Versacopter. MototechRyan's mods in progress

[MototechRyan]

Love the Versacopter and its versatility. To date, I've put in many more hours building modding and tuning than actually flying it. But that was my choice. The Versacopter is awesome in oem form, but it's my first venture into brushless multirotors and FPV, moving up from brushed. And I wanted to feel comfortable that i wasnt going to hurt someone or destroy my new baby too soon. Thus the amount of wrench time. Guess thats my best learning curve.

I didn't care for mounting the FC with stacked up double sided foam tape off center of the center of the Versacopter. Didn't like off center cause the FC can sense angle changes better when its centered. Didnt like the foam tape cause my usb cable would slightly change its angle when plugged in and calibrating the FC. Plus the push and pull of plugging and unplugging the FC was taking its toll on the tape and would eventually cause it to come loose. My Naze32 has the mounting points and the FC Versacopter mounting plate was allready predrilled with the correct pattern to mount the FC dead center on the plate.

Then the problem of mounting hardware not having any space when the bottom frame plate was installed became apparent. So countersunk screws to the rescue. Ordered the longest nylon ones i could find for they can easily be cut down to a shorter length. And a set of nylon standoffs to go with them.

Now the FC is nice qnd centered on the plate, but what about the plate location in the Versacopter? The side rails that the plate snaps onto only has limited places where it fits. And on center is not one of them. Unless you modify or do away with the side rails. I choose the do away with the side rails and the FC plates mounting holes fit perfectly over the center frame screws. Added a 20mm nylon thru hole standoff and its exactly what i wanted.

Removal of the side rails also creates the problem of where to mount the esc's. But the Versacopter top plate/PDB has some great slotted holes in that area to lay them down and zip tie. You do loose some mounting points with removal of the side rails but i don't see it effecting structural integrity Captain Picard, with the addition of the standoffs to the center frame screws.

Thats it for mods for now. Future mods are in the imagination phase and this post will be updated with the results. And oh yeah, my favorite mod. Remember that Flitetest Gremlin cutout in the FC plate...

 

[jipp]

ill be building one of these in the next week or so. waiting on motors. so the default method of mounting does not have you mounting the FC in the center? that seems silly if so. i did pick up a pololu 5v regulator to solder in as it has provisions for. i assumed the FC would be design to mount dead center by default. i have no problem with double stick foam tape. it works great in my experience so far. but then i do not have to deal with moisture.. just sand, that evil magnetic rocky sand stuff. laughs.
chris.


what is the FT guy made from pipe cleaner?

 

[MototechRyan]

Check out the build video by Josh at 12:25. The FT gremlin comes as a pre-cut design in the FC mounting plate. I mounted him with a dab of clear silicone adhesive.

 

[MototechRyan]

Here's the next modification in the works. Polycarbonate booms

Still need to weigh them, but I'm figuring there will be a small increase in weight. But they will be much more durable and can be lit up with LEDs.

The OEM Flitetest carbon booms have a little over 1/2" O.D. And the closest polycarbonate tube I could find were 1/2" O.D. with a 3/8" I.D. But I prefer metric and my measurents listed here on in this post will be metric.

The polybooms O.D. is too small to be clamped in place by the Versacopter boom mounting clamps. Heatshrink to the rescue. I'm actually glad there'e a gap that required closing with the heatshrink. Because the poly would have slid really easy inside the Delrin clamps. The heatshrink provides the friction needed to keep the surfaces from slipping and sliding.

OEM carbon booms = 14.3mm

Polycarbonate tube O.D.= 12.7mm

Heatshrink varies in thickness by manufacturer and how much you shrink it. One piece didn't quite do it, so i added a second layer.

Here they are clamped in and centered up.

Gonna have to add some heatshrink to the ends for the motor clamps too. Will post the weight difference after all the proto work is done. I pretty much plan to have two Versacopters. One in proper flying condition that i can fly while the other undergoes mods and stuff. As seen in the pics above, I ordered the on sale Versacopter crash kit( can't wait till the upgraded kit is available) and a set of the PDB plates to start my second Versacopter build.

Have a set of Luminier mini 20A esc's on order from the awesome getFPV.com...so stay tuned, more to come

 

[MototechRyan]

Been messing around with different layouts outs of components and cable routing. Plus ran out of heat shrink for the ends of the booms to mount the motors. Settled on a layout and sourced some clear heat shrink. Got her all wired and buttoned up with the new Luminier mini 20A escs, set up baseflight clicking the enable oneshot and fast pwm tabs...and wow. Throttle control is awesomeness now. Will post up some more pics tomorrow. Still gotta install the FPV system and my Mobius should arrive tomorrow. Can't wait to fly her.

