One of those days....

[cranialrectosis]

I just tap it right off one of the vbat+ pads twitchity provided around the PDB. I should add a filter but so far my video has been clean enough I haven't been in a big hurry. I have all the parts to build one...but I'm in a bigger hurry to add my current/voltage sensor and hook that up for the OSD. I just haven't figure out where/how I want to mount it yet even though it's been sitting on my desk taunting me for almost 3 months

I left my power lead long enough I can run the lipo on top or bottom. But usually put it on the bottom since I tend to fly this on a 2200 and a 2200 doesn't fit well on top with the camera mount and VTX connector up there.

I did find I've damaged the top plate where I had the GPS mounted - too many crashes and the CF is starting to delaminate around that one hole. So I may dab a bit of epoxy on it to hep reinforce it and work out a better GPS mounting method. I really should add some kind of landing gear as well...but landing on the lipo gives me incentive to make nice soft landings. With springy legs I tend to get lazy about my landings

Need to decorate that plain white skirt tonight. It's bugging me

I'm in a similar place. I want my VTX to be accessible so I can change channels at the club. I've got it working but I'd like the option to go 4S and that means a Pololu of some sort for the camera.

I haven't looked at my OSD or the new SparkyII yet. Between fishing and work, well, you all know how fast the weekend goes.

 

[jhitesma]

I like the idea. Almost no weight. Successful racers could lease the surface to sponsers. *winks at FGA*

I think it was getfpv that did it first with their "aero guard" for the QAV250: http://www.getfpv.com/multi-rotor-frames/qav250-mini-fpv-quad/qav250-aero-guard.html At least they were the first to do it as a product as far as I know and the first that I saw. Though I fully expect someone on RCGroups or FPVlab did it in the basement first

I see they've added a note to the site that it can affect yaw performance in some setups. The hex just doesn't yaw as well as a quad does in the first place (it's been my single biggest unanticipated disappointment about the hex) and I didn't notice any difference with this added. But YMMV.

I did it mostly because I can't bring myself to cut the pigtails that came with the brain board down and I know one of these days one is going to get loose enough to get caught in a prop. I've already cut OSD wires on my emax 250 that way for the same reason Since the connectors that the Brain uses use a crimp that I don't have the tool for and are too small for me to try crimping without a proper tool I just can't find it in me to shorten them. I'm not big on the way it blocks my access to the USB port...on the other hand I thought it would make it harder to see the LED's on the board...but it actually makes it easier by blocking a lot of ambient light so I can just peek in through the cuts in the top plate and see them quite well still.

The material is some "waterproof poster board" I found at walmart like 10 years ago. I bought a few packs of it as I was making a lot of kites at the time and it's great for cutting templates out of. I also use it to make templates for FT planes - at least I did up through the Bloody Wonder or so. After that the plans started getting complex enough that making templates wasn't as easy as just printing new sets of plans. And now that I have a large format plotter...I haven't made any new templates in about a year and a half The original FT power pod template I made 3 years ago is still holding up great though.

It's light enough my scale doesn't even register it. I was thinking about trying to dye it with some RIT or even just some Kool-Aid like you can use on Nylon parts. But I'll probably just do something with sharpie and keep the B&W look. Only took me about 5 minutes to cut out and most of that time was debating where to put the ends, whether or not to put velcro on to hold it together (I left it off, just tucked the ends behind a post and it seems to stay in place quite well) and carefully cutting out the lens hole with a razor.

I may make one for my FPV250 as well since that's the build I've actually cut wires on before

 

[paulshort]

are these any good?


http://www.ebay.com/itm/4x-Emax-Sim...476?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item418cf3e194

Paul

 

[Cyberdactyl]

I am thinking very thin Kydex (.013") being a choice, in that one has the option of forming the shape as well as treating it like a standard piece of thin film. As much you used, 0.7mm Kydex would register, but not bad, maybe 10-15g.

Another idea is to use many smaller width pieces and smaller diameter spacers but maybe twice as many, and interweave the strips. . . basically forming a basket, but woven only in the horizontal. mix colored strips for a real eye catcher.

Too lazy to model it, so here's a pic to spark the imagination.

 

[Snarls]

I made my quads skirt out of an old plastic folder from Staples. They have all sorts of colors and with back to school sales starting soon you can pick one up for very cheap. Best part is that it is quickly removable unlike the Aeroguard from getFPV. Seems to do the job well by blocking a lot of grass debris from getting in to the internals and weighs 5g.

 

[jhitesma]

are these any good?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4x-Emax-Sim...476?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item418cf3e194
Paul

They're not bad, I like the emax motors and am running their 1806 versions on my 250 quad. But I'm not a fan of the simon series ESC's. The have slow fets so no regen which makes a big performance difference. The new bl heli version is a much better ESC. The "simon series" are actually running blheli, but it's an older version that emax modified and the default settings are horrible with a low PWM rate that makes the motors very loud and a low voltage cut out enabled that can cause a quad to fall from the sky if the pack sags.

FT's mini race quad power pack is very worth considering if you're looking at that setup:
https://store.flitetest.com/power-pack-e-racing-mini-quadcopter/

They include the newer blehli ESC's, a very nice lipo bag (worth the price difference by itself), a nice allen wrench, 2 sets of 6x4.5" props, and a battery lead for about $20 more. Plus they ship from the US and it's FT so you're helping support the show/forum as well...but IMHO you're getting more than $20 worth of extra stuff and better ESC's.

The SunnySky and Cobra (and of course T-motor) motors are nicer for sure. But for 90% of the people out there the emax motors are more than sufficient and I really like mine.

