Fish tank Pipe H copter (First attempt at building a copter)

[yama]

Right well, had a little time to myself today so I thought I would search eBay for another small rc Helicopter after my last one did a runner... Story for another time.
After an hour or so of not being able to fin anything fp or cp for cheap in the UK, I thought hell I will just make my own as you do. This then progressed into a quad copter and then a h copter... Due to frame materials I had spare, or rather going in the bin.

Basically as I recently took down one of my fish tanks I had some spare PVC plumbing going well n the bin and this is what I';m going to make my frame from. Actually I';ve made 2 frames and I';m undecided  on which to use.

One is made from 22mm PVC pipe has a very small amount of flex a lot less then I would of thought. Weighs 275 grams and auw would be about 750grams max.





I also made another frame out of 32mm PVC pipe as to begin with I thought 22mm wouldn';t be strong enough.
Anyway it was.... So the 32mm frame might be used at a later date??
The 32mm weights in at 710grams but I did like the idea of all the ESC and wires hidden in the tubing but I feel it might be a bit heavy at auw would be 1.18kg. although it is rock solid....








I would like some ideas on acceptable auw and which frame would you use? Size  of frame motor to motor is 50cm approx


a few parts that im using:

N6 V2 MEMS Gyro 8in1 Multicopter controller board KK V2.3
RC Max  - 18A ESC Speed controller 22A max 20s
C2830/09 KV1300 motors
12" by 4.5" counter and noncounter props

to start with im only going to be running 4000mah 2s from my RC cars to save a few pennys as this was just a sunday afternoon idea...

ive had a quick play on e calc and ive come up with the following.
im assuming it would fly as it didnt come up with any alerts. only thing being if i use the larger frame hover would be at around 69% throttle so maybe thats out for now untill i attempt a 3 or 4s setup. But i did like the idea of encloused wires

Load:    11.72    C
Voltage:    6.90    V
Rated Voltage:    7.40    V
Flight Time*:    5.1    min
Mixed Flight Time:    7.0    min
Hover Flight Time:    18.1    min
Weight:    216    g
     7.6    oz

        Motor @ Optimum Efficiency
Current:    5.21    A
Voltage:    7.13    V
Revolutions:    6623    rpm
electric Power:    37.1    W
mech. Power:    24.2    W
Efficiency:    65.1    %

        Motor @ Maximum
Current:    11.72    A
Voltage:    6.79    V
Revolutions:    2881    rpm
electric Power:    79.5    W
mech. Power:    40.4    W
Efficiency:    50.8    %
est. Temperature:    32    °C
     90    °F


        Motor @ Hover
Current:    2.81    A
Voltage:    7.25    V
Throttle (linear):    42    %
electric Power:    20.4    W
mech. Power:    11.3    W
Efficiency:    55.6    %
est. Temperature:    18    °C
     64    °F
        Total Drive
Drive Weight:    546    g
     19.3    oz
All-up Weight:    700    g
     24.7    oz
add. Payload:    633    g
     22.3    oz

Current @ Hover:    11.24    A
P(in) @ Hover:    83.2    W
P(out) @ Hover:    45.3    W
Efficiency @ Hover:    54.5    %
Current @ max:    46.87    A
P(in) @ max:    346.9    W
P(out) @ max:    161.6    W
Efficiency @ max:    46.6    %

[Gaza07]

Welcome to the forum yama thats a nice design look forward to seeing more   

[yama]

  OH ive just looked into the world of programming ESC';s and flashing simon K firmware...... what a head ache.

first question when i recieve my generic esc do i need to programme it at all? i assume it come pre set to rc cars?


second. Simon K whats the best way to programme this i assume i need some sort of amtel programmer kit?

[Hands0n]

Hey yama - awesome idea using the plastic pipe. The thinner pipe seems to be nice and light, my F450 air frame is 282g unladen (just the frame, no equipment or cabling).

It';ll be interesting to see it fly.

The thing with the ESCs that would worry me relates to potential thermal issues, they won';t be able to get rid of their heat too well in the pipe (I';d have thought). Everything I read suggests to keep them in the propeller wash.

I don';t know about you but I got a real kick out of building the H-quad. 

[yama]

yeah is always nice to create something

im going to go with the small one for now as im hoping to run this thing on 2s initally. another goof thing of the piping its only 99p per 2m so cheap repairs, but i doubt i would be able to break the frame.

[yama]

Well my parts arrived today...... Hhmmm not liking the looks of things.

