Welcome to Multi-Rotor UK. Please login or sign up.

Friday,March 29, 2024, 04:43:59

Login with username, password and session length

Shoutbox

Bad Raven:
26 Mar 2024 08:41:05
 :(
Andy7:
25 Mar 2024 14:49:21
An excess of work and rain.  :thumbdown:
Bad Raven:
23 Mar 2024 18:12:38
Almost a personal Blog, it would seem. LOTS of members, but NO posts.  :-/   :shrug:
Gaza07:
06 Mar 2024 16:59:49
Anyone still here  :shrug:
ched:
24 Dec 2023 11:48:48
Hope you all have a Great Christmas and a happy New Year.
Bad Raven:
20 Dec 2023 06:17:47
 ~~   :beer2: 
Gaza07:
19 Dec 2023 22:20:27
Merry Christmas All  :beer2:
Bad Raven:
01 Dec 2023 06:59:57
New Simulator Section started!   :beer2:
Bad Raven:
17 Jun 2023 06:52:23
Yes, smaller, same as lots of things as time passes.
Andy7:
08 Jun 2023 22:49:18
 ~~
Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 201,420
  • Total Topics: 20,260
  • Online today: 31
  • Online ever: 530
  • (Tuesday,June 26, 2012, 08:34:46 )
Users Online
Users: 0
Guests: 11
Total: 11

Theme Changer





3d - Printworx

Carbon Fibre Quadrocopter Frame Set

Started by teslahed, Tuesday,January 01, 2013, 22:14:18

Previous topic - Next topic

teslahed

I';ve just started putting together my latest quadcopter. This time I';m going for a light weight stunt copter with carbon fibre arms. I spotted the new Carbon Fibre flyduino ';quadrocopter'; frame;

http://flyduino.net/Quadrocopter-Frame-Set-20cm-arm_1

Which was released over christmas and decided i had to have one...

So far so good, it';s going together well, seems strong, light and well made - as you';d expect from flyduino. I probably wouldn';t have been willing to spend quite as much as this on just the frame if i hadn';t already flown a couple of the previous aluminium / G10 flyduino frames. Warthox';s videos are also a very good advert for the hardware;

http://vimeo.com/56548217#at=0

Although it takes more than just a good frame to fly like that, it certainly can';t hurt :whistling:

The details of my previous flyduino frame / build thread can be found here;

http://www.multi-rotor.co.uk/index.php?topic=97.0

I';m going to be fitting the following hardware;

Hobbyking Blue Series 12 amp Electronic speed controllers;
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=28404
(flashed with the SimonK firmware - of course  :smiley:)

Timecops Naze32 (32 bit Multiwii port) flight controller;
http://abusemark.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=30&zenid=9157c87c57c063da253a6b9d1dfaf1f1
(this has a full 10 degrees of freedom sensor set - I may try and get GPS working on it, eventually)

Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 2822-1275 Brushless Outrunner with Short Shaft;
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=26988
(I';m taking these off a previous failed stunt copter - a few have rattles, i';m hoping i can fix these with a bit of TLC or else i may have to buy new ones  :-/)

RCtimer 8 inch full carbon props;
http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=769&productname=
(these work very well compared to all the other props I';ve tried).

I will buy some 3 cell Turnigy Nanotech batteries, I';ll pick the size once i have a good idea of the total weight when the rest of it is built.

And I';ve bought myself some Purple and Green LED strips.
http://flyduino.net/10cm-LED-stripe-pink-self-adhesive-black-PCB-IP65
http://flyduino.net/10cm-LED-stripe-Green-self-adhesive-IP65

I will be trying my best to optimise this for stunt flying - I doubt I';ll be using it for FPV or fitting a go-pro. I have other, larger quads for that.



