First build [log] - Armattan F1-6

[anammox]

Some background...
I hadn't touched RC since I was a kid and had never built anything like a quad. I got a silly micro quad for Christmas, became addicted to racing quad youtube videos, bought a hubsan x4 h107d, and confirmed that I had to spend the next 4 months working part time and doing research to save up and build my first fpv quad. Here's a link to one of my FliteTest research/question posts. Thanks to everyone who helped guide me, particularly Flat4 who had lots of good advice.

My research informs me that this build would be considered a "tank". The frame is robust 4mm CF through the arms which form the bottom plate. She's also heavy. My impression is that she will do well cruising fast. Maybe others can comment once I've get more videos up. Here's a 10 second teaser from Flight 4.

Build time ~30 hours. Lots of youtube videos, guides, manuals, and some nights I didn't even touch the quad I spent so long trying to figure out how to connect parts together. (Thanks PGorey for letting me build in his garage, often until 4am).

Final (major) Parts List

• taranis x9d plus
• ARMATTAN F 1 6
• Armattan mini pdb
• X4R-SB
• dys xm20a mini esc
• DYS MR 2306 2100 kv
• sp racing f3 acro
• minimosd
• RTF LC-FILTER (3AMP 2-4S)
• pololu 1amp
• piezo 5v buzzer
• king kong 6045
• hs1177
• fx799t 600mw
• xiaomi yi
• quanam v2 pro
• fr632 diversity 40 ch
• fatshark dom v3
• nexwave raceband 32 ch
• aomway pair
• VAS 3 turn helical
• mad mushroom
• zippy 2s 1800 mah 40C for backup fpv
• low voltage alarm
• SMC true spec 1800 mah 51 A x2
• Bonka 2200mah 55C x1
• Bonka 1600mah 65C x1
• WS2812B 5050 RGB Waterproof IP67 LEDs
• 10cm SMA Male Plug to SMA Female Jack Bulkhead Right Angle Pigtail Cable RG316

Current weight without a battery or HD cam: 447g.
The Yi and printed mount will add about 100g, and my batteries are 171/224/237g (1600/1800/2200), so I'll be well into 700g+.

Flight time is 2-3 minutes with a fair number of punch outs. I've only flown big floaty turns and fast straight aways.

My research/purchasing spreadsheet has a more complete list with all the accessories I thought I would need. I didn't have to buy anything extra so I covered my bases pretty thoroughly. It also has prices and other notes I kept record of.

Pre-maiden flight (which was a success).


Parts


ESC's and motors on


Evidence of my noob 2 am soldering iron mistake


PDB and pololu 5v step down


Made some wiring harnesses, starting to figure out what goes where


First boot up with FC


Non-fpv ready to fly



Armattan LED's installed, figuring out FPV





Ended up resoldering all the ESC's into the top of the FC (which is now sandwiched on top of PDB as the FC is "upside down."



FPV testing



She's ready...



I played with wire management, this is how things currently look. Be aware the liquid electrical tape reflection looks like bare wire - it's not bare wire.

 

[anammox]

If anyone can suggest how I can lose 100g I'm all ears...

699g with the Yi and the 1600mah battery, add about 25 for the 3d printed mount.

 

[Crazy Goats]

" fix " your scale?

Maybe a lighter camera? That wont be 100g though.

 

[Craftydan]

Evidence of my noob 2 am soldering iron mistake
View attachment 69805

Yeah, most people won't make that mistake twice . . . most . . .

getting 100g off a multirotor like that usually requires careful budgeting. you could probably shave 50-75g of with the frame (at 150g it is a tank in more ways than one) but then you're down to 1-10g shavings for individual parts. lighter camera, PDB, Antenna assembly, skip the LC filter (pick a VTX that doesn't need it), lighter motors/props, shorter battery leads . . . all will give you slight weight savings, but cumulatively enough? Will it retain it's durability?

This is MUCH easier to do as you spec the parts, giving yourself a weight budget for each component and trading between parts when you can't stay under the budget for an item. In some cases you can't get there with readily available parts, and you have to decide . . . is it worth 10% less power for 3 gram lighter motors? Will lighter motors mean I can use a lighter/Lower C battery? Mean I can use lighter ESCs? Do I need LEDs to save 10g? Is the 1800mAh pack worth the extra 50g weight? Will a lower cell count still get me what I need with less weight? these are the tradeoffs a quick spreadsheet with your candidate parts can get you closer to what you want.

