their available power. I have been thinking about trying 1245's on mine but the cheapo ones perhaps cannot last being used so far outside their intended RPM or with the loads I would make them lift... and spontaneously snapping props on a quad are a Bad Thing.
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Oct 2, 2011 23:54
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Helldesk posted:DT-750 motors and 1245 EPP props, right? How is your total weight? I have got 1045 props on mine and they work fine otherwise but they do not seem to produce enough lift to tax the DT-750 more than half their available power. I have been thinking about trying 1245's on mine but the cheapo ones perhaps cannot last being used so far outside their intended RPM or with the loads I would make them lift... and spontaneously snapping props on a quad are a Bad Thing. Yep. EPP1245 - not APC's. I should weigh it again but I think it was slightly over 1-1.2kg so yeah with those bigger props it hovers at less than half stick.
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Oct 3, 2011 00:03
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CrazyLittle posted:So here's a quadcopter I built, with an onboard camera. Looks like it flys pretty well. The KK boards are as stable as your tuning makes it. This is an onboard video from my tricopter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjkAb27z2YA I really need to get some better motors. I am using the shittiest motors from hobbyking and the right front motor has lost sync on me a couple of times with the expected results.
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Oct 3, 2011 02:58
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helno posted:Looks like it flys pretty well. The KK boards are as stable as your tuning makes it. I'm kinda cheating though - there's a FY-20A stabilizer on there that I was using for "ohshit" moments. I think the copter's blades are unbalanced and vibrating though because it didn't want to level out on its own that day.
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Oct 3, 2011 03:04
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helno posted:I really need to get some better motors. I am using the shittiest motors from hobbyking and the right front motor has lost sync on me a couple of times with the expected results. Can you explain that a little more? I am novice to MRs, and I thought that the controller board just controls the ESCs based on the gyro information. I didn't know a motor could go out of sync?
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Oct 4, 2011 13:26
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ease posted:Can you explain that a little more? I am novice to MRs, and I thought that the controller board just controls the ESCs based on the gyro information. I didn't know a motor could go out of sync? Brushless motors can go out of sync with the ESC.
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Oct 4, 2011 18:13
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CrazyLittle posted:Brushless motors can go out of sync with the ESC. This is what I was refering to. Most brushless ESC's rely on back EMF from the motor itself to determine when to fire. If for some reason this signal is not interpretted correctly you lose sync and the motor generally comes to a screeching halt. You can restart the motor by throttling down and back up again. One of my motors has now done this twice and it does it on sudden application of power. Because of the way the gyros work in a multirotor if a motor stalls the machine falls towards the failed motor which causes the gyro to want to rapidly increase the throttle to that motor. If you try to power down the motors the machine falls out of th sky. You can see where the problem is.
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Oct 4, 2011 22:32
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Ok so when the motor screams and stops, it's out of synch? I've had this happen a few times on both planes I have. Friend told me it was the BEC cutoff, and I just thought that sounded good.
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Oct 5, 2011 13:26
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The BEC cutoff would come from overloaded servos, or basically any kind of electrical load except for the motor. This is of course different from low voltage cutoff
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Oct 5, 2011 17:19
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ease posted:Ok so when the motor screams and stops, it's out of synch? I've had this happen a few times on both planes I have. Friend told me it was the BEC cutoff, and I just thought that sounded good. That funny electrical sounding squeal is a loss of ESC sync. As has been said it has nothing to do with the low voltage cutoff or receiver battery elimintator circuit.
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Oct 5, 2011 22:30
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Here's some recent vids from my scratchbuilt planes, my 50" wing and 32" Cub. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_6rsOcEi4k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjPpYtdCDyA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN1w35CR8dw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi-GDR0LWqs
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Oct 13, 2011 00:43
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Those videos are rad. I really want to get into FPV. Can you give me some kind of primer on what I should get and how much I should be spending? Right now I have a supercub lp converted to brushless with a bigger wing that is built for carrying extra weight. I use a dx7, so I'd need a video radio thats not 2.4ghz correct?
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Oct 13, 2011 15:54
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It's good to start simple. All you really need are: video transmitter and receiver, small security camera, goggles or TV screen, and an RC plane. I have about $200 in my main FPV plane and ground station while some people spend $5000 or more, so just look around. A Super Cub would be perfect, nice and slow and stable. The DX7 not so much, but will work ok for close range. The problem is that Spektrum isn't designed for more than 1500 feet, and the signal can be blocked by trees or houses etc ( someone walking in front of you). It's also a digital system so you go from full control to control lock-out with no warning. With analog 72mhz you will get glitches and jittering from the servos before losing control. I lost my first plane 500 feet from where I was standing because of Spektrum control lock out. Anyway, you should start reading here: http://fpvlab.com/forums/showthread.php?116-FPV-PILOT-TRAINING-CENTER-YOUR-ROAD-TO-FPV-SUCCESS That forum and that thread in particular have tons of info. Don't be afraid of registering and asking questions, those guys have been known to mail out old gear to newbies just to have another FPVer flying around.
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Oct 13, 2011 18:13
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Vitamin J posted:Anyway, you should start reading here:
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Oct 13, 2011 19:48
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I think we may have found a use for my old spirit 2m. A pod on top with a motor.... and away we go. What do they use for long range radios? say.. a mile.
