Twitchity Hex - Oh boy, here we go again!

[jhitesma]

I run 1800 45-90C or 2200 45-90C lipos. The 1300 45-90 just don't cut it for long and the 1300 35Cs don't cut it at all. I am seriously considering an 1800 4S 45-90C lipo although I know the motors won't take WOT.

Yeah, I'd like to get something smaller than the 2200's but bigger than the 1300 for it. 4S is sounding temping but with the 2300's I don't think I'll be going there. Maybe in a few months if I can swing it financially I'll pickup some lower KV motors and move these to the quad (and backup status) then step up to 4S. After feeling the pull on this beast at full throttle I'm really not in any huge hurry to go 4S - but I would like a bit more acceleration.

"Stand back. This is extremely experimental". Yeah When I maiden a hex I am alone in the yard.

I tried to be alone, I told her several times it wasn't going to fly yet and she should stay inside. But parents just don't listen to their kids even when their kids aren't kids anymore I didn't mind my dad there - he's quick enough to move/duck and a responsible spotter. But my mom with her camera...she's an accident waiting to happen.

I cannot believe you launch this by hand. I note you don't try to catch it.

I actually did hand catch it a few times - just not when I had the camera running I felt safer hand launching it since it didn't sit flat on the ground with the pack under there and it let me feel if it was holding attitude correctly before letting it loose. Wasn't big on landing on my pack either...the battery beeper took most of the brunt of landings. And oddly enough it's my oldest most beat up beeper but still works even though I've gone through a dozen "nicer" ones that only seemed to last 2-3 flights even when mounted in safe locations!

"It is so stable in acro mode". Yeah. This copter with a Naze almost flies itself. It will park and does so well. There is more ballast for light breezes and with the 330mm width it needs to be told to be twitchy. Horizon mode is just rock solid.

It's even better with the Tau board It was ok with the afro board and I felt the potential...but with the Tau it's just so smooth and locked in and tuning is so much quicker and easier, I really can't say enough great things about it. The only drawback is oneshot not being in the binary release yet.

The extra weight definitely helps in the wind and the larger footprint and extra motors give it a level of stability that's astounding. But it's still remarkably agile and responsive.

Flip it. Try a barrel roll. This copter will flip and roll MUCH more naturally with momentum. Fly it LOS like a fixed wing, you have the wide span that gives you superior flight control surfaces. When you can get this out to stretch its legs, you will be stunned.

Soon. With that expensive brain on top I really wanted to get the top deck installed before getting too crazy now. The afromini I didn't mind leaving exposed, but the brain...it deserves a bit more protection. And I really need more space, once I'm more familiar with it I'm sure I'll be flipping and rolling in the front yard. But right now - I need to get up to the field and just haven't had a chance. Hopefully later today I'll get that chance, I really can't wait to open it up...and really can't wait to fly it FPV so I can really stretch it's legs without worrying about trying to see it

Put lights on it. I know you don't plan to fly LOS much but when you can stretch its legs, lights help and with the PDB, are easy to install. It isn't FGA 6S fast, but the speed on this hex is subtle. It is less like a 600CC Ninja or Acro Quad. It has power like a big 1700CC V-Twin. Not the quickest off the line, but a serious contender in the stretch.

It reminds me of the Chrysler 300 my dad had about 15 years ago. He raved about it's acceleration but when I took it for a spin I just didn't feel it around town. Then I got it on the highway. 0-60 it was no slouch but didn't blow me away. But above 60 when you put some foot into it...wow! Same thing here. With that extra weight momentum just plays a bigger roll than on an ultra light mini quad.

I put the top plate on mine and set the lipo on top. This allows me to put zip tie landing gear on the bottom and not scuff up the CF and lipos.

Put the top on last night, and moved the lipo to the top just before I read this - great minds

No gear yet though....still need to decide what style I want to go with.

So far, the most damage I have been able to cause in crashes similar to the ones you have had (and one encounter with a rosebush) is sand in the motors and broken props. It has been, so far, as tough as my WarpQuad and much tougher than the FT kits or a 3D printed frame.

