[HasteRC] N-Armed Quad -Build Log-

[narcolepticltd]

[HasteRC] N-Armed Quad - Build Log

I've been collecting parts for a while, and still waiting on things to finally arrive after being back-ordered for weeks. Originally I was going to build a VooDooQuads 250 carbon, but found this frame before my motors showed up.

I've seen a couple of reputable pilots on the youtubez sporting this frame and took a look, figured I'd give it a go after a bit of initial investigation. This is the new V2 frame, but I believe the only real changes were in the fasteners being used. I think the new hardware is a bit heavy (likely steel) and will be getting replaced as soon as my order from fastener express shows up. A quick mock up just to get a feel for the new frame here:



The basic frame assembled above is currently weighing in at 157g... and that's just a bit too heavy considering there's no PDB. The advertised weight is <140g, but I believe this is with the original aluminum fasteners and silicone standoffs. The v2 also sports 2mm carbon plates for the bottom/mid/top sections, where I believe it was 1.5mm originally. Hoping to drop a bit of fat with aluminum fasteners and regular nylon standoffs. Initial impressions are this is a very well crafted kit, and it looks super sharp and neatly laid out. We'll see how the build goes and how it flies!

Proposed build:
N-Armed Quad by HasteRC - 5" prop configuration (240mm m2m)
FrSKY X4RSB 3/16 Channel Receiver (SBUS)
SP Racing F3 (Acro)
RMRC - Mini Power Distribution Board - 5V & 12V BEC + Switches
KISS 18a ESCs
Cobra 2204/28 2300kv
HQ 5x4 props
Plastic Case mini 600tvl Sony Super HAD CCD
FatShark - 250mW 5.8GHz A/V Transmitter
TrueRC - 5.8 GHz Fan RHCP Omni Antenna (5 Blade)
Lumenier 1300mAh 4s 60c

 

[Spastickitten]

Amazing, should be a sticky.

 

[narcolepticltd]

updated OP with a little bit more info

 

[narcolepticltd]

Still not 'building' but feeling things out. Here's an out of focus shot of the frame pieces and hardware splayed across my workbench (which is currently busy building a wing)



Here's the scale with all the fat and trimmings



current hardware (I think I can cut this at least in half)



These are little 4mm thick carbon fiber chiclets that the arms sandwich in between... or you can put them both on top, or under the arm to raise/lower the position relative to the vertical center of gravity. I'm weighing them because... if dropping one layer of them out still gives me enough room to mount the board cam, it will drop 8 grams of weight (they're a little over 2g each). Some have opt'd to drop these completely, and mount their ESC's on the arms under prop wash blackout style... so that's another option there.



The bottom of the frame has these press-nuts installed to be used instead of nylocs. You don't really have a choice in the matter since the frame is cut to accept these and a normal M3 nyloc would fit like a wizard sleeve. They come pre-installed and they do their job very well:



However, you don't need all of them installed... the arms mount with 2 screws each, and the configuration you pick (5" or 6" props) delegates which set of holes you'll be using. One hole at each arm will be empty at any given time (plus 2 more that I won't be using since I'll have a PDB installed). I knocked out 6 of them (10 total) and already dropped 2 grams.

 

[narcolepticltd]

quick update here... I'm pretty much having to order new fasteners and standoffs for this thing, which is kind of annoying... if I was a normal person I'd just use the hardware that came with it (there's nothing wrong with it, and it's exceptionally strong). I managed to get ahold of some nice blue anodized button cap aluminum bolts from fastener-express, and for the hell of it ordered blue stand-offs. The new standoffs are a bit shorter than the stock ones by 3mm, which may make mounting the camera difficult, so I'll also be sourcing a few different sizes to play around with the top deck height, as well as possibly a few different lengths of bolts for the arms (so I can see how everything fits when taking out a layer of carbon chiclets).

For now though, just replacing the stock hardware and knocking out the unused press-nuts from the frame, it's gone from 157g to 142g... much more reasonable! (and looks soo much better with that blue).

 

[narcolepticltd]

I don't think I'll ever finish this thing... because I keep ordering different gear from far away places to stick in it! I dropped on some volo LEDs. You can get them at RMRC, but I wanted to order some of their new PDBs to try and threw in the LEDs as well... then realized they're based in FGA town. Carlos from mexico's homeland is a long way away.

I'm trying to not order any more different lengths of aluminum fasteners from fastener express... I've got blue aluminum coming out of my nose at this point. I've tentatively decided to stick with the stock size standoffs, but don't have any 15mm... I'll probably just use these industrial strength 5lbs standoffs that came with the kit until some show up at my door from China

I still have no idea how I'm going to mount the camera, as there just isn't a whole lot of info and build thread goodness on this frame yet (there's about 8 pages on the openpilot forums, but not a whole lot giving me ideas yet). Maybe after everyone returns from nationals I'll hit up Awdquad and see if he'll post some photos, or possibly meet up with Steele's groupBfpv and see how he's put his together.

Or I'll just wing it

 

[Engerr]

Subscribing to this thread. Planning to do an n-Armed build myself soon.


A few questions;
Where did you order new standoffs from? And any idea where one might find colored silicone stand offs?
How do you intend to fasten and angle your gopro or mobius?

 

[narcolepticltd]

Subscribing to this thread. Planning to do an n-Armed build myself soon.


A few questions;
Where did you order new standoffs from? And any idea where one might find colored silicone stand offs?
How do you intend to fasten and angle your gopro or mobius?