I couldn';t help myself - had to add the other 3 motors and loosely fit the props just to have a look. I';m quite pleased with the results :smiley:


One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

teslahed

#1
And now on to the build pics (so far);









The carbon fibre centre plates don';t have anything in the way of a built in power distribution board. I';m guessing there are technical reasons why this would be tricky to achieve. As the centre section has a nice gap in the middle i decided to go with a wire harness (or power spider if you prefer) in order to get the power from the lipo to the ESCs. I could have used a separate power distribution board but this would have added height whereas the wiring I';ve gone with fits nicely in between the gaps in the frame. It seems like the better way to do it on this frame though i doubt it';s critical.












(In case anyone is wondering the selotape is temporary to stop the wires moving around before i solder the ESCs on)






More progress - waiting on 3 ESCs before i have all the necessary parts but I';ve wired up one arm with the one ESC i do have and tested the motor i thought might be dodgy (it';s fine). The thin wires coming out from the ESC will be for wiring up the LEDs on that arm - i had to get creative without any kind of power distribution board but it should work ok.

I';ve got the remaining 3 ESCs flashed, soldered up and I';ve installed the LEDs;





Finished building now - added the Naze32 multiwii flight controller and a 3 cell 1600mAh battery - total weight 531grams. Test flight coming soon, hopefully.

Carbon Fibre Quadrocopter Frame Set Maiden flight

2 mins of gentle hovering with a bit of bouncing up and down thrown in used 215mAh of power (or at least that';s how much the charger just put back in after using a full battery for 2 mins in this way). So roughly 107.5mAh per min of hovering flight.
One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

teslahed

One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

teslahed

One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

Smeagol

Theres definitely something nice about CF, and warthox vids  ~~

Good luck with the build Tesla, looks like you have it all in hand, i';ll wait for your version of the vid ... but I must admit he';s an incredible flyer.


Gaza07

That looks very good and light to, Ive made power leads the same way you have done them, on some of my earlier copters before the power distributuion boards came out, they work very well  ~~
[url="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN6zN99iLCIJea5FCQPKf_g"]YouTube[/url]   [url="https://www.printing-3d.co.uk"]printing-3d[/url]  [url="https://www.thingiverse.com/Gaza07/about"]Thingiverse[/url]  [url="https://www.3d-printworx.co.uk"]3d-printworx[/url]

teslahed



Progress so far - still waiting on 3 ESCs which should arrive saturday, hopefully.
One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

Smeagol

That looks real good Chris, esp with the CF props, when are you adding the coloured insulation tape  :rofl:

teslahed

One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

Jumpy07

Looking good Chris..      cant wait for the videos


BNUC-S Pilot with PfCo /PFAW.
UAQ / CAA PfCo Instructor / Flight Assessor

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"


teslahed

Thanks cryptout. I was hoping the 3 remaining ESCs would arrive today but no luck, so hopefully Monday will see some more progress now.
One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

teslahed




Getting closer to done now - just the flight controller and a few other bits to finish of. Time to stop for lunch though.
One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

teslahed



Done :smiley:

Just recharging my batteries - should manage a brief test flight later tonight, maybe, proper flight tomorrow with any luck.

That';s 531 total weight including a 3 Cell 1600mAh battery.
One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

Gaza07

Looks very nice and very light to it should be very aerobatic  ~~
[url="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN6zN99iLCIJea5FCQPKf_g"]YouTube[/url]   [url="https://www.printing-3d.co.uk"]printing-3d[/url]  [url="https://www.thingiverse.com/Gaza07/about"]Thingiverse[/url]  [url="https://www.3d-printworx.co.uk"]3d-printworx[/url]

teslahed

Two firsts in this video;

http://youtu.be/rC5GMeoj46o

First flight of the quadcopter, first test video with the new GoPro. Everything seems to be working fine so far.
One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

teslahed

http://youtu.be/bLWqwXZvJyk

Still needs a bit of tweaking and PID tuning but I';m happy so far :smiley:
One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

teslahed

One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

Gaza07

Excellent flying Chris as always  ~~ the new quad look very good nice and stable  ~~
[url="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN6zN99iLCIJea5FCQPKf_g"]YouTube[/url]   [url="https://www.printing-3d.co.uk"]printing-3d[/url]  [url="https://www.thingiverse.com/Gaza07/about"]Thingiverse[/url]  [url="https://www.3d-printworx.co.uk"]3d-printworx[/url]

RS

Amazing skills , man and very nice quad!
I need something like  this for  this season:)
Thanks for sharing!

cryptout

This turned out really nice, good job. I like the colors too, makes it look Sci-Fi. It';s to damn cold to fly here but seeing your video';s makes me wanna go outside anyway!

