TRANSFORMING VTOL EDF JET DRONE (VARITECH) – ROBOTECH PROJECT

[VAALLEON]

Going back to the original design and applying what I learned along the way.

The initial plan was to use the unit as it was with the old split vectoring system but that proved to be less stable and way less efficient. So, I applied the latest 120 degree split thrust vectoring mechanism to the old unit, which also enables me to use smaller servos. The hover flight time jumped up to 5 min. It will fly longer in horizontal flight but I don’t know how much longer, will depend on the wing design.

This time I am testing a new sweeping double wing design with a high attack angle. During my tests with the successful folding wing “Phan Rulez” unit, I developed some ideas that I want to test. The design proved to be good for vertical flight during the first test. It looks like it will also support the fast forward. However, the question is if it will successfully transition. These first wings are made of cardboard so that I can cut and shape them as needed. I can also change the sweep and attack angles easily with this design.

Below if the first test flight. A little headwind. There is a 15-20% transition at 1:25 minute mark, just to see how it reacts. It went well. I’ll keep on posting some videos as I progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XYopDmGAKk

 

[VAALLEON]

This unit turned out to be amazingly balanced. I took it almost half way through the transition and it didn't cause any problems so far. No wobbles, sharp turns, loss of balance, etc... It is almost scary. I will soon try to take it to 75% and see what happens. Now the question is if these wings will create enough lift. If not, I'll know it right away

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmEcwbogXBw

 

[VAALLEON]

The video below, shows a flight at almost full horizontal. It got there without any problems and didn't speed up too much on the way. I believe the reason for that is the high attack angle of the double wings. When I got to full horizontal though I experienced altitude loss. Not too fast, it was still flying but slowly started to come down. So I gave a little more throttle (2:38 minute mark) and it pretty much stabilized. However, I need to make a slight change in the wing design to increase the lift a little bit. I don't want to have to spend more energy to fly horizontal... Let's see what will come out of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC3HLSv8wgg&feature=youtu.be

 

[VAALLEON]

After losing some altitude in the last flight, I increased the surface area of the wings by replacing the upper wings with larger ones.

Below video shows how the wings operate and the test flight.

The unit transitions to full horizontal at 3:00 minute mark, until 3:40. I didn’t experience any altitude loss this time. At 3:40 minute mark, I transition back to vertical flight and bring the unit back. It is hard to see, since the unit gets pretty high. I will switch over to a higher resolution camera starting from next test.

I am pretty happy with these compact, high attack angle bi-surfaces’ lift performance. Even though this is a pretty heavy unit with a heavy cyclone power motor, they do a good job to keep it in the air. Will keep on testing and will start trying some different designs and maneuvers. Thanks for watching…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWul6FoUcYk

 

[VAALLEON]

Variable-Sweep Wing Transforming vtol edf jet drone (varitech) – robotech project

Having transitioned successfully, this bad boy deserved new wings to replace the old cardboard ones. It looks way better…

 

[degriz]

Awesome flying machine!

 

[VAALLEON]

Thanks bud!

 

[VAALLEON]

Hoping to come up with much better flight videos soon. Also planning to install an FPV system on it.

 

[degriz]

Very impressive, seems you put a lot of work into it. glad it's working out.

 

[VAALLEON]

Thanks! Yes sir, lots of work... It took me about 2 years of building, testing, crashing, re-building, crashing again (this time due to stupidity) and re-building to bring it to this level. With the time and money I spent, I could easily have a fleet of airplanes, helis and quadcopters!