I';m tempted to send it all back and start again, hate it when things seem bigger in the photos. My motors are tiny!

Also giant shark sent me some black genetic ESC I have no clue what they are.

old fashion i believe but should be ok for a challenge


might be a little small??


a few more bits

[yama]

well i finally finished the quad this morning although no flight as i forgot to order the servo male to male connectors for the reciever doh

i had a mini panic when i also relised that i did not order a power distribution board, so i had to make a couple of power spiders seem to work.... we will see how long before they melt


big mess in the kitchen last night after soldering 32 bullet connectors.....


finished awaiting servo connectors


quick shot with props rested on

[Hands0n]

That is looking so good. I can';t wait to see the beast fly. It should be awesome.

[yama]

HA it dosent fly or at least only a foot of the ground......

so im going to try 8" props and 3 cell battery instead. i assuming i will need to hav e a UBEC as a 3 cell lipo will fry my reciever ?

once props, prop savers and battery were added auw was a total of 1130g must of used too much solder on my wiring

[teslahed]

so im going to try 8" props and 3 cell battery instead. i assuming i will need to hav e a UBEC as a 3 cell lipo will fry my reciever ?

If your receiver and flight controller are powered by your ESCs then you will be fine. The ESC will supply 5 V just the same on 3 cells as on 2 cells via the red cable.

[guest325]

HA it dosent fly or at least only a foot of the ground......

so im going to try 8" props and 3 cell battery instead. i assuming i will need to hav e a UBEC as a 3 cell lipo will fry my reciever ?

once props, prop savers and battery were added auw was a total of 1130g must of used too much solder on my wiring

If your motors are up to 4S then why not series connect 2 x 2S? but you will definitely need smaller props.

[jimbo385]

This build us looking very good!

Can';t wait for the flight report.

[yama]

right so then  :embarrassed :embarrassed

ive attached the 8" props and 3s batt...... still now taking off. had a flip over and broke 4 8" props doh no spares

hang on a min... reattach 12" props the right way around with 2s batt and oh look were flying

but due to having the crash before the motor bolt holes became lose so i decided that 22mm pipe wasnt doing the job, as the motors could tilt mind flight not good. time for a new frame.


i thought i could use an old pc case. but as it was so light and flexi by the time i had stiffened it with ply wood and added arms it was way to heavy.



ended up usingthe original flight deck from the pvc piping and cutting some metal arms and attaching them. works out 150g more overall but a lot better for mounting the motors.






and no i havent had a go yet as i stepped on a prop before testing so now i have no spare sets left.

[philtrum]

love your enthusiasm and ingenuity, keep it going

[Hands0n]

I';m definitely liking your style    That is an amazing build. It certainly looks like it';ll take some punishment. Liking the foam feet, I may borrow that idea for my H-Quad scratch build.

I';ve lost count as to how many props I';ve been through as I';ve developed my own skills at flying. They';re definitely on the up though, not wrecked a prop in over a week, and thats with attempting some full manual take offs. Short flights only before control wanes and I have to flip on the auto stabilisation.

[yama]

right so a little update to this.

first of all the quad has been packed away for quite while.

the frame was working well but surprisingly the metal motor mounts flexed quite a lot at full forward motion and a few hard landings and they needed hammering into shape .

so i thought after a while i would give main stream Hobby king frames ago and bought a x580 frame and quickly ported over the running gear.

(to be honest im not too impressed with these cheap frames, one day i will go back to a 32mm version of the pipe frame.)








messy and heavy 1.35kg auw :huh and due to not being happy with the frame i ordered some more bits from hk.

Q-brain 25A 4 in 1 ESC (Surprisingly good, refresh rate of 400hz so not far of simon K)
dead cat conversion to hybrid the x580 frame for a lot more mountable area.
cheap bendy props for testing (dont think these will break 60 degree bend without a problem lol)












As you can see plenty of area to mount goodies as i have plans for this quad


only problem now is that it is very bouncy when landing and quite often tilts back or forward---- not sure if foam will help or not?

[yama]

Makeitbuild it was nice enough to send me a Mini APM & NEO-6M (word of warning to others telescope may be needed for soldering wires on the mini   which i didnt think about )









the NEO-6M wire dont colour match up to the Apm Mini but phil has done a good job of posting the wire colour details on his product page. http://makeitbuildit.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=31&product_id=130



Apm Mini looks tiny against old KK2.0 board





best get back to soldering... and waiting for some goodies......bluetooth & a laser measurement board