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Vitamin J posted:Yep they're illegal to fly for hire. That's pretty stupid huh? Vitamin J posted:The petition is to let a representative group of small commercial UAV operators the chance to have a say in the FAA regulations that will be released. Right now they are writing them to force you to get a full-scale pilots license to fly a UAV and that's stupid for obvious reasons, it's just a needless hurdle to keep cheap AP from hampering the big dog's profits. Vitamin J posted:What are you talking about? I was just at a sporting event and there were RC blimps dropping coupons into the crowd, clearly they are safe enough. Those are UAVs operating for profit, albeit indoors. Vitamin J posted:Put some ducts around the blades on a multirotor and it will be much safer. And yes they want to fly them around people and property but that's what commercial AP platforms already do, and they have much more potential to cause damage. All these issues are to be discussed in the UAS ARC and that's why it's imperative that the RCAPA is involved to offer some insight and balance against (dishonest) corporate and political influence. Vitamin J posted:Full size helicopters crash all the freakin time btw. They also have rules and failsafe mesaures to minimize damage... which most multirotor and AP/AV platforms do not. For that matter, do you think a wedding photographer who doesn't know poo poo about R/C but bought a hexacopter is going to honor NOTAM's or even know what they are?
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Feb 16, 2012 22:14
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Vitamin J posted:Yeah I guess we agree but right now they won't even allow small business UAV operators or even operators running as a non-profit to use them in things like search and rescue, even when they are requested by the local authorities. These people have tried to apply for experimental permits or emergency permits or whatever and keep being denied. This is obviously to stop a grabbing newspaper headline and keep the association of UAVs with the military. That's a bit silly. Yes, there are a few experimental licenses that were granted for research purposes, but no commercial licences are being handed out. A hobbyist can fly their kit for search and rescue for free, so it's not the "use-case" that's limiting them. It's the profit motive driving a flood of people into the market who shouldn't be there which presents a problem. Besides, I'm hoping that by the time the new UAV bill goes into effect (which pushes the FAA to legalize commercial UAV use) that the R/C gear will be more stable. This arduino poo poo flys, but it's already hit its limit for platform expansion.
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Feb 17, 2012 03:20
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ease posted:What? Yeah, Arduino's at its peak in MR development. That's part of the reason why altitude hold is making really slow progress, and GPS (position hold) implementation is near non-existent. Even heading hold using a magnetometer only started working cleanly in 1.9. I have a coptercontrol board as well as a "quadrino advanced" (MWC 9DOF), and the STM32 based multirotor boards are still very very "new" and the software's not quite as stable in flight as KaptainKuk's most recent firmwares. I also have one of AbuseMark's Naze32 boards on order, so I'll get to see if MWC on STM32 is any better. I currently have two frames that I'm flying - a "Rusty" quad frame from AGL Hobbies, with 450-trex booms, and a RC Explorer v2.5 tricopter that I scaled up to inches. Openpilot's Ground Control System is really good, and the interface is great but the setup required to get good results in the air is not well documented. Openpilot's current version is really really good, mind you, but it's not quite as smooth as the PI loop that KaptainKuk did for the 1.6 tri-copter is right out of the box. MultiWii's MultiWiiConf is generally a terrible program, unintuitive and undocumented. You end up having to look through 3-4 different sites just to get a basic setup flyable. I would set the goalposts for commercial readiness at the kind of stability you get out of those cheap-rear end coaxial copters you can buy at mall kiosks. Vitamin J posted:The floater jet will do about 50mph+ with a 6x5 prop on the stock motor, EZ* will need an aftermarket motor to do that speed and is bigger and heavier so it'll take a lot more power to do the same speeds, it's much more flimsy and spongy while the Floater is stiff and rigid. They'll both hold a GoPro fine if you can bury it in the foam a bit. It'd be sweet to see one land/take off one water too! Will need some floats for the wingtips but it should be ok I'd think. Yeah, IMHO the AXN floaterjet flies faster/smoother than the Easy Star/Bixler. The angle of incidence on the wing isn't quite as aggressive, and as J said the whole plane is a LOT more rigid. If you're going to try water landing, I would very carefully seal all the electronics. Neither of these planes were designed for water, and have lots of holes that could let water into the main compartment. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Feb 17, 2012 |
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Feb 17, 2012 23:47