I ordered standoffs from Multirotormania (colors!!!!!) but they don't have the exact size that this frame runs (15mm). The 12mm are just a bit too tight of a squeeze for the FC, and cuts room for the board camera, but definitely possible if you're inventive. You can find standoffs on ebay or amazon, but I found that most of that stuff is shipping from china... even though I'm not in a hurry to get this one finished, I don't feel like waiting up to a month for small cheap parts to arrive. I ended up ordering some black 15mm from multirotor superstore.

As for the silicone standoffs, they're not shipping with the kit anymore, but if you'll email hasterc they can get you to the vendor they purchased through (I personally do not know, but Gareth offered in one of our previous emails).

I'm also not 100% on how I plan to mount a gopro. The kit comes with a camera mount, but I don't think I'll be using it. Once everyone rests up from their travels at nationals I'm sure steele or awdquads can give a bit more information (just isn't a whole lot out there on this frame yet).

Awd mentioned that he uses a gopro loveseat from tbs that's cut down and secured with rubberbands lol. I picked one up but honestly not sure how I want to set it on there (more concerned at the moment on how to mount the cased board camera and still get 30 degrees of tilt)

 

[narcolepticltd]

If you're wanting to drop weight of the steel fasteners and be ahead of the power curve when you order your frame, you'll want to pick up both 18mm M3 (for the arms, need 8), and 6mm M3 (standoffs, need 8) to replace the stock hardware... if you plan to run the frame in the stock config with all carbon spacers (and 15mm standoffs). You may also want to pick up a few different sizes depending on how you plan to mount a PDB and your FC.

I went with the button cap blue anodized from fastener-express.com

 

[Engerr]

Allright, gonna check out MRM for spacers then.. I've allready ordered a few M3 alu button head screws in various lengths from fastener-express, they had a massive selection!

Currently planing to drop at least 1 set of carbon spacers, and try to stack a mini PDB and with a naze acro. I'm not really sure how everything will fit together inside it yet, so I'm kind of waiting for your build to continue...

I got a bukkit of electronics ordered for this frame, just waiting for the guys at HasteRC to arrange some shipping options to Norway so that I can get in the back order line asap.

I'm going with a Sony Super HAD CCD 600tvl camera, and I think it should be just enought space to mount it with the "U" bracket to the bottom plate, pushed a bit forwad. It will of course be a lot more exposed in a crash, but it will also allow for more tilt. Any thoughts?

 

[narcolepticltd]

Engerr, I'll do my best to provide as much info as possible. Unfortunately a lot of it will be figuring it out as I go (to be honest, I feel better seeing that I'm not the only one grasping for straws on this build).

I'll be running the exact same camera, and I've not considered mounting it in front of the recess cut for the camera like that (mainly due to it being exposed in a crash), but I may consider that as well (I like a lot of tilt, and that would also allow more room to see if I can finagle a servo behind the camera to change the angle in flight).

I'll see if I can get some photos up of how I have the PDB and FC mocked up currently, with different sized standoffs. If you're going to drop a layer of spacers, bear in mind you'll also be dropping the overall height, and clearance for the camera... however, if you went with 20mm standoffs and a drop of a layer of spacers, you'll gain 0.5mm in room inside. I'd recommend buying a few different sizes of standoffs to play around with.

 

[Spastickitten]

Wow, looks good! Any ideas on the durability? It looks tough

 

[narcolepticltd]

Wow, looks good! Any ideas on the durability? It looks tough

I expect it to be highly durable, and with the weight shed from swapping the fasteners it's also light enough to compete with other frames in the class.

 

[Spastickitten]

Awesome

 

[narcolepticltd]

My 15mm nylon standoffs should arrive today... I'd say I can start building this, but I think the antenna cables (sma) I have are either too short or too long... anyone have a source for those components that isn't in china (cause I hate waiting 2-6 weeks for shipping) where I can pick up pretty much any kind of SMA connector/adaptor as well as cable and make my own? I found a few on ebay but if anyone has a good source it would be appreciated.

I also picked up some 20mm standoffs, and I believe if one wanted to drop a layer of CF spacers these would keep the frame height just about stock (which is already super low profile).

Planning to run with the arms on top of the spacers, and I'll decide later if I'm going to run both layers of spacers or drop one out. Still not 100% on how I'm going to mount the camera... I have the lumenier version of the mini CCD, but it's lacking the correct hardware to mount properly, and I still want to see if I can finagle a servo behind it to adjust angle in flight (while still being able to attain close to a 30 degree angle, not sure if the frame will allow it).

 

[narcolepticltd]

So, I may not be building this frame... actually I'm pretty sure I'm going to be selling it. My frustrations with not being able to find a secure way to mount the camera with a decent angle were amplified when I met up with groupb over the weekend and had an oogle at Steele's frame... Turns out they actually sent him another top plate with a notch cut up front to allow the camera to tilt. That coupled with the lack of info + dumping money into fasteners on an already expensive frame + Soma's new frames about to hit pre-order status...

I've got the vortex up and flying, and all these parts will fit into a new Alien. I think that's the new plan.

Engerr if you're not yet on a pre-order for an N-armed yet and are still interested, PM me and we'll see if we can work something out with shipping etc. Otherwise I'm going to sell it local here.

 

[cranialrectosis]

http://impulserc.com/

Soon....

 

[narcolepticltd]

When will then, be... now?

Soon....

 

[Spastickitten]

Or now?

 

[narcolepticltd]

Ok... I heard back from the vendor and they're going to see about getting me some examples (also mentioned the mod to steele's frame)... jury is still out, we'll see what Gareth can come up with for me. If it looks doable, I'll give this frame a go, and if I decide I don't like it I'll move everything over to an Alien when they release