RS

#21
Couldn';t resist  to get one  for myself once  I saw  teslahed';s  build:)

Here it is:)
Keda  20-50S motors
Custom made ESC';S






teslahed

#22
That looks very nice RS - you';ve even gone with the same motors i ended up using after the turnigy SK3s I had turned out to be a bit rubbish. Just a shame the weather has been so terrible for me since i got it all built - I';ve even got GPS working on mine, just haven';t been able to test fly it :-/

I';m interested to hear more about the ';Custom made ESCs'; you are using though!

Total flying weight would be interesting to know as well, once you';ve got it all fully built.

I look forward to the flight report / videos. If you have any higher quality pictures that would be cool too.
One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

RS

Well I  have  actually finished building it:)
The  weight without  battery  is 361gr .
AUW  with 2.2A battery should be ~540gr
Im   thinking to go for some carbon props from Hi-Model.
Very cheap, but I know someone who got them and he  says they are OK.
http://www.himodel.com/plane/8x4.5_Carbon_Fiber_Propeller_Set_CW_CCW.html

The ESC';s  are   experimental, made  by my friend and with his own  fw. Im just  a test pilot:)
They are very similar   to 
the esc s with SimonK fw   in terms of   performance. Maybe  a bit better  at some parameters(response) , and at some maybe still  needs  to be improved.
The whole idea was to  make a different shape esc that   would fit   inside 12x12mm  copters boom (arm) and  to improve performance and efficiency .
This  is not a commercial project, at least for  now :)
I have  already maidened   it  in my  back  garden, just  to see how  it behaves , so nothing  fancy.
Here is the video:
http://youtu.be/tQVwYA4dOa4
Weekend Im expecting to test it properly

teslahed

Quote from: RS on Monday,January 28, 2013, 22:27:10
Well I  have  actually finished building it:)
The  weight without  battery  is 361gr .
AUW  with 2.2A battery should be ~540gr

Sounds very similar to mine.

QuoteIm   thinking to go for some carbon props from Hi-Model.
Very cheap, but I know someone who got them and he  says they are OK.
http://www.himodel.com/plane/8x4.5_Carbon_Fiber_Propeller_Set_CW_CCW.html

I used these rctimer props;

http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=768&productname=
http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=769&productname=

and find they work very well - stiff, light and strong. A massive improvement on all the plastic propellers i have used before. I tried to do a little video demo of what they are like;

http://youtu.be/Fa4-DssUTSg

on a broken one to give you an idea. If the ones you';ve spotted are similar (or possibly identical) they should work brilliantly.

The only problem I have found with my propellers is that they don';t fit on the KEDA bolt on motor adapters that came with the motors I bought from giantshark. It';s very strange but they appear to be non standard sizes - or imperial sizes anyway. The bolt on prop adapters that come with the KEDA motors are sized at 5.08mm (or 0.200 inches) whereas most propellers are sized for 5mm exactly. Carbon fibre props (unlike cheap plastic ones) have zero give at the centre - so you wont get them on the slightly too large prop adapters.

I was tearing my hair out trying to work out a way around this that didn';t involve buying new props or new motors. Fortunately i discovered that the spare bolt on prop adapters that giantshark sells;

http://www.giantshark.co.uk/keda-accesories-pack-a20l-p-405374.html

are sized at exactly 5mm so work with the rctimer fully carbon props as well as most others.




