My first Multi!

dockman

Junior Member
After I discovered Flite Test on youtube and spent many hours watching their videos, mainly the ones with multirotors in them :p I ended up thinking to myself 'gee that looks fun' so I sold off my seldom used R/C truck and started shopping! As most do, I got the majority of my hardware from Hobbyking with a few odds and ends off of ebay and got to work and this is the end result.

Tricopter 1.jpg Tricopter 2.jpg Tricopter 3.jpg Tricopter 4.jpg

As you can probably tell it is kind of based off of the Simplecopter design with 450mm between motors. Made from 2mm GRP and 12mm x 15mm booms with my own take on a tilt mechanism. Still working on the flying part and getting my head around tuning the board correctly, already had one epic crash on the first day out but that's half the fun!
 

Toddy

Junior Member
I like it! Awesome build there duckman! I am waiting on all my componentries for a multi rotor from hobby king and am humming and haring on wether or not to build a T or a tri copter. I have built the frames of both but still can't make up my mind....
Where did you source your glass sheets from? I can't seem to find anything down here in New Zealand like that. How are you finding the crash resilience of it.
 

dockman

Junior Member
Thanks!

I got the GRP from ebay and it is pretty darn tough. Just out of curiosity I cut I strip 5mm wide and bent it til it broke which took a fair bit of force. I have also crashed it pretty hard after over correcting and not a mark on the GRP main plates or motor mounts, just a broken boom or two which is what I want to break!
 

IBeHoey

The Warranty Voider
T-copters FTW! Very nice build, your first multirotor turned out to look a lot nicer than my first build. I like the yaw mech too, what kind of servo are you using?
 

dockman

Junior Member
T-copters FTW! Very nice build, your first multirotor turned out to look a lot nicer than my first build. I like the yaw mech too, what kind of servo are you using?

Thanks, I spent a ton of time researching and planning before I started as I wanted this to be as successful as possible. It is a Tunigy servo here is the link http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/..._Cased_Servo_3kg_06sec_21g_UK_Warehouse_.html Might have gone a little overboard on the servo but its shiny and well shiny stuff is cool!
 

IBeHoey

The Warranty Voider
Heh yeah, can't go wrong with shiny. After looking at it, I don't believe you went overboard, it being all metal gear and alloy should hold up quite well in the event of a hard crash. I was on the fence about using that same servo for a new build I'm working on but, at the last moment went with the BMS-385DMAX instead for its 12bit data transfer which means, as David said in one of his videos, more resolution. :D

So when are we going to see some video of it doing flips like in the Simplecopter videos?
 

dockman

Junior Member
Flips are a way off lol, still working on the keeping in the air part. First day out I was flying to high up for being a nooby pilot and over corrected and went sideways into the ground and broke 2 booms. It has since been rebuilt since well, I have the technology! and with better quality wood thicker wood. Also still working on tuning my KK2 board, it likes to drift left and back on take off, been fiddling with the auto level and trims but still no luck. But I will persevere and figure it out! I have however got a pilot for it now, I am sure Elmo will bring me lots of success!
 

Toddy

Junior Member
We don't need luck, just lots of spares! Haven't had a chance to get mine out into a field big enough to get into too much trouble yet, went with the tri after all and so far very stable. Have you changed your firmware on the KK2 or are you still running version 1.2 from the factory?
 

dockman

Junior Member
Funny you mention firmware. For some reason I was under the impression that it came with 1.5 but found out today after trying to get the auto level to work that it is infact 1.2. Without auto level on it flies pretty good, I have yet to do any PID tuning but I will wait to do that after my USBisp arrives and I reflash the board as it resets all settings.

While flying today I had a few spectators whiles attempting to stay airborn that had a laugh or two at my stuffed Elmo pilot attached to the tri :p As for spares today was one prop and one zip tie for my break away booms so over all pretty good for day two of flying :D
 

Toddy

Junior Member
I was surprised with the stability of the 1.2 firmware also, after reading everything I could find on the subject I was expecting something a little on the uncontrollable side. If it is this stable now I can't wait to get the 1.6 firmware as it will really do well. I finally had a decent fly on the way home from work today at the park, awesome is all I can say. I had the shacks I must admit, but once I got over those it was fun. Took a short video of the stability

And then tried to take one of the first flight, not very successful, got glimpses of the tri going past and that was it, had my phone jammed in a fence to hold it while I flew. In and out of frame LOL..
 

Toddy

Junior Member
What props are you running on your T? I am using GWS slow fly and as I said have put maybe five batteries through it so far and only two of those were actually flying and on the last battery I noticed a different noise, turns out one of the props had cracked! No crashes or anything just looks like a stress crack. image.jpg
Will have to keep an eye on them and see if it keeps happening and look at some other types if it does.
 

dockman

Junior Member
I am using 8x3.8 props that I purchased from a local hobby shop on the cheap, no brand but for 30p each that is to be expected. However I have been very happy with their performance and durability.
 

Cyberdactyl

Misfit Multirotor Monkey
Here's one with stress discoloration from a crash. It seems ok, and I have been using it for weeks now since the crash and it's doing well. But as you can see, these cheapos need a lot of hub balancing.

DSC00099.jpg
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
"Sometimes" defects as shown in the last 2 post can be CAREFULLY "healed" with a heat gun. Carefully is stressed because there is a fine line between healing the prop and destroying it.

Thurmond