No major crashes yet thankfully...but I haven't really opened it up either. And Twitch sent me an e-mail warning me he doesn't have any material on hand right now to cut replacement arms (though some is on order) so I'm trying to be extra careful for now

 

[jipp]

i figure i need to plan on LED from the start.. as i know ill be flying in the evening here. 115F days, you probably fly in the mornings, and at night. heh. i just hope the electronics do not over heat for me. have you had any problems with over heating?
also that was a nice landing, you aimed for the sand ( soft spot ) compared to the road it could of landed on, well its a good thing im a ways away from a twitch frame if he is out. i guess i will have to get a can of compressed air. seems it will be handy to blow dirt out from crashs.
right now i just blow it out, but a can of compressed air will work better, and at 4.80 or whatever, probably could save a motor.
i figure after i build this 250 size quad. the next build will be a twitch tri-copter. as it will be small so durable for learning on.. plus less parts so a bit cheaper than a hex or something. then i will have to decide if i have the skill to start working on a larger AP platform. but i figure i should have a year of flying under my belt before i try to build a AP machine. so i guess that would mean a small hex, then the AP would be the logical path to follow.
chris.

p.s

my mom is a redhead, she is the same as yours. my step dad is mellow tho, my mom is a irish fireball. how he has put up with her i haev zero idea. i give the guy credit. i could not. LOL. love ya mom if you looking over my shoulder and i do not see you.

 

[cranialrectosis]

I myself am a 'ginger top'. Anyone with any questions about my moniker should now understand.

I put my FPV cam between the front mount and the front standoffs and shim it with some hobby foam to get the angle I want. It's nothing as fancy as the pivot and servo FGA and Mustang are using, but it works for my old granny type flying.

I took a few pics of the rebuild without the FPV gear. Sorry to hijack your thread jhitesma, but I do like this PDB and want to show it off a bit.



You can see the bluetooth module on the right side of the copter above the piezo. There are blue LEDs on both rear flanks and under the two tail booms.

Man I wish I could get blue rotors from HQ...

 

[jhitesma]

i figure i need to plan on LED from the start.. as i know ill be flying in the evening here. 115F days, you probably fly in the mornings, and at night. heh. i just hope the electronics do not over heat for me. have you had any problems with over heating?

LED's help a lot with evening flying, but I find flying in the dark very difficult still. Even with lights it's much easier to loose track of the multi.

I haven't had any serious overheating issues yet. Things definitely do run warmer in the summer, but I try not to fly much in the heat of the day. Early mornings seem best if I can wake up for them since it's usually cooler. Biggest issue is waiting longer for my packs to cool before charging them

also that was a nice landing, you aimed for the sand ( soft spot ) compared to the road it could of landed on, well its a good thing im a ways away from a twitch frame if he is out. i guess i will have to get a can of compressed air. seems it will be handy to blow dirt out from crashs.

Yeah, I was aiming for the soft spot...but then noticed the grass that's usually there was totally gone and decided I didn't want to set it down in the sand and went for the pavement instead

Compressed air helps, but I find the easiest/quickest way to get sand out of motors is to just very gently rock them back and forth by hand a few times - as soon as I feel any resistance I switch directions. Works well with fine sand, with bigger grains the only thing that usually works is full disassembly of the motors, even compressed air doesn't do it.

 

[narcolepticltd]

Man I wish I could get blue rotors from HQ...

If you guys will pony up the cash, I'll go to China and picket their factory until they start making more colors...

 

[jhitesma]

I put my FPV cam between the front mount and the front standoffs and shim it with some hobby foam to get the angle I want. It's nothing as fancy as the pivot and servo FGA and Mustang are using, but it works for my old granny type flying.

I figure I'll do some kind of servo tilt eventually. I was able to find the nuts I need at the LHS this morning so I should have the FPV gear in later tonight. Doesn't look like I'll do any flying today though...the wind is brutal today. Weather says it's only 12mph sustained and 22mph gusts...but I think they're a bit off, the trees are all bending....

I took a few pics of the rebuild without the FPV gear. Sorry to hijack your thread jhitesma, but I do like this PDB and want to show it off a bit.

Man I wish I could get blue rotors from HQ...

Hijack away, if it wasn't for you this thread wouldn't exist anyway

The blue looks great. FC does make blue props, they're not quite as nice as HQ's but still not shabby at all

 

[cranialrectosis]

Hijack away, if it wasn't for you this thread wouldn't exist anyway

It seems we push each other to some extent.

