WKM #2 does its maiden flight

[RTRyder]

WKM controller #2 arrived today and this evening it replaced the MK stack on a small quad that now has tall landing gear and a two axis GoPro only mount under it. The quad frame is/was my testbed for trying out different flight control boards, the Mk stack that was on it was connected through an I2C converter and it flew fairly well, I had planned on making it into a dedicated FPV multi, now it's a low end APV machine with WKM controller. Setting up the second WKM goes a lot quicker and easier than the first plus I left just about everything at default settings and copied the model setup in the TX from the WKM Hex so there wasn't a lot of setting changes needed. First flight happened about 45 minutes ago in the dark backyard with only the light from the LED strips under the arms to see by. From what I could see of it, it appears to fly perfectly on the default settings, quite unlike it's big brother hex that weights significantly more and wouldn't fly worth a D**m on the default setup.

I'll have to wait until daylight to see how it really flys but I don't expect it to be much different than it has flown with any of the other controllers that have been on this frame, I actually expect it will fly better than it did with the others. If it's not raining in the AM I'll put one of the GoPro on the mount and give it a good test flight to see how it compares to the now well tuned WKM Hex.

Ken

 

[Emowillcox]

HI Ken... can't wait to get a report about this in the morning and that is great news to hear your getting some positive results. Don't be afraid to
fly in a little rain :nevreness:

 

[RTRyder]

HI Ken... can't wait to get a report about this in the morning and that is great news to hear your getting some positive results. Don't be afraid to
fly in a little rain :nevreness:

Just did an 8 minute flight in daylight, flys good but have a couple things that need to be worked on. The servos that came with the GoPro 2 axis mount are crap, their motion is very notchy and with direct linkage to the platform it makes the video very jumpy. I'll have to dig aorund in the spare RC stuff and see if I have a couple servos the correct size to try, otherwise I'll have to make a pilgrimage to the LHS and buy a couple.

Stability overall is quite good but with the camera mount and tall landing gear the default settings need a bit of tweaking to make it really solid. I had the other WKM on this frame before it went on the hex and it flew rock solid but that was without the extra weight on the bottom so I know what is possible and it shouldn't take too much to get it there. Overall I'm very pleased with the result of the first real flight, the WKM has done much better than 80% of the other flight controllers that have been on this frame did on the first flight. I like the way it flys as well, it's not as big and slow to move as the hex so it can get into much tighter places, downside is all it can lift is a GoPro so it has somewhat limited usefulness for APV.

When I have some time to play around with it I'll work on getting the gain settings dialed in and do something about the tilt and roll servos on the mount too.

Ken