Who has one? I've been through thew couple of old thread about them... i know demon, and a couple others have them.

I just bought a little blade MqX and its awesome fun. I saw someone else on here had a 'discovery'. Dayyumm they are expensive. For a full on FPV
kit is like $1600. But it looks hella fun. Sooo.. show us your goods please and any forums that are useful/informative, CheerS!

I have one of the blade mqx quads. Heaps of fun, but I've gone through a few motors (2x $20) after around 15 hours flight time and decided to build a bigger one instead. Just got around to ordering all the parts. Looking forward to putting it together

Bromby (or anyone else) want to throw together what build kit or the process involved in getting into this?

I have heard of some cheap as chips kits getting around (~ $30) but i can't imagine they would be great. probably perfect for starting though?

The Blade MqX can be bought for $150ish delivered and it was advised by Mephz to start in that ballpark. Great for getting coordinated with the flying because you will cash... alot.

As for building one, it's my first time so I'm gonna have a bunch of problems, but that's part of it I guess. Trial and error is gonna play a massive factor although it, for the most part, seems straight forward enough.

Head over to www.hobbyking.com for a bit of an idea on parts and prices. Thats where I've bought all my gear.

Yeah i got my Mqx from modelflight.com.au

$160 delivered i think. So much fun! Still fly like a spaz though after my first week :)

Ill just whore out my fixed wing FPV because FPV is awesome regardless of fixed or quad :)
Beautiful sunset and some <2m formation flying with another fixed wing.

Speaking of quad though, I have flown an mqx that I got for my old man and it is goddamn hard without the auto-return to level flight.. I think it may have been demon who suggested about the quad. He's the FPV/Quad guru ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rWtpoyHC8Q

snap from vid:
http://sphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/942196_10151587151053209_977697594_n.jpg

Mephz, is that fpv?

Edit: derr, I should have read your post.

why don't you make a vid with some tricky dicky stuff like flying between trees, chasing cars etc?

quadcopterz!@# wewt! :D

i have 3 functioning fpv quadcopters at the moment. :D all around 450mm mtm.

I saw someone else on here had a 'discovery'. Dayyumm they are expensive. For a full on FPV
kit is like $1600.

i have a tbs discovery... excellent setup for fpv! $1600 would be the pre-made one & i advise against it! make it yourself from the kit parts.. it will end up more like $400 AND most importantly you will know how to fix it when you break it... you WILL break it. :)

good forums :-
general info but you'll need to apply your bulls*** filter : rcgroups
lots of au fpv guys & home of the openpilot controllers : openpilot

those 2 are all i use regularly.

still learning how to fly fpv properly but it's tons of fun... also tons of fault diagnosis & repair work.. so there is that too ;)

trees are jealous of my ability to fly & try & swat me ;)



i'll post some build info on my quads when i get home tonight.

Nice save demon, you did well keeping it off the deck. Also I'm envious of the space you have there. Great spot!

Speaking of quad though, I have flown an mqx that I got for my old man and it is goddamn hard without the auto-return to level flight..

They're a real handful but it definitely trains your reflexes and teaches you about the attitude of craft when you maneuver.

Also Trin, do you have the problem while flying your MqX, when its hovering and you nail the throttle, it flips violently backward? Mine did, so whenever I found I had to use a burst of throttle, it would go stupid and crash. It was very annoying.

hahah demon that is awesome and hilarious

I really would love to get into these, just have to find one i can hook my 9mm hk upto so i can take the fight to the deer during deer season :-P

cheers guys :D no damage to the copter... it just bent my gopro back so it was facing upwards for the flight back to base :p

here is a bit of comedy... always remember to disarm the motors before putting the tx down..



obligatory fangin' around the park fpv with tunes...



so much fun :D

Does the OpenPilot controller allow for USB connectivity to a RC simulator?