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Oct 13, 2011 21:19
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I've gone over 2 miles with a $40 used 72mhz Futaba and a $20 Corona synthesized receiver. Some people have reported 4 to 5 miles with the Corona rx. You can also double the length of the rx antenna for even more range. The Corona you want is the RP6D1 (6 ch.) or RP8D1 (8 ch.). For "long range" (like 10 miles+) people use LRS (long range systems) which transmit on UHF and can go massive range, like 50 miles, but that's on a whole different level.
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Oct 13, 2011 21:26
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The quadcopter FPV guy at our club uses some sort of 400 mhz thing which requires him to have an amatuer radio lisence. It is very erie seeing that thing fly off at high speed towards the horizon.
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Oct 13, 2011 22:49
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helno posted:The quadcopter FPV guy at our club uses some sort of 400 mhz thing which requires him to have an amatuer radio lisence. It is very erie seeing that thing fly off at high speed towards the horizon. I'm guessing that's 433Mhz, and yeah, you need a HAM license
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Oct 14, 2011 00:02
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Yeah, Dragon Link uses 435 MHz apparently, which is in the HAM range. ChainLink seems to say it's 431-435 MHz. OpenLRS seems to be 433 MHz. I wish there were more ISM bands with usable duty cycles and power allowed...
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Oct 14, 2011 16:46
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Well technically you're supposed to have an amateur radio license if you're transmitting >1w anyways. So if you wanted to do long range 900mhz / 1.2ghz / 2.4ghz / 5.8ghz then getting the amateur's license might be a worthwhile investment. It's supposedly not that difficult to get. Speaking of which, I really should get off my butt and do the AMA park flyer membership
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Oct 14, 2011 18:04
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Oh sure, not hard especially if you have a hobby that deals with electronics. I was just lamenting that you probably can't use your HAM licence and thus the LRS radios for anything other than amateur, and thus hobby, purposes. Having a reliable (to a degree) radio control that isn't on 2.4 GHz would free that frequency for the video link. I'm going to go with the allowed 25 mW maximum on 5.8 GHz. I'm in Europe and I know that one guy on another forum went through a lengthy application process to have a permit to use 200 mW on 5.8 GHz for his video link - in a very specified area.  Looking at the frequency allocation tables, the lowest ISM band that might possibly be usable for anything is 869.650 - 869.700 MHz - if the duty cycle is < 10% and power is 25 mW maximum.
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Oct 14, 2011 21:18
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Good luck dude on that 25mw 5.8ghz. I know there's a lot to be said about being legal, but you're gonna have maybe 500 meters max range with tuned antennas. Maybe 1km if you had everything dialed in and a high gain antenna. In the US anything over 10 or 50mw or something is illegal even if you have a HAM, if the signal is analog. The 1w rule is for digital like the FHSS UHF system. I'm illegal, basically everyone else is illegal, but we use the HAM license to show that we want to be legal but the law is too outdated. There are 25mw 2.4ghz systems which you would have better luck with as long as there wasn't Wifi interference. 5.8ghz is awesome but you've gotta have at least 100mw.
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Oct 14, 2011 21:37
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Wait, I thought that the 1 watt limit in the US applied to the 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz spectrum because that's what wi-fi's using, etc. I'm pretty certain that most consumer routers are transmitting >25mw.
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Oct 14, 2011 23:37
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Vitamin J posted:There are 25mw 2.4ghz systems which you would have better luck with as long as there wasn't Wifi interference. 5.8ghz is awesome but you've gotta have at least 100mw. What I would like to find is an affordable low latency digital system that can use the maximum allowed 100 mW at 2.4 GHz. High-end professional stuff is out of the picture. A Raspberry Pi might be an interesting hacking platform... Meanwhile, I made these little friends to help with getting the most out of 25 mW:  Those are circularly polarized omnidirectional 5.8 GHz antennas that reject multipathing very well. I couldn't get the signal to degrade when testing indoors (very preliminary, just checking if the modules worked). A highly directive Rx antenna should also help, but there's no reason to get ahead of myself. These should be plenty to get usable video from within line of sight, which is all that is allowed anyway for RC vehicles. Even a kilometer should be doable with omni antennas, weather permitting - if I could just find equipment to tune them with for frequencies as high as these! As they are, they're probably ok enough to get started though. Helldesk fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Oct 15, 2011 |
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Oct 15, 2011 00:43
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I soldered together some 900mhz circular polarized antennas last night. They're such a bitch to make, and the 900mhz range ones are HUGE. I hope they work.
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Oct 15, 2011 10:02
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Helldesk posted:Meanwhile, I made these little friends to help with getting the most out of 25 mW:
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Oct 15, 2011 19:01
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I decided to make a small DLG from plans I downloaded a while back. The design is called the MiMi and is a 1m span with a solid balsa wing. I didn't think I was up to carving a solid wing that big so I did the natural thing and drew the wing in 3d in google sketchup and had my cnc router do it for me. Here is the partial fuse and the centre section of the wing. The tips are still on the machine being cut.
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Oct 21, 2011 16:51
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 07:48 |
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I want to build a new HLG. With modern servos and radios I could knock down the whole flight control gear down to the weight of one old standard servo. :-) I'm a ham.. so I can abuse the radio waves. *grins*
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Oct 21, 2011 17:51
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