quad decision help

[apollo7]

Thanks for taken a look here,
So a while back i built a large S600 quadcopter, with SS 3108 720kv motors spinning 13" props, running naza V1, but in this climate of "killer drones", i cant see me flying it, so to the question, im now thinking rather than completely give up quads, taking the naza out of the big 600, selling it and getting something smaller, building like a smack 300 running 6" props, using the Naza and no gimbal, just a fixed Mobius on time lapse for still pics....what to do

[atomiclama]

..what to do

Well first off work out what you want to do with the quad. Then we can help, come on you know the drill 

[shawdreamer]

<sigh> feckin noobs

[apollo7]

Well first off work out what you want to do with the quad. Then we can help, come on you know the drill 

what i want is a quad just to keep my hand in, but not toy grade, i dont see me flying the S600 as its huge, people seeing it fly will think its for slicing little children up! in this time of drones being anti social this is as anti social as it gets, so im thinking something smaller, that will still take the Naza v1 as i really like this controller, strap a 2200 4s to its belly and use mobius just for some still shots on time lapse

[shawdreamer]

the naza is a bit to over engineered for something smaller than your original build but I get the whole "why change what isnt broke" approach as its a idiom I always follow myself.

that in mind and considering the somewhat limited requirements you mentioned then something in the 200-250 size range would offer up a reasonably stable snapshot platform without being so small as to be a handful or overly effected by weather conditions while not being big enough to draw the attention of to many less than well informed bystanders.

have you got any thoughts on what size your actually leaning toward?, it'd help narrow things down a little.

[apollo7]

the naza is a bit to over engineered for something smaller than your original build but I get the whole "why change what isnt broke" approach as its a idiom I always follow myself.

that in mind and considering the somewhat limited requirements you mentioned then something in the 200-250 size range would offer up a reasonably stable snapshot platform without being so small as to be a handful or overly effected by weather conditions while not being big enough to draw the attention of to many less than well informed bystanders.

have you got any thoughts on what size your actually leaning toward?, it'd help narrow things down a little.

size wise 300mm motor to motor is in mind, i need a certain amount of frame size to accommodate the naza, gps puck, probably a PDB, large rx (flysky ai6B) 2200mah 4s mobius and maybe a fpv cam with vtx, i did try this a few years back with the good old F330 frame and yes i got naza in and flying there was bugger all room for any other gear

[apollo7]

i seem drawn to the smack 300 qav folding type frame, think its been done before with naza and fixed cam plus fpv

[shawdreamer]

is the Smack300 the frame with two inverted motors?, sorta looks like a wonky zmr type frame iirc.

that in mind you could squeeze a naza and all its gubbins onto a 250 stock zmr frame so if the smack300 is the one I have in mind then it should have enough real estate to get everything on without getting overly messy, compact when folded and probably compact enough in the air as not to seem to imposing and therefore attracting the attention of farmers with shotguns fearing there's a massive drone about to nuke his herd of dairy cows or the average member of the general public claiming your drone has caused their wives to become infertile and themselves impotent.

[apollo7]

Shawdreamer.....you kind of hit the nail smack bang on the head there my friend, now all i eed to do is get a buyer for the big frame and motor set, i will continue to look at frames, been thinking a simple H copter frame laser cut from plywood could be ideal, but need to see what is about

[shawdreamer]

HK have some decent stock in for a change, including the smack300 you mentioned, however if your willing to look at sub 300 size and do some careful wiring then Id suggest one of the QUANUM FALCON frame kits, the base plate is a single billet 5mm(iirc) thick CF plate and the thing is a absolute tank, a fellow flyer down at my local playing Fields regularly flys a couple of his falcon builds and after seeing one of his rebound off a pebble dashed concrete store building at near full pace with little to zero notable damage I was pretty dam impressed

[apollo7]

HK have some decent stock in for a change, including the smack300 you mentioned, however if your willing to look at sub 300 size and do some careful wiring then Id suggest one of the QUANUM FALCON frame kits, the base plate is a single billet 5mm(iirc) thick CF plate and the thing is a absolute tank, a fellow flyer down at my local playing Fields regularly flys a couple of his falcon builds and after seeing one of his rebound off a pebble dashed concrete store building at near full pace with little to zero notable damage I was pretty dam impressed

Think i need to a tiny bit larger, otherwise i could end up spending out and just not being able to fit all the bits on, then i will have wasted money, but your right the billet falcon looks a nice frame

[apollo7]

Starting to look like i might have to use the ancient F330 frame kit, i did build one of these a few years ago with the Naza on board....it was a tight fit but having done it before i could do it again, this would run 6" props on 1600kv motors, more than likely on 3s as i have plenty of lipo`s..........no decision made yet, just going though options

[shawdreamer]

wow, havnt seen a "F" frame type used in years............... RETRO BUILD!

sayin that though I can still say with 100% genuine honesty that my most favourite and satisfying frame to fly was an old MWC 450 Reptile running 1400kv turnigy reds with 8" props on 3s, I have no idea why but the slapped together more or less cheap parts just worked so well together and it made for the most versatile rig I ever built, from deranged high pace fpv'in, insanely risky acro or straight up camera ship work.... it just did it all so feckin effortlessly.

even to this day after a particularly nasty wrap up killed three of the 4 motors and the 4in1 esc I still have the frame tucked away just begging for a revival..... shame its unlikely to happen now with the growing drone hate'age

maybe Ill dig it out, give it a camo vinyl wrap, some stonkin silly motors and powertrain and just use it as an all out illegal fpv air bandit

[atomiclama]

First off I'm biased as this is similar to what I'm flying.
I'd go for a 7 inch frame say XL7 or one of the clones anything else like that.
Then you can fit 6 or 7 inch props depending on which motors you have or plan getting.
There is room for 2200mAh packs underneath
Should be able to fit the electronics in but it may be a bit tight as I don't know the size of the Naza stuff.