That being said . . . I wouldn't recommend this kind of rigor for a first build. What you've done here is perfectly fine and this should be a serviceable quad. She may fly heavy, but If your first build is your finest work ever, that means you're either leaving the hobby (you never build another) or you're not getting better at it (you should have never built another ). Learn what you can (like which end of an iron to hold) and build the next one even better

 

[French]

I agree with Dan. It will be very difficult to remove 100g now.

Any reason you chose the 2100kv motors on this build? With the 6045 props on 3S, you're likely generating around 740g of thrust/motor

 

[jipp]

losing weight would probably require a rebuild.. lose the PDB build a wire harness. shorten all wires to there minimal length possible.

direct solder motors to ESC, different battery brand size.

etc etc. why do you want to lose the weight?

i think i may take your idea of how you tied your motors up to shorten them. on my last 2 builds i have direct solder my motors to the ESC.

but i think what if i want to use the motors for something else.. i only have like a inch of lead.. not much to work with.. and im sure its not possible for me to add new wires to the motors.

also emax motors enmal they use sucks to solder, if you do not use there already tin motor leads.

good luck on your build..
chris.
p.s
looks like steel m5 nuts holding your props on.. id lose them if they were for low profile aluminum m5 nyloc nuts. rebuild for sure to lose weight. i say build another one with what you learn from here and i bet you will make the weight you want.. weight parts etc as you build..

 

[Ocean]

Looks like a good build. You certainly did you homework picking the parts. However loosing 100g is very optimistic i think when you have now completed the build for the reasons listed above.

 

[anammox]

Yeah, most people won't make that mistake twice . . . most . . .

getting 100g off a multirotor like that usually requires careful budgeting. you could probably shave 50-75g of with the frame (at 150g it is a tank in more ways than one) but then you're down to 1-10g shavings for individual parts. lighter camera, PDB, Antenna assembly, skip the LC filter (pick a VTX that doesn't need it), lighter motors/props, shorter battery leads . . . all will give you slight weight savings, but cumulatively enough? Will it retain it's durability?

This is MUCH easier to do as you spec the parts, giving yourself a weight budget for each component and trading between parts when you can't stay under the budget for an item. In some cases you can't get there with readily available parts, and you have to decide . . . is it worth 10% less power for 3 gram lighter motors? Will lighter motors mean I can use a lighter/Lower C battery? Mean I can use lighter ESCs? Do I need LEDs to save 10g? Is the 1800mAh pack worth the extra 50g weight? Will a lower cell count still get me what I need with less weight? these are the tradeoffs a quick spreadsheet with your candidate parts can get you closer to what you want.

That being said . . . I wouldn't recommend this kind of rigor for a first build. What you've done here is perfectly fine and this should be a serviceable quad. She may fly heavy, but If your first build is your finest work ever, that means you're either leaving the hobby (you never build another) or you're not getting better at it (you should have never built another ). Learn what you can (like which end of an iron to hold) and build the next one even better

Thanks. Good advice. I may switch out my PDB, minimosd, LC filter, pololu for an all-in-one pdb. It would be an easy fix and could shave off a good chunk.

 

[anammox]

I agree with Dan. It will be very difficult to remove 100g now.

Any reason you chose the 2100kv motors on this build? With the 6045 props on 3S, you're likely generating around 740g of thrust/motor

These motors were recommended to me during part selection, didn't have much else to go on. Seemed reasonable as the 5" builds i looked at were all using 2300-2650 kv. What would you have suggested otherwise? How are you calculating thrust? I'm on 4S.

 

[anammox]

losing weight would probably require a rebuild.. lose the PDB build a wire harness. shorten all wires to there minimal length possible.

direct solder motors to ESC, different battery brand size.

etc etc. why do you want to lose the weight?

i think i may take your idea of how you tied your motors up to shorten them. on my last 2 builds i have direct solder my motors to the ESC.

but i think what if i want to use the motors for something else.. i only have like a inch of lead.. not much to work with.. and im sure its not possible for me to add new wires to the motors.

also emax motors enmal they use sucks to solder, if you do not use there already tin motor leads.

good luck on your build..
chris.
p.s
looks like steel m5 nuts holding your props on.. id lose them if they were for low profile aluminum m5 nyloc nuts. rebuild for sure to lose weight. i say build another one with what you learn from here and i bet you will make the weight you want.. weight parts etc as you build..

My motors are direct soldered to th ESCs. I do have a little extra (maybe 3/4") wire that I didn't want to cut in case I needed to do something differently or reuse the motors somewhere else.

Everyone says just build another one better! I can't afford to right now, just built this one!!

