Catalyst Machine Works Smooth Opperator

[Cheredanine]

Ok so this little thing caught my eye so I pre ordered, the frame instruction manual is actually a yt video and over an hour long, just test fitting the frame too so long I have built entire quads in less time

But it arrived today. Features:
Slam deck, very short x freestyle frame, front and rear arm braces, rear motors are over 10mm higher than the front, all sorts of groovy stuff.

Frame arriv d today, dry build pictured below.

Planned parts:
Catalyst Macineworks Smooth Opperator 5 inch frame
GoPro session mount
Tbs crossfire immortal t antenna mount

Helio Spring imuf running butterflight Odin

Spedix GS35A running blheli32

Xnova lightening 2206 2600kv

Foxeer predetor v2 micro

Tbs unify pro hv

Tbs racewire

Tbs crossfire nano se rx

Axii stubby

T-motor 5143

See if it all works :)

[ched]

That looks like quite a few different size bolts and a bit heavy. Is it?

Looks interesting though 

[Lamaule]

Have you finished yet?

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[Cheredanine]

That looks like quite a few different size bolts and a bit heavy. Is it?

Looks interesting though 

no mate, it is about 120grams I believe without the GoPro mount, on a par with chameleon

[Cheredanine]

Have you finished yet?

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Everything that has arrived so far is done

[Lamaule]

What about now? [emoji23]🤣

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[Cheredanine]

What about now? [emoji23]🤣

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I believe the phrase you are searching for is “are we there yet?” And for what it’s worth I bet I am more eager than you mate :)

[Lamaule]

I believe the phrase you are searching for is “are we there yet?” And for what it’s worth I bet I am more eager than you mate :)

Lol. I am pretty eager. Can't wait to see this in the air!

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[Cheredanine]

Ok so done,
Observations:
Switched the racewire to racewire mini
If you are doing this, repin the connector between the F.C. and the ESCs so you don’t have to remap motors every time you flash
took me over 2 hours to build the frame, and I have a fair ammount of experience building, by quad standards it is complicated and fiddley. That said, once done it is rock solid
The concept of “to access any component you only have to remove one panel” sounds great, but if you don’t know which component (multimeter showed a short on the xt60 when I finished) you have to take off all the panels and the arms, and basically disassemble the whole thing.
There is not a huge ammount of space between a 1500mah 4s and the rear props, I have added some umagrip/zeal tape to the top to hold the lipo still
The tolerances are, for good reason, tight, some carbon filing is mandatory, this needs to be done carefully
This is NOT a beginners frame, for the reasons above, that said, when it is done it is very solid and I like.

Running latest butterflight Odin release with stock filerting and pids, following changes-
Blheli32 flashed to latest, motor pwm upped to 48khz
Dshot1200
Running 16khz/16khz (stock)

Had one test flight (1500mah)
Summary -
I still love xnova, they are silk for freestyle
Stock butterflight Odin is pretty much spot on, for many pilots it doesn’t need tuning, I am putting it down to adaptive fkf, all I noticed was a little prop wash on pitch, I have never had a quad felt this slick on stock, honestly I was holding my breath thinking something was wrong, it can’t fly this good without tuning.

Need the rain to stop so I can tweak (put my rates in), maiden properly and get some flight footage.

[ched]

That does look like a nice build, well done. Looks like it is super tight for space in the frame.
Do you have any clues as to how it's so smooth?

[Cheredanine]

That does look like a nice build, well done. Looks like it is super tight for space in the frame.
Do you have any clues as to how it's so smooth?

Ty mate, yeah I measured the stack space for Chris, 13mm between the top and bottom decks, but there are two stacks, the F.C. is in the rear and the ESCs in the normal stack position with bays in the baseplate under both for vtx and rx.

Yes mate. Factors that effect smoothness:
1. Motors - for my money xnova have always gone for smooth, their power is good, and acceleration is excellent but top end you can get quicker motors, and they have always been pricey, but every quad I have built with xnova has been super smooth
2. Adaptive FKF, Fast gyro, fast pid, dshot1200, 48khz motor pwm, light props - all these are about detecting and correcting much quicker than your average stock bf, which makes things much smoother
3. Odin (butterllight - filtering and tune is excellent out the box, I will probably tweak but for a park flier probably doesn’t need any tuning, again this is a sign of the filtering being brilliant, which is gonna make things smooth)
4. The frame is probably contributing in that it is very ridged/solid, with smooth motors this is a plus, with naff motors it is a -, there are also factors like the rear motors are mounted over 10mm higher than the front, this is supposed to mean they get clean air as opposed to some wash from the front, but not sold on that one. Finally, slam deck means lower profile, more streamlined, less buffeting I suppose

[Lamaule]

That is so nice.  Must not look at this thread again! Trying to save money at the moment! [emoji23]🤣

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[Cheredanine]

That is so nice.  Must not look at this thread again! Trying to save money at the moment! [emoji23]🤣

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Obviously have to make you fly it mate :)

[Lamaule]

Obviously have to make you fly it mate :)

Aaaaaaargh! Nooooooooooooooooooo!

Ok then! [emoji3][emoji3][emoji23]🤣

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[Cheredanine]

Maiden (post tune) vid (also in 250 vids)
https://youtu.be/OsBZZsXvx-0
Final thoughts:
The quad flies very smooth, however it would be fair to say I was a little evasive when asked how I liked it directly by a few people.
I honestly couldn’t say why, couldn’t pick out any faults.

So I had a sit and think about it. And then Chris posted his “get the pokey stick” video, and I had an epiphany. I am used to flying very light quads, that has become my native style and what I was trying to do with the quad, so today I went out and flew it more like, for want of a better description, Chris flies, long smooth sweeping lines and curves, making the most of the quads momentum (well tried to fly like he does any way). Suddenly it feels very right

Chris if you read this thread again, mate, this frame is sooooooooo gonna suit you

[Lamaule]

Ah mate. First you punish me by forcing me to buy a crossfire (which then resulted in three  nano rxs)and now this... The Uber guilt trip!

What am I going to do? I'm supposed to be saving for a new camera! [emoji24][emoji24][emoji24]

Maiden (post tune) vid (also in 250 vids)
https://youtu.be/OsBZZsXvx-0
Final thoughts:
The quad flies very smooth, however it would be fair to say I was a little evasive when asked how I liked it directly by a few people.
I honestly couldn’t say why, couldn’t pick out any faults.

So I had a sit and think about it. And then Chris posted his “get the pokey stick” video, and I had an epiphany. I am used to flying very light quads, that has become my native style and what I was trying to do with the quad, so today I went out and flew it more like, for want of a better description, Chris flies, long smooth sweeping lines and curves, making the most of the quads momentum (well tried to fly like he does any way). Suddenly it feels very right

Chris if you read this thread again, mate, this frame is sooooooooo gonna suit you

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