How would you design a cyclocopter?

CampRobber

Active member
Looking good! A few thoughts from things I've read or learned:

(3 and 4) I discovered that racing drone motors work the best. Not sure what you're using, but racing drones tend to have very powerful and weight-optimized motors.

They're diatone mamba toka 1606s and weigh ~16g, or about half that of a standard miniquad motor. I'm just not sure if the rotor I built is better matched by a bigger motor. One problem I kept running into is the t-mount pulley on the 1606 melting. I made those "fan pulleys" but they don't work very well... maybe having the motors hidden from rotor wash is not a great idea.

How long have you continuously run yours at 100W power?

And then I'd recommend taking out that center piece that connects all the pitching linkages. It's back a few pages, but I tried that a year or so ago and it completely messed up the pitching and reduced thrust.

The piece in the middle is TPU and supposed to be flexible in the directions required. You think that's causing problems? It seemed like it was working pretty well. How much torque is there on the control input when yours is running? On mine it was pretty significant, but, nothing servos couldn't handle.
 

2jujube7

Well-known member
They're diatone mamba toka 1606s and weigh ~16g, or about half that of a standard miniquad motor. I'm just not sure if the rotor I built is better matched by a bigger motor. One problem I kept running into is the t-mount pulley on the 1606 melting. I made those "fan pulleys" but they don't work very well... maybe having the motors hidden from rotor wash is not a great idea.
How long have you continuously run yours at 100W power?
I'm using a 2004 motor that weighs 16g, so that sounds about right. Not super long, maybe 20 seconds. It's the peak power consumed, so any type of prop attached at that power consumption will heat up. I made the motor mount and drive pulley out of ABS for higher heat resistance.

The piece in the middle is TPU and supposed to be flexible in the directions required. You think that's causing problems? It seemed like it was working pretty well. How much torque is there on the control input when yours is running? On mine it was pretty significant, but, nothing servos couldn't handle.
The fact that it is now a 5 bar linkage instead of a 4 bar linkage messes up the AOA of the blades.
 

2jujube7

Well-known member
It's been a little bit, but I've rebuilt 2 3D printers that were causing me trouble and holding me back from working on this project. I'm now at a 5:1 thrust/weight ratio per rotor, and I just started back on building up 4 rotors for the second try at a cyclocopter.

I have all the electronics, hardware, and printed parts that I need, so it should really just be making new airfoils and then putting everything together. (y)
 

CampRobber

Active member
It's been a little bit, but I've rebuilt 2 3D printers that were causing me trouble and holding me back from working on this project. I'm now at a 5:1 thrust/weight ratio per rotor, and I just started back on building up 4 rotors for the second try at a cyclocopter.

I have all the electronics, hardware, and printed parts that I need, so it should really just be making new airfoils and then putting everything together. (y)

Any progress? I got a new printer earlier this year and am thinking about another attempt at cyclocopter this winter.
 

2jujube7

Well-known member
Any progress? I got a new printer earlier this year and am thinking about another attempt at cyclocopter this winter.
I have all the rotors built, but I had to stop things for school. I'll be on break starting mid December, so I plan to pick things back up then. I also found a professor at my university that might have interest in research, so after the break I might look at that.

So yeah, not really any progress.
 

CampRobber

Active member
I have all the rotors built, but I had to stop things for school. I'll be on break starting mid December, so I plan to pick things back up then. I also found a professor at my university that might have interest in research, so after the break I might look at that.

So yeah, not really any progress.

Has your design changed much since the last photos you posted? You mentioned a 2004 motor but it looked like you were using something bigger with a 5mm shaft earlier.
 

2jujube7

Well-known member
Has your design changed much since the last photos you posted? You mentioned a 2004 motor but it looked like you were using something bigger with a 5mm shaft earlier.
Yep, I've been through like 3 different motors. I'm currently using a racing drone 2004 motor with a 2mm shaft. It's pretty well designed to be light.