 

[MototechRyan]

Here she is with clear heat shrink on the polybooms and a mobius installed. Pretty happy with this setup. Thus the only change I plan to make is installation of a Frsky X8R rx.

 

[jipp]

how do you have your battery strap connected? i will not be able to go through the plate.. i figure im just gonna have to wrap the whole frame.. or i wont be able to install my FC, and or i would also have to make the slits longer possibly cutting wires.. did not realize such before i solder up my project.. or i would of mounted the strap first. then worked around it.. i should be ok just wrapping it around tho hole frame using a turnigy strap which is long enough. .

 

[MototechRyan]

I've wrestled with how to route the strap too. I'm using the velcro Flitetest logoed straps and they are a tight squeeze. So tight it tears up the edges of the straps and gets a bunch of hook and loop dust all over. I soldered to the front most and rear most esc pads. both my battery strap in the rear slots and strap for the mobius in the front slots route over and sit on the soldered esc pads and wires. I figure the straps dont squish the wires to bad and provide some protection over the solders to keep them from possibly chafing other stuff.

I'll go open her up and get a picture for ya. I'm beginning to think you're the only person who likes my thread jipp

 

[MototechRyan]

I like to add velcro to the bottom of the battery and mobius. Combined with the straps they are rock solidly mounted.

The bottom side. The satellite rx is temporary till the Frsky X8R rx arrives.

Here's the bottom plate removed.

Here's the rear and the battery strap covering the pads were the esc's are soldered. Had to add three stacked pieces of 3m double sided foam tape for the filter board to sit over the strap.

Here's the front. Hard to see, but the strap for the mobius sits on the soldered esc pads here too.

Thinking I'm gonna have to move the filter board to the front to fit the X8R rx. Plan to make a nicer wire harness for the fpv system too.

 

[jipp]

thanks. iv decided to just mount the CC3D to the bottom plate along with the rx with double sided tape.. that leaves a spot open for the turnigy strap which is not as wide as the original strap i was gonna use so should fit the slots. i originally wanted to keep it all on the PDB but o well.

do you think your arms will be durable?

seems the thin wall carbon tube may break?

chris.

 

[MototechRyan]

do you think your arms will be durable?

seems the thin wall carbon tube may break?

chris.

Polycarbonate is super awesome mega durable. Has enough softness to take a beating and not break but scratchs pretty easy. Definitely way more durable than the carbon booms.

I was thinking the same about the thickness of the carbon booms. Guess the thicker and more durable they are, the more expensive they are. I like the look of the carbon booms better but didnt want to destroy them in the many crashes I'm gonna have. They're going back on once I develope some FGA ninja skillz

 

[MototechRyan]

I killed the FT gremlin cutout thats sitting on top of my Spironet today. Still pretty green flying FPV and usually bring my Versacopter in close to me, then tip up my goggles and land LOS. Today i tried landing with the goggles still on with bad results.

Came down too hot and bounced once off the ground, then another bounce. Second bounce with throttle fully closed resulted in a flip that pancaked my Versacopter upside down. Broke my poor Gremlin in 3 pieces and some minor scratchs on the edge of my Mobius cam, the Spironet, and prop nuts. But now I'm seriously considering fabing a crash guard for my Mobius and Fatshark cams. Maybe one for the battery too. Also realized that even though the emax motor OEM prop nuts aren't nylocking, they do a good job protecting the ends of the motor shafts.

 

[Ludodg]

Noce idea, using the Polycarbonate tubes Ryan. I just would not know where I could find some overhere, in Hat shop...

About the white "cushons" under the motors: I guess they provide some protection and ar used as legs. What are they made off??

I also notice you ise a ImmersionRC-FPV-transmitter. How did you probide power to that little filtering-board as you seem not to be using the balance-lead of the battery?

Grat job, Ryan!

 

[MototechRyan]

Noce idea, using the Polycarbonate tubes Ryan. I just would not know where I could find some overhere, in Hat shop...

About the white "cushons" under the motors: I guess they provide some protection and ar used as legs. What are they made off??

