I've posted several of my builds here, and I've shared several of my own designs for 3D printed copters (http://www.thingiverse.com/mpbiv/designs), but today I am posting about my first full carbon fiber build.
Preface:
So I have been racing FPV quads for about a year now. It all kind of started with the Twitchity Acro Quad. I am sure many of you are familiar with Twitchity's work. Originally I started out with his frame and FPV pod, but as I started to get more involved in racing I decided to evolve the design of the pod. Below is a quick genesis of the design evolution
V1: Twitchity Pod with cheap RC Timer 700tvl CMOS and 200mw vtx fpv setup. This setup used Twitchity's original pod design with a 3D printed housing for the camera and vtx. Originally I tried 30* of angle, but it proved to be too much for my newbie skills at the time. This was prior to one-shot, damped light, beta flight, and all the other goodies we have now. I was running it with 12A SimonK ESC's and Sunnysky 2204 2300kv on 3S with 6" props.
V2: My first fully redesigned fpv pod, lower profile and more streamlined. Switched to a 28x28mm 600tvl CCD, and a TS5823 200mw vtx. For this design I set the camera angle to 20* which was a happy medium for fast forward flight compared to my skill level at the time. Also switched to KISS ESC's and Cobra 2204 2300kv, but still on 3S.
V3: Revised fpv pod for new HS1177 camera, and 30* of tilt. After many months of racing, I finally managed to hit a gate dead center and kill the board cam on the V2 fpv pod, which is what prompted this design change to the HS1177 camera which should be better protected. I also went back to the 30* tilt, as my skills had progressed, I could easily fly at 30* even on smaller tracks. I also finally updated the firmware on the Naze32 to Beta-flight.
The Twitchity Acro quad was always my go to quad for 3S spec racing! It was actually light enough that I had to add ballast to make the 300g minimum. On 3S it was light and nimble and still fast enough to blast past some of the heavier 3S copters. I really like the handling characteristics and the symmetrical x-layout. I always had people asking me questions about what it was and where I got it, but I always had to explain that it was a limited run frame that isn't available anymore.
Now despite the Twitchity Acro Quad being my go to 3S quad, when it comes to 4S and unlimited class racing, I have built and switched between so many different frames. I have my favorites (the Alien 5" and Tweaker 180, both get lots of stick time), but none of them have been my "go to" quad for racing.
Design:
So I wanted to build another quad to call my own, based on all my experiences gained over the past year. Something similar to the Twitchity Acro Quad in layout, rigid like the Alien, smaller like the Tweaker, but not so small that component placement is an utter pain (like my Shirke was). Out of this I formed the requirements for my new frame design.
I started laying things out in CAD (Inventor Fusion 360) and came up with this design:
The frame ended up being 200mm motor to motor, with replaceable 4mm arms, which much like the Alien extend all the way inwards to buttress against each other. The main frame uses 2mm carbon to sandwich the arms, and the upper plate is 1.5mm carbon on 25mm standoffs. The upper plate includes 3 different holes for vtx SMA mounting. And last but not least two vertical carbon plates sandwich an HS1177 600tvl fpv camera. The design of the top plate and the camera mount allows for roughly 35* max camera tilt, but I may change that as time goes on to add more allowable tilt.
The arms are designed to accommodate 2204 size motors and 5" props.
The first Prototype:
So I explored a couple ways to get the first frame made, but in the end I chose to go with Armattan Productions. You may have heard of Armattan, they produce their own frames, but they just started a service where you can upload your files and they will produce your parts for a reasonable price. I was very happy with the prices they quoted me, so I went ahead and ordered the first frame (https://armattanproductions.com/pages/kit_detail/119)
Quality of the frame pieces came out really nice and thankfully all the pieces fit together as I intended without having to file anything. They definitely held a good tolerance to the models I supplied.
Now I just have to build it up and get it flying. I've already picked out my electronics.
FPV Camera: HS1177 600tvl CCD
FPV vtx: UBAD 200mw Race Band
Power Distribution: Matek PDB
Flight Controller: Lumenier LUX
Receiver: Frsky TFR4SB (FASST compatible SBUS receiver to go with my Futaba 14SG)
ESCs: 20A Little Bee
Motors: T-Motor F40 V2 2300kv
Props: HQ 5x4x3
Batteries: 4S Lumenier 60C and Pulse 75C 1000mAH
I am going to try and update this thread with pictures and video as things progress!