Also nice save, that could have been quite the walk.

the openpilot cc3d board that i use does have a usb port & excellent free (open source) setup software... not really sure about simulators though sorry... i've never used a sim :p

i just learnt to fly a quadcopter los (line of sight) till i was reasonably competent at it before i tried fpv. i still crashed a lot... i still crash a lot! :D

Hey bromby, nah mine doesnt go to flip back when i give it full throttle. Just zooms up at a million miles an hour and usually sorta off to one direction :)

Demon cool videos! That first one with the tree branch is funny as :)

http://www.team-blacksheep.com/products/product:162

is the fpv quad i was looking at, so $$$$ ouch.

Thanks for all the info demon I shall start reading :)

that is a pro kit trin.

the standard 750kv motors are rebranded tiger t-motor 2212-750kv i think.. which are good motors but meant for a bare bones light craft imo. the 900kv option would def be worth the $90.

the 25mW video tx will only be good for about the size of a football field in video range & won't have much penetration.

demon, do you have like a live view from the quadcopter while it is flying?

yep. the video up there ^ called 'throttle bump' is a recording of exactly what i see in my video goggles. it's still low def because hd video transmission isn't in the hobby arena just yet. the goggles aren't ideal for me either because i can't wear my prescription glasses under them.. but i like the portability of them over a monitor.

nah mine doesnt go to flip back when i give it full throttle. Just zooms up at a million miles an hour and usually sorta off to one direction

Ah that's what I thought, no mater how I tried to trim the receiver, it would just throw backward and became unrecoverable. I thought something was defective. Ah well, time to build!

Quadcopters + oculus rift = Total win.

Also if you quad is flipping over when you give it a blast of power it could be due to:

Chassis is bent, so the 4 rotors are not on a level plane, this will shift the lift angle sightly and at full throttle it may not be able to compensate.

Or the power being sent to some of the rotors is out of proportion to the other rotors, possibly due to a problem with the ESC's, can they be calibrated?

possibly due to a problem with the ESC's, can they be calibrated?

I don't think they can, I'm not overly worried though. It was to light for the area that I live in, always fighting the breeze and not having fun flying, although I did enjoy the challenge. Keen to get started on my build!

I got a question you guys might be able to answer. I see demon had a gopro attached to his. What is the payload of the quadcopter on that blacksheep website?

http://team-blacksheep.com/products/product:162

you can get rough calculations of how much payload a quad can take using ecalc

just plugging in some rough figures for that tbs discovery in your url ross...

with the 750kv motors ... ~128g extra payload.. f*** all. but.. i did put the overall weight as 1500g which would already include the gopro weight.

with 900kv motors ... ~844g

now that might seem like the 'standard' setup with 750kv motors is s***.. but that's also using the standard 9" props... going to 10" props will get you another 400g of payload... so there are a few variables you can play with to get what you want.

sweet thanks!

demon, quick question from me, I bought a 1000kv and a 1200kv for my build, is this overkill for general flying? I intended to try both 8 inch props and 10 inch. Thoughts?

bromby, the 2836-1000kv is probably overkill :) (400w!!) it will still perform ok i rekn but you may find the power consumption will mean short flight times per battery. the 2826-1200kv is probably a better choice.

i have used those ntm 2826-1200kv motors.. great performance on 3s with 10" props or 4s with 8" props. s*** quality! sorry, but it's the truth :( of the 5 of them that i bought... one had it's bearing seize after about 10 hours of flight time.. one smoked! one of them is constantly losing it's circlip & will come flying apart mid-flight for the lols ;p

but don't let that put you off.. plenty of ppl have great luck with them. fly 'em hard n when they break get some better motors ;)

No worries man, thanks for the heads up. Yeah the 1000kv @ 400w is bulls*** powerful for the application form what I gathered, but you've just clarified it for me.

Basically went that kv range from the recommendations of the frame I got. This is it.

