Gunters NEW hexacopter build

[Gunter]

After a bit of inspiration from Ken and others, I thought I would rebuild the hexa from scratch. The main aim was to slim it down and reduce the weight a bit, giving me more flying time.

I threw out the home made power distribution ring and replaced it with a Afropower distribution board. This saved loads of weight, there was a lot of 10 gauge wire there, not to mention the connectors!
I reduced the size of the center plates and also took more material out, making it lighter. There is a bit more flex in the plates, being made from ali, but once it's all bolted together it's fine. All components are made with 2mm thick aluminium.

I even trimmed down the LED holders, which are now 1/4 the size.

Best of all, it's had a coat of black powder which makes it look 10000000000 times better than plain ali.

Ingredients: Wookong M FC, Hobbywing 40A Fentium schmentium ESC's, Torxpower badboy motors, cheap props, just waiting for my 11x5 Graupners to arrive.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, in total, it saved about 400g, almost the weight of an extra battery! Total weight with 1 battery and gopro is 3.9kg.

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[quadcopters]

A very nice ship there Gunter the lights are also very nice and bright . Looking forward to seeing it fly .

Geoff

 

[mbsteed]

That is looking great! Nice design work.

The camera looks like it would have the motors in the field of view. Was that intentional?

 

[Gunter]

That is looking great! Nice design work.

The camera looks like it would have the motors in the field of view. Was that intentional?

Yes, I was mocking it up for fitting an FPV system. It takes seconds to flip it around so it hangs underneath.

Gunter.

 

[Tomstoy2]

Wow, beautiful! Great job!

 

[Sebas600]

Looks very good Gunter!

 

[BorisS]

Nice one Gunther. I really like the fact that you got rid of extra 400 grams !
My only recommendation would be to get some liquid tape over the afro board.
If anything falls in a screw for example you forget or don't notice it the short is given.
You also wouldnt leave a bare cable hanging around without putting some shrink tube over it.

Boris

PS. i hope there are many more builds to come !

 

[Sebas600]

Nice one Gunther. I really like the fact that you got rid of extra 400 grams !
My only recommendation would be to get some liquid tape over the afro board.
If anything falls in a screw for example you forget or don't notice it the short is given.
You also wouldnt leave a bare cable hanging around without putting some shrink tube over it.

Boris

PS. i hope there are many more builds to come !

Had same thing with 3W LED's so I've put 3 layers of epoxy on the contacts. only point, de-soldering gets messy.

 

[BorisS]

Hi Sebas600

I am not sure what you mean with soldering gets messy, but nice thing about liquid tape is you can peal it off again with you finger and soldering joints pad etc. can be work with again without any extensive cleaning.

Boris

 

[Sebas600]

Hi Sebas600

I am not sure what you mean with soldering gets messy, but nice thing about liquid tape is you can peal it off again with you finger and soldering joints pad etc. can be work with again without any extensive cleaning.

Boris

I mean if you ever need to de-solder the wires.

what is liquid tape? the self fusing stuff?

 

[Gunter]

Thanks Boris, yes, good idea. I did think about that, but didn't get around to doing it!

There is already another build planned, but I just need to think about it a bit more to figure out what I want to do. I find the big hexa a bit like a bus to fly, where my flame wheel is more like a little sports car! I need something in the middle, big enough to carry a small camera but small enough so that it's agile and can be flown a bit faster...


Regards,

Gunter.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Droider]

@ Gunter nice job buddy.. U thought about a Y6 as a inbetweener? Ask Geoff nicely and he may post some footage he took of mine the other day.

@ Boris which liquide tape do you use?

 

[BorisS]

Dave this stuff,

http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/e...-isolieren-mit-liquid-tape-und-plastik70.html

sorry its in german but a pic of the product is on that page

boris

 

[plingboot]

@dave, you could try THIS stuff - i've been using it and it works great, it's also very easy to peel off if required.

i usually apply it with a matchstick as the integrated brush is massive.

 

[Droider]

@Plingboot / Boris..Ta ill go check um out

Dave

 

[wbrown]

Great build Gunter.

Where can I find one of those afro distro boards? Also what size lipo's are you using there? I have been looking at getting some nano-tech's, how have you found them?

 

[Gunter]

The board I got from abusemark, do a google search, I haven't got the link with me at the moment. It comes from china I think but only takes a few days to get to the uk.

I am using Turnigy Nanotech 6000mah 4S batteries. They seem to be very good so far, I got them from Hobbyking at a very good price. With one battery I got 7 minutes flying time, but that will probably be a bit more now with less weight.


Regards,

Gunter.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Gunter]

Got my new 11" props today...they look very small, I hope Ken is right

Graupner 11x5 e prop.


Regards,

Gunter.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BoBoFlight]

Hi Gunter,

I saw your comment on your "bus" vs agile. A couple of things that I am seeing with your design that might help. Other people might tell you to go to a Y6 or something, but I think the hexa and octo can still be very agile.

Your M2M distance affects agility. The further apart from center that they get, usually the less agile that they get. I think you also have some wasted length with your arms. What I am trying to say is the pictures look like you have a greater distance between props than is necessary. The distance needs to be enough to mitigate the prop wash between each prop. However, I personally think you have more than what is necessary -- I could be wrong, but that is just my quick visual observation.

Your size of props affects agility. This is the slowest part of the multicopter response rate. Smaller props and higher KV motors respond faster.

Weight and weight distribution: You have a very heavy build. Just look at the batteries -- holy cow! Pretty cool, but those are some hefty batteries. As I am sure you are aware, there is a very large diminishing return with battery weight. You put on batteries for more flight time, but this increases weight which makes everything work harder or need bigger things (motors), which reduces flight time. Your weight distribution is also very top heavy (like an SUV). The closer you get all your weight to the center of the device, the more agile it will be (sports cars have their engines in the middle typically) -- but with this I am talking vertical middle moreso ...

With all that said ... pretty AWESOME and thanks for sharing! I call yours "The Big Daddy!". LOVE IT! It would scare my multicopters away .

 

[flashervn]

Hi Gunter, can you post a pix of your boom clamp? Where do you get them? I am having troble looking for some 16mm clamps. Thanks