You should be able to get 8-10 min flight out of it just poodleing around.
But it can stil shift and do some flippy floppies if you want. Not too big fits on the back of a rucksac no problems. Fairly smooth flight.

[apollo7]

First off I'm biased as this is similar to what I'm flying.
I'd go for a 7 inch frame say XL7 or one of the clones anything else like that.
Then you can fit 6 or 7 inch props depending on which motors you have or plan getting.
There is room for 2200mAh packs underneath
Should be able to fit the electronics in but it may be a bit tight as I don't know the size of the Naza stuff.

You should be able to get 8-10 min flight out of it just poodleing around.
But it can stil shift and do some flippy floppies if you want. Not too big fits on the back of a rucksac no problems. Fairly smooth flight.

Okay this is the sort of frame i am looking at   https://www.banggood.com/HSKRC-XL56789-232283294360390mm-Carbon-Fiber-FPV-Raicng-Frame-kit-for-RC-Drone-p-1478432.html?rmmds=search&ID=558010&cur_warehouse=CN  7" but would run 6" props to reduce prop wash effect, planning to run 2204 2300kv, with 6x4 props, optio BLheli 30amp esc on 3s would like to get 2200mah on top, with mobius mounted up front but i would have the Naza compass puck out back, main Naza unit would go on top of PDB, with Naza PMU at side of naza FC, howdoes all this sound

[atomiclama]

That's pretty much the frame I have look the same but by a different manufacturer.

I'll take a pic of 2200 on top with a camera and let you see, think it is going to be crowded up top, for both.

[atomiclama]

That pack is 2x2200mAh packs suck together, but the length is the same
As you can see not a lot of room on top.
Bottom mount is doable. Space inside the frame for FC is tight.

[shawdreamer]

That's pretty much the frame I have look the same but by a different manufacturer.

I'll take a pic of 2200 on top with a camera and let you see, think it is going to be crowded up top, for both.

would have to agree with the "crowded" but Id say the entire frame will be and not just the top.

with single board FC/pcb it'd already be quite clogged up inside but as you'll be using a naza (and Im assuming your not gonna de-box it) then it'll likely get pretty tight in there with all the wiring etc (naza v1's using dupont connections and all), tbf though even if you did de-box it to save a little space youd still be fighting for room.

[apollo7]

@shawdreamer man thats way to crowded, thank you for taking trouble to do pics, you have just saved me from wasting time and cash, nice frame but not right for my idea.
So back to the drawing board, maybe just that, design a custom frame and have it laser cut from plywood, on the lines of a simple H copter, annoying i have a quanum venture frame that would of done but i broke it and its non repairable

[atomiclama]

Just looked at my pics man they are sh$te  really need a better phone.

Anyway just for reference.
there is a 4-in-1 esc with FC above it then very little room between that and the top plate.
behind is some caps vts and IA6B
GPS taped to top plate along with a buzzer.
Not got round to fitting the camera yet.

No room for much else.

Think you made the right decision.

[atomiclama]

Yeah make one from ply, you don't need to have it laser cut. very simple H copter should be easy to knock up.

[shawdreamer]

with these new regs pretty much screwing all my current builds Im moving into sub 250g builds myself and with that in mind Ive got a CNC on a slow boat from China on its way, say a two weeks for delivery, a week of pissfarting around to get it dialed in and cutting reliably and Ill be looking at making custom CF frames and parts.

If your still fishing for a frame by then gimme a shout and Ill see if there's anything I can make that'll help you out.

[atomiclama]

I've got one of these on the way via a UK group buy: -
https://armattanproductions.com/pages/kit_detail/2341

It's open source and bit bigger and designed for longer range and mountain buzzing.

[apollo7]

with these new regs pretty much screwing all my current builds Im moving into sub 250g builds myself and with that in mind Ive got a CNC on a slow boat from China on its way, say a two weeks for delivery, a week of pissfarting around to get it dialed in and cutting reliably and Ill be looking at making custom CF frames and parts.

If your still fishing for a frame by then gimme a shout and Ill see if there's anything I can make that'll help you out.

Very interesting and kind offer, seems i have to keep rethinking this, the motors i was going to use are Weedy so i am told, was going to use them as i have 2 new ones so only 2 more to fund.
Of to aliexpress to see what bizarre frames they have

[apollo7]

Looks like i have a frame, its been sitting in the hanger after i crashed it, my old AQ600.....ts now an AQ350, one arm was bent after its crash (my fault), so i used a pipe cutter to cut away the bent part and see what i ended up with, think this bad boy needs 6" on 4s

[apollo7]

some pics of the modded frame pack of AA`s for scale

[atomiclama]

looks heavy.

[apollo7]

looks heavy.

Looks it but only 290G for the frame with landing gear as shown in pic, changed my mind about using 2204 motors and now ordered 2306 1772kv, these will spin 6x5 on 4s 2200mah, remember this is a gps quad that will be set up gps/attitude/RTH on the naza, dont want it to be a racing quad, yes it will have fpv but just a TX02 all in one, see if i can finally get to grips with using goggles, you will see it is still a folding drone, main use its to fly from back garden out over the fields, no one owns the airspace and my garden...my rules

[atomiclama]

2306 1772kv,

Yeah that's a better choice than the 2204.
You might want to try some DAL Cyclone T 6040 C. Reduced vibration compared to biblades, smoother video.

[apollo7]

Already ordered some, and a friend says he has some 6045c triblades i can have, i can do no more to the frame now, just waiting game for motors and little bee 40amp optio`s to arrive in a few weeks