Yes, I know everybody and there brother are building quadcopters/multirotors now, but w/e. I wanted something to build as a platform for electronics projects.
I did a little bit of research before buying a FlySky 9X transmitter, LiPo charger, and a pile of ebay parts:
-x4 EMAX 2822 1200 kV brushless motors
-x4 Lulin 30A ESCs
-KK v5.5 control board
-SkyLiPo 2650 mAh 3S 30C/60C
-10 x 4.5 props
-Cheap LiPo alarm w/ cell voltmeter
I built the frame out of 3/4" (19mm) OD aluminum square tubing. its about 42cm from tip-to-tip, and held together entirely with 1/8" rivets.
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_2347_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_2344_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_2334_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_2352_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
Mounted the motors. I intended to use nylon machine screws but they were a bit too big. The zip-ties hold them pretty tight.
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_2373_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_2369_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
Test fitted the props, I dont think they could get any closer to each other (I later ditch the 10" props for 8" props anyway).
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_2366_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
Flight COntrol board mounted on nylon bushings.
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_2425_re0_small.jpg[/IMG]
I took the heatshrink off of one of these "Lulin" ESCs. I was a little disappointed to find that they don't have any pads to solder to for flashing new firmware to the ATMega.
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMGP5336_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMGP5331_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
But I got my buddy Tw34k to use his soldering skills to solder a few hookup wires to the right pins so we could program them with firmware designed for multirotors.
[IMG]http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad84/tw34kpics/IMAG1069.jpg[/IMG]
and finally, heres how it looked when it was first all together and almost ready to fly.
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_2462_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
I have more, but Ill have to post it later, I need to get to class.
Where does the battery end up getting mounted? Being a rectangle battery will it throw off the balance of the craft or will the motors run at different speeds to keep it balanced?
Great looking project, looks very slick and well constructed.
[QUOTE=Ajacks;39476619]Where does the battery end up getting mounted? Being a rectangle battery will it throw off the balance of the craft or will the motors run at different speeds to keep it balanced?
Great looking project, looks very slick and well constructed.[/QUOTE]
Thanks
The battery used to hang below in a little aluminum tray, but it started getting beat up from hard landings. Plus, it didnt allow me to adjust the batteries position.
Now I have the battery sitting on top, attached with velcro. Ill have to take a pic.
Asking questions are actually pleasant thing if you are not understanding something entirely, except this post offers fastidious understanding yet.
These look so fun to build. Although, I'd probably want to build one as a UAV kind of copter with a camera on it to get more of an experience out of it. I live on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and there are a lot of beaches that would have great views from up above. A live feed would be even better but that kind of thing is probably a lot more complicated and costly.
Soldering stuff to a chip to program the firmware I feel so stupid and skilless right now.
[QUOTE=Ninja Duck;39508023]These look so fun to build. Although, I'd probably want to build one as a UAV kind of copter with a camera on it to get more of an experience out of it. I live on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and there are a lot of beaches that would have great views from up above. A live feed would be even better but that kind of thing is probably a lot more complicated and costly.[/QUOTE]
Disco_Potato and I actually both have small 720 cameras for our quads/planes/ect and I have been working on a DIY video transmitter and receiver setup so FPV (first person video) is actually in the works. W have just been busy with other things like tuning of the flight stabilization systems and learning how to fly line of sight a bit first.
[QUOTE=Killuah;39515679]Soldering stuff to a chip to program the firmware I feel so stupid and skilless right now.[/QUOTE]
Omfg this times a million.
[QUOTE=Killuah;39515679]Soldering stuff to a chip to program the firmware I feel so stupid and skilless right now.[/QUOTE]
With some patience, the right tools, and enough practice, any one of you could accomplish similar tasks. The trick for attaching those small wires all comes down to prep work. Properly tinned wires, flux on your IC pins, and an iron temp just above the melting point for your solder and its basically a touch and go operation. Just don't bump your wires around after attached.