 

[jipp]

its human nature, and very healthy i think. or we all would still be living in a cave with betty ( from the flintstones cartoon, etc, for all you young pups. odd to think someone may not get that reference in 10 more years.. time sure flys ).. well heck, maybe that would be better than sitting at the PC. lol.
chris.

 

[jhitesma]

I may not get a chance to fly it FPV this weekend...but if I do I'm ready...663g ready to fly with a 1300. Bit more with a 2200 which is what I'll probably actually fly with if I get to fly.


Brain OSD came right up. Turns out this camera was 180 degrees different from it's twin which came in the same shipment...odd. One I fixed that though it all looked good!


The OSD is FAR more responsive than what I'm used to with the minimOSD on my MW/Naze setup! Wow, this is super locked in! Can't wait to put the GPS on and a voltage/current sensor....



Also...may have an update on my FPV 250 soon. I may have finally found a great way to get GPS to work on the Naze32. Earlier today Peabody updated the naze32 target for Tau I got it built and seemed to flash it to my afromini...but can't get it to connect to GCS yet so I'm not sure just what's up. But pretty excited about the possibility of putting Tau on the naze in my FPV 250!

 

[jipp]

looks good. its always nice to know sometimes you do get what you pay for, and MORE!

chris.

 

[jhitesma]

Well, yesterday I got distracted with trying to get Tau running on afro hardware. I was able to get it to install on my afromini and talk to GCS...but there's an issue with the way the sensors are initialized. I think I know what's wrong but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to fix it.

I had considerably less luck with my full Naze32 in my emax FPV 250. I ended up tearing the quad apart and taking the GPS off in case it was messing with the serial lines causing my flashing issues. But still no love. Something about my Naze32 is a bit goofy. Even flashing baseflight or cleanflight it always fails the first time with a board communication error - then works on the second try. But flashing with the STM flash demo utility in windows or stm32flash from linux fails immediatley the first time...and more spectacularly the second time.

So I decided to put that aside and since I had the GPS off the quad figured I'd go ahead and put it on the hex

I wired the GND/VBAT/RX/TX on the flex port to the GPS...enabled the GPS module in GCS, set the baud rate...rebooted the brain...and GPS was working

Let it sit outside for a few minutes to let the GPS refresh it's almanac and get it's bearings. Then started testing out the OSD settings. Configured one of my aux switches for changing between two OSD screens - but found the jitter in my RC signal is too big and close to the point Tau cuts off between page 1 and 2 so it kept flickering back and forth. The jitter in my RC signal also impacted navigation in the menu a bit. But overall the menu is far easier to read, easier to use and more powerful as well as MUCH quicker to respond than the menu's I'm used to with minimOSD.

I didn't take time to reprogram my TX to solve the issues with jumping between screens so I left the menu disabled for now and just locked the OSD to one screen setup the way I wanted.

This morning it looked like I'd get to do some test flying! Beautiful cool calm morning! But couldn't rouse any of my spotters and I don't feel safe putting this much investment in the air without a spotter if I'm going to put on goggles. A friend did stop by but by didn't have time to go to a field. Still it let me do a quick test in the yard with the FPV gear setup and running. The wind had come back by then and my yard isn't really big enough to fly something this size around in...but I tried a little LOS proximity with the FPV gear running just to test things out. My friend said the video signal looked great while I was flying. But the sensitive throttle, tight quarters and wind were more than my skills were up to:

Thankfully the only damage done was one broken prop

I've had real issues with that pole lately. I think almost every crash in my yard has involved it in the past 5 months

 

[jipp]

that prop broke lose before it hit the ground i think. i only was able to fly about 2 battery's on the nano qx before the wind came. so maybe 8 mins.
its funny, i never really noticed the wind before.. but now i do..

chris.

 

[jhitesma]

Have some more video, but haven't had time to edit it together - and due to intrusion by neighbor kids it does need to be edited before I CAN share it (I don't post other people without their permission, especially kids.)

As I feared initially the isolation mounts for the mobius are way too stiff to do any good. I actually get more jello on here than I do just strapping the mobius right to the frame of my 230 acro frame. And that's with new balanced props. I can't wait to do some rate mode FPV with this - I did a few little test laps flying rate and it looks wonderfully fluid. Just need more space! And I'm going to have to either find a way to convert to softer isolation mounts or do something different for mobius stabilization.