Also, what motors have you had the most luck with? Oh yeah, I was gonna ask you about your FPV goggles. What do you run with? I'm gonna get the quad together and get pro at it before I go down the FPV track.

the ntm 2826-1200kv motors will cain on that q450 frame.. it'll have oodles of power :)

hrm luck with motors... i don't have that ;) i got expensive scorpion motors ($75 a pop) & they failed constantly... broken wires & bearing seizures. i got cheapo ntms & they also fail a lot... i got a few other brands with mixed results.

so far the most flight time i have had without failure have been rctimer 2216-930kv motors... but that said, a mate who has the same motors has had a few bearing related woes. it's partially luck of the draw with the quality... & partially how many times they get crashed into things ;)

one motor that i see a lot of knowledgeable multirotor guys use is the sunnysky 2212-980kv ... relatively cheap, good bearings. i have some.... but i've only given them about 2 hours flight time on a testbed quadcopter.

i use fat shark predator v2 goggles... i don't think they are available anymore. from what i read around the forums the fat shark attitude sd goggles are supposed to be really good.

hd goggles are supposedly just around the corner... depends if you want to wait or not... fat shark base hd goggles they have been "coming soon" since about november 2012..

Seems to be a roll of the dice then, no worries.

Yeah I watched a video on the FS Attitude sd and they were raving about them.

I literally just got an email from them about the charger I ordered being out of stock and they aren't carrying them anymore. Any recommendations? I'm getting 3s 3300mha batteries. Sorry to keep hitting you up for phat newludg bass

i use the turnigy accucel-6 charger for my lipos. it does the job but it needs a dc power supply... i just use a hacked up old pc power supply.. any dc power supply that provide ~12-18vdc @ 5a will do fine.

there are lipos chargers with built in power supplies i think but i got no experience with them.

I have a HobbyKing ECO6-10 200W Ordered it out of the AU HK warehouse. Has the standard turnigy/HK menu and works well.

I use it on a DC powersupply that can put out 200W so can charge some batteries at their charge rate without any issues.

A friend of mine has the Just Another Charger 80W 6A that HK use to sell. It has the intergrated DC PSU but only does 80W so charging is a bit slower for the higher capacity batteries. Looks like they stopped selling it so they can sell their own version.

I'm getting 3s 3300mha batteries

What is their charge rate in C?

Not sure if you saw the thread with this google doc - http://goo.gl/G3sRD

Most of the prices need to be refreshed but you can get the idea, also probably better off getting a CC3D clone board since they are easier to come by these days especially if you are a beginner.

Hah you puny quadcopter payloads ;)
My flagship runs 1050kv (11655rpm) 850W turning a 12" screw with a 7" pitch :) I need to do a speed check.but I reckon 150kph is not out of.the question. Flat stick on calm winds she fross the 200m diameter field I fly at from end to end in around 4-5 seconds easily :)

Waiting for halyconHD camera soon when.money allows for fpv+recording all in one

Mephz that's impressive

150km/hr????? quadcopter????

I just smashed the s*** outta my blade mqx trying to do some flips.. its now pretty f***ed i cant even fly stable. Time for an upgrade!

Trim nah not quadcopter. I cheat with aerodynamics and wings that generate lift :)

Hahahah trin I bought a heap of propellers for mine before I wrecked the second motor. If your manage to get it going again you're welcome to them.

something tells me the future of FlightSim games is running around with this tech with mates on a field to see who can take out who the most... via an interface from their home PC

What is their charge rate in C?

Sorry mate I totally missed your reply.

They're 35C batteries. I had the same charger as your mate on order. Might as well grab their version now.

I also checked out your google doc, what do you need servo cables for? f*** I hope I haven't missed anything!

Any chance you guys could run your eye over my list of parts? I'm anxious I've forgotten something.

Link. Lemme know what if I've missed anything or anything you would change. I'd appreciate it.

They're 35C batteries. I had the same charger as your mate on order. Might as well grab their version now.

35C would be the discharge rate, need to know the charge rate so you know what rate to charge them at.

35C * 3.3 (from it being a 3.3AH battery) = 115.5Amps max draw on discharge

There is now your charge rate would be that high, probably more likely 1 or 2C.

I also checked out your google doc, what do you need servo cables for?

You need the servo cables to connect the controller to your RX/radio receiver if you are using a board like the KK2.0 or MultiWii.

If you are using a controller like the CC3D then it comes with a pigtail to connect to your RX.

bromby you might need some mounting hardware (like nylon threaded standoffs) for mounting the flight controller... i'm not sure though, as i've never used a multiwii fc. also... i see an orange tx module... but no rx?

otherwise it looks like you are good to go :)

There is now your charge rate would be that high, probably more likely 1 or 2C.

So man, my bad. Yeah the charge rate is 5C max.

And the servo cables, sorry I was confused with something else.

demon, looks like I need to make some changes. I got that one purely because it was on the accessories list for the transmitter :(

ahh k. mephz might be able to help you out with a tx/rx combo for the turnigy 9xr.. he has a 9xr but i'm not sure what tx/rx combo he uses with it.

i use a futaba 8fg radio now... expensive.. but i lubbz it. :D

Surely since we are all getting an Oculus rift at some point, you could use that as your FPS goggles?

Is there any reason not to get the 9xr?

i'm only vaguely familiar with the oculus rift headset.. is it just a pair of lcd screens the same as fat shark goggles? or is there some cool technology associated?

on the turnigy 9xr ... it's a great budget radio... with open-source firmware & lots of user tools. but it doesn't come standard with a tx or rx module. so you have to choose a tx & rx module to suit it. as it's a $50 radio from hobbyking, you have to expect that not every single one they pump out of the factories is going to be quality. you may get an awesome one.. or you may get a dud... & returning a $50 radio to hong kong isn't worth it.

i used a turnigy 9x (the predecessor of the 9xr) for a while & got a dud.. then a good one. i use the dud as spare parts for the good one. at $100 it was still cheaper than every other radio with similar features.

i have a Spectrum DX8 and it is win. If you use a transmitter with some really nice gymbles you will notice the difference. Also the menu system on the 9x is pretty arcane and annoying to use.

Don't get me wrong though, for the price the 9x and 9xr are both massive bang for your buck and have very active communities supporting and modding them.

For RX/TX packs for the 9XR (the 9X already comes with them) I would look at the FrSky stuff, for example. The orange stuff is okay but only 6 channels, which would be enough initially but not if you want to do in air tuning or able to turn multiple accessories on and off. That said I do have a few orange bits and pieces for little quads using satellite receivers talking directly to CC3D controllers but when configured like that you get access to all your TX's channels (8 in my case).

Also, the 9XR listed on HK is a mode1, im not sure what you fly but me and my mates all fly mode2, so if your friends use a certain mode it is best to stick to that, so then you can fly (and crash hah) their stuff too..

Sooo a guy at my work also bought a quadcopter today, some $90 job. This thing can do flips and side barrel rolls and stuff, i cant do
anything like that with mine!!! Although I did get to steal his 4 spare blades so i could get mine flying again :D

Also annoying of the MqX, the motors sorta pop out so they're not working with the gears when I have hard stacks. His seems so much tougher I crashed it
multiple times and the motors didnt even move outta their mounts :( Blade Mqx - $150, Mr Toys $90 :'(

I use 9XR yeah. I had to solder tactile microswitches to the PCB of mine under the maltese cross because the rubber conductor original pad was total ass on mine and had erroneous inputs at times. Two of my mates on the othrr hand are fine... But mine clicks and has tactile feedback so is nice now anyway :)

I use frysky telemetry module and receivers. For what the 9XR can do the equivalent spektrum/futaba would.cost you nearly $1000.
I have a spektrum radio and I prefer the gimbals on the 9XR.

No issues with range with my setup at this point. Supposed to.br good for 2.5km but I have only.gone maybe 1km horizontally

So I emailed HK on Friday arvo to change my order and it was sweet. Ended up getting this receiver and changed the motors to the NTM 1200kv motors to increase the flight times. I also impulsed on one of these.Can't wait for it all to arrive! A bunch of the stuff is on back order so I'm guessing its gonna be around 2 months before it all arrives. Anyone with previous experience and expected wait times?

Awesome vids, demon. Nice one!