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Carleton posted:Im just looking at what all I need to buy here, Don't get the one from China - order out of their US warehouse. It's cheaper in a lot of ways, and you'll get it faster: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__18916__Floater_Jet_EPO_with_Motor_ARF_USA_Warehouse_.html From earlier: CrazyLittle posted:Here's my plane of choice: AXN Floater-Jet Since you mentioned the Spektrum radio, skip the CT6B transmitter. Carleton posted:Then I need a transmitter: I'll update the list above a little later when I get home. *edit* updated list for you: quote:From hobbypartz.com in California: CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Feb 18, 2012 |
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Feb 18, 2012 03:27
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Hoeni posted:BTW, Hoeni posted:I love the HXT900 from HK. The SG90 I got are a mixed bag. *etc* With the HXTs its no issue. Carleton posted:Will this do me for now? Anything else I need to get on the way? Don't want to be stranded here! Duct tape or clear packing tape (to line the bottom of the fuselage for belly landing protection) soldering iron some videos*: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU_IEdTDOq0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL_0mQIWPyY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmOIeEdycs4 * I do things just a little bit differently. I don't glue the carbon fiber spar into the wing itself because I want to be able to pull the wings off in transport. Instead, I install the servos in the wings, and then glue the spar cover in place. Then the spar floats freely in the channel to give support, but the wings get held together with tape or with velcro. Also when he installs the ESC he solders directly to the motor, which I don't like doing because I have had ESCs fail much more easily than the motor. The ESC I pointed you to already has a 4mm banana battery plug that matches the battery I listed. On the motor end of the ESC it uses 3.5mm banana plugs. That's where the spare plugs I linked come in - just install male plugs on the motor end, and heat-shrink the bases onto the motor wires. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Feb 19, 2012 |
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Feb 19, 2012 07:47
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Here's one: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKBF3
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Feb 19, 2012 22:51
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Carleton posted:Is there a way to charge all 4 of my MCX heli 1s batteries with that balance charger? Do I need to buy something for that? There's a bunch of fan-out cables on eBay but the only one that I see wired to act like an actual balance charger is this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/160716485845 Carleton posted:Along the same line - can I use it to charge normal nimh AA batteries? What do i need for that? Yeah you can charge NiMh batteries with the Thunder AC6 charger. You just need some way to hold onto the battery. I'm not entirely certain how you would do multples (I guess pick NiMh and then say how many cells?)
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Feb 20, 2012 08:26
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hayden. posted:Some tips come to mind when I built my AXN: hayden. posted:-Either glue the wings in place or otherwise secure them. They didn't stay in for poo poo on my plane. Look back a few pages and you'll see how I modded mine hayden. posted:-Don't glue the plastic tabs that attach to the control surfaces, in case you need to remove them later.
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Feb 20, 2012 23:41
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Latest project - fixing a burned motor: I bought one of those Hextronic (hobbyking) 2730-3000Kv "blue wonder" clone motors, tried to spin one up on 3S, and burned it almost immediately. The wire they used was multi strand cheap poo poo wire. Thankfully the nearby Radioshack had magnet wire, so I used that to re-wind the motor into a 2500-2750Kv motor instead.  It's pretty scary at 3S with a 4.75 x 4.75E prop on it 
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Feb 22, 2012 08:56
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goodluckbuy's got a reputation for not shipping your order with everything in the box.
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Mar 13, 2012 05:11
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"Different." They fly "different". That's about all I can say so far. Granted there's a much lower learning curve compared to collective pitch heli's but they still have plenty of quirks on their own due to the homebrew-esque quality of the various projects' progress. In my opinion, nothing under $200 is really easy as plug-and-fly. The closest would be the DJI NAZA flight controller, and it's pretty limited in what it does. The more flexible alternative in MultiWiiCopter has a pretty high price tag for ready-to-go boards, and has a lot of on-ground setup involved in making the board airworthy. (Be prepared to bring a laptop with you to the airfield.)
