Quadcopter Builds

Super Sweet Speedy!

Love the screens on your controller :gj:

~ LB

Haha awesome

I've modded my radio and also the little quanum telemetry module with backlights, I love night flying and being able to see my voltages is good



The 9x backlight mod was easy, hobbyking sell backlight kits for them, however the telemetry module was a hell of a lot harder. I basically had to rip apart an old iPod touch, take out the backlight panel, cut it down to size, desolder the little SMD LED's and make my own little strip, and them cram it all in the case, Even 1mm is too thick and the case won't go back together.

I also got some cool skywriting pics with it











I'm also working on rebuilding the original quad I had in this thread first, I've still got everything for it except a receiver and control board, so I've ordered a spare 9X receiever and also a KK2.1 board to put on it. Never had any luck getting the cheap multiwii/MPNG board working on it, and it was very heavy, so hopefully this might get it going.

I also had my first decent crash the other week, brother was flying a small cheap quad around at the same time, got a bit too close and went right into my props. Naturally I freaked out and cut the throttle, and it fell ~2 metres onto concrete. The damage was surprisingly minimal:



And a few bent antennae:



Luckily I had a spare black arm from when I first got the kit, they send you an extra in case you want to fly + config. I didn't have a spare motor, but luckily the shaft was still straight, and the only damage was bending of the motor mounting base. So I removed the bell and carefully flattened it out again, and I was off 2 hours later

Since then I've ordered and had 4 spare arms 2 spare motors, and also a spare set of props arrive. Surprisingly this is the first time I've actually had to replace props since I got the thing in November!

I also ordered some FPV gear a few weeks ago, however haven't really had a good chance to try it out due to weather. I lasercut a little mount for the camera that allows me to aim it how I want



I did discover something else cool to do with the FPV gear, and a lot less risky



And the progression:



Awesome fun

What fpv kit is that? Need to get my buddy with a Y to put lights on it.

This here: FatShark PredatorV2 RTF FPV Headset System w/Camera and 5.8G TX

@ Things

I have a couple of those little quadrotors you have on the far left of your three, all were broken then I replaced a motor and I just started testing it, then I wonderered hmmm what does this button do.... I pressed it then heard some beeping then it done a backwards flip and crashed , broke two motors this time lol, ive got 3 RC cars 10 different helicopters and 2 quadrotors - all given to me broken from a shop owner that replaces them when customers wreck them under warranty

is there any easy improvements you can recommend for the quadrotor?

From Jaycar I presume? I used to work there so I have a fair few bits and pieces to replace parts with if I need to

The button makes it do a flip if you then roll it left or right after pressing it, but I'd recommend being at least 2 metres or so off the ground so you have time to recover it

As for improvements, I haven't really done much with it. You can stick a larger single cell LiPo on there for longer flight times if you have any

Sad day for my hex I guess it wont be an airborne FPV deathcopter until I get replacement parts. And quite a few of them. First crash I had with this a year ago I promised myself I would record the rest. So cameras were rolling!!! Bet those soccor players hated me lol

Ouch! What happened there? Got any damage pics? I haven't tried FPV on the quad yet, but there's a nice field about 2 mins walk from my new house that I've been flying in a few afternoons. I tried out the new autotune feature in Arducopter and it worked a treat. Bit touchy for my liking, but easy to dial it down.

Did get any pics after. Snapped some arms almost all the props and destroyed two motors. Crushed my center avionics tower as well. Was able to piece together parts with a spare motor i have to get 6 working one. Odd how that worked out. Arms are getting made of popper square shafts today. Just need some props and it's back in the air again.

When plugging it in if i moved the deans connector it would cut off. Probably shouldn't have flown it. I think that's what happens. I was at 3.95V per cell after so it wasn't a battery issue. couldnt hear the escs chirp if it came back on. Almost felt like an esc hard cut off but i know I've run into the soft cut off before. New improved deans connector on there now. Going to fly it with a heavy load when i get it flying again and hover a few feet off the ground and monitor my voltages. See if the soft cut off kicks in or if a hard cut off is activated.

Technically not a "Quad" but, take a look at this Tricopter. Looks to be very capable and innovative.
The price is very good for the performance you get and its GoPro camera ready.



https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/airdroids/the-pocket-drone-your-personal-flying-robot

Ever since I had a cheap IR remote controlled foam helicopter that only flew for 5min and took 6hrs to charge I've wanted a radio controlled heli. The one I had only had a range of 25ft and it broke when the IR los was broken and it fell 25ft. That was about ten years ago, and now there's tricopters and quadcopters and you guys are adding complex and heavy payloads! Too bad it seems as it was said; a money pit.

Are there any off the shelf basic quadcopter and Tx combos that are decent? Something like 1000ft+ range and a good 15min+ flight time would be all I'm looking for (obv. more is a bonus). No need for gps or complex functions, just something basic. I have a birthday coming up and would love something like this.

Back together! After hand straitening some bent bolts and some poplar arms to replace the aluminum ones I'm back in business (minus props ). Found these pvc brackets for a rain gutter and they work perfect for legs. Strong enough so the zip ties would break in the event of a crash and not the leg but super light. Overall its actually lighter now. When this tax return hits I'm ordering a brushless gimbal and some 5.8 Blue Beam ultra antennas so My video feed is more crisp. Then off to torment more soccer players!

This picture shows the green well




Sig, if you want something to fly in your house I highly recommend the Hubsan X4 or even smaller the ProtoX. Both easy on the wallet and durable. Both are in the picture for size comparison.

Thanks for the recommendations! I have a couple acres of empty field at my disposal during the warmer months which I'd love to make use of, and my house is pretty damned small, so a larger model is probably what I'm after more (mostly for flight time). I love the idea of a small quadcopter like those but I doubt I could see it well at a hundred meters out, lol. I think I might grab a ProtoX for sure though.

My buddy built a tri for less than 350$. And thats radio and all. I'm sure Things is more familiar with medium size out of the box type models though.

If you want something a bit more substantial than the cheap no name systems, you could look into things like the Phantom. Many people have those and they fly pretty well, and ready to go right out of the box. Large enough to carry GoPro's n stuff too.

Been doing a bit of research for a while and I'm seeing a distinct lack of models in the price / size range I'm looking for. Maybe I'm just not searching well since I don't know the market. There's ton's of micro ones, but it looks like Speedy named the best ones. There's several $$$$ ones with features I won't use like GoPro compatibility (I don't have a non-phone camera!), expert flight modes, and GPS (poor reception here).

I just want a 200mm-300mm quad for around $150-300 that hovers. The only features I need are just the auto-hover when you let go of the controls thingy that both the Hubsan X4 H107L and ProtoX have and the ability to trim/calibrate so it will hover well. That's it, heh.

I definitely want either a ProtoX or H107L for flying around the house, and will get one for sure. I'm not sure which to go for though as the ProtoX is a bit more fragile and the H107L appears to have several revisions and reviews state problems with the earlier versions (lots of burnt out motors!!!). I don't plan on doing aerobatics but I don't want it to break when landing like my heli did a decade ago! So I'm leaning towards the ProtoX since there are no reports of bad motors.

How are your two micros treating you, Speedy? Any model specific feedback on your X4?