Preface:
So I have been racing FPV quads for about a year now. It all kind of started with the Twitchity Acro Quad. I am sure many of you are familiar with Twitchity's work. Originally I started out with his frame and FPV pod, but as I started to get more involved in racing I decided to evolve the design of the pod. Below is a quick genesis of the design evolution
V1: Twitchity Pod with cheap RC Timer 700tvl CMOS and 200mw vtx fpv setup. This setup used Twitchity's original pod design with a 3D printed housing for the camera and vtx. Originally I tried 30* of angle, but it proved to be too much for my newbie skills at the time. This was prior to one-shot, damped light, beta flight, and all the other goodies we have now. I was running it with 12A SimonK ESC's and Sunnysky 2204 2300kv on 3S with 6" props.
V2: My first fully redesigned fpv pod, lower profile and more streamlined. Switched to a 28x28mm 600tvl CCD, and a TS5823 200mw vtx. For this design I set the camera angle to 20* which was a happy medium for fast forward flight compared to my skill level at the time. Also switched to KISS ESC's and Cobra 2204 2300kv, but still on 3S.
V3: Revised fpv pod for new HS1177 camera, and 30* of tilt. After many months of racing, I finally managed to hit a gate dead center and kill the board cam on the V2 fpv pod, which is what prompted this design change to the HS1177 camera which should be better protected. I also went back to the 30* tilt, as my skills had progressed, I could easily fly at 30* even on smaller tracks. I also finally updated the firmware on the Naze32 to Beta-flight.
The Twitchity Acro quad was always my go to quad for 3S spec racing! It was actually light enough that I had to add ballast to make the 300g minimum. On 3S it was light and nimble and still fast enough to blast past some of the heavier 3S copters. I really like the handling characteristics and the symmetrical x-layout. I always had people asking me questions about what it was and where I got it, but I always had to explain that it was a limited run frame that isn't available anymore.
Now despite the Twitchity Acro Quad being my go to 3S quad, when it comes to 4S and unlimited class racing, I have built and switched between so many different frames. I have my favorites (the Alien 5" and Tweaker 180, both get lots of stick time), but none of them have been my "go to" quad for racing.
Design:
So I wanted to build another quad to call my own, based on all my experiences gained over the past year. Something similar to the Twitchity Acro Quad in layout, rigid like the Alien, smaller like the Tweaker, but not so small that component placement is an utter pain (like my Shirke was). Out of this I formed the requirements for my new frame design.
I started laying things out in CAD (Inventor Fusion 360) and came up with this design:
The frame ended up being 200mm motor to motor, with replaceable 4mm arms, which much like the Alien extend all the way inwards to buttress against each other. The main frame uses 2mm carbon to sandwich the arms, and the upper plate is 1.5mm carbon on 25mm standoffs. The upper plate includes 3 different holes for vtx SMA mounting. And last but not least two vertical carbon plates sandwich an HS1177 600tvl fpv camera. The design of the top plate and the camera mount allows for roughly 35* max camera tilt, but I may change that as time goes on to add more allowable tilt.
The arms are designed to accommodate 2204 size motors and 5" props.
The first Prototype:
So I explored a couple ways to get the first frame made, but in the end I chose to go with Armattan Productions. You may have heard of Armattan, they produce their own frames, but they just started a service where you can upload your files and they will produce your parts for a reasonable price. I was very happy with the prices they quoted me, so I went ahead and ordered the first frame (https://armattanproductions.com/pages/kit_detail/119)
Quality of the frame pieces came out really nice and thankfully all the pieces fit together as I intended without having to file anything. They definitely held a good tolerance to the models I supplied.
Now I just have to build it up and get it flying. I've already picked out my electronics.
FPV Camera: HS1177 600tvl CCD
FPV vtx: UBAD 200mw Race Band
Power Distribution: Matek PDB
Flight Controller: Lumenier LUX
Receiver: Frsky TFR4SB (FASST compatible SBUS receiver to go with my Futaba 14SG)
ESCs: 20A Little Bee
Motors: T-Motor F40 V2 2300kv
Props: HQ 5x4x3
Batteries: 4S Lumenier 60C and Pulse 75C 1000mAH
I am going to try and update this thread with pictures and video as things progress!