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Mar 15, 2012 22:53
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App13 posted:I have been looking for a small, indoor helicopter to play around with/tinker with. Could someone point me in the direction of a non-lovely one? Here's the one I got. It's a 4 channel helicopter so that means it can fly forwards/backwards, left/right, rotate left/right, and throttle up/down. http://www.xheli.com/27h-9958-miniheli-red.html 3 channel helicopters are easier to fly but less exciting. They lack the left/right ability, so you have to turn into whatever direction you want to fly first. http://www.xheli.com/56h-s107-miniheli-red.html
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Mar 17, 2012 18:18
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Both helicopters will hover easily. The Syma S107 should be 99% simple. The 9958 may require a bit of setup to reduce any drifting that it has out of the box. Once you reduce/eliminate the drift then you can fly the 9958 as if it were a 3-channel, but realistically you'll probably end up crashing it a lot because it can pick up a lot of speed.  Though I do need to add that I've crashed my 9958 a ton and it still flies just fine. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Mar 17, 2012 |
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Mar 17, 2012 19:06
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Do you already have the OpenPilot CopterControl board? If you don't then I wouldn't bother trying to get one because they're not in production anymore, and the used boards are getting picked up for double their original price. It's idiotic. Also, what type of flying do you want to do - crazy acrobatics or stable FPV or what?
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Mar 23, 2012 03:10
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arnika road posted:I don't have one, have been trying for weeks to track one down though. They are gearing up for a production run on the CopterControl 3D, which is basically just a second revision of the CopterControl board. Until I track down a quality hackable controller (not convinced any of the Wii/Arduino options are quality) then I am just putting a cheap hobbyking controller on it for testing. If you're just looking to do AP get the DJI Naza. If you want hackable, get the STM32 based Naze32, which uses MultiWii ported away from Arduino
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Mar 23, 2012 05:02
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Multiwiicopter? Be sure to put a protective dome over it to prevent damage .
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Apr 4, 2012 07:55
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I wouldn't get multi-rotor stuff from Hobbyking aside from parts and plugs. Are you planning to use the APM as your flight controller? Also, define "small" and also what kind of camera are you talking about flying with?
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Apr 9, 2012 22:16
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If you just want a bigger coaxial, then the Double Horse 9101 is only like $50 and will fly outside just fine. Otherwise if you're looking for the next step, try a 4-channel single rotor fixed pitch helicopter like the Double Horse 9116.
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Apr 9, 2012 22:53
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helno posted:It is. You can get a KKboard for less than $20 now. The full authority autopilots are nice and all but for regular sport flying you shouldn't need one. Yeah, you have to be able to understand how to fly a 4-channel helicopter while it's nose-in and tail-in before getting into multirotor heli's because it's not like flying first person, and helicopters continue flying in their direction of momentum even after you level off or turn.
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Apr 10, 2012 18:32
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Collective-pitch 3d copters are less stable because unless you get something like a flybarless stabilization system they don't have anything that would resist pitch/roll rotation on its own (beyond the gyro effects of the rotor). The tail-gyro will help keep its yaw stable, but that still doesn't mean the copter won't pitch or roll off of level (from bad input, etc) and crash. Multi-rotor projects typically have 3-axis gyros which are used to calculate the motor mix, so they will resist pitch/roll/yaw on their own without input, but if you react in the wrong direction because the copter's orientation is backwards (head-in) then you're going to crash just as easily as a CCPM single rotor heli. Fortunately for you, most multi-rotor projects are scratch build and use much cheaper easy-to-replace parts like wooden dowels for arms. If you break a dowel, it's $1. Breaking propellers can be as cheap as $1.50 each. If you break a heli blade it's $5/pair, and at the speeds a CCPM rotor spins, you'll almost always break both blades and possibly bend the main shaft. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Apr 10, 2012 |
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Apr 10, 2012 20:30
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"gritty" sounds like a bad bearing in the motor. poo poo happens. Hobbyking should replace it for you, but if you want to skip that wait, here's the hobbyking link to the stock motor: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=18198 For alternatives you want to find a 28-11 to 28-14 motor (28mm diameter x 11-14mm long stator) that's got at least 2100Kv and runs at 3S (11.1v). I don't know of any specific places to buy locally in Germany (durr) but I'm sure that you can find answers at an RC-specifc forum like rcgroups.com or rcuniverse.com
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Apr 11, 2012 16:53
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Shrouds around the props may add weight that makes it harder to fly and may not even protect the propellers. That's not to say that you shouldn't TRY it. Go right ahead. I've seen people make shrouds out of blue-core housing insulation foam by cutting circles out for each prop. I've also seen extended arms and boxed-in-copter designs where they just extended the "frame" way beyond the reach of the propellers.
CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Apr 11, 2012 |
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Apr 11, 2012 16:56
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Sypher posted:I am currently in the process of piecing together a FPV flyer. I am wondering if there are any video goggles that will fit nicely with glasses? I can't see poo poo without my glasses, so this pretty important. Do I need to just get a small lcd screen and fashion a box to block out the sun/reflections? VitaminJ posts frequently on the forum at FPVLab.com David from RC Explorer has a good bunch of information on FPV here: http://rcexplorer.se/Educational/FPV/FPV.html - he took ski-goggles, cut out space for the FPV glasses he had, and mounted them inside that way. Using a TFT monitor and a box is also common and probably cheaper. The MSR-x has a Spektrum DSM2 receiver built in, so you'll need a Spektrum radio or the Spektrum Airmod module that fits in Futaba radios. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Apr 11, 2012 |
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Apr 11, 2012 18:46
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At least you can look back at it and laugh, right? (I think it's pretty drat funny.) Get into the habit of a quick pre-flight check: Roll left/right, pitch up/down, rudder left/right, Throttle kill and throttle response... THEN launch the plane. I've had plenty of "wow that was dumb" crashes because I didn't check before launch. Slanderer posted:As for "small", I mean something potentially small enough to be flown inside. Any suggestions for something in that size range? Aside from kits, the only thing I can think of is the AR Drone (iPhone/iPad needeD) or the Blade For the DIY kit quad Hobbypartz/XHeli is selling some pretty small ones but they're still bigger than the micro coaxial helis that are fun indoors. I would be wary of flying a quad that's bigger than the CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Apr 13, 2012 |
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Apr 12, 2012 20:23
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*quote != edit*
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Apr 12, 2012 20:30
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The simplest method is a spider harness - just a bunch of wires soldered to gether with connectors to plug each ESC into, plus optional plug for BEC, and/or whatever else. Some of the fancier options are PCB bus boards, but those are usually saved for bigger copters. If you're doing an indoors mini/microquad, you should probably stick to soldering the ESC terminals directly together in parallel with a single battery plug. Heck, you may even want to avoid a kit entirely and just make a basic X-frame out of dowels. There's no magic in a multirotor frame. Again, what kind of camera are we talking about? Putting a camera on a mini/micro doesn't seem appropriate.
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Apr 13, 2012 01:24
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Vitamin J posted:http://fpvlab.com/forums/showthread.php?4442-Mini-Quad-Blade-mQX Whoops that's the model I was thinking of - not the MCP but the mQX. Thanks!
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Apr 13, 2012 02:00
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Well to be fair I'm sure a big chunk of that price is the Futaba radio and receiver. Based on his list the plane, ESC and motor come out to $150 total. Not quite as cheap but certainly not breaking the bank. The Hitec servos are damned pricey at $12-15 each though. *edit* holy crap $45 bucks for a 2200mah battery? ouch. CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Apr 14, 2012 |
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Apr 14, 2012 20:55
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Sypher posted:I already have a DX6i for my blade helis; however, I have heard it is terrible for FPV. All research I have done points to the Futaba 6EX being great. That's a bit silly. If the radio's got programmable expo then you're fine. If they're complaining about the Spektrum DX6i because it's only 6 channels, getting a 6ch Futaba won't fix that.
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Apr 14, 2012 23:10
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4-channel helicopters usually have to be mechanically trimmed for hovering. You should try to get it in the air outside first, and see if it still has a hard left lean to it. If it does then you need to adjust the linkage on the swashplate to compensate. Also with smaller helis you won't have accurate enough tail authority to really compensate for the main rotor's speed until it's a flight-speed, so once you get the main rotor started, punch it to take off. Don't wait around on the ground.
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Apr 16, 2012 19:43
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Elevator stick forward = copter tilt forward. It should be have in a similar manner as any other plane/heli.
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Apr 20, 2012 05:59
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Yes. Quadrotors yaw by reducing the rotor speed of the pair of props that resist the direction you want to go. Since gyros only sense angular rotational you would need an accelerometer and/or sonar/barometer on board to compensate for linear motion changes. KaptainKuk boards are the barest minimum needed to have stable multirotor flight. They do their designed job very well though.