 

[jhitesma]

Did a little time lapse of working on the hex last night...but it went a little quicker than I had intended...and the mobius battery died before I was done:

Basically just removing each arm and adding heat shrink. Then I sleeved the RX pigtail and serial port pigtail from the board with some paracord to cleanup the wiring a bit 325 size paracord is a major pain to work with compared to 550..but 550 was overkill for this. That was when the video cut out.

After that I modified my skirt to work more like the ones from getfpv by cutting some slits it in to slip over the posts. The way I had it originally worked and was quick and easy to remove. But I wasn't entirely happy with it. Not sure I'm any happier with this new setup though as it now requires removing the top section to get it on/off. Still experimenting to see what I like.

Plastic folder material would work great for sure, I just happened to have this stuff on hand and it's a great very light plastic. I think kydex would be total overkill for this. It would work certainly...but I think it would be more work and weight than it's worth to me. The basketweave could be interesting...but...I have one post missing on one side so I can access the USB port on my FC so that would throw off the weave (that was why I switched to the getFPV style over the post mounting) and it just looks too busy for me...though when I'm done decorating this it will be pretty busy as well

I do like the way it cleans up the build...but more and more I'm thinking it may be more hassle than it's worth.

 

[jhitesma]

Picked up a folder while grocery shopping today...but it's not big enough to do the hex Would have to find a different shaped folder. Bummer, it was almost the same shade of purple as the aluminum bits

Also tried dying the stuff I have with kool-aid. No luck. The white nylon screws I put in with it took on some color...not quite purple but color. The waterproof posterboard is still white as it was the day I bought it. It did hold up to the near boiling water though. I even put in a test piece while it was boiling and it survived...but stayed white as well.

 

[cranialrectosis]

I just tap it right off one of the vbat+ pads twitchity provided around the PDB. I should add a filter but so far my video has been clean enough I haven't been in a big hurry. I have all the parts to build one...but I'm in a bigger hurry to add my current/voltage sensor and hook that up for the OSD. I just haven't figure out where/how I want to mount it yet even though it's been sitting on my desk taunting me for almost 3 months

I left my power lead long enough I can run the lipo on top or bottom. But usually put it on the bottom since I tend to fly this on a 2200 and a 2200 doesn't fit well on top with the camera mount and VTX connector up there.

I did find I've damaged the top plate where I had the GPS mounted - too many crashes and the CF is starting to delaminate around that one hole. So I may dab a bit of epoxy on it to hep reinforce it and work out a better GPS mounting method. I really should add some kind of landing gear as well...but landing on the lipo gives me incentive to make nice soft landings. With springy legs I tend to get lazy about my landings

Need to decorate that plain white skirt tonight. It's bugging me

I see you use the top 'clean' plate. Do you put a GoPro on it or is it just for show?

I ask because I have the same problem with adding my OSD (not sure where to put it). If you have been using the clean plate and it works, I will keep it on and look for another place for my OSD.

 

[jhitesma]

I see you use the top 'clean' plate. Do you put a GoPro on it or is it just for show?

I ask because I have the same problem with adding my OSD (not sure where to put it). If you have been using the clean plate and it works, I will keep it on and look for another place for my OSD.

Still too poor for a GoPro But I do regularly strap my mobius up there. Either way the dampers are really too still to provide any kind of actual damping - I mainly use it to get the camera up a bit and help keep the props out of the image - but with the mobius even without the wide angle lens I still get the front props in view. I'd add a wedge...but I just don't do fast low enough flying with the hex to be worth it. It's just too big to fly it like a 250. And my FPV skills are far too limited to fly it very fast yet

I have my VTX taped/zip tied to the inside/bottom of the top plate, and my RX underneath it currently. Far from optimal...I need to get the RX in a better location but I'm kind of hoping to pickup a new openLRS RX (a DTFUHF one this time) so until I do that I've been putting off changing things around. Space does get tight quick even with as much room as there is in here!

 

[jhitesma]

So I figured out why the emax 250 kept falling out of the sky last time I tried to fly it.

I was using the RX I took off the knuckle - another one of my homemade FlySky RX's which was last flown at Flite Fest in combat which ended with me having to ditch the quad because control was acting up. Initially I thought it was my battery sagging - but after getting home and thinking about it some more I started to suspect it may have just been the link acting up due to all the RF noise from that many people in the air at once. When the 250 had issues with the same RX though...I started to become very suspicious of the RX!

This was my first homemade RX and it's been through quite a bit of abuse. I noticed that after the combat crash the power LED had been smashed - so I wondered if maybe it was shorting out on something. Cut off the heat shrink and suddenly the real problem was apparent. The power wire between the arduino and RF module had broken right were it attaches to the Arduino. With the heat shrink on it all looked good and it made intermittent contact. But once the shrink was off I could easily see that the wire was broken. Finally the IDE cable I use for interconnects came back to bite me as I knew it eventually would

Got that re-soldered and finally replaced the broken boom on the knuckle and she's back in the air! Still need to whip up another RX for the 250 so I don't have to keep swapping this one back and forth.


Oh - and contacted surveilzone again last night to say the replacement props they sent for the ones I ordered and never received still haven't shown up and it's been 2 months now. They replied very quickly and apologized and said they would reship again - they even offered to throw in some additional 5040 blunt nose's for me to try or to change my order to more 6045's if I'd prefer. This time they did give me a tracking number too - so hopefully soon I'll eventually finally get to give the "indestructible" props a real try. The 5" ones on my quad have been doing ok....I'm not big on their performance but they have proven to be VERY durable.