I also got on-board video of autotune if anyone wants to see it. It's just as nauseating as you'd probably expect

Still haven't worked up the nerve to flip it. Come really close a few times, but just want more space to try that with something this size.


Also had some fun with the acro at the same time. Been trying to get more and more accurate with my flips and having them loose/gain as little altitude as possible. I can't quite do the warthox 4" off the ground flips...but I was doing a string of flips below the roof-line of our single story neighborhood so I'm getting lower I really don't fly anything but acro/rate on the little guy anymore. I still have a panic switch setup for horizon but only really use it if I want to pop into a quick no thought hover so I can talk to someone without landing.

The hex I'm still using horizon a fair bit just because I'm flying in too small of a space and it can get away from me so quickly. But it feels so much better in rate/acro mode as well.

Basically I'm loving the hex - but I don't get to fly it nearly enough because it needs more space than I have in the yard and this year I've had precious little time at a field

 

[narcolepticltd]

using some weatherstripping from walmart/home depot really did the trick for me in mounting the mobius... an EXCEPTIONALLY cheap solution as well (I think I paid a buck and change for a 10' roll of the stuff).

Duck brand Weatherstrip Seal
self adhesive foam
3/8" wide x 5/16" thick



Not my idea, but FGA and C0d3M0nk3y tested and approved

 

[jhitesma]

Yep, something along those lines is what I'm planning. At least until I can afford a gimbal

 

[cranialrectosis]

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Put it in horizon mode with a rate of 140 or so and P/R at 50 or so and yaw at 80 or so and Flip it.

 

[narcolepticltd]

Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it. Flip it.




Put it in horizon mode with a rate of 140 or so and P/R at 50 or so and yaw at 80 or so and Flip it.

Just don't flip it near that same pole... it's had enough to eat, you're spoiling it!

 

[jhitesma]

Those rates don't transfer to Tau

Rate in MW/Naze is just a multiplier that's added to your inputs.

Rate in Tau is a bit more "defined" in that it's the actual degrees per second you want it to move at when you go full stick.

Right now I've got it setup around 450 or so, which is fast enough to flip...but not fast enough to do a super tight flip. But if I go any higher I'll have to get my expo setup better as things will get too hard to control in acro mode.

That's one of the things I like about Tau...actual units that mean something

The big issue is just space. I don't have room to do first flips here at home. Even with my Knuckle I almost never do flips at home. The 230 I can flip at home, but it's so tiny I can flip it just about anywhere

I still haven't got a chance to get this thing out to the field and really stretch it's legs. Probably won't this weekend either. I've got a short trip to LA to see Alton Brown with a few friends on Saturday. I might be able to sneak in some flying Sunday evening if the weather is nice and I get back from LA in time and my girls want to go along....

After this weekend though my crazy weekends are over for the foreseeable future and hopefully my wife will get a few off so I can have time to do some good flying before the weather gets hot again.

 

[cranialrectosis]

That's ok Jhitesma. Once you started talking gimbal I had to make a push before you marshmallow this copter forever.

Just imagine all your fans in the bleachers all chanting 'Flip it' in unison.

I learned on the Polakium hex to get a little forward momentum when flipping or rolling these. It makes for a VERY nice maneuver. You don't need my backyard to do this in, but if you get a running start, the flip experience is different and awesome.


Now while you imagine the bleachers and 'flip it'; in my head I'll be thinking 'if I only had a Brain' from WoO...

We need a thread on getting The Brain to work on Tau. Call it the "Tao of Brain Tau".

Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last night....

 

[jhitesma]

Flips are under the belt so to speak

Only broke one prop too, if it had been an FC prop it probably wolden't have even broken.

Wanted to do more but my TX battery got low

Was mainly just "pilot tuning" getting the feel for how it responds in a larger area. I didn't have as much space as I wanted tonight as other people showed up at the park. So no FPV and I had to limit what area I flew in. Even ditched the twitchity quad once because I was worried about how it was responding and the space I had available. Oh, and the hat cam was crooked

But video is rendering. Quad failure video uploading first because while slower it's more entertaining. Hex flips are pretty boring since they were mostly stationary flips (I'm still scared to fly this thing with any kind of throttle input it gets going so quick!) but I'll share the proof that they happened. I'll even include the one crash.