Order arrived from the Australian warehouse yesterday without the batteries :( put a support ticket in thought the support centre. See how it goes. Anyone had to chase something like this up with them before? There are a tonne of negative threads about customer service issues with them.

Anyone know a phone number I can call?

Quad + RC Car = Cool.

http://www.gizmag.com/b-rc-quadcopter-car/27655/

http://images.gizmag.com/inline/quadcoptercar-5.jpg

pinky : cheers :)

bromby : that sucks :( i've never had an order from hobbyking that was missing parts before... but i've had to send faulty gear back before n it was a major pain in the arse. :f took ages to sort out... yeh their customer support is not awesome. i got the quickest action by jumping on their livechat support & spewing my angst in text at one of their support staff. make sure you have the appropriate order numbers/ dates n stuff to quote to them.

mantis : that is very cool... i bet it would break easy though!

Thought I'd share this incredible pic a friend snapped of my bigbird (MKII Hurricane) in flight.
http://www.facebook.com/ajax/messaging/attachment.php?attach_id=81f56a80a5345d53fd478534118352e0&amp;mid=mid.1370062214195:36c2ecc39ca6099725&amp;hash=AQAv2qfZGkqK7JvQ

And then FPV in the rain!

FPV is a new camera/gimbal setup, I'm working on making full 3D moving pilot & cockpit.
Just doing testing in this video working on best camera heights etc. first

Will be remaking this canopy larger and camera higher (this is pretty scale perspective but it would be no good for enjoyment/ease of flying with no physical feedback).

http://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=8gvMrjX3abk&ns=1

Couple of more awesome shots:

http://www.facebook.com/ajax/messaging/attachment.php?attach_id=43d8ccf6b64f911ddb38631c907fd6f1&amp;mid=mid.1370079086138:681e7b42ea62e2c030&amp;hash=AQAbaWO-4kRmXhrjhttp://www.facebook.com/ajax/messaging/attachment.php?attach_id=d2e023ec8cf3d30c9a78526d876fd576&amp;mid=mid.1370078055672:7b86068344e86e7a08&amp;hash=AQD9T3seQ5uq-9up

so much awesome in this thread

So while this is far from an FPV setup, it is good for the lower end / light payload people out there.

While I've not got a quad / multicopter, I do have a few regular heli's (Newest one is a tiny WL Toys V911 4ch micro).

Recently 'discovered' FPV and wanted to start getting video without dropping too much on the initial outlay:

http://www.personalsecuritycompany.com.au/collections/spy-cameras-mini/products/4-gb-hd-1280x960-spy-car-key-chain-mini-camera-concealed-dv-motion-detect-recorder-909?utm_source=myshopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Gifts+Gadgets&utm_term=4+GB+HD+1280x960+Spy+Car+Key+Chain+Mini+Camera+Concealed+DV+Moti

Bob's your uncle, it's getting here Monday. Apparently will record at 1080p (not quite, but close enough) and has a 4gb stick in it already.

It's also quite small and quite cheap.

Runs 30fps, colours look a bit average though and the lens is quite a small FoV compared to something like a go-pro.

Also, it's not designed for FPV goggles and such, but you should still be able to get some nice footage for cheap on things that normally can't mount a bulkier FPV set up (such as light jets / gliders even).

damnit... where the hell were these things when I was younger and had more time and expendable income?


DX sells them... though I don't know if they're dodgy or not

*edit*


admin - this double posted.



consider this a support ticket or something

http://www.perthrc.com.au/teleporter-qvga-kit-2-week-warranty-sale.html

not sure what the price is yet, but i'm guessing cheap.

looks nasty too

http://www.perthrc.com.au/teleporter-qvga-kit-2-week-warranty-sale.htmlnot sure what the price is yet, but i'm guessing cheap.

Fat shark RTF kits are about $300 American, so probs a bit more Aussie.

why does it look nasty? if it were under AUD$150 it would be an alright buy

it's just an earlier version of the dominator or predator versions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiqRbm4hH_A

why does it look nasty? if it were under AUD$150 it would be an alright buy

it's just an earlier version of the dominator or predator versions?

yeah, i think it would be a good first option. couple of my mates are looking at it for that reason.

http://www.perthrc.com.au/teleporter-qvga-kit-2-week-warranty-sale.html

172$ not bad.

