Cinestar with S800 Retracts... is it possible?

[Mike Fortin]

Has anyone done this, I believe I've seen something like this before but if anyone has pictures and or parts I'd love to see.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PeterLester]

The S800 landing gear, developed for a mid-weight Hex should work but might not be rugged enough for the larger cameras.
If your Cinestar is a Hex... go for it.

If it is an Octo.... I recommend remaining with the original Cinestar concept of rotatable landing gear that does not retract.
The risk with retracts is that they add an extra level of complexity such that there is a risk that one or both legs fails to drop and/or lock before landing.
The Cinestar concept might not look as sexy but it works, i.e., with panning, the 3 point landing legs never fall into the camera field of view. The first picture shows the landing assembly upside down and without the tubes and legs.

For those not yet ready to spend the money for the 3rd axis panning motor, you can substitute a simple custom intermediary mounting plate.View attachment 15641View attachment 15642

 

[Mike Fortin]

We are swapping out for a different gimbal so the stock legs don't allow for attaching to that gimbal. mounting them to the booms isn't an option as they'd be visable in a pan so the S800 seem to be the best option at this point for this mid size Droidworks AD Octo frame.

 

[PeterLester]

Same situation, for the most part I guess whether it is a Droidworx 8 or Cinestar as you previously indicated.

We are swapping out for a different gimbal so the stock legs don't allow for attaching to that gimbal. mounting them to the booms isn't an option as they'd be visable in a pan so the S800 seem to be the best option at this point for this mid size Droidworks AD Octo frame.

 

[kloner]

the dw retracts are really nice for a dw frame, they bolt right onto existing rivnuts and come with the quick release with vibe iso, ultra deluxe ride for any camera 2-12 lbs.

they bolt to any frame pretty easily,,,, but if you were mounting to a real cinestar frame the cinestar vibe iso wouldn't work anymore, these would lay right across all that

 

[Carapau]

I opted against the DW gear for my skyjib and went with the S800 gear. Why? Look at Kloners photos and you will see that the legs don't even go horizontal when up, with the S800 legs they go beyond horizontal reducing the likelihood of them getting into your image. With the very simple fabrication of an adapter plate coupled to one of the Allied Drone Quick release plates you can easily add the S800 gear to a cinestar rig, and you maintain an anti vibe system (not the original Cinestar one but the one integrated with the Allied drones plates). This is an excellent setup- the S800 legs are more robust than the DW ones in my opinion too.

 

[kloner]

we've never had em in our footage,,,, ever

 

[kloner]

I've had 3 major wipeouts with these landing gear, the only thing that's gone was the servo, $12. This is quite possibly the sexiest engineering a geek like me has ever come across in multi rotors, period. I own three sets and will buy them again and again.... In 500 flights ver a year i had one failure where the skids didn't come down and it was me.... had turned on something in ezuhf called Extreme Hoping and the rf interfered with the landing gear...... Other than that 3 crashes and 2 servos, i still got em all. Lift from heros to reds on them.....

and kinda the same thing with there vibe iso quick release. it flat out works, i integrate them on all kinds of frames usually with the landing gear and there a home run. heros to reds, never get any problems. We had a great running av200 servo with skyline running off it, now were flying brushless reds with it and it's money. doesn't wobble around and no jello. Nobody can ever deny Droidworx as much as they charge isn't some really good gear. they found the sweet spot on every single part, from arms to vibe iso, place has quality stuff. if it doesn't perform is tech/operator error

 

[Mike Fortin]

The DW retract set is heavy an abnormally pricey.

The S800 are cheap, easily fixed if need arises and super transportable.

If anyone has pics of how these are mounted to the DW frame or the Cinestar frame it's greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[kloner]

cheap? There $900,,,, the dw, about $900 without the iso quick release.

don't know about weight,,, but these pop off for transport in 2 seconds, it's a snap

 

[Tuomas P.]

The RCTimer S800 legs work fine and cost 400 euros...

 

[Carapau]

we've never had em in our footage,,,, ever

I have no dramas with this because it shows you know your kit well and film/fly accordingly. But with the S800 retracts, it allows you to tilt up more before the legs get into shot. I could have non-retractable legs on a frame with a 3 axis gimbal and still claim that I have never had the legs in shot. The point being is that the below horizontal position when retracted is more limiting that an above horizontal position.

The other thing I really didn't like about the DW retract was that the carbon rods (feet for want of a better expression) that clip into the legs popped out all too easily especially if landing on rough / sloping terrain. This wasn't on one set but on all three of the ones I dealt with. Zip ties were the cure but at this price zip ties should not be needed. I would be genuinely interested to see how you have fared with the feet because my thoughts were that the three units I dealt with must have been a faulty batch as this was such a bad design failure if the problem was inherent in the design.

Droidworx makes some lovely kit and the some of the parts are very well designed- the QR system on these legs for example, is excellent. But often I feel that sometimes form trumps function with Drioidworx for which I think the retracts are a good example.