Hoverfly Home brew

[Aerovideo]

So I'll be the first to admit that I'm a frame ***** I've tried all the ones I can afford and have had mixed results. But from everything I've learned I designed my own in Adobe Illustrator and cut it out with a dremel tool. It looks like *** but the arms fold up, it's made of wood, weighs in at a mere 1590grams with GoPro/wCase and 3000mah flight battery and all my fpv gear. But I'm getting JELLO FREE 1080p video out of it! woohoo! I know to the pros out there this seems like a minor accomplishment but the way I fly FPV it's been a huge challenge.

Something new that I've come across with this build is I started out with 750kv motors with a 4s flight pack. I got it tuned in really well but it seemed REALLY under powered to the point of nearly crashing during high speed maneuvers. So I put some 1200kv motors on this thing which were a total swap in weight but I had to drop the gain SIGNIFICANTLY to get rid of the oscillations.

This may be a stupid question but does changing the motor KV value alone cause huge gain change requirements? I know people don't like to see radio gain settings but I haven't had a chance to hook it up to a computer to compare. On my Dx8 with the 750kv motors I had a gain of 30 in the radio. Now with the 1200kv motors I kept dropping it and dropping it and am down to a 15 gain in my Dx8, YIKES! That's the lowest I've ever had a quad but this one seemed to require it. I'll be testing it out this weekend and will post some pics and video but wanted to hear from others if motors changed your gain requirements when pretty much everything else including weight stayed the same?

Thanks for any insight you all provide,

Paul

 

[Bison52]

I can't answer any of your questions but you should be aware that I fully intend to pirate the phrase "frame *****."

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

I just built a similar quad (see H-Quad below) and originally had RC Timer BC3536-11 750KV motors with funky 50 amp RC Timer esc's. Very low gain setting was all I could manage. I cannibalized my Y6 so I could outfit the quad with Avroto M2814-11S 770KV's with 30 amp Plush esc's. It allowed me to more than double the gain setting on the quad and flew much better to boot. I guess what I'm saying is it seems like the change in esc's had more to do with solving the low gain than the KV factor. By the way, I'm going hiking with the quad tomorrow - finally get to fly in some decent remote spots that are NOT a flying field. This form factor really rocks on a number of different levels: easy access, folds up for easy vacation transport, looks very cool, no landing gear needed, camera is way out front so no props in video, easy to orientate because of the long body, better cooling for components, easy to carry even when the arms aren't folded and definitely easier to build. The form factor is not new, QAV500 is close, but that thing went begging for folding arms and the props would hit in front if you wanted to mount a gimbal. Anyway, look forward to seeing what you have cooked up!

 

[Aerovideo]

I can't answer any of your questions but you should be aware that I fully intend to pirate the phrase "frame *****."

Haha... feel free! I guess I'm always just looking for that puuurfect body

I just built a similar quad (see H-Quad below) and originally had RC Timer BC3536-11 750KV motors with funky 50 amp RC Timer esc's. Very low gain setting was all I could manage. I cannibalized my Y6 so I could outfit the quad with Avroto M2814-11S 770KV's with 30 amp Plush esc's. It allowed me to more than double the gain setting on the quad and flew much better to boot. I guess what I'm saying is it seems like the change in esc's had more to do with solving the low gain than the KV factor. By the way, I'm going hiking with the quad tomorrow - finally get to fly in some decent remote spots that are NOT a flying field. This form factor really rocks on a number of different levels: easy access, folds up for easy vacation transport, looks very cool, no landing gear needed, camera is way out front so no props in video, easy to orientate because of the long body, better cooling for components, easy to carry even when the arms aren't folded and definitely easier to build. The form factor is not new, QAV500 is close, but that thing went begging for folding arms and the props would hit in front if you wanted to mount a gimbal. Anyway, look forward to seeing what you have cooked up!

I started out with plans to build an "H" quad last winter but never got around too it. I was going to include folding arms as well. Then the QAV came out and I took my design in that direction only smaller with folding arms not to mention wood instead of G10 and aluminum.

I have the gain really low on this home brew quad but near as I can tell it still flies really well. This weekend I'll find out for sure

Paul

 

[Aerovideo]

I finally got a chance to get my little home brew quad out for a little FPV action. Of course it's in the boring open field in the middle of our neighborhood but I think it shows how well it flies.

