Commence Building

[FirBirGir]

First person flying is about the only safe way to get higher then. A buddy of mine is getting ready to make a tricopter, I'm cutting the center plates out of polycarb this evening for him.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Cool. Is he doing his own plate design or doing something like a David Windestål design like these? The booms fold back in a crash.

[FirBirGir]

It's the coffin design, he likes that better since it provides more surface space.

What did you use for the arms?

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Square 10mm carbon fiber tube.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Still another. . .

This one is 100% carbon fiber. Extremely light. AUW (all up weight) is 955 grams. I put high kv motors on it, 1300kv with 9 inch carbon fiber props with a high discharge LiPo; 4S 2200 90C. Very fast, the CF props don't deform from high rpm like plastic. I'm guessing the rate of climb is around 100ft./sec.



I'll try and get some video of it soon.

[FirBirGir]

you should put a down camera on it and do a vertical takeoff at max acceleration. That would be a cool video.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

We'll do. I have my keyfob cam that only weighs about 15 grams. Only thing is, I can only hold the throttle wide open for about 3-4 seconds before it's a dot.

[FirBirGir]

so the video is be 3-4 seconds long

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Here ya go. I don't have an onboard camera mounted, this is off my ballcap, but it will give you some idea. I said I might be able to hold the throttle wide open for 3-4 seconds, I think I may have to lower that to 2-3. Only at time 0:33 do I hold it wide open for a second or 2 and briefly high up at 0:42. As you can see, I'm still getting a lot of prop-wash wobble on descending straight down into it that can be tuned out to be minimal. I'm tweaking today.

https://vimeo.com/79566683

[BZROM]

Long time no see guys.... Great post! I plan to be in the market for something like this, this month.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Just bought the smallest quadcopter in production.

Not just 'sorta small'. I mean REALLY small. . .



And what is even more amazing, it has auto-level that is outstanding. I've been playing with it for the last few days and am in awe of its flying ability. If I had anything even slightly negative to say about it it would be the yaw left stick (mode 2) is a little touchy at times, and the flight time is a hair under 5 minutes in a stand-still hover (I timed it). Throttle, elevator and aileron is very smooth. I had it outside last night, there was zero wind and had it up to the top of my trees which are in the 40 to 50 foot range before I lost signal and it dropped. It's so small, it can drop from incredible heights with no damage as long as it's carpet or grass. Sounds like an angry wasp.

It's sort of a cross between experiencing *batteries not included and taking over the brain of a large Japanese Hornet

Takes about 20 minutes for a full USB charge.

The controller is also very tiny. Possibly too small for someone with large hands.







I'm even toying with the idea of getting some aerial video. . .



I got it for $40

Here's a guy well into to his review that flies it around. I don't have any video yet.

[FirBirGir]

How big is the brain? It's gotta be hiding under that tiny battery.

I'm going to put it on my Christmas list

[Blunt Force Trauma]

There appears to be 4 main processing gyros and accelerometers that are indeed under the battery.

I broke down and bought the hubsan transmitter. Not so much for the flipping or the dual rates capability, or the turning of the LEDs on and off, but more for better fidelity of control. The stock controller is merely average, and the sticks are SO small it feels awkward and slightly cramps my hands.

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Here's some video I just shot Sunday. It's SO much brighter in person, but you can get some idea how freaking bright it is. It lights up my entire yard and house once I get some height.

Also, I added an 'orientation wand' with two corn lights on the end. I found if I'm up more than 300 feet or so, even during the day, colored props, bright bi-colored frames, and even LEDs, don't help much. At night, the blue and red lights merge into one blob at a great enough distance. I'm now leaving the wand on even without all the other stuff. Even with the corn lights not on, it helps immensely. Also, the silhouetted spinning dancer effect really comes into play at larges distances as well. Haven't noticed any drag effects at all.

I'm driving somewhere under 3000mA with 12V into CREE XML-U2-1C 320LM spec'd for 3.7V. I may be close to a thousand lumens from each. I've heat pasted them to aluminum plate I cut from an old transformer heat sink block so they stay nice and cool. They're most likely putting out around 900 for a total of around 3,600 lumens.

As you'll see, I went up to around 250 feet for quite a while a couple times, luckily the Sheriff never showed. . . :p

Lumen City

[Dx.]

Send that video to Amazon and DHS, add a little AI and it can have job security.

[hitchcockgreen]

Damn that IS bright!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[FirBirGir]

You should build a page on that unit and have Hackaday or one of the other big sites pick it up...

[BZROM]

Rocket Launching Quadcopter - Flight Test

http://youtu.be/wO25_xrijLo

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Now. . . . THAT is original!

[FirBirGir]

Except they should be flying high and firing towards the ground. More interesting that way