Here's a few printscreen shots from the cam from my new FPV camera (1080p - 1/4 the size of a gopro and 1/5th the weight!)

Video feed itself will only ever be low def. due to current vTx tech. (release HD already!)
Images are through my canopy as well which is colour degrades and grains up the shots.

Still flying this camera by sight at the moment while working on the cockpit/canopy area.
As a test, stuck a pilot model from a friends bixler in there (far too small - he ejected off a barrel roll. Was there in the reflection of the canopy before the barrel roll. Disappeared after the roll hahaha) but the reflections are nice and clear for when the fullscale arrives (yet to black out the inside, waiting for my $3 GIJoe pilot to arrive ;)

Compressing the video these shots are from at the moment.

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/474866_10151647618528209_1431566234_o.jpg

I wasn't hassling the dogs here, its my preferred landing pattern to come between the trees and I can get down low earlier plus land near where I take off :)
Cow pattern glare is all missing paint from the hatch. Colour in black = no longer visible A good tip for anyone looking at doing FPV, use black around/in any canopy you make!

http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/965694_10151647618388209_621479860_o.jpg

Last one bit of colour loss since it became overcast + shooting through my canopy its preferential to be nice and bright outside :)
The white crap bottom corner is all distorted reflections, reflections are all from missing paint off the hatch (need to colour them in black!)
http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/966907_10151647618513209_1911347824_o.jpg

cool pics mephz :) is that from the horyzon hd cam? i have one of those but the video-out never worked & foxtech never returned any of my emails... still sitting in it's box :(

Yeah thats from Horyzon HD cam demon!

What version was your Horyzon? this is the V3.

Looks great bud!

i have the v2 i think... i can't even find it now :p

i got in a spot of fpv today ...

This is bulls***, you guys are flying every weekend it seems and I've been waiting for 2 weeks for the transmitter battery to restock. One part holding up my entire order :( *first world probs*

Canopy off (actually nosed over on some thick grass today and canopy popped out of its gluing so), attempting to stiffen up my mounting to reduce vibration.
Will colour in my cockpit interior now to reduce glare and await the pilot :P

Video from the above screengrabs.
Up to 1080p:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaUxiRhsUXA

TED Talk - Raffaello D'Andrea: The astounding athletic power of quadcopters

Well worth a watch.

i love reviving this thread :)

that ted talk is awesome :) the 3 copters using the net co-operatively is cool.

it's gonna be pretty amazing to see what people come up with using this tech.

That was f***ing amazing!

I've finally made a start on building cockpit/pilot.
Preliminary testing for alignment :P

http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/v/1005267_10151666766593209_2004151530_n.jpg?oh=b74b371687dba4634391eb1ca68d62bd&amp;oe=51C20821&amp;__gda__=1371714345_f8a0f04b05d95b47f711409e8c8fa3b3

Demon, you might be interested in this - http://buildandcrash.blogspot.com.au/

it is the blog of peabody, one of the devs that left OP and started taulabs. He has designed his own board that has a brushless gimbal controller addon.

Texas City Dike Yacht Club from James Cotton on Vimeo.

that's pretty cool :) brushless gimbals are all the rage atm! i'm getting one :]

i really like this guys vids.. another au op guy that you might know... has a home made brushless gimbal with an alexmos controller.

Demon, that's an amazing video. Amazing landscape.

Brushless gimbals are so sweet. This (collective) tech is developing so quickly. Great future of this hobby ahead.

yep, brushless gimbals are the mad shiz ;D i'm ordering the parts for mine this weekend. a buddy of mine is trialing a 3d printed gimbal made for the tbs discovery & i am in-line for a test prototype. w00t!

here it is in action...