Quote
The ESC';s  are   experimental, made  by my friend and with his own  fw. Im just  a test pilot:)
They are very similar   to 
the esc s with SimonK fw   in terms of   performance. Maybe  a bit better  at some parameters(response) , and at some maybe still  needs  to be improved.
The whole idea was to  make a different shape esc that   would fit   inside 12x12mm  copters boom (arm) and  to improve performance and efficiency .
This  is not a commercial project, at least for  now :)
I have  already maidened   it  in my  back  garden, just  to see how  it behaves , so nothing  fancy.
Here is the video:
http://youtu.be/tQVwYA4dOa4
Weekend Im expecting to test it properly

Looks interesting - you';ll have to post more details when you can please!
One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

paulcobra

Cool looking little things, kind off makes me want to keep my bambucopter frame rather than selling it.

teslahed

The bambucopter is a fair bit smaller again - sized for 5 or 6 inch props instead of 8 or 9 inch props with a frame that weighs about 30 grams fully built (empty) rather than more like 130 for the flyduino.

Both look like great fliers to me - just not quite the same. The bambucopter is going to be better for stunts in tight enclosed spaces but wont be pulling high speed maneouvers like loops and rolls with quite the same enthusiasm.

You could easily flip and loop the bambucopter in a garden the size shown in RS';s video - the flyduino would do them but it would take up most of the space available once you had any forward speed.

I will say that for fun and especially stunt flying i think the rctimer / dji style frames are too big and heavy to be ideal. A quadcopter with 8 inch props at around half to three quarters of a kg total flying weight flies much better for that kind of thing than 10 inch props on a 1kg + quadcopter, in my experience. And they tend to survive crashes better - especially in long grass.

Just to let you know - i wont be wanting to buy your bambucopter of you, thanks paul, i managed to get my self made frame flying in the end;



Thanks anyway!
One circlip short of a quadcopter.
 1 lobe short of an antenna.

paulcobra

Quote from: teslahed on Tuesday,January 29, 2013, 08:47:17
The bambucopter is a fair bit smaller again - sized for 5 or 6 inch props instead of 8 or 9 inch props with a frame that weighs about 30 grams fully built (empty) rather than more like 130 for the flyduino.

Both look like great fliers to me - just not quite the same. The bambucopter is going to be better for stunts in tight enclosed spaces but wont be pulling high speed maneouvers like loops and rolls with quite the same enthusiasm.

You could easily flip and loop the bambucopter in a garden the size shown in RS';s video - the flyduino would do them but it would take up most of the space available once you had any forward speed.

I will say that for fun and especially stunt flying i think the rctimer / dji style frames are too big and heavy to be ideal. A quadcopter with 8 inch props at around half to three quarters of a kg total flying weight flies much better for that kind of thing than 10 inch props on a 1kg + quadcopter, in my experience. And they tend to survive crashes better - especially in long grass.

Just to let you know - i wont be wanting to buy your bambucopter of you, thanks paul, i managed to get my self made frame flying in the end;



Thanks anyway!

thats ok mate, im trying to convince myself to keep it but cash flow is telling me otherwise

RS

Quote from: teslahed on Monday,January 28, 2013, 23:09:46
Sounds very similar to mine.

I used these rctimer props;

http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=768&productname=
http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=769&productname=


Thanks  for  the  link  ~~
They look very similar to those at HobbyKing.   Price is  similar too.
At HiModel  they look a bit different and are much  cheaper( 5.79$ for a pair) I think they look more like APC  slow fly  props
And these  from rctimer look like  EPP or GAUI props. I will  get both :) At least I know  these  from rctimer  are strong :)
The hole size is  not very important to me as long  as its  smaller  than my shafts ,cuz  I can always make a bigger hole :)
Im using prop reamer  for that

It works perfectly  ~~



RS

OK, here we are :)
After ~3 months  of no acro flying it  was a bit scary :)
What can I say.. It feels very responsive, very agile  and  those loops  can be so tight .. i will  have  to learn how  to fly  it again:)
http://youtu.be/_I9EVOPKUIU