Tarot 650 Build - Parts Are Arriving

[Pumpkinguy]

Good score on the gopro. I finally got my HK order. It was a month total. I think I was one of the lucky ones from what I'm hearing. It's really too bad they don't have a great inventory states side. They probably don't think the sales figures justifys a large inventory. I think they would be surprised how many more orders would come in if they had stock.
I've really been eyeballing those quick mount prop adapters. They would be an awesome solution for me but the reviews are real mixed. Please let me know your opinion once she's up and running.

Cheers

 

[AzViper]

I would rather spend extra $$$ then buy from Hobby King. I have $50.00 in bonus points that they credited me on a charge card order. I went to use the bonus money and it turns out that I cannot use the bonus money to pay shipping on the order I used the bonus money on, yet when I placed the order originally the credit card purchase shipping fee's were part of the credit card charges. Hobby King on every item I purchased screwed something up. The replacement radio was delivered to the wrong address only to open it and the antenna is broken. Once the bonus points are used up and my connection with HK ends.

 

[glider]

Dang those are big motors. Are you going to use the KDE ESC's?

 

[AzViper]

Dang those are big motors. Are you going to use the KDE ESC's?

I will be using KDE 35Amp ESC's. These motors will give me 4360g of thrust at 50% with 6s batteries and 15 x 5 props. The best of my calculations the quad will weigh somewhere around 3500g of which will give me 24% above the 50% throttle. In any calculations during the build there is going to be something I missed. Now first flight there will be no FVP, Gimbal, Antennas, Camera, etc. so the quad should become airborne under 40% throttle. The bigger motors are on this quad as they will be moved to a Hexacopter at a later date.

 

[glider]

Don't be surprised if those motors outperform ECalc predictions by quite a bit. It's fairly close on 50% throttle, but the rest is less than to be desired. For my Spy 750 Y6 w/515 motors ECalc was way off on their beta co-axial, so I use the flat calculations and add about 5% weight. Predicted ECalc coaxial current @hover is >5A, actual is ~4A. AUW is 3100g. It can be a pain tuning for best efficiency on a coaxial.

Although it's only flown in sub-40 degF temps, the best hover time to date is 23 min w/MS 10A 4s 10c battery @14.2v FS (3.5 cell alarm), which exceeded expectations. Last week it was 15 deg and that really put the stops on, so it looks like a few months before doing much flying.

Doing over, I'd bite the bullet and get the KDE ESC; went through 3 different SimonK before getting HobbyWing XRotor which so far have been the best. KDE specs though are based on their ESC.

Good luck with your build and post video/data.

 

[AzViper]

My 39" long 10mm carbon fiber tubes arrived today. I will not use the entire length but the price was right at $6.00 each and they shipped from CA. The entire idea is to keep the quad balanced side to side while extending the gimbal/camera out front so not to see the props. I will be able to balance the quad front to back with the second battery once I set the gimbal/camera in place. Battery is temporarily mounted as I need to install a thin carbon fiber plate on the rails. .

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[Pumpkinguy]

Lol. Looks different that's for sure. Btw, 39" is 1 meter

 

[AzViper]

All about keeping the GPS free and clear of all electronics. I am sure the rails that will support the gimbal/camera will have about 12" removed and another 8" on the rear removed.

With the gimbal / camera out front and out of view of the props I have to counter balance this weight so what better way than to mount the battery in this location free up the entire top.

 

[Pumpkinguy]

It looks like you have equal amount of rod out either side. I would think the gimbal would need to be further out to balance because it is probably much lighter than the battery, no?

 

[AzViper]

It looks like you have equal amount of rod out either side. I would think the gimbal would need to be further out to balance because it is probably much lighter than the battery, no?

Until I have the gimbal I am not cutting anything. I am on the burner on deciding on what gimbal I want to use.