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Apr 27, 2012 08:17
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I seem to recall that the TX setup instructions on KaptainKuk's site tell you to set your throws to 50% of max for that reason. If you're maxing out then there's no extra "oomph" for the motors to reach into when need to lift one corner that's already spinning at max. With DT700 motors you can always put bigger props on so that you can "hover" with less throttle. You're good all the way up to 12" at least, as long as you're not overloading your ESCs.
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Apr 27, 2012 09:06
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You'll want slow-fly props for stability. If you're getting resonant wobbles you may also want to look into the reflashed ESCs that are specific for multirotor setups, but the first step is to reduce vibration in the frame and balance the motors/props. KK's setup page: http://www.kkmulticopter.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=57 quote:Initial transmitter ATV/servo range settings: CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Apr 27, 2012 |
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Apr 27, 2012 16:38
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That sounds like ESC timing, or a faulty ESC. Since it's a 3-pole DC motor, it sounds like one of the three phases is skipping. That can be due to a bad timing setting, or it could be due to a fault on one of the three poles. If you have a way to program the ESC, try setting it for "slow" timing and see if that fixes it.
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Apr 30, 2012 18:26
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If you want to make a micro quad your best bet is to take small ESCs and just solder your own leads and wires onto them. 10A ESCs are actually quite small if you get rid of the stock battery and motor leads. Here's a thread on RCGroups about re-flashing Atmega8 based ESCs with a specialized multi-rotor firmware: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1513678 As for OpenPilot, yes they're around and yes they're working on stuff, but they have their own pet project goals that they're more interested in developing instead of distributing boards. Even more wacky is that they've got this rabid anti-clone stance which makes USING their software nearly impossible since the boards themselves are no longer in production, and the OPCC guys aren't interested in making any more. There's a guy in Romania that's making copies (most likely violating the "non-commercial" licensing) but that's the only way to get a board for OpenPilot without overpaying exorbitant prices for a used one. Timecop is making a STM32 based board that will fly with MultiWiiCopter (ported to STM32) or another firmware called "FreeFlight." CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 22:10 on May 2, 2012 |
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May 2, 2012 22:05
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Unless Futaba is doing something wacky to make their Rx incompatible with servos then you should be fine. I would plug all the electronics in together before building the plane and test to make sure it behaves properly. The PNF is $54, and the ARF+Motor kit is $38, but backordered. Here's the frame-only kit for $35 but you'll still need to get a 2100Kv motor that'll drive a 5x5 prop.
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May 3, 2012 03:19
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The charger's fine. If an item is back ordered and you want it faster than 2-3 weeks, then pick something else or buy it from somewhere else.
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May 3, 2012 04:11
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Slanderer posted:*stuff* "Governor mode" is mostly for CCPM helis. The ESC tries to maintain a constant RPM on the prop/rotor. You don't want that for a multirotor. "Timing Mode" changes the algorithm they're using to calculate how quickly to swap magnetic poles on the brushless motor. If the motor's windings don't mesh well with the ESC's stock settings you can change it to update faster/slower etc. In other words, the ESC timing that you would use on a low Kv motor is not the best timing to use on a 6000Kv in-runner for an EDF jet. About RCTimer/Turnigy/Hobbywing: Hobbywing is the big(ger) maker of ESCs, and either sells them to other companies as an OEM for rebranding (Exceed is made by Hobbywing) or alternately cheap chinese makers COPY Hobbywing's designs. RCTimer copied the Atmega8 based Hobbywing design. I'm not certain if Turnigy is a copy or OEM, but they've since switched over to STM8 based designs on their ESCs. For Multi-rotor helis, you ideally want an Atmega8 based ESC with external oscillator and flashed with SimonK's firmware. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLKIOPbXVnM CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 19:38 on May 3, 2012 |
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May 3, 2012 19:13
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SomeDrunkenMick posted:Put in my order to hobbyking, it seemed that the payment never showed up on their side. I put in a support ticket and to be fair to them it was sorted with the minimum of fuss, but in the meantime some of the stuff has gone on backorder despite the fact I spent ages tailoring my order so none of it was out of stock. To be honest, as long as you waterproof the bottom of the front (where your electronics sit) you should only need to put floats on the wingtips.
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May 7, 2012 17:17
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