Finally I have a small quad that can record jello Free GoPro footage!

[SleepyC]

SUCCESS!

After quite a while I finally realized a goal.
That goal was to have a small mobile quad for a GoPro 3 that I'm not afraid to get into "sticky" situations, fly a bit faster and even "risk" if the shot is right.
After sourcing the stuff I wanted, I started on the quest.

Two frames, 3 sets of motors, and 2 sets of esc's later I found my mojo.

Ebay 500size Spider frame (discovery clone-ish thing) Keeps the arms away from the camera

Nice T-motor 900kv motors on 10-45 APC SF props.
Hobbywing 40amp ESC's
Hoverfly Sport Flight Control

I ran two pine 3/4 square dowels out of the frame (wood tends to be a natural vibration dampener) and mounted the Turkish "ebay anti vibe" pad.

This is the second flight... besides the youtube compression (WHICH IS HORRIBLE), the test video came out great. (I'll spend some time coloring it and such.. but I was looking for shakes or jello)

I have a project where i need to fly over a print shops presses and production floor. Some of the gaps I need to fly through are only 4 - 5 feet.
So I am PUMPED!

I have been battling jello on small rigs for a while now and I feel like I slayed a dragon!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/l5o_u5CWJXk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

 

[SleepyC]

And I know I left the motor leads long and wrapped them around the arms which looks sloppy, but I have another project for these some day so I didn't want to cut them.
:nevreness:

 

[Bowley]

Congratulations, afraid I cant see your video, my connection is too slow. Trivial as it may sound to those who dont know the pain of Jello, its actually bloody awesome to get totally jello free with a gopro.
I see a still of your video and see that the light is not great, it looks overcast from the still. You might get a little jello appear when you shoot in bright light conditions. That got me for me for the longest time, I would balance props till the cows came home, try all sorts of different types and quantities of absorbing material. then I would test it in the garden, weather always dull because it always is in the UK, result....NO JELLO!!. So then one day the wind would drop and sun would come out miraculously and I would pack myself off to shoot some video.....usually involving 2 journeys once I got to where I was going and found that I had forgotten some tiny bit totally critical to the shoot...like an SD Card or something.
So anyway, I fly about for 4 or so packs with that warm feeling that I'm getting all this glorious colour and light in jello free format.:02.47-tranquillity: as it appears on a 7" monitor. Then I get home and watch it :livid: ..and start swearing profusely at my new footage bound for the recycle folder.

So anway, if you get jello in brighter conditions dont be surprised. If you do, a ND filter should help and will also improve video quality in brighter light.

 

[Bartman]

congrats and kudos for persevering!
watched the video, my wife thought I was watching porn so she came running in. too freakin' funny.

bart

 

[DucktileMedia]

Is that HoverSport a mother to control FPV? I have one in my fold-n-fly but I was going to switch over to a Naza since it has auto level and GPS. After flying the sport for a few hours within LOS I was thinking there was no way I could handle FPV with it. Looks good though! Surprised the 10" SF work that well on those motors/setup as I am using 8" SF and although it could use a little more, it spics the props really fast which is great for getting rid of jello and flying in wind. Are you on 4s?

 

[kloner]

it's alot easier in a monitor or goggles than los,,, you can see flat......

 

[SleepyC]

I'm on 3S, and the motors seem really efficient with the 10" props. Not even warm when I landed. (it was 28 deg F though) I got 8 min on a 3S 2600 pack with 500 left in it. It seemed REALLY smooth as well.
And I LOVE the HF S. I have the gain cranked pretty high and added some expo to slow my corrections down and it feels great.
Again, this was the 2nd flight and I'll continue to tune it. It's just a throw around rig, but needed. When I'm shooting some of the Huckfests (BIg giant scale airplane 3D fests) this year I plan on getting in the mix with the 40% planes to get "interesting" shots. No way I'm going to take a big $$$ rig into that mess.
HAHA

 

[DennyR]

Nice easy solution, well done.

 

[Roger Ramjet]

Bravo! This is very smart. I have also been in the Jello path, so to speak, and used all sorts of vibration absorbing material but never thought of this simple yet effective configuration. Are they silicone tubing sections? You got me thinking now...

Bartman - You really made me laugh...

 

[Emowillcox]

That footage looks nice. .. specially for not having a moving camera mount. Is that some kind if soft dampner between the layers where your cam mount is located?
Which gopro you using?

 

[SleepyC]

That footage looks nice. .. specially for not having a moving camera mount. Is that some kind if soft dampner between the layers where your cam mount is located?
Which gopro you using?

Yes, the two plates are suspended with 4 very soft but still not too soft rubber bobbins. And then has a nylon elastic cord on each side pulling the plates gently in. If I use a heavier camera there are plastic bobbins that go inside the rubber bobbins to stiffen them up a little. It seems to work great.

Here's a little more footage I shot just trying to practice flying some shots. The reason I built this guy was to get hard to reach shots. I have to film a T-shirt printing press floor with 4 huge presses in a row. The show will look awesome with the GoPro's super wide angle fisheye deal, and I only have around 8 - 10 feet of celling clearance, and in some places a 5' gap between cables hanging from the celling.
I don;t mind risking this guy...

Footage form the park:

I can't figure out why Vimeo is adding like 3 minutes of blank video after the project I upload. Second time. Errrrr.