MKTR Tests

Let me start by saying it is stabilized but I thought the raw was pretty good too. It's also not representative of where I want my final product though. It's still just R&D. Video shows virtually no vibrations other than on a quick decent and the only real movements were from the mount itself. I plan on lowering roll compensation more, currently at 45%. I've had it much higher in previous tests and it just makes it worse. I feel like I'm almost tuned in. This was the 2nd flight with the APC props and I'm very impressed. It's been a rocky road with the MKTR and myself but there may be a future yet. I have some more tricks up my sleeve and will pass them along also if they work. The camera wasn't in the ideal mode. It was in cinemode and it tends to make things dark, doesn't help at sunset. Also had auto focus which doesn't help. My editing software sucks as well and looses quality when making a file. Sorry for the crap edit. Anyway excuses are out of the way here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uCE-H_OQC4
 

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
Looks good, definitely getting there, I never had the patience to keep tweaking the mkTR like you do.

How is it that you have no snow on the ground and we still have 2 plus feet up here, you're not that far away???

I did find out they managed to get the road plowed into the club flying field so if the weather can cooperate for a few hours this weekend I intend to get over there and get some A/P/V done with both the Hexa and Hoverfly, I'm getting really tired of flying back and forth in the street in front of the house :(

Ken
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
eric,
how tight is your mount? does the camera mount part rock forward and back at all or is it pretty rigid?
video's looking pretty good. congrats
bart
 

Thanks guys! Ryder we had like three 65 degree days this past week and it got rid of almost all the snow. It's cold here again and actually snowing as i type this. I had no choice but to keep tinkering with the MKTR because I recommended it for our company. I felt I had to do everything I could before i went back to my partners and told them it's crap. I had also seen some good footage from it, just not my own, so I knew it was possible. The new props really helped and also i've toned down the Compensations a ton. i found that the more I tried to have it do the worse it got.

Bart I had the batteries on the side in that video and I plan on flying that way from now on unless it's a real windy day. I think the extra weight down low actually does help pull out some vibrations. We ordered a CF plate from Mark Dana, MD1 mount, and I only think it will help more. It will have rubber spacers between the Hexa and mount and will be mounted on the outside of the hexa bottom plate, that should help, and I can mount the MKTR to the baseplate which is much more sturdy than the bottom of the Hexa frame. I also may try and feed screws through the rubber grommetts of the MKTR and have them screwed into the CF baseplate. This way the MKTR will not be attached in the narrow center but into the four corners of the plate. I think this may be the final solution but I'm taking one step at a time. I'll keep you guys informed.

Thanks again! Felt good flying for the 1st time in a long time.
 
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eric,
how tight is your mount? does the camera mount part rock forward and back at all or is it pretty rigid?
video's looking pretty good. congrats
bart
Hmm. hard to say! It's pretty tight but if I shake it I can see some flex but i have to shake it pretty good. Are you talking about the tilt rocking back and forth? I had come across some of that in the tilt and it was driving me crazy. Like I said i have the compensations set really low and it has really helped. Tilt compensation is only at like 30%. It still works but it's not over active. Make sure your set screw is really, really tight also.
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Eric,
I'm really happy to hear the battery mounts are helping. I'm not crazy after all!
Anyway, when you have the MK sitting on the table and you grab the plate that the camera attaches to, can you move it much front to back? mine has a lot of slack in it and I don't think it's because its former owner abused it (you know who you are ;)). I think they all probably have it but you can verify it for me if you don't mind. I've got an idea to get rid of that fore/aft sloppiness with minimal weight gain. I'll take a better look at how to accomplish what I have in mind and I'll be in touch. Glad it's all coming together and don't be stingy with those settings!
Bart
 

Eric,
I'm really happy to hear the battery mounts are helping. I'm not crazy after all!
Anyway, when you have the MK sitting on the table and you grab the plate that the camera attaches to, can you move it much front to back? mine has a lot of slack in it and I don't think it's because its former owner abused it (you know who you are ;)). I think they all probably have it but you can verify it for me if you don't mind. I've got an idea to get rid of that fore/aft sloppiness with minimal weight gain. I'll take a better look at how to accomplish what I have in mind and I'll be in touch. Glad it's all coming together and don't be stingy with those settings!
Bart
Bart I'm glad to share my settings, I will put them up when I get home from work. The movement in your camera tray sounds like you have some play between the tilt servo gear and the gear on camera tray. I had this problem when I first put together my mktr and it made for horrible video. I actuall had to pry it back open, slide the gear down to mesh really tight, almost binding. It worked though and with low tilt compensation in mktools I've reached where I'm at. Because the camera and the tray are the servos potentiometer any play between the gears will cause a lot of movement in tilt. That's the only thing I can think of because on the table my camera tray really does not move. It sounds like u need a tighter mesh in gears...............................................................................................

Okay I'm home. I have no movement in the camera tray. Check the teeth of the servo and the camera tray if there is some movement that is most likely your issue. You're going to have to pull it open and reglue it tighter. As far as settings I have my Tilt at 30 and the Roll at 45 for compenstations. The rest I don't think I've messed with but I can check them again if you want.
 
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Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Eric,
Sorry I let this conversation slip through the cracks. I checked my mount after reading your reply and I don't have any movement between the camera platform gear and the tilt/pitch/nick servo gear. What I do have is movement of the whole camera mount assembly in the front to back direction. The whole thing can rock back and forth due to play somewhere. I'm not sure if this is normal or not but it sounds like yours doesn't do this.
I may take a whack at correcting it by making the assembly captive between two sets of little skid plates. If I do any work on it I'll post photos but right now I'm in photo-only mode so it can wait.
Bart
 

Hmm... no Bart I don't think I have what you describe. What ever excess movement I have now when I shake the Hexa is from where it is attatched on the 4 inner narrow holes. That is my main culprit now. Like I said before I'm waiting for a carbon fiber baseplate that will mount with 4 rubber spacers to the outside 4 corners of the Hexa ring, where the spacers are. Then I'm gonna figure out if I can mount the MKTR in a different way so that it's contact points are wider but either way I think it will be more rigid this way even if the MKTR still attatches to the baseplate in the 4 narrow holes. We'll see.
 

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