DIY frame using dji arms

[Gav]

Finally getting around to making up my all out fpv quad.  I';ve had a couple of sheets of 2mm thick G10 black fibre board kicking about for over a year, so am going to make the frame plates out of it and just use dji arms to simplify the build.  GoPro up front with a view to having it on a supersimple brushless gimbal.  KK2controller as I have one in the goodie box with 1000kv motors + 20A rctimer esc';s. Graupner 10 x 5 props.

Bit of guess work with the battery position but should work out ok

I';ve checked the props don';t come into wideangle view on the gopro already by hooking it up to a vtx and goggles.

Need to get a power distribution board now.

Haven';t enjoyed a quadcopter build for ages.  Hope to cut the G10 tomorrow got a dremmell with tidgy cutting disc to do that.  Will do it outside bcus it stinks when you cut that stuff.

More later :P

[Gav]

No laser cutter here only a 25 quid maplins dremmel copy and a rotary cutting disc attachment oh and a bit of masking tape.

one plate cut out - just need to do another one and drill all the holes.  Basic idea but I think it will look quite good once done. Hope to put some kind of basic 2 axis super simple brushless gimbal on the front for the gopto to sit on.

[nub]

bah nae laser? boring! 

na looks really good actually, well done :)

[MrDimmu]

Looking good there =]

[Gav]

Ok got a Boscam HD19 and some brushless gimbal motors now to make a super simple gimbal for this bird.  Will use an AlexMos gimbal controller too.  With multi Wii FC + GPS.  If I get keen I have a suppo OSD too but not sure if will use that yet.

am using kit I';m not used to, so will be a fun project. 

Waiting for M2.5 fixings now and then I can start cobbling it together.

I may cut back the front of the frame plates to bring the cam closer to the c of g but I do not want to see the props in the camera fov.  At the moment the frame plates are based on a GoPro Hero2 so need to re check with this HD19 cam.

All good fun.

[Gav]

Got the diy gimbal built. Using blind fixings and some g10










Gimbal works an absolute treat

[nub]

looking good Gav, what kind of camera is that?

[Gav]

It';s a BOSCAM HD19

I bought one because I wanted a decent HD camera, plus it';s half the weight of a GoPro and a fraction of the cost too. 
It records direct to microSD and has av out for fpv.
No battery though, so needs a supply from the flight lipo.

Took me a while to think up a way to mount the gimbal pitch motor as close as possible to the camera case.  Normally get my better ideas after a few beers ;D

[nub]

cheers, aye it looks pretty decent i like how it records to a microSD.

[j45on]

Your gimbal looks great 

[KK1W]

Great re-use of a household item'; love it! ::)

I just received a Boscam the other day, hope to take it for a test ride tomorrow or Monday. No gimbal tho, have to take small steps to minimize loss from crashing.

Have you any recommendation for the speed of the microSD card? I';m off to the store to pick one up tomorrow.

Jim

[Gav]

Cheers Jim.  Haven';t got a memory card yet, so get me one aswell please :-)

[KK1W]

Cheers Jim.  Haven';t got a memory card yet, so get me one aswell please :-)

OK, keep an eye on your mailbox 

[Cozp83]

missed the bit about blind ends! genius mate, absolute genius;)

[Biffa]

Excellent work Gav

[philtrum]

love it, my kind of engineering

[Gav]

Made a bit of progress on my fpv home brew airframe and gimbal combo.  Getting excited now.  Still have to flash the esc';s with simonK, mount the brushless gimbal controller,  motors etc AND figure out the cirus flight controller and gps module. .never used this type before.

First chopped a large chunk off  the frame plates, now I';ve decided to use an HD19 camera.   Was originally going to use a GoPro2.

Props are not to come into view; is the main consideration.  GoPro fisheye lens, meant it needed to be mounted further forward.

[nub]

at 1st i was like OMG you ain';t broke it

looking really good Gav, whats the plan for the gimbal, u going have it set up with some sort of head tracking?

[Gav]

Cheers.  Lol no not broke ...yet...
The gimbal will just be an auto stabalised camera with an RCDesire alexmos type gimbal controller.  With pitch control on the transmitter.  Both for video recording and fpv av out. I don';t mind flying fpv through a stabilised camera, however I may fit a hard mounted dedicated fpv cam on the side..see how it goes but probably just fpv through the HD19 cam
:)

[MOFO64]

Looks great gav 

However.....can I see daylight over the top of your front left rotor arm mount between the plates? Looks like it';s at a bit of an angle as opposed to completely straight. Is that rigid enough?

