Windestål tricopter build questions

andybenton

NERD!!!! :)
Hey all

Looking for general advice regarding my first tricopter build.
I'm going to be using David's tricopter body, 1/2in booms and the rotor bones motor mounts and tilt mount

The questions I have are mainly regarding electronics.

I'm a nitro guy, limited electric experience, I can safely charge and maintain lithium batteries. I can solder, blah blah, I've got the fundamentals of it, but choosing motors for the quad is tricky business to me

I like the dt750, but I'd like to avoid using 4cell batteries. And I'm not sure if the motors will mount to the rotor ones stuff.

The blue wonders are great, but I'm wanting to fly fpv, and I'm concerned it may be anemic if I go with those.

So for starters, I'm accepting motor recommendations...
I'd be willing to pay high prices for more efficient motors, as my target flight time is. 20 min...

I'm hoping that this isn't out of the realm of possibilities.

The tricopter will haul a 1.3ghz fpv transmitter, an apm 2.5 board, and my go pro hero three. At least that is the plan!
Also esc amperage advice, I'm assuming (I know, never assume) that 30 amp would be more than sufficient...

Sorry for the newb questions, it's different to be on this end for once.
Thanks again in advance
Andy
 

RoyBro

Senior Member
Mentor
The differences in the recommend electronics that occurred when the rotor bones came out was interesting. The motor KV doubled from 750 to around 1450. And the ESC power dropped from 20 amps down to 15. Also the prop size went down to 8x6.
I believe all this was done to help facilitate FPV. The higher frequency of the motors and smaller size of the props caused less vibration than the DT750's. With that in mind, you may want to follow the recommend electronics given in the Anycopter build. Especially if you intend to use rotor bones.
 

Cyberdactyl

Misfit Multirotor Monkey
Roybro is correct. DT750s are very robust regarding lift, being they are lower Kv and close to pancake motors. But that extra radius on a rather high standing mount, makes the bell prone to vibration and requires the bell to at least be verified that it is in balance.

DT750s will most likely require you to go the 'extra mile' and build an isolation/frequency lowering platform for a camera. David lowers the frequency even further by adding the single heaviest mass available, and attaching the battery to the platform.

The DT750s have a poor method of lead attachment to the stators and should be addressed by epoxying the leads to the stator. The motor shaft should also be cut to length after you determine how much extra is sticking out of the nut after you put on the prop.

And lastly, the DT750 have a threaded shaft, making it very temping to simply thread the nut down on the prop and clamp against the bell for securing. This is begging for problems, in that it puts a huge amount of shear force on the bell grub screw. When and if the grub screw slips, all that shear is instantly transferred to the motor bearings reducing their life drastically. The safest method is to put a nut and washer above AND below the prop to clamp the prop with no forces on the bell's grub screw. You'll also need to Loctite (blue) the grub screws clamping the motor base to the bearing housing as well.

20131003_204301.jpg


WHEW! That's a lot of caveats on the DT750. . !

BUT . . if you can get past those, for $13 the DT750 is a very cheap way of getting a reliable and heavy lifter. I have flown with 1147 props and lifted 2100+grams with four DT750s on 3S with plenty of throttle to spare and gotten times of around 8-10min.
 
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andybenton

NERD!!!! :)
Ok, so if I go to the new electronics, are the booms still going to be happy at 35 and 37cm? Or should I shorten them down for the 8" props?
 

RoyBro

Senior Member
Mentor
If you intend to use the rotor bones, about the only difference between the Tricopter 2.6 and the Anycopter builds are the hubs. And there it's pretty much a question of style.
 

Cyberdactyl

Misfit Multirotor Monkey
David's 2.6 Deluxe plates don't require the rear boom getting drilled, merely clamped. The Batbone drills through all the booms. I much prefer clamping booms. Two reasons. First drilling through weakens the boom. Booms tend to break at that point. Depending on the size of the boom and hole drilled, it can weaken the boom from 10-20% at that point. Second, if you use a hollow square tube, aluminum or CF, it makes it problematic feeding wiring past the screw inside the tube. For a CF 10mm tube, it makes it quite difficult.

I specifically designed my recent quad for exactly the reasons above.

DSC00132.jpg
 

andybenton

NERD!!!! :)
Perfect, settled the questions I had. Now I just need to figure out if I want to wait on the updated kk board or just pick up the apm 2.5
 

andybenton

NERD!!!! :)
David's 2.6 Deluxe plates don't require the rear boom getting drilled, merely clamped. The Batbone drills through all the booms. I much prefer clamping booms. Two reasons. First drilling through weakens the boom. Booms tend to break at that point. Depending on the size of the boom and hole drilled, it can weaken the boom from 10-20% at that point. Second, if you use a hollow square tube, aluminum or CF, it makes it problematic feeding wiring past the screw inside the tube. For a CF 10mm tube, it makes it quite difficult.

I specifically designed my recent quad for exactly the reasons above.

DSC00132.jpg

by the way, that is a nicely done design, i like how clean the body is, the centerplates are simple, but somehow i feel like the word i want to describe them with is elegant.

more pics??? :)
 

Team_Monkey

New member
Just to throw it out there, don't be afraid of the 24g, 1300 Blue Wonder size motors. I built an FT "H-quad" quad using them and then moved it to a 330mm frame from HK for a more aerobatic setup. I use 10A Plush ESCs with 8x4.5 Turnigy props and an "old" Rev2.0 KKboard. All that hauls around my Fatshark FPV gear (plus an extra 320mAh, 2S for FPV power) like nothing and I get 7+ minute flights from a 1600mAH 3S. It will also hover around forever on 1600mAh 2S but it's more zippy and fun on 3S. :)





I've thought many times about building a more powerful quad based on 2836 motors and 20A ESCs but so far this gear has done everything I've asked. Shaky fight vid
 
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