Wing for iNav - cheap and cheerful start

CarolineTyler

Legendary member
Oh yeah!!!!
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makattack

Winter is coming
Moderator
Mentor
Nice progress! Quick question. Can you remove the FPV camera/keep the VTX off for the maiden flight? That's my recommendation in general for any autopilot equipped planes. I've seen my share of "bugs" mostly relating to misconfigured settings result in -err- exciting flights characteristics.

It would just be one less thing to get damaged.

I've seen planes promptly go inverted, but still stable and controllable (usually somethings reversed), planes that oscillates/flutters like a dolphin on crack (usually bad PIDs), and planes that get a mind of it's own (going into an autonomous mode too soon)

For that matter, I usually put dummy FPV stuff on my UAV maidens until I'm sure the airframe works well with the flight controller.
 

CarolineTyler

Legendary member
Nice progress! Quick question. Can you remove the FPV camera/keep the VTX off for the maiden flight? That's my recommendation in general for any autopilot equipped planes. I've seen my share of "bugs" mostly relating to misconfigured settings result in -err- exciting flights characteristics.

It would just be one less thing to get damaged.

I've seen planes promptly go inverted, but still stable and controllable (usually somethings reversed), planes that oscillates/flutters like a dolphin on crack (usually bad PIDs), and planes that get a mind of it's own (going into an autonomous mode too soon)

For that matter, I usually put dummy FPV stuff on my UAV maidens until I'm sure the airframe works well with the flight controller.
Initial flights will be made with all equipment in place but the controls on pass-through, effectively cutting out all automation/stabilisation, none of the components are overly expensive so I won't shed a tear if they get broken - this is very much a first stab/learning exercise for me so I'm on purpose not choosing the top-of-the-line bits as I expect to break some stuff :).
When I'm happy with the trim I will add very basic stabilisation and bit by bit add explore the other modes and options. Only when I'm fully happy that both loiter and Return to Launch are working reliably will I start trying the FPV, knowing if I get lost at least I have the GPS modes working properly to save me.
 
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CarolineTyler

Legendary member
Getting close, GPS and servos not connected yet but everything else is. Camera works, OSD works, transmitter working like a champ.
Still awaiting the motor, that seems to be taking an absolute age to arrive.
Once everything is verified working I will secure the FC and tidy up the wiring.
Elected not to wire directly to the board as I may want to swap this one out for a model that has a current sensor.
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Ohhhh!!! Funky lights!!!
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CarolineTyler

Legendary member
I had to go soldered! There was not enough height to accommodate the pins and sockets. So I continued with the sockets to test and when all was working, transferred all the connections to another FC trimming wires to length for a much neater installation.
Now cannot wait for the motor to arrive! With a 1500mAh battery and without the motor the plane is 333 grams!
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CarolineTyler

Legendary member
Made it a bit prettier and also ordered a small OLED screen that will display system status/satellites etc. Not quite sure where I will mount it yet...we shall see.
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ElectriSean

Eternal Student
Mentor
Nice work stuffing that in there :) I was rummaging through my parts bin the other day and found one of those little OLED displays, I think I'll be throwing it in my iNav build as well. Very handy.
 

CarolineTyler

Legendary member
Nice work stuffing that in there :) I was rummaging through my parts bin the other day and found one of those little OLED displays, I think I'll be throwing it in my iNav build as well. Very handy.
My only advice would be to be extra extra careful handling these units. The glass on the front of the display is very thin and brittle, one crack and it's ruined.
This was my third display having broken the first two :(
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
My only advice would be to be extra extra careful handling these units. The glass on the front of the display is very thin and brittle, one crack and it's ruined.
This was my third display having broken the first two :(

Grab a pack of them gorilla glass lens protectors for the Session5 cameras everyone uses.
 

CarolineTyler

Legendary member
Thankfully the wing I'm working with has a pretty large equipment bay, I'm going to 3D print some kind of enclosure for the OLED.
I printed a couple of arches that support the board in it place but that's all. I also de-soldered and removed the connection pins wiring directly to the board to reduce the height taken.
Several times in this build I've thought to myself, "Why didn't you pick a bigger bird to install into?" :)
 

CarolineTyler

Legendary member
So bored waiting for the motor to arrive from China (7 weeks so far!) I've ordered another which should do the job and even paid for 1 week shipping ;)
 

slbovey

New member
How is this going ? - i've wanted to do this a few times but spare time is short - still have an FT explorer to make months after i started it :)