Quadcopter Builds

[Sigurthr]

Got the replacement prop today (from ebay, all other places list as out of stock) and it turns out it is genuine and fits perfect. Floor hover test passed without issue! Somehow though my rudder controls got reversed! Fixed via the Tx settings.

I still have a full set of carbon fibre props in the mail, not sure if they'll fit as well but I figured they were worth grabbing too. These carbon/nylon ones break easy.

 

[Sigurthr]

Shameless doublepost/bump.

How much wind can your copters fly in?

I took my Hubsan mini outside today and was able to fly in expert mode to compensate mild wind, but as soon as the wind picked up a bit (about 10mph at most) it got away from me.... FAST. I managed to safely land it nearly a quarter of a mile away, about one foot from the edge of a pond!

The reason I took it out to fly was because my first outdoor flight of my 450 ended in a crash. Now, I suspect the prop that broke on the 450 was weak from a defect but ultimately it was my lack of skill in compensating for instability that caused the crash (because if I had been able to land it more controlled I wouldn't have had to throw full throttle to compensate for the down draft that came by, and going full throttle is what broke the prop). So by flying the cheap and durable mini I can improve my skill.

 

[Sigurthr]

Starting to feel like I'm the only one posting here >.>

After the last crash I changed to carbon fiber props and noticed one of my motors is making noise. I suspect the bearings went bad. Not sure if I should replace the whole motor ($30) or what. I made a video showing the sound.



EDIT/UPDATE:

I rigged up a balance pin to check the balancing of the CF props and they are all way out, no wonder the vibrations got so much worse! I just got my replacement nylon props in the mail today so I put a set of those on and she's flying much, much better now. Unfortunately I had to scratch up the prop mount bases a bit to get the CF props off, but it doesn't interfere functionally at all. The noisy motor is still noisy, but I'll just plan on swapping out a motor in due time.

Here's a vid I took of the noisy motor while I was changing props:

 

[Things]

Sorry, been eexxttreeeemmmeeelllyyy busy

As for the motor noise, there's pretty tight clearance between the windings and magnets, maybe just doublecheck something hasn't gotten inside it, blast it out with compressed air?

I've signed up and been going out to the local RC club on Sun mornings here, great fun to fly around in a large open space. I'm starting to get into fixed wing stuff as well, so that should help with flying the copters using yaw more too.

 

[Sigurthr]

No worries, hehe.

I have been thinking about completely removing the motor and inspecting it to look for debris or damage but I don't have the right tools for it yet. I need a set of metric allen keys for it that go down to 1mm. I have a single ~2mm allen key which fits sorta kinda but I don't want to strip the screws. The shaft does feel like there is more play in it than on the other motors though, so it might just be best to replace it entirely anyway.

Very cool! I was interested in fixed wing in my youth but never got into it. How the hell do you fly those things? I'm guessing you ideally need FPV, because how the hell can you see what it is doing from so far away. Maybe my eyes are just getting old, lol. I took my big quad out about 500ft and I couldn't tell which way it was facing anymore.

 

[Things]

Sorta just have to keep a mental image of which way you've been steering it. It's a bit easier with planes as you can usually see which way they're going, but you don't have the option of hovering if you get in trouble Still takes a lot of practice though.

I think I have some addiction issues though

 

[Sigurthr]

Flew my quad again today!

It was WINDY! 10MPH sustained with gusts above 20MPH. I waited for a lull and then took to the air.

I decided to try for a high altitude hover today and did just that, but holy balls it was scary. The updrafts took it so high I couldn't make out orientation anymore at all! I did my best to do a controlled descent but got dangerously close to cutting throttle. Below about 10% throttle stick this flight controller cuts power and the restart sequence isn't instant, so if you accidentally drop throttle too low, you'll have an unrecoverable crash. Using the manual flight mode it is a LOT easier to control descending and ascending altitude, but nearly impossible to maintain an altitude, so I was flying on FC altitude control mode, which divides the throttle stick into three ranges: descend, hold, and ascend. The threshold points for each are not configurable. I did manage to bring her back to near me (she was about 1500ft out horizontally) by giving full reverse and land her safely, but I was shaking a bit by time she was on the ground.

I took screen captures of the flight video and posted them in an album, take a look! Aerial Photos - Imgur

I'll work on getting the video uploaded tonight, but it's >2GB and I'm only on a 1mbps upload connection.

Btw, I can see now that FPV flight is the way to go. As soon as I can afford to I'm going to buy a FPV system. I need to get it before the FAA enacts the ban on FPV flight. I'll still fly afterwards, but I would hate to run into import problems like we have with lasers.

 

[Things]

They're trying to ban FPV flight? That's a bit bullsh!t.

 

[Sigurthr]

Yeah, the FAA is going batshit crazy against drones right now. They've already banned drone use in any public or national parks and they're working on enacting rulings that will make any non line of sight limited flight illegal for all model aircraft.

It's always a matter of enforcement, and being out in the middle of no where I'm not terribly concerned with getting in trouble, even though my current flight capabilities are not in threat of being made illegal.

The land of the free isn't all that free when you get in close and take a look. (Though in many ways Aussies have it far worse off when it comes to overbearing government.)


Edit: Here's the video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr5YFlOz6l0