Very impressive. Once I get my s*** together I'm gonna have to get one. I'm planning on capturing a heap of surfing footage from around my town over summer and I think this will enable a very unique perspective.

Also, f*** hobbyking can f*** around when sending orders! I just received that my order was sent. Waited over a month for the transmitter battery then had to cancel because it was still on backorder. Fingers crossed it doesn't take an age in transit. /whinge

I've been building and working on one of these.... on a smaller scale.
http://i.imgur.com/06RVLA8.jpg

That's awesome. How much is the kit? Got a link?

nice cam gimbal demon. is that your fpv full tilt view so you can really get a sense of the feel for the turns? :)

I built mine but could get it to take off level. f***ed around with it for ages. I'll post the visa in the morning in. Ended up giving up and ordered a kk2 board and afro escs. Should be here next week

Oh one of my pet hobbies at the moment.

I have a FPV on a Bixler and have 2 quad copters as well, Just waiting on a few parts to kick of the FPV quad.

I don't have a gopro so the video feed is limited.

bromby : what flight controller are you having problems with? apologies if you have already said.. i've forgotten.
you should be ok with the kk2.0 though... it's a decent fc, if somewhat unrefined.

adsa : nice vid :) mostly clear signal on the video... what frequency & vTx power are you using?

here is another of my fpv videos from my 'park basher' quadcopter... it's cheap & rough as guts so i don't mind giving it a thrashing :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK2WNjNv2Cw

adsa : nice vid :) mostly clear signal on the video... what frequency & vTx power are you using?

I have a 200mw 5.8ghz version with circular polarized antennas. I can safely get 900m with out video signal loss. I am looking at getting a 400mw or possibly a 600mw Tx and use the 200mw on my quad.

Hi Adsa! :P Audi, the Kit I have is called a Crazyflie nano. Heres a video of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WBUVYZkODI

Ah this thread has resurfaced!
Here's a grab from my FPV cam of my completed cockpit from the Hurricane, can only see it when looking down or reflections in canopy.
Unfortunately I broke my pan servo and have been significantly too lazy to replace it. Been waiting to maybe get a 180+deg servo and get more panning out of it.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/994313_10151787678818209_23320329_n.jpg

Demon it was the Multiwii Pro board.

Video one
Video 2
Video 3

f***ed if I could work it out. I had no joy on the rcgroups.com forums or the flitest.com forums. I'm of the conclusion the board is faulty. Meh

ahh that sucks bromby :( i wish i could help you out but i know zero about multiwii controllers or their software.
at least when you get the kk2 i can give you some assistance if you have problems.

this board is my favourite flight controller atm... hands down. a bit more expensive but it's easier to setup & feels more controlled to fly.

Early morning flight this morning.
Nice sunrise and some dense ground fog with some fog plumes! :)

Sunrise moment after takeoff, closer to what we were seeing on the ground:
http://s8.postimg.org/7tqi99nqc/Sunrise2.jpg

Dense Ground Fog
http://s8.postimg.org/nb9ez84tg/Sunrise_Foggy.jpg

Sunrise, the lake to the right in line with the nose and the bay to the right above.
Fog plume visible just above the nose :)
http://s8.postimg.org/z4783g19g/Sunrise_High2.jpg

Obligatory/Signature wing shot :)
http://s8.postimg.org/uywbhj3hg/Sunrise_wing.jpg

Last one just cause
http://s8.postimg.org/59qa1fask/Low.jpg

Demon that board looks good man. I want to be able to utilize GPS down the track. Is that board capable? I was considering this board down the track with this GPS unit. I'm going to try a tricopter setup with my Multiwii board but if it doesn't work it;s going in the bin D:

Sunrise this morning, photo I took of a mates EDF Vampire.

http://s8.postimg.org/vn9re7rkz/Wallpaper.jpg

Mephz I can't see your pics :(

[edit] standby, I am going to upload to one of those free sites and edit the previous posts URLs if I can

[edit2] Ok I changed them all. Should be working now?

woww loving this s***

that brushless gimball steadycam one flying around whites hill fields is incredible

