Just thought I';d start a new thread to show off my latest design;




(completed)

http://youtu.be/z4t79jY-qkQ
(demo flight)

Video build instructions now up for the frame;

http://youtu.be/2FD0wlQqI3k

Frame Disassembly from one of my previous happy customers;

http://youtu.be/scloruLkQto

The mainplates will be made from 1.6mm thick black fibreglass, the arms will be made from 3.2mm black fibreglass and the various nuts and bolts will be black nylon. In a crash the nylon bits should fail making for an easy and cheap repair, hopefully saving the more expensive components from damage.

Motor to motor diagonal separation distance is 250mm square - NOT rectangular like a lot of mini quads are. Rectangular designs like the blackout mini H quad fly fine and it makes keeping the size and weight down a little easier, but for try stunt flying you';ll always get a better response from a true square design.

It';s designed to fly with a security camera in a 3D printed case for best possible visibility when dodging the tree branches and has space for a mobius camera as well. Both cameras fix to the third ';clean'; plate which has already been tested on previous designs. Jello free video should be easy to achieve with minimal effort.

The clean plate mounts to the rest of the airframe using standard silicon fuel pipe that can be easily and cheaply bought from most model shops. You wont need to buy extremely expensive custom silicon anti-vibration dampeners every time you crash and break one with this design. The silicon fuel pipe holds really well to the M3 nuts and bolts and if you do have a bad enough crash they just pop off and can be popped back into place in about 10 seconds. Replacements can be had for the cost of 2 x 10mm M3 Nylon Male to female hex spacers + a short length of silicon fuel pipe, so approximate price = 50p

All ESCs and wiring should fit between the two main plates. This will help keep the angular momentum down in the spins for better stunt flying and hopefully help protect them during crashes. I will use 5mm spacers to increase the gap between the main plates from 3.2mm (the thickness of the arms) to 8.2mm (plenty of room for the ESCs and wiring). It should be possible to fit a small power distribution board between the plates to make the wiring easier for people that prefer that option.

This is a continuation of my previous mini H quad designs. The Mark one has been flying successfully for some time now;

Mark 1 Mini H;


http://youtu.be/66HAUz2nDZw

But was a little on the large and heavy side for the kind of stunt flying i really want to be doing.

So with this in mind i designed the Mark 2;


Which was definitely better but then I had some further ideas (they came to me during a dream - really!) and decided not to bother building a ';proper'; version of that and went straight to the Mark 3 instead.

So what';s different about the mark 3? I';ve kept the same square motor layout to make PID tuning and stunt flying easier than it is with a lot of rectangular designs but I';ve shrunk the mainplates down as much as possible without removing the possibility of fitting full sized FPV gear such as a 600mW 5.8ghz transmitter and full size security camera.

I';ve canted the arms front and back by the same small angle to further reduce the mainplate size whilst preserving a propeller free view for the cameras up front. Fibreglass is both stronger and heavier than plywood so this makes a lot of sense compared to the older straight H plywood designs.

The motor mounts are designed to take the old 3 hole pattern motors as well as the new 2300kv sunnyskys everyone is raving about. I';ve got 4 of the sunnyskys sitting on my shelf waiting for the rest of the bits

I hope to get the first prototype within a week or two and the first small batch within 2 to 3 weeks.

More details to follow...

I hope to do a small batch of about 5 of these depending on how well the prototype works out.

No final price yet - I';ll have to do some sums when I have all the bits together. But it will be a LOT cheaper than the blackout mini H quad and a little pricier than my old plywood design - aiming for less than £50 if possible.

If anyone is interested just drop me a PM or respond in this thread and I';ll give you a shout when I have them ready.

Awesome design Chris, I like the idea of swapping to the 3.2mm for the arms as that carbon rod is strong but not the best.

I look forward to seeing the finished item

Keep up the excellent work

Thanks James - I agree about the square carbon tube. It works great, is cheap and makes the design process easier. But on mini quads where ever gram counts it';s not the very best solution out there.

It';s looking nice though I won';t registry interest in one (yet) As I want to get this other things tested first

I';d be interested in buying one,if its within the next two weeks that is,im looking to build a mini to take on holiday in early june,so would want to test the
crap out of it before then.

2 weeks might be close - but keep watching this space and I';ll keep you informed.

Waiting in anticipation

It';s just a question of materials getting shipped to my guy with the cutter, getting them cut, then shipped back to me. So hopefully 2 weeks max.

A quick question for anyone considering one of these frames - which motors are you likely to want to run?