I'm trying to lose weight to maximize my thrust to weight ratio and get more acceleration and speed. Just trying to go fast and furious.

Thinking of getting a power osd pdb or similar in order to combine all those parts into one.

 

[anammox]

Looks like a good build. You certainly did you homework picking the parts. However loosing 100g is very optimistic i think when you have now completed the build for the reasons listed above.

I thought so... but now that I feel like I'm a little overweight I realize how important it was to also factor in the weight component during part selection. Had I gotten an all-in-one PDB I could have save some already. I'm OK with the frame - it feels safer for crashing.

 

[jipp]

yeah a all in one PDB would save weight and give you the extra you want. ( also probably be easier to configure )
also i totally know what you mean by affording to build another one.. im on a major budget being a crippled.

so takes me months to get parts to build.. but on the other side i have more time than money so i waste my time on ebay getting killer deals.
and just collect parts for a several builds.. not the best way.. would be better to be able to just go and buy all the parts in one go.. but i do what i can with what pennies i have like most of us..

you did good on your build..
( collecting parts for a 680 AP build.. i have the retract legs, and the FC, and the GPS.. will take me several months of collecting pats here and there before i get to that.. this month i also picked up a small FPV monitor to help frame shots on my TX so yeah, one part at a time and i hope i do not die before i get to build it. laughs)
chris.

 

[French]

How are you calculating thrust? I'm on 4S.

I was looking at the chart off the banggood website for your motors:

On 4S, it's ~1080 grams of thrust. That should be good, even if it's not the most efficient.

Regarding an pdb with a built in OSD, I'd also consider the rrosd - http://www.redrotorrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=115

Another thing to consider is that if you cut your ESC power wires short, they may not reach to the pads on the power OSD or rrosd. Both have interesting pad placement I prefer the rrosd with everything on one side instead of power and ground being separate.

 

[anammox]

yeah a all in one PDB would save weight and give you the extra you want. ( also probably be easier to configure )
also i totally know what you mean by affording to build another one.. im on a major budget being a crippled.

so takes me months to get parts to build.. but on the other side i have more time than money so i waste my time on ebay getting killer deals.
and just collect parts for a several builds.. not the best way.. would be better to be able to just go and buy all the parts in one go.. but i do what i can with what pennies i have like most of us..

you did good on your build..
( collecting parts for a 680 AP build.. i have the retract legs, and the FC, and the GPS.. will take me several months of collecting pats here and there before i get to that.. this month i also picked up a small FPV monitor to help frame shots on my TX so yeah, one part at a time and i hope i do not die before i get to build it. laughs)
chris.

well I appreciate the support thanks. I guess like Crafty Dan said I can't expect perfection on my first one. I can only improve.

 

[anammox]

On 4S, it's ~1080 grams of thrust. That should be good, even if it's not the most efficient.

Regarding an pdb with a built in OSD, I'd also consider the rrosd - http://www.redrotorrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=115

Another thing to consider is that if you cut your ESC power wires short, they may not reach to the pads on the power OSD or rrosd. Both have interesting pad placement I prefer the rrosd with everything on one side instead of power and ground being separate.

ah yes. when I ran ecalc it gave me 3:1 thrust to weight so I think I'm a bit under 1000g per motor. maybe less efficient but more power!!

I did cut my ESC wires but if I need to I can get a hold of some more wire an resolder longer ones.

 

[Pgorey]

I think the consolidated / integrated board and smaller batteries are the best way to lose weight. Maybe also a smaller on-board camera or no onboard and just DVR the feed on the goggles. I don't believe you have the on board camera on at the moment but may be wrong. I'm glad you cut off the 1/4" of excess from the ESC to the motor - can always solder on extensions with heat shrink etc. down the road if you want to repurpose them for something larger. I think this quad has plenty of speed but because of the dip in efficiency, it likely feels wanting with nimble maneuvers.
That said, this build was well executed from research to maiden and you built a really fast and clean 6" prop quad that flew perfectly your first flight. That's awesome and I consider it a huge success.

Your next quad will likely be a 5" or 4" version that is more nimble and then you'll have something for everything. If you know it will be a good while before building the next one and you can't find a sweet spot with this one, you could always pull all the components out and just buy a smaller frame that would allow for smaller props and battery. That's much less of a hit than the completely new build but would require tearing down your first build and that can be tough



I really like the Rotor Riot video on props because it practically describes the three most common quad sizes and power to weight ratio while also discussing the role the different props fulfill. The most important thing to take away from that vid is that you never gain something without sacrificing something else regarding power and weight with aircraft.