So back to the 'things that fly topic', I have some insider information that Disco_Potato's flying machine has gone under some recent modifications of a rather drastic manner. Hopefully, he will be around sometime in the near future with some updated pictures and maybe eventually some damn video already!
[QUOTE=Tw34k;39602415]With some patience, the right tools, and enough practice, any one of you could accomplish similar tasks. The trick for attaching those small wires all comes down to prep work. Properly tinned wires, flux on your IC pins, and an iron temp just above the melting point for your solder and its basically a touch and go operation. Just don't bump your wires around after attached.
[/QUOTE]
I feel like the soldering would be the easy part! How does one ever come up with the knowledge/ resources that say.. "oh yea, hit these pins and plug them into your usb drive and download this firmware and etc etc". Sounds very niche and high tech!
Well, usually, you have a set of pins that you connect the motor drivers to (the drivers are the yellow things) These pins can either have a 1 or 0 (binary) output, or they can have a variable output (Analog or PWM) So you basically have to program the firmware so that it's set to a voltage high enough to drive the motors. Sure, it does take a bit of knowledge and math to program it so that it keeps the copter stable.
When it comes to actually programming it, the USB plug actually just have 4 pins, +5v, 0v (for giving whatever device is connected power), and data in and out. You can also get pre-made boards for talking to your microcontroller.
Reprogramming the ESCs is quite easy from a software standpoint due to the hard work of others in the hobby.
The ESCs have a ATmel AVR microchip on them, similar to what is found on an "Arduino", so the hardware to re-flash them is common and cheap. I have a "USBasp" that I got on eBay for a few bucks. This is a photo of it being used to reflash the firmware on my transmitter which also has an Atmel chip in it.
[IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_2879_re_small.jpg[/IMG]
Tw34k has something similar called a "USB Tiny", sold by Adafruit which is what we used to reprogram the ESCs.
Basically, a guy known as SimonK made some firmware for a range of ESCs that is designed for multirotors. It removes a lot of the unnecessary bits of code from the code loop so that the ESCs will respond faster to input, which is essential for getting the craft to stabilize in the air. The stuff that is removed is mostly stuff designed for airplanes, such as soft starting and braking. These things arent being used, but even still, they slow down the ESC because the IC has to process them in the loop before it updates.
The soldering is where I have trouble. Tw34k does that stuff without breaking a sweat, but it would have been quite a struggle for me to solder to those tiny pins.
But anyway. I have a new frame in the works. Im trying to shave some weight, so I went with a composite, or as they say on Top Gear- "Canoe building materials". In other words, wood.
Im waiting on some parts, but I should have it together again soon.
In the mean time, heres a vid of it flying (barely) with the old frame, with a bonus crash at the end:
[video=youtubec]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atpzppekt_cc[/video]
Alright so I finally got around to taking some pics of the new setup, now with more lightness (790 grams minus battery) and a much more capable APM2 controller board (chinese copy FTW):
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/31337_tom/media/IMG_4755_re_sm_zps297bff1f.jpg.html][IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_4755_re_sm_zps297bff1f.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/31337_tom/media/IMG_4767_re_sm_zps3c32f261.jpg.html][IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g115/31337_tom/IMG_4767_re_sm_zps3c32f261.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
I flew today in some pretty high winds with tw34k, video looks like shit and I think I need more vibration dampening on my controller board.
[video=youtube;KcwIiBMMEmk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcwIiBMMEmk[/video]
idk why i cant imbed...
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcwIiBMMEmk[/url]
remove the "s" in https
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcwIiBMMEmk[/media]
I want to make one and put my Galaxy S2 motherboard on it, make it run some android apps yo.
[QUOTE=Ruzza;40512246]I want to make one and put my Galaxy S2 motherboard on it, make it run some android apps yo.[/QUOTE]
You can easily and quite cheaply get a bluetooth module for a typical ATmega based controller board, and use android apps to tune PID/control waypoints on a quad.
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