Although I do seem to have a problem with my gain. If you listen to the motors you can here an oscillation which seems to translate into a roll oscillation in the video. Most normal flying is okay but when I give it a little bit more throttle the oscillation kicks in which seems to be a gain issue but my gains on this thing are already REALLY low.

Paul

 

[kloner]

that's awesome, keep after makin frames......flies really smooth

was alot of that with the altitude hold on? were you pushing full forward in an auto level mode?

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

You, my friend, are back in business. Outstanding flying and that woody performs!

 

[Aerovideo]

that's awesome, keep after makin frames......flies really smooth

was alot of that with the altitude hold on? were you pushing full forward in an auto level mode?

Thank you, I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. To bad it's just really ugly looking since I had to use a hand dremel tool to make it.

All my FPV flying is done with just the manual mode, no auto level or altitude hold. Just flying by gyros seems to give the smoothest flight characteristics for me. I also don't use any expo in my radio.

Glad you liked, thanks!

 

[Aerovideo]

Thanks! It does feel good to be flying again after my last disaster! I do like how this woody handles and the video I get from it. Now if I could just make it better looking, I'll post pictures soon.

 

[S11D336B]

Looking good! Keep the videos coming!!!

 

[Macsgrafs]

Paul, thats some impressive machine you got there buddy. The sound when all your motors come into sync reminds me of a lancaster bomber revving up just before brakes off, love it. What caught my eyes was the "chemtrails" above you...nasty stuff!
Flies very stable & fast...great machine, you should be very proud of her.

Ross

 

[Aerovideo]

Here are some pics of my Home Brew setup, be kind... it's fugly! But it seems to work well. Anyone with a laser cutter want to cut some wood pieces for me? I drew this up in Adobe illustrator so I have vector files if that helps?

View attachment 6500View attachment 6501View attachment 6502View attachment 6503View attachment 6504

I used some rubber washers from the plumbing department to create the vibration dampening for the very top plate that has the camera, battery and if you notice the HFPro board hanging from underneath

1590g AUW as you see in the photos.

NTM 1200kv Motors
Turnigy Plush 25amp ESCs
HF Pro FC
EZUHF Control Rx
EZOSD for OSD
GoPro for onboard HD video
ReadymadeRC 600TVL FPV camera
ReadymadeRC 300mw 1280MHz FPV VTx
Graupner 9x5 props
Rib bones landing gear, tough as nails and flexible for absorbing crash impacts!

Paul

 

[kloner]

figured it was shaped something like that, flew forward too good. Why not cut one out of g10?

 

[Aerovideo]

One of the plates in there is g10 and I do think that might be best for the bottom two plates that hold the booms. I just didn't have anymore g10... hehe I do think that wood absorbs vibrations a bit better so I think I would keep that very top plate that holds the camera as wood.

But if someone has a CNC router and wants to cut the whole thing out of G10 for me I wouldn't complain

 

[kloner]

theres two guys in the states on this forum doing that...... irisaerial and gothelirc

who is it, tim neilson that has them bamboo boards for something of theres,,,, makes since, just laser cutter guys are usually a different place than the cnc routers and mills

but crashability wise and not having to completely rebuild em is nice when your screwing with a design. I got something similar, yuri has always treated me good and done great work. think his is a mill, and gotheli is a router. yuri uses these FC's

 

[Aerovideo]

Here are 3 older pictures of the quad in flight. These are the original 750kv motors I had on it and it didn't have much oomph.

View attachment 6532View attachment 6533View attachment 6534

Other than that, I think it's still pretty much all the same.

Looking good! Keep the videos coming!!!

Definitely more videos to come, thanks George!

Paul

 

[workshop]

Really nice build Paul... I don't think it is unattractive at all.

My only suggestion is to mount the ESCs with the heat sink facing OUT rather than against the mounting plate.

Jeff

 

[Aerovideo]

Really nice build Paul... I don't think it is unattractive at all.

My only suggestion is to mount the ESCs with the heat sink facing OUT rather than against the mounting plate.

Jeff

Yeah that's a really good point and a good idea. It's just that they fit so well with the nice flat heat sink against the plate... hehe

 

[Aerovideo]

Here's my latest video from my homebrew rig! Getting better

Sorry if you've already seen it.

 

[PaNt]

this is with 4.6 r2?? plush escs?? it seems great n1..