With the way I have my batteries mounted I can move both batteries forward or backwards to get the entire build balance, but more importantly is keeping the props out of the lens view first then work on the balancing. So until I have a camera mounted the 39" long 10mm tubes are nothing more than a posted photo, but I suspect they will be cut somewhat like this.

 

[AzViper]

I came across this little 3D printed antenna mount over in the RC Groups forum. Make a nice compact mount. The antennas are secure within the mount using heat shrink tubing. The antennas are mounted into the bracket with the two antenna's mounted opposite to each other. I bought two just to have a spare. Has two sided tape but I will also use TB nylon wire ties. Will mount to the bottom of the quad so the antenna's have direct downward and side to side view from the transmitter.

I have access to 3D printers but the price of these why bother.

 

[Pumpkinguy]

I have included a pic of my antenna mount. Very light. Just a zip tie heated and bent at 90 deg then shrink tubing overtop.

My other idea that you may enjoy since I'm using quick release prop adapters like you. I'm gonna get a aluminum rod with LH and RH threads to balance the props with adapter bolted on. Cheers

 

[glider]

Do you have a link to that mount? I have one for the wires, but not the square antenna. I 3d printed these already, but are not practical for my setup:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:258146

I came across this little 3D printed antenna mount over in the RC Groups forum. Make a nice compact mount. The antennas are secure within the mount using heat shrink tubing. The antennas are mounted into the bracket with the two antenna's mounted opposite to each other. I bought two just to have a spare. Has two sided tape but I will also use TB nylon wire ties. Will mount to the bottom of the quad so the antenna's have direct downward and side to side view from the transmitter.

I have access to 3D printers but the price of these why bother.

 

[AzViper]

My other idea that you may enjoy since I'm using quick release prop adapters like you. I'm gonna get a aluminum rod with LH and RH threads to balance the props with adapter bolted on. Cheers

How did this work out for you. I am interested. Did you notice a difference?

 

[AzViper]

Do you have a link to that mount? I have one for the wires, but not the square antenna. I 3d printed these already, but are not practical for my setup:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:258146

Glider I sent you a email link to contact the person.

 

[AzViper]

Decided to rotate the battery and pull it in closer to the center of the copter. Until the gimbal is mounted I will not know what direction I need to go to get the quad balanced. It looks like my standoffs will be here shortly after waiting for so long. My HK days are done. I have braid loom on its way from McMasterCarr and heatshrink. I had purchased a second Tarot battery plate. Drilled the carbon fiber plate and attached the aluminum/rubber grommets. Using Velcro the batteries are secure.

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[AzViper]

Some of my standoff's arrived today. Hopefully the remaining standoffs will be here this week. Gone are the nylon standoffs and replaced with the aluminum standoffs. Also my non fray braid expandable loom arrived. This is some neat stuff, will protect the wiring while it will expand. Its non fraying and can be cut with scissors. Bought an assortment of heat shrink tubing in black and red. I have all kinds of real-state with my added center sections to mount all the gear.

 

[AzViper]

Got some of the wiring done using the braided loom. With very limited time this is a slow process as I am being pulled in all directions, wife, kids, work, gold mining, building custom poker tables, etc. so please bare with me as I hope to have a flying quad soon.

Looks like I will need to drill the carbon fiber plates and move four of the inner standoffs to the outer edge so that I can place the ESC's where I want them.

 

[AzViper]

Reworked the standoff layout and was able to use per-existing holes. I call this the silver deck due to the silver colored standoffs. This is the deck that will contain the ESC's.

I thought its a good idea to label all motor wires, ESC's, and signal wires to the NAZA. This will eliminate any headaches down the road.

This is the red deck and will house all the electronics between the two carbon fiber plates. The GPS antenna will be all by itself at the top of the red deck.

I had purchased motor mounts as I did not like the stock mounts. These mounts added 100mm to the the frame. The Tarot 650 is now a Tarot 750 measured from center to center of each motor shaft. The 10mm tubes will still need to be cut-down once I have the H3-3D gimbal.

 

[talunceford]

Nice