Tiny Whoov

[jhitesma]

Well, I wired up an ESC, tightened up the prop nut, hooked up a servo tester...and it hovers!

I even managed to get the prop on the right way first try. These underslung motors always get me confused on rotation direction and prop mounting...but with my "Danus style thing" and singlecopter both using them I'm starting to get the hang of it finally.

Been trying to post photos since last night...but seems the forum isn't happy with me or just in general right now so not happening.

Plus...I'm getting pretty far off topic at this point so starting to think I should start a build thread for this thing now. It hovers quite nicely at about 25% throttle. I did have to switch from tape to hot glue to affix the skirt because above about 40% throttle it pulled the tape off and blew out the skirt. So now I'm really thinking about how to design some kind of clip to hold the skirt in so it's both removeable for maintenance and replaceable when worn.

Also thinking the 2204 motor and 5" prop are overkill for the lift. Probably would be fine with an 1806 and a 4" prop...but I don't have any 4" props and don't feel like cutting one down...and an 1806 with 5" prop probably isn't as efficient. But the way it is right now tying the lift and throttle motors together seems like it will result in blowing out the skirt quite often. So I'm leaning towards having the lift motor on it's own channel. (I can always rig up a TX mix to make it act like they're on the same channel but limit the max power on the lift fan.)

I did try pushing it around on various surfaces - a bit more lift throttle definitely helps on rougher less even surfaces. But still it zoomed around on uneven bricks, over piles of debris and my garden hose just as smooth as the tiny hoov does on smooth concrete. Didn't get to try grass yet...maybe at lunch today

 

[PsyBorg]

Run two channels for the motors and use the dial to set the speed of the lift fan. That way you can adjust it for various terrains as well.

 

[jhitesma]

Yeah, I'm thinking I want to retain control of the lift motor...maybe even keep it on a stick. Or maybe having a switch that powers it up to "regular" left and use the trainer switch to give it an extra boost for rough terrain. But...need to experiment more to see if that really helps.

Next step is deciding what I want for a thrust/directional control. One big fan with multiple rudders, or two smaller fans for differential thrust. Can't quite make up my mind

 

[jhitesma]

Gave it a scoot over lunch...at 25% throttle it glides across pavement like it's on ice. But grass...it can be pushed around without too much difficulty but doesn't keep skidding by itself like it does on smoother surfaces. So I tried turning up the fan...and around 50% managed to blow out the skirt again Just the tape letting go - this blue tape just isn't strong enough for higher lift fan pressures.

Once it was off the grass I had a heck of a time chasing it down though as the blowout in the skirt was acting like a trust nozzle and as soon as it hit pavement it took off

 

[PsyBorg]

Run Forrest RUN!!!!

 

[foamtest]

Maybe try and sandwich the bag in between two different layers of foam, and if you're not already, try using an industrial strength garbage bag. I used that on mine and it worked great!

 

[jhitesma]

Maybe try and sandwich the bag in between two different layers of foam, and if you're not already, try using an industrial strength garbage bag. I used that on mine and it worked great!

Yeah, the photos don't really show it but it is sandwiched. But...it's only taped to the lower piece of foam then that piece was hot glued to the rest of the stack. It's the tape that's failing. I was hesitant to hot glue the bag directly since I was afraid of the bag melting...and because I want the bag to be easily replaceable.

Pretty sure I'm going to design some kind of clip that holds the skirt in (since I plan on replacing the garbage bag with ripstop nylon in the final version) so it's easily replaceable and so I can get inside it for maintenance. Just busy week so not a lot of time for playing around

 

[foamtest]

Hmm... I wonder why mine never blew out? Maybe because the foam duct had much looser tolerances around the prop so it could not build up enough pressure to blow out the bag?

 

[jhitesma]

Hmm... I wonder why mine never blew out? Maybe because the foam duct had much looser tolerances around the prop so it could not build up enough pressure to blow out the bag?

I think my tape is just sub-standard Doesn't want to stick well to the bags or the foamboard. But worked well enough to prove the functionality and give me a feel for how much power the fan needs and how much balance affects things. Right now it's definitely nose heavy - but I can shift the balance easily by moving the battery around. Once I add a thruster that should balance out the battery quite nicely and it will probably sit pretty level. It's ok not being level...but being nose heavy makes it harder to get over things since the nose gets hung up more easily, I think I'd rather have it slightly tail heavy so the nose more easily goes over things.

 

[foamtest]

Yeah I do have to warn about it being too tail heavy, I noticed with mine that it turned a lot better when it was nose heavy than tail heavy. It still preformed its best when it had a 1000mah 3s on the back and a gopro on the nose to more or less balance it out.

 

[Morgan]

This is based the tiny whoov but is built using a 3.5 channel toy helicopter .it uses the same thought as single engine hover craft by Tom Stanton

 

[jabberwockie]

I think it has a certain 'rustic' charm!

 

[Morgan]

I think it has a certain 'rustic' charm!

I agree ☺☺ I is very small so it is a pile of wire once you get everything on . That is a 150 mah battery for scale .

 

[med4life]

my tiny whoov!

so after seeing ft video on the tiny whoov i knew i just had to build one for myself!
i set out with just one sheet of foam board and this is what i came up with and i liked it so much that in true flitetest fashion i had to scale it up some! i have a video of it as well up on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjyzI8iEWhY

 

[rockyboy]

It's been over a year since these hit, so it's right on schedule for me to make one Plus our club is starting monthly races with these little things.

So here's my Tiny Whoover - foam kit from http:\\www.tinywhoop.com to support those guys a bit. The whoop used is a Furibee with betaflight and a FrSky reciever built in that I just never could get tuned to be a great performer. Hopefully it will do better in this life

I figure it will be easy to see as the only hot pink racer on the course