Where do I buy all this stuff?

SchrodingersCar

SchrodingersCar

Member
Hi folks, new here, but been lurking and researching for a while. If there's a better place I should be posting this specific question please let me know.

I've finally decided to bite the bullet and build my first multi - I decided I wanted to mostly DJI (f550, Naza v2, H3-2d), as well as a nice Futaba Tx and I've hit my first roadblock: Where can I successfully order? I ordered a slew of stuff from aerialmediapros.com only to have them get back to me 10 days later and say almost all of it is out of stock and straight up cancel my order.

I've been searching what feels like dozens of online rc supply stores (mostly the ones listed on dji's website - empirerc, century heli, atlanta hobby, etc.) and everywhere it seems f550 kits / zenmuse gimbals / futaba radios are OUT OF STOCK! What gives? If I have to live with backorder I will, but after AMP, I'm nervous about giving anyone else thousands of dollars till I know this stuff actually exists... are we experiencing a terrifying drone shortage?

Or, more likely, I'm just not looking in the right places. Where's the hook up, guys?
 

jer

jer

Member
Some what in the same boat being new but I found most of all my stuff from www.hobbyking.com tho shipping can be a little crazy. im about to place a order and shipping is about 70bucks and i bet ill have to wait about 30days meh!
 




Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
You don't list or mention where you're located (go put that in your profile - it will help people help you).

If you're in the US, you can find the DJI stuff HERE:
 

jfro

jfro

Aerial Fun
SchrodingersCar said:
Hi folks, new here, but been lurking and researching for a while. If there's a better place I should be posting this specific question please let me know.

I've finally decided to bite the bullet and build my first multi - I decided I wanted to mostly DJI (f550, Naza v2, H3-2d), as well as a nice Futaba Tx and I've hit my first roadblock: Where can I successfully order? I ordered a slew of stuff from aerialmediapros.com only to have them get back to me 10 days later and say almost all of it is out of stock and straight up cancel my order.

I've been searching what feels like dozens of online rc supply stores (mostly the ones listed on dji's website - empirerc, century heli, atlanta hobby, etc.) and everywhere it seems f550 kits / zenmuse gimbals / futaba radios are OUT OF STOCK! What gives? If I have to live with backorder I will, but after AMP, I'm nervous about giving anyone else thousands of dollars till I know this stuff actually exists... are we experiencing a terrifying drone shortage?

Or, more likely, I'm just not looking in the right places. Where's the hook up, guys?
Click to expand...

I started about 15-16 months ago building my own Multirotors. Since starting, I've built 2 x8's and 3-4 quads. I ended buying parts from many different people (internet stores and manufacturers) depending on price and availability. Currently flying a 900kv 550 quad with pixhawk, (this flew brilliantly with the Naza v2/gps before it got promoted. My fav is my 650 quad with KDE 3520 motors and plush 40 amp esc's & Naza V2/gps. Flies like butter and can carry either my 3 axis DYS gopro gimbal or my light gimbal with gh2 or gh3. 15-20 minute flight time depending on which gimbal using 8000 mah 6s battery. Spend extra on good motors and don't worry about redundancy.

I'm using aluminum arms on all my MR's now as I don't like all the alignment problems and constant checking of alignment on round arms.

I'd guess, you should be able to order stuff tonight for your build and get it by next Wednesday for your main components. Many places show what's in stock or not. I'm not sure on the DJI gimbal, but I checked a couple places on line and they show stock on all the other parts.

On my Naza f450, I bought a frame, FC, motors, and esc's from someone who had them in stock and they were listed as being available. I think you just got a bit unlucky. Try again some where else. I bought my Futaba 8FG from a dealer on Ebay by purchasing the Radio and receiver separately resulting in decent savings. If I had to do it over, I'd buy the Futaba radio but buy a Frsky receiver. I have both now and the Frsky w/ SBus works pretty much as the Futaba and is significantly cheaper.
 

Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Jfro: I don't want to throw this thread off track - but I've seen you mention the switch from round to square booms a couple times now, and I have wanted ask.

I'm curious how the square booms you've switched to are secured, and how they're adjusted for level when initially setting them up. I understand that they should hold their alignment better once set correctly, but I wonder if it's a PITA to set the first time.

Thanks!
 

jfro

jfro

Aerial Fun
"I'm curious how the square booms you've switched to are secured, and how they're adjusted for level when initially setting them up. I understand that they should hold their alignment better once set correctly, but I wonder if it's a PITA to set the first time."

Nothing special. No PITA for me so far. I doubled the plate size on my x8 w/ Avroto 3515's and used the aluminum Vulcan UAV arms that have holes drilled every 30mm. I use a hexhead / lock nut combo on the end hole and then drill another hole around 45-50mm as I don't want to connect at 30mm and 60mm is too far. With the heavier plate, they lined up pretty good. I also used a solid plate on my 650 quad. I haven't had a hard landing or been flying these two long enough to know if I"m going to have problems.

On my upgraded 450 to 550 with Aimdroix Aluminum Extended Arm, I should probably check those for alignment as it has landed hard a few times and flipped once. It's more or less a test quad now for testing a Pixhawk that I just started on. Prior to that it flew like butter with a Naza V2 so I never felt the need to check. I also changed to g10 solid plates from the DJI 450 plates. First ones there was a motor alignment issue, but it turned two mounting holes were drilled wrong on the bottom plate so I made new plates.

I usually find a flat spot for my MR and lay a level across the motor mounts. So far, haven't felt the need to micro align like I was always doing on my 21mm fc round arms on my x8. I use wood shims to shim up any leg to make sure the MR is level on the top plates then check the arms. So far on my 2 builds, the motor mounts were level. I wasn't aware there were issues with motor alignment on initial build. I was only going to worry if I had a hard landing or crash.
 

Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
So it seems you didn't really have to mess with them at all? I'm thinking that square arms would be even more difficult to get straight initially, because how do you twist them? I guess my question is: What adjustments are available to you?

maybe I'm not visualizing the boom mounts/clamps correctly - but if the motor was off by a couple degrees, how would you correct that? Metal shims under the motor? Obviously with square, you can't just loosen the boom clamp and spin it a hair, like you would with a round boom.

Thanks
 

jfro

jfro

Aerial Fun
Kloner posted this a while back on how he does the Fiber Carbon arms. For aluminum, one might have to build up one side as opposed to sand down the side. Or in my case, I make my own motor mounts and they are pretty thick, so I could sand them down, but that seems it might be more work than the way Kloner does his.

I'm taking part of next week and going to be flying a bunch. I'll go recheck my alignment and see if they need a little tweaking....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2bhDr8xR9zU
 
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Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
That makes sense now. The aluminum would need some very slight shim-stock I guess. I have a great pack of various thickness from McMaster Carr. That would make it a bit easier.

Sorry for the thread-jack. Now back to your regular scheduled programming... :)
 

SchrodingersCar

SchrodingersCar

Member
Hey all good to note for the future. I didn't realize motor alignment (I'm assuming we are talking about it rotating around a cylidrical boom arm) was a major issue. So much stuff to keep track of!

I updated my profile - I'm in Chicago, if that helps.

So after a lot more searching it seems like I should be able to scrounge most of what I want - the absolute hardest thing to find is the zenmuse H3-2D. Has DJI discontinued to make way for the 3D? Anyway, I'm thinking maybe I'll give the cheaper and more available Tarot T-2D a shot... thoughts?

Also, anyone have any good/bad experiences with helipal.com? I at least like the detail they put in their product descriptions...
 

JoeBob

JoeBob

Elevation via Flatulation

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