At the moment i have bolt holes for the rather nice sunnysky 2300kv';s and also the much cheaper AX 1806N 2500kv';s;



http://www.multirotorsuperstore.com/motors/70/sunnysky-x2204-2300kv-brushless-motor.html

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__29672__AX_1806N_2500kv_Brushless_Micro_Motor_19g_UK_Warehouse_.html

the two smaller M2 holes in the arms combine with one of the M3 holes to produce the 3 hole pattern the AX 1806N';s need. The fact one of the M2 bolts will be going through an M3 hole shouldn';t matter at all with the other M2 holes there.

I am tempted to remove the M2 holes completely. It will speed up the cutting process and make things stronger and neater for anyone wanting to run the sunnyskys or other standard 16x19mm mounting pattern motors.

If i did this anyone wanting to run cheap motors would have to use one of the M3 holes as a guide and then bolt the motor base to that, then use that as a drilling template to drill out the other M2 holes. I can';t see this being very tricky at all - 5 min job per arm maximum. But people may not like this.

Thoughts?

Also, vitally important this one. What colour M3 nylon nuts and bolts do people want? I was going to go with black instead of white as i think that would look good with the black fibreglass but i am tempted to try a deep purple instead as the contrast might be nice.

Well the purple ended up pretty decent for my build.

One of the reasons that I didn';t go for black is black dyes can be a bit variable both in colour and density (used to do loads of tie dyes may years ago.) Purple on the other hand  is less obvious (unless you take it out of the dye way too early)

I would suggest that a dark red (vermilion in particular) would be a good option for anybody that wants the bolts visible

The just off white nylon the bolts are made from don';t take brighter colours very well. I tried red and it looked a bit rubbish really and i couldn';t get a decent day glow orange eitehr.

I';m thinking a dark purple just off black should look good.

Failing that i just put the nylon nuts and bolts in pure black for about an hour and they come out looking perfect.

That';s why I suggested vermilion as it';s a darker/deeper tone than most reds.

These are my spacers after about 3 minutes in Rit dye (1 bottle into a pint of water) and kept hot on the cooker

Sorry about the filename

That';s the final plywood prototype done as a test.

Hopefully I';ll get the first few cut over the weekend 

Looks great Chris.

What about green dye?

Could try green but dark purple seems to have worked quite well so it';s going to be that or black (or white for anyone that wants to do there own i guess).

Last flight of the mini H mark 1 here;

http://youtu.be/opqolx82Dn4

I crashed it shortly afterwards and wont be rebuilding it. The mark 3 will be much better. So you can all thank me for any good flying weather you get this weekend whilst i';m Quadcopterless

would be great if it had a PCB middle plate............mark 4 maybe!

That would certainly be neat, but as it';s currently designed it will be possible to fit the ESCs and all the power wiring between the two mainplates wired up to one of these, also between them in the centre;


http://makeitbuildit.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=25_29&product_id=79

These power boards are tiny and weigh almost nothing - it should make wiring everything up much easier than using a power distribution harness / spider.

I will try to shoot a video when i do the power wiring to show how i do it.

yes they are neat boards,way easier and quicker to wire up than a loom..

Still beset by delays on getting these cut. I';m reliably informed the CNC router should be up and running by the end of this week so i';ll see the first few units next week hopefully.

Quote from: teslahed on Saturday,May 17, 2014, 12:30:25
That would certainly be neat, but as it';s currently designed it will be possible to fit the ESCs and all the power wiring between the two mainplates wired up to one of these, also between them in the centre;


http://makeitbuildit.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=25_29&product_id=79

These power boards are tiny and weigh almost nothing - it should make wiring everything up much easier than using a power distribution harness / spider.

I will try to shoot a video when i do the power wiring to show how i do it.

Just received 3 of these beauties from Abuse mark
One reserved for the Tesla, one for the Metal H-ead mini H quad and one for the Bluesky Mini Hexacopter

Watch this space...



(parts for the first batch just turned up  )

Looking very nice indeed Watching the space ... ::)

Looks funky.....how long Chris.

I';ll be spending all day today trying to get the first prototype flying (Mine! lol). Once i know they fly well i will be selling the first few frame kits end of this week / beginning of next.

Progress so far;



Now for the hard bit; ESCs and power wiring

Not sure if I missed it, what motors are you going with?

The 2300kv sunnyskys - but it will fit most standard 16/19mm pattern motors and i will offer an option to drill out motor mounts to 12mm x M2 for the rctimer and similar small motors.

Looking damn good.

Might have to get one, time to start selling some stuff!

Quote from: dockman on Monday,June 02, 2014, 15:32:27
Looking damn good.

Might have to get one, time to start selling some stuff!

That';s how I fund stuff, sell of bits and get new bits, but I am all out of bits to sell