Evolving NG UAVP » Flights

Flight at a sunny fall evening

stefan — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 21:38:34 +0000

Some time went by since my last post! In between I fixed the problems with my new quadrocopter, in the end I had problems with my altered brushless controllers. I had to resolder some soldering joints. But now it is flying quite nice, but see yourself:

Flight at a sunny fall evening

My next goal is flying with first persion view (FPV). For that purpose I bought a Headplay Eyewear and started soldering on a 5.8 GHz NGvideo. Therefor I also started flying in X-Mode (instead of + mode, which I did until now). With X-Mode you have a free view between two arms of the quadrocopter, its easier to place the camera that way. Expect more about this soon!
There is also another quadrocopter meeting at Amir’s place in the mid of october. Don’t miss it!

My second NG is airborne

stefan — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:19:21 +0000

The last days I worked a lot on my second NG UAVP quadrocopter. I had many of the parts ready since weeks. But I decided to do some things different than planned. But in between, all things were done and it was time to get my new aircraft airborne. And it flew! Unfortunately I had some interferences, but look yourself!

Maiden flight of my second NG UAVP quadrocopter

The second quadrocopter is a lot easier to build. The whole world of quadrocopter and radio controlled model making in general was very new to me. I made wrong decisions or just didn’t know how I want to have it in the end… Here is a small lists of improvements I made on my second quadrocopter. It might help other beginners to do it better in first place

Battery connectors

XT60 plugs

On my first copter I bought the same connectors for the quadrocopter which the batteries had: 4mm Bullet connectors. But connecting them was dreadfully: My connectors were a little bit to big, so I had to deform the plastic of the connectors a little bit. The plastic on the front was battered. Connecting them was very tough, in the end I didn’t connected them fully, it simply wasn’t possible anymore. So it was time to switch. I decided to use the XT60 connectors from Hobbyking (an alternative to the popular Deans connector system). They are cheap and you can also buy batteries with this connectors. The connection holds strong but you can connect and disconnect them without problem. No more half connected plugs in the air.

Power distribution

Using a board to distribute the power is definitely more comfortable, especially if want to connect something new or disconnect something. I used a two-sided 70µm copper bare board. Don’t forget to remove the coat before soldering if it has one. You also should have a soldering iron with enough power doing this. My 40W soldering iron was definitely a bit too feeble. Another good tip is to use silicon cable whenever possible. Its easier to solder them because the cable coating doesn’t melt.

New landers: Claws

Landers and centerplate

Having good landers from start is also very convenient. Starting from grass is no problem, calibrating the acceleration sensor is easier too. I already wrote about my new centerplates. They look good and are very strong.

LED’s

Its easier to distinguish the front of the quadrocopter with colored LED’s. I planned to add LED’s to my first copter already, but because the power distribution was inflexible I desisted installing them. On my second copter I bought 3mm plugs to connect them, and also added a cable to the power distribution system.

My first onboard Video

stefan — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:43:59 +0000

Recently I bought the nice GoPro HD digital camera. This week I mounted it the first time on my quadrocopter and flew around with it. But with the last battery the motor dissolved itself from its basement. Luckily my quadrocopter and the camera survived the crash without serious damage.

Onboard Video

By the way, I made this video using PiTiVi, which seems to evolve to a very easy to use video editor. The features are a bit limited at the moment, but there is much effort in the community improve this drawback.
I’m still working on my second quadrocopter. I decided to solve the current distribution better than I did at my first quadrocopter. I going to use a blank board with 70µm copper on each side. Each side has one pole and its mounted directly above the center plate.
There is also lot going on in the whole community: Two weeks ago the third NG UAVP Meeting took place in Zurich. We worked a lot on the new DCM based controller. Watch this footage from Robert. Also ludiwawa did the maiden flight of his Klappa Hexacopter.