I also notice you ise a ImmersionRC-FPV-transmitter. How did you probide power to that little filtering-board as you seem not to be using the balance-lead of the battery?

Grat job, Ryan!

Thanks ludodg

I ordered the polycarbonate tube from Amazon. Paid $13.66 USD for a 1.8 meter tube that i cut down to 254mm for the booms. Today the polybooms passed their first major crash test. One the brand new 5030 Gemfan props broke mid air. Brand new, never flown before and one blade on one prop just snapped. The Gemfan 5030 CRF props seamed pretty flimsy, not surprised one just snapped mid flight with no collision. But the polybooms and also surprisingly the Delrin clamps all held up like a champ and didnt break when my Versacopter did a roll and landed upside-down like a pancake.

The cushions under the motors is dense polyethylene foam commonly found in packing material and pipe insulation. My 4 year old son had glow sticks that were incased in this foam and i noticed the outer diameter was close to the same as the motor mounts. So when the glow sticks stopped glowing and my woman threw them in the garbage i rescued and re-purposed the foam. They work great cushioning landings and providing ground clearance that helps protect the underside of the Versacopter. They are held on with 3m double sided foam tape and zip ties. I call them marshmallow feet

http://glowproducts.com/glowsticks/15inchsoftstick/

The FPV tx is the same as in the Versacopter build videos. The Luminier 600mW VTX. I was using the balance lead from the battery to power the filter board, but noticed the battery cells were becoming imbalanced. Check out the link below where another forum member had the same cell imbalancing problem with the Fatshark filter board.

http://forum.flitetest.com/showthre...-module-draws-from-only-one-cell-don-t-use-it

I'm powering the filter board with a 3s connector soldered to the aux pads of the Versacopter PDB. Then powering the Fatshark cam with one of the +5v pins on the Naze32. Plan to use the 5v pololu board i added to power the cam. Then use that +5v pin on the Naze32 to connect the sbus on the FrSky X8R I recently purchased.

Plan to post a detailed step by step soon when I add the new X8R rx and changes to the fpv setup.

 

[MototechRyan]

Just thought to add...if anyone wishes to try the polycarbonate for booms or anything structural...don't let any thread locking compound come in contact with the polycarbonate. I use Loctite blue 242 on the motor mounting screws and am very careful not to get any on my polybooms. Thread lock will make polycarbonate and other thermo plastics brittle and crack easily.

 

[Ludodg]

Ryan,
I read that post about the fatshark-filter only using 1cel of your 3s-battery ... And I am convinced this is incorrect.
Now there may be other issues why powering not through this filter is a good idea ... But the 1cel-story IMHO is not one of them.

 

[MototechRyan]

I agree, I have no definitive evidence the Fatshark filter board causes cell imbalancing when powered by the battery balance-lead. But it is a much cleaner internal set up when using a connector soldered to one of the aux pads to power the filter board instead of the battery balance lead.

While working on making room to install my X8R rx. Decided to go back to a more stock layout. Reinstalled the carbon booms and side rails. And moved the fc plate forward to make room in the rear section for the rx. Will post my final setup when completed. I found i did indeed break a Delrin clamp during my crash the other day that was not apparent until disassembly.

 

[MototechRyan]

Decided to remove the case from the X8R rx to save some space. And by space i mean maybe 2mm on each side. But yall know how I like to mod stuff. Didnt want to, but moved the flight controller back and off center to make room realizing I'm not very good at acro and the flight controller not being perfectly centered isn't going to make much of a difference. Removed the paddle antenna's so I could mount them to the HobbyKing antenna bracket and find a good way to route the wires. More pics below.

 

[jipp]

not much room in the versacopter that is for sure.. i know im not really digging the design.. im gonna have to get a RX with strait pins to make it fit. i deaf prefer zmr style where you have the open space compared to a box that is for sure.. iv been wasting time on this versacopter im ready to box and work on the fpv zmr. but ill give it a few more days i guess and see what happens. maybe ill get lucky and blue smoke will give me a reason to box. laughs.

i have been looking at old threads on RC Group 2010 and looking at new products for quads.. its amazing how fast things have changed.. back then there was not much and it was all expensive.. now you have so many places to buy parts.. pretty amazing really how fast this part of the RC hobby is growing.
chris.

 

[Spastickitten]

I think that the versacopter is cool, but I don't know if I'd race with it. I want to make a small video only 250 out of one, but I got to build my voodoo 210 first.