I am happy with the results though. Just hoping that I can build some partnerships to take this concept to the next level. The possibilities are infinite but with my current pace it would take a hundred years

 

[VAALLEON]

After losing my variable wing unit last year, I gave a break to this project. But I like it too much to stop working on…

This is a new unit equipped with my variable angle FC concept and variable thrust vectoring algorithm. The difference about this one is that it is 64mm and is equipped with large metal gear servos. I am hoping to test a new aerodynamic design with this unit to improve the maneuvering capabilities in horizontal high speed flight. Didn’t want to move forward with the build in case it wouldn’t fly

The first flight. A little wobbly but not bad for a new unit. Just needs compensation rates a little reduced…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwklQH51PrQ&feature=youtu.be

 

[VAALLEON]

This is how my new unit is shaping. It looks like a base Mono but it’s not My goal is to merge the advantages of my successful base lateral cross-wing design on the new transformer and improve the maneuvering capabilities of the base unit with some new tweaks in the design…

There is a reason the front wings are cut in half. Coming up soon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph7I0Xoaneo&feature=youtu.be

 

[VAALLEON]

We are getting close the the first tests with the final design:

The nozzle wings' surface areas were increased with the new front wing design, which will hopefully increase the flight control in horizontal flight significantly.

The advantages of the cross lateral wing design was preserved in this hybrid design. With some changes:

The sweeping wings have a larger surface area than the regular base units and they have aerofoil design to help the lift.

The wing servo is separate than the neck servo that controls the flight controller. Which means that I will be able to control the wings independently.

I will post the first test flights soon...

 

[VAALLEON]

The firsts tests didn’t go too bad but I had a couple of bummers… Like I lost the wing servo in the middle of the flight yesterday. Now it is replaced with a metal gear brand new servo.

In this first setup, the wing servo is connected to the gimbal pin and opens as the unit tilts forward. So, I don’t use the 5th channel and transform the unit, and tilt it just with the pitch. I always wanted to test this, and now the wing servo being separate from the neck servo, I can.

The flight went well. However, my fear of compensation being high for the larger control surfaces proved to be true. I need a level of compensation level for vertical flight, but now the control surfaces being way larger, in fast forward flight the compensation caused the back of the unit flutter. Reducing the compensation level to 75% helped reduce but didn’t prevent the fluttering. You can see this clearly in 1:20 minute mark.

On a good note though, seeing the flutter felt very airplane like, which means that I am getting closer to airplane aerodynamics in horizontal flight, which means better maneuverability in horizontal flight

The variable sweeping wing again proved to be very balanced and easy going. Since I don’t need the variable wing action in normal flight where I don’t transform the unit, I will not worry too much about fluttering and connect the wing servo to 5th channel and start testing the transforming phase. We will see how it reacts in this format.

Depending on this, I will start shaping the wings and try to find the happy medium between vertical and horizontal flight.

Thanks…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1siMBoojhQ&feature=youtu.be

 

[VAALLEON]

Enough messin’ around. Going for the first humanoid varitech. I believe I have enough experience with folding and sweeping wings to try this and transition it to a jet in the air. First it has to be able to do the vertical tho…

Don’t get me wrong it will not be easy!

If I can manage this, I will go for dual fans...

 

[localfiend]

Hah, cool. How close are you to iron man boots?

 

[VAALLEON]

Thx bro! Getting there

 

[planebreaker2000]

Very cool!

 

[VAALLEON]

Very cool!

Thanks bud!

Decided to call it MONOID.
Here’s how the neck / wing mechanism works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXx8vm3GDAI&feature=youtu.be

 

[VAALLEON]

I had lots of trouble on the way to the maiden flight. First of all, I found out that the new metal gear digital servos have been sabotaging my project. For some reason they weren’t able to process mixed servo signal properly and I couldn’t find I way to work with them even though I played around with the code many times. So, they went to my junkyard…

I picked up 4 old servos that I have used in the past. These servos are pretty reliable, proven to work with the code but their shafts are not sturdy. Anyway, still worth a try, just to see if the beast will fly!

After adapting the new servos, this time the ESC BEC didn’t handle the load. So, I again picked up an old ESC with a defective BEC and added my 10A UBEC to the system. Good to go…

It did fly at the first try and the flight was pretty good! It was very responsive to the input. May need to lower the center of gravity a little bit. We’ll see in the future flights. Looking forward to adding the wings and the head. But before that will need to find some sturdy metal gear servos which will work with the code…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOpuezmJpyc