Multirotor acrobatic flying (warthox style)

[polodu64]

Hi all,

Since I couldn't find any "acrobatic" multirotor flying thread on the forum, I thought about starting a thread in the electric multirotor section, and eventually, if enough people is (or get) hooked to it, maybe creating a section for it in the "specialty flying" section !

So, to start with, I am not yet into it, but I wanted to rebuild my FT Electrohub into an accro-capable platform, and was wondering if my electronics were adapted for that kind of flying, so if anyone is already into if, thanks for taking the time to advise me !

frame : FT Electrohub with aluminium arms (X configuration) fit exactly for 8-inch props.
motors : NTM Propdrive 2826 1100Kv (is the Kv too low ?)
ESCs : Multistar 30A (old version) with 5v BEC
Propellers : SF 8045 (2 blades), but I was thinking that 3 blades might be more adapted for that kind of flying...
FC : not yet decided, I saw that most of the accro pilots use Multiwii, but thought about Naze32 (something light anyways)
Battery : LiPo 3-4S but I have no idea about the size (go light or go big ?... )
Radio : to your own taste

NO FPV (of course, acrobatic )

So the goal would be to make it the lightest and toughest possible !

If anyone is interested in the subject, don't hesitate to leave a comment !

remember, Fly hard, but fly safe !

 

[cranialrectosis]

My first acro copter was the FT AnyCopter. I smashed it to bits but what a blast it was. The FT Knuckle H quad was better suited to acro. I chopped mine down to <> 330mm so the 8" props would barely fit. This copter was tougher due to the knuckles but when you broke one boom you broke two by default.

If you wanna go acro, I would:
1. Chop the booms to the minimum so you have 1/2" between rotor tips.
2. Raise the kv on your motors. For 3S 8" rotors, I like 1400kv or so with at least a 45C lipo. For such you probably want to go 1800-2200mAh. Any heavier and your crashes will be more painful. Any lighter and you will be looking at 3 minute flight times when you get good enough to push 45C.
3. Go with BlHeli or Simon K ESCs and upgrade to the latest firmware. This reduces latency between the flight controller and the motors.
4. Naze32 acro running Cleanflight is one of the finest acro boards available. Skip multiwii.
5. On the rx look at low latency with failsafe and a pair of antenna so you can configure the antenna to not be blocked during flips and rolls and spins. I am using FrSky D4R-IIs and CPPM but am about to go to the X series and try out SBus which has lower latency than CPPM.
6. Put the lipo on top of your copter and hang as little below the flight controller as possible to mitigate the pendulum effect.
7. Try to keep most of the weight in the center of your copter and allow as little weight as possible out on the booms.
8. Build RIGID. The less flex in your booms the better the copter will respond. AL can work, but not if when you punch the throttle the booms flex and the motors rise quicker than the flight controller.
9. 3 blade props provide more thrust but use more battery. At 6" balancing is not usually a big issue but at 8", triblades will be considerably more challenging to balance and balance will be much more of a consideration. 2 blade props are simpler for new pilots learning to fly and breaking props daily.
10. Create a build log and document your build, failures and successes. The community will pull together with you when you fail and cheer you when you succeed. Other newbies will read your thread and may be encouraged to try their own.


Welcome to FliteTest!

 

[Ocean]

I would go for a 4s Lipo and HQ 8045. Those Slow Fly props are likely to vibrate terribly when doing acro! I'm sure the electrohub will be a great platform for pure acro performance. A smaller Lipo is also preferable. I would go for a Naze Rev5, they go for very cheap in some places.

For a tiny bit of extra performance, you may want to flash the Multistar ESCs to a better version of BLHeli.

 

[polodu64]

Great guys, thanks a lot for the fast answers ! I will sure follow all of your advises !
about the electronics, I think I will first try with what I have (flashing to Blheli, though), and maybe upgrade later on, if it doesn't please me

If anyone else is interested, please don't hesitate to leave a comment : there is never too much info

Again, thanks a lot : I can't wait to get in the air with that quad !

 

[Nitro2go]

Have you seen what people are doing with the 210 size quads in Acro? 5 inch props on such a small frame is a fairly impressive sight to behold