My Quad-copter :o)

[Shadow74]

I don't have the time or the cash to build a quad right now and I am all excited about it to.

It is great to have a place like this that we can share our hobby. You are a lucky guy to have a wife that will do that, and be able to hang with the guys at FT and be actively involved in such a great site.

Timing and finances def play a huge role in this hobby. You'll get there, and when you do.....we will be waiting to see what you come up with.

My wife very much supports me in this hobby, and also in our business. In the last 4 years she has learned how to shoot, as well as setup and cut together multi-camera projects in Adobe Premiere Pro. She really has quite the eye and cuts 4-camera shoots faster than I can. She pretty much handles that entire part of our business now. Yes, I am a very lucky guy.

Hanging at FT is always fun, because we never know what will happen with the challenges and projects that we do. Most times things work out really well, but there are days that we experience set-backs with projects, but no matter what we always enjoy what we are doing. Especially flying & eating together afterwards Chad and Julie since day one of FT have always had a table of snacks and drinks on the set for us to partake of while we are working on the show....then afterwards Julie always has a meal laid out for everyone, Chad says a blessing, and we all dig in. Bixler and I grew up together, so I have been flying with him off and on since we were kids. Especially the last 4-5 years. (his dad Bruce hosts flying night every tuesday and thursday evening through the spring/summer/fall.) In 1986 Bruce helped me get my very first R/C plane in the air, it was a Carl Goldberg - Gentle Lady. A 2-meter highstart launched sailplane. I put it all together (even put the leading edge on upside down) LOL! Then he helped me put the Monokote covering on it, trimmed it out and got me into the air. He also let me take all of my full-scale flying lessons along side of Josh and Jim in the Taylorcraft that they own. Bruce has been very good to me. It really is great to have the opportunity to hang out with a such a great group of people that love flying and to be able to help create a show about a subject that so many of us are passionate about. I most definitely consider myself lucky to hang out with these guys and be a part of something like this.

Adding the forum, in my opinion really helped to bring us all together. It really is great that we all have a place to talk about our successes, failures, ideas, and just the fun that we have with this amazing hobby!

Good times!


Eric

 

[Shadow74]

i am currently in the process of building a quad and a tri (hooked is not the word). i have also produced some cad drawings for quad based on your images which i can post if anyone is interested.
great resource this site and some very interesting conversations, glad i am now a part of it all
keep the good stuff coming.

I agree....."hooked" doesnt even come close to describing it! would love to see your cad drawings.

Eric

 

[Shadow74]

Shadow. what props you running on the eflite motors?

I have 10x4.5 slo-flyer props on it now, I am gonna see how they do and go from there. might try 10x3.8 or 11x3.8 just to see the differences.

Eric

 

[voipmonkey]

Sounds good i will see if I can get them up first chance for you guys to (pull to bits) look at when I am not flying for real

 

[voipmonkey]

I guess this is quite a common question but being fairly new to the hobby always stumps me on what length arm to use. I know David of rc explorer fame uses 50 cm arm this just seems long to me and for a quad what are your thoughts guys

 

[Trinom]

Can you be more specific about your landing gear? Do you use sponges or what it is?

I'm still thinking about using the smallest furniture wheels in combination with some springs or huge zip-ties.

 

[Shadow74]

Can you be more specific about your landing gear? Do you use sponges or what it is?

I'm still thinking about using the smallest furniture wheels in combination with some springs or huge zip-ties.

They are actually swimming pool noodles.....kids use them to float on in swimming pools. Sometimes you can find plumbing pipe insulation at a hardware store that will work as well. They act as perfect cushions if you have a really hard landing. Plus they are extremely lightweight.


Cheers!


Eric

 

[Shadow74]

Woodstock has a new ride! I got everything plugged in and couldnt wait any longer, so I hovered it in my office. (excuse the mess) LOL! Just a bit of back trim and it will be right on.

WOW these park 450's are POWERFUL!

Eric

 

[themajik1]

Saaawwweeeeeettttt!!!! Looks great Eric. Cannot wait to see the camera mounts and everything. Thanks for sharing, good stuff!!!

Mike

 

[Shadow74]

Saaawwweeeeeettttt!!!! Looks great Eric. Cannot wait to see the camera mounts and everything. Thanks for sharing, good stuff!!!

Mike

Thanks Mike!

I am super excited about this thing.....mounting the camera and lights now.

Eric

 

[Burg]

What a beauty ! And how steady !
Great job Eric, looking forward to see the gopro mod ..
Mark.

 

[voipmonkey]

Thanks Mike!

I am super excited about this thing.....mounting the camera and lights now.

Eric

Nice flight Eric again cant wait to see what this thing can do in the open air (Props for flying in the workshop )
Mark

 

[voipmonkey]

CAD Drawings Quad

I agree....."hooked" doesnt even come close to describing it! would love to see your cad drawings.

Eric

Here you go guys i have attached the cad drawings i have done looking at Eric's photos.

Have fun

Mark

View attachment QUAD Main Base Plates.pdf

 

[voipmonkey]

Eric
do we have any more info on your super camera outfit yet?
Going to get my tri and quad on way after my parts turn up Damn Chinese New Year
do we have any rule of thumb on boom length or distance between props etc? like you idea of a small quad for indoors.
Mark

 

[Shadow74]

Eric
do we have any more info on your super camera outfit yet?
Going to get my tri and quad on way after my parts turn up Damn Chinese New Year
do we have any rule of thumb on boom length or distance between props etc? like you idea of a small quad for indoors.
Mark

Hey Mark!


Yea, I just had some work stuff to take care of for my business the last day or so, then yesterday we filmed Flitetest so I was gone most of the day doin that. I am gonna take some pics and maybe even some video (depending on wind) today to post up later this afternoon.

I also had to abandon the wooden boom arms that it had on it in the video flying in my office. It flew fine with the wooden arms, but with the camera on there I found that the vibrations were actually WAY worse than with the rigid metal arms. So I had to remove the LED lights, esc's, motors and then make new metal arms and put it back together.

The verdict: AWESOME! absolutely the smoothest flying multi-rotor that I have made yet. Very happy with it.

As far as specs, I will detail that out again in another post, but here are a few of the specifics. The 4 boom arms are 18" long (457.2mm) The distance between the prop shafts from the front left motor to the rear right motor is 36" (914.4mm) The tubes are made of thin-wall aluminium square tube.

If anyone is interested in building a small indoor quad, David Windestal already has plans for a micro quad that he designed on his website (rcexplorer.se) check it out.

Will post some pics today! cya in a bit!


Cheers!

Eric

 

[Shadow74]

Hey All!


Okay, so here are a couple of pics to get started with.


Eric

 

[PaulT]

Thank you for sharing this eric. I am watching this with great interest and as soon as my latest two projects are finished...time to step to the dark side of quads!!!!!

 

[Shadow74]

and a couple more.....



Cheers!


Eric


will add some more detailed pics in a bit. (gotta get my work done)

 

[Shadow74]

Thank you for sharing this eric. I am watching this with great interest and as soon as my latest two projects are finished...time to step to the dark side of quads!!!!!

Thanks Paul! Glad to help! The dark side of quads is a good place!


Eric

 

[PaulT]

OMG I might have to postpone my plane builds now... Your boom for the camera is awesome...
Ya, boom envy, I said it!