[Gav]

Well half the bolts are not fitted and none are tight matey.  This thing has to come appart a few more times yet, for more holes to be drilled etc. 

Was a quick temporary slot together to see if things are fitting into place.

Cheers
Gav

[Gav]

Shot myself in the foot and have mounted the cam too far back.   To get a good C of G, the lipo needs to go too far forward.  2 more frame plates to cut now.  Not a problem just a little more time and effort.  All part of the fun of a DiY build.
Got the gimbal wiring all tidy.  Least I dont need to redo this only mount it further forward.   

[Gav]

Well after realising the C of G was totally off with the first plates I shelved the project out of sight for a month. Finally got the time and enthusiasm to cut out a couple more plates.  Was on the brink of buying a Reptile or TBS but didn';t.    I';m pleased to find it balances out lovely now, with the home brew gimbal up front and lipo on the tail.  Happy again and looking forward to finishing this baby off.

Gimbal gaffa taped on just to check C of G

[Gav]

Finally pushed along and got my quad air worthy.  With Phil';s helpful input and Chris';s help in the chat room; providing a quick tutorial on the multiwii config.h file, I was able to get the CRIUS V2 AIOP flashed and ready to go very quickly.

So this weekend I was able to get some ';dial in'; flight in the garden to gain some confidence / get a feel for this new ship and most importantly see if there was any jello on the HD19 mounted on my home design gimbal.  JELLO FREEEEE YIPPEEEE 

Still got some bits to fit later on to complete: a separate hard mounted cam with camera feed switcher / OSD / GPS for RTH.  It is FPV ready now but I will put the remaining bits on before FPV';ing / flying it hard.

little vid (720p) of maiden bunny hops in the garden:

http://youtu.be/1K5P98S4Kpo

[dp106]

Nice build, looks very professional :-)

[Gav]

Thanks mate. Got down the field with it today.  It was dusk nearly, so too dark to fpv.  Just flew it LOS and it is awesome!  It is dosile and also very rapid and after getting home to view the recorded footage from the HD19 up front, it prooved to be mega smooth.  Result!
I cant wait to try it in full day light for some fpv.
Quite impressed with the Crius AIOP v2.  It';s not a Naza I know, but has it';s own feel and it feels really nice to fly! 

Happy chappy

[dp106]

Do you use the boscam for fpv? I flew at dusk using one of the camera';s from securitycamera2000 and it coped really well. I think having the WDR set on the camera really helps in that respect.

[teslahed]

That looks amazing Gav. I can';t wait to see you get some proper long ranged FPV out the thing.

I happen to know there';s this guy on the forums who makes really good FPV antenna as well

[Gav]

Cheers Chris.
Yeah dp, I have just put on the fixed wdr 600tvl camera which will have osd too.  Hopefully be better for fpv';ing in different light conditions.   Just need to wire in the video cam feed switcher now.  Pinched a bit of my sons meccano for the antenna bracket then snipped an old antenna tube into 2 pieces and put that on too.  Chip away at it and it comes together eventually.

 

[dp106]

Cheers Chris.
Yeah dp, I have just put on the fixed wdr 600tvl camera which will have osd too.  Hopefully be better for fpv';ing in different light conditions.   Just need to wire in the video cam feed switcher now.  Pinched a bit of my sons meccano for the antenna bracket then snipped an old antenna tube into 2 pieces and put that on too.  Chip away at it and it comes together eventually.

When I first tried FPV I used a feed from my gopro1 camera and it really was quite bad going from light to dark places.  As soon as I gained any height I could hardly see what was on the ground.  Not good for inspiring confidence!  By contrast the wdr camera was amazing.

Wish I had the skills to build such a professional looking scratch build.  I';m thinking of building another one myself but it will be out of wood.  My deadcat sk450 frame seems really good at transmitting vibrations so keeping video jello free is a struggle.

What OSD are you going to use?  I think thats my next upgrade to do but no idea which one to get, (I';m using a NazaM controller which rules out some of them)

Dave