Categories
General Multi-Rotors

Flying Summer Recap

So it seems I have gone almost more than 2 months without me posting anything to my blog. Well most of my summer has been working and flying/building my multi-rotors. Here is a picture of all four of them as of right now.

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I may go to a “Build-In” near me to repair it with other hobbyist and the like. From when I started drafting this post I went to the NYCDUG Build-In. I didn’t work on fixing my quads at all but I did get to meet a bunch of cool people who are in to multi-rotors/drones and the like. Some of their rigs where pretty cool like the two big hexacopters.

I also got to control the rig for the camera on one of the guy’s hexacopter.

It was really cool being the operator of camera that is just flying the sky. I have some footage of me controlling the camera but it’s mainly just me repeating how cool it is so the pics above will have to suffice. If you look on the MeetUp page you can see the photos that I took at the build-in. I also did a quick edit of all the footage I took at the event to hopefully get across how fun it was.

Back to my quads, the one that I’m the most proud of building so far is my Tricopter since that required a bit work with the servo then all of my other quads. The build log is on the flite test forums.

It still needs a few upgrades like some better motors and ESC’s also a better tail servo wouldn’t hurt either but it flies pretty well.

It also seems to attract a bit more attention as I was flying in a park near me and two young kids and mom came up to me and asked about what I was flying. After flying it around the kids in the air, above their heads, I was able to land it and show them my tricopter and my other quads to them.

It was pretty cool being able to show them and see how interested they where in them. It might have gone over their heads a bit but who knows, like their mom said they may become the scientists or engineers who build/design them in the future.

The other quad that I built this summer is the BLACKOUT quad that finally came in from Australia. This build was the most intensive one I’ve had to do yet just because everything has to fit into the tiny frame. There is almost no extra space for anything non-essential in there and I couldn’t use bullet connectors with the ESC’s so everything is solder directly. You can check out my build log on the flite test forums. Here are a two in progress build gif’s I made.

 

That’s most of my summer minus work and few other personal projects. One of which I will be doing a small post on soon. I have done a few more flight videos since I last posted about my MHQ quad that can all be found on my youtube channel.

Categories
General Multi-Rotors

Hovership Micro H-Quad Review

So a while ago I came across this cool looking 3D printed quad frame from hovership.  When I was looking to do another quad build and after the success of my other 3D printed frame I decided to order it and start my next quad build. I have had it build and have flown it for over or close to a month now and decided to review it for the hovership site. Below is my review of the quad frame so far but before that a few videos of my FPV flights.

These are my two most recent videos. I have a long way to go until I fly at the level as many other flyers on YouTube, but my skill seem to be improving. I have a few more videos on my page as well as some flights from my other quad. My thoughts on the quad are as follows.

3D Printed Foldable Awesomeness

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The MHQ was my second build of a multi-rotor and my second purchase of a 3D printed frame. The quality of the 3D parts are great and with the included accessories it all comes together nicely and feels very sturdy. It has been a great flier for me since I built it a few weeks ago, I do however have two issues with it.

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The first is the legs that are included with the kit are not that strong unless you have perfect landings all the time. As another reviewer has noted they are a bit weak and broke for me on my second set of flights. Since then I have broken all the legs off with the middle section still screwed on. Also the antenna mounting plate broke as well so I just zip tie the antenna to the camera deck now.

IMG_3098My second issue is the vibration dampeners while awesome and a great way to separate parts of the quad, where impossible for me to pull through the flight controller deck. It could be my 12amp T-motor ESC’s are just to thick but I could not push them through. I could get one or two on the edges maybe but the rest where not going through. In the end I just zipped tied the two together with the dampeners in between to keep it all together and it flies well.

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After a few weeks of flying it has survived all the crashes I have put it through. The best thing for me so far has been the fordable arms. I have on many occasions clipped branches and fences and gone down only to find a dirty quad with an arm or two pushed in. They also make it handy for traveling. The only part that has seen any real damage is a small chip on the front arm plate from me going head first into a fence. (I was trying to pull up.)

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Overall I have to say I’m very happy with my quad so far, it’s size and fold-ability has been a real plus for me. The guides help a new builder like me to put it together with no issues at all minus having to use some extra screw to mount the motors. I made a short build log on the flite test forums with videos and some of my fpv flights (new flier alert!) on my YouTube channel G2BPro. I would recommend this frame for any one looking to get good durable frame at a reasonable price.

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My Build:

MHQ Frame
12amp T-motor ESC’s
RCX 1804 Motors
Acro naze 32
JST to XT60 distribution cord
micro spektrum compatible dsm2 receiver
altitude rc transmitter
5.8 GHz SpiroNET Omni Antenna
RMRC-MINI-V2

Categories
General Inspiration

Quad Blog and First Quad Build

So it seems I have neglected this space for almost another 2 months but I have made posts just now here… So as I mentioned in my last post I have recently been focusing all of my extra time on Quadcopters, Multi-Rotors, Drones, what ever name you like or hate to call them.

If you would like to follow my flying journey you can check out my blog on the flitetest. I’ve posted videos of my flights as well as recording the build of my first quad.  Here’s the video of my first test flight. 

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It’s pretty cool being able to build something and have it actually work out and fly in the end. I’m planning on doing a larger post to recap my Multi-Rotor experiences so far that I will be posting here first so stay tuned for that.

Categories
General Inspiration

A New Year & Quadcopter’s

So the new year begins and I’m scrambling to make a my first post of the year. The reason for this is partly do to work, which is a good thing, and second because of my new-found interest quadcopters or multi-rotors in general. Their fun, easyish to fly, and have endless possibilities for uses. So far I have 4 micro sized ones (one had to be replaced pulling an Icarus move in the sky) and a DX6i Radio to control two of them. My main use in for them, other than to have fun flying them, is for very amateur aerial video.

The video above is one of my better videos so far using a key chain camera (720p) on top of my Red Eye One quad in light snow and some “mild” wind, hence the video being at a constant angle. I really shouldn’t be taking it out in hazardous weather but their so fun to fly out doors. Once I can get some steady video footage I’m going to have to figure out how I can integrate some cool motion graphics

The next thing I would like to do is build a quad, probably using a kit so I can be sure every thing will work right, and do some First Person View flying. I probably need some more stick(flying) time before I do any real FPV but it looks likes a lot of fun and there is any easy, but expensive setup for the Red eye one, so I’ll have to see. I also would like to make the next quad I get a bit bigger in size so well see. If I get to the custom building stage I have some cool ideas for ones I could build using a 3D printer to make the frame and other parts.

Some place I’ve been following are

Flyin’ Ryan RC – Who does great reviews on on planes and quads.

FliteTest – Who not only does reviews of planes, quad, heli’s but is also a full site dedicated to the R/C Hobby and getting people involved in the hobby.

rcgroups.com – a great site for all things R/C related.

So now I’m off to do some more flying.