Demon that board looks good man. I want to be able to utilize GPS down the track. Is that board capable? I was considering this board down the track with this GPS unit. I'm going to try a tricopter setup with my Multiwii board but if it doesn't work it;s going in the bin D:

the cc3d can't use gps as far as i know... there could be some hack jobs out there but in it's standard configuration it can't use gps info. it's mainly a smooth flying acro board... that's what i like about it :)

i have a naza with gps & i never use it... the gps stuff is good for a bit of a novelty... hovering perfect in it's spot, return to home & stuff like that. but once i tried all those things a few times i didn't use the gps features much. occasionally the gps return to home does get me out of trouble when there is a control signal loss.. but that's rare.. still handy though :)

i don't know anything about those hkpilot fc's... but my gut feeling is that because i have not heard any other fpv pilot mention them... they aren't very good :p i could be wrong though.

cool pics mephz! real nice one of the vampire against the sunrise!

Yeah I sort of only wanted the gps for the RTH function. I'm going stick with the KK2.0 board for a bit then do the fpv thing. I've started flying planes with a bunch of fellas from around my area (Yamba NSW) and a few of them have FPVed their Bixlers which are great!

Mephz for some reason I can see any of those pics?

Ah sorry Mephz, they don't show up in the forum but can access them now if you open in a new tab. Some sweet shots mate

If you haven't heard of these guys check them out. Some very helpful videos for the beginners.

Vid from this morning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er2szvIGCCA

Adsa the flitest.com guys are awesome. Very worth while videos. I want to build the V-tail quad. Looks awesome.

Sweet vid Mephz. Every time you and demon throw a vid up it motivates me to get my shift together ha

Truly awesome stuff in this thread, especially the TED talk.

I could imagine this becoming a viable method of transport some time in the future.

I took this snap yesterday afternoon. There was a fire some ~15+km (as the crow flies) away.
Altitude 1000ft.
http://s13.postimg.org/5tr4335rp/Fire.png

Altitude 1000ft.

Naughty naughty!

I built mine but could get it to take off level. f***ed around with it for ages. I'll post the visa in the morning in. Ended up giving up and ordered a kk2 board and afro escs. Should be here next week

Bromby, make sure you have all the escs calibrated the same, calibrate the ACC too, then make sure you plug in the unit on level ground and leave it for 30seconds before trying to fly. see if that makes a difference.

http://www.multiwii.com/wiki/index.php?title=ESC_Calibration
http://www.multiwii.com/wiki/index.php?title=Calibration_Accelerometer

Demon that board looks good man. I want to be able to utilize GPS down the track. Is that board capable? I was considering

The CC3D can take a GPS, but it can't really do anything with it, like position hold, fencing or back to base atm. I believe they ran out of resources on the chip before they could do that.

OP have the Revo controller out now that they are planning on implementing those features on.

I have the following controllers (sparkys are still in transit)
Naze32 (like a multiwii on a STM32) - http://abusemark.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=30
OP CC3D - http://www.openpilot.org/products/openpilot-coptercontrol-platform/
OP REVO - http://www.openpilot.org/products/openpilot-Revolution-platform/
Sparky+Sparky BGC - http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?11581-Sparky-new-Tau-Labs-flight-and-brushless-gimbal-controller

OP's GCS make the quad sooo easy to set up, I expect the sparky to be the same. Revo flies like the CC3D but just the the ability to have more features added down the track.

Naze32 files well, it is designed/made by the same guy that designed the afroESCs but CC3D/REVO are my favourites atm.

cool stuff ara :)

i missed out on the op revo kickstarter... i just hope they opensauce the hardware like they did with the cc3d. i'm not in a burning rush for the revo though. as per my last post, i am finding the acro more fun atm... don't need gps or funky features for that! :) cc3d suits me fine atm.

i just bought a acro naze32 (the cheapest one) from timecop, coz i was buying my inversense gyro chips from him & threw one in the cart :) haven't mounted it yet though.

the tau labs sparky looks interesting! where can i get me one of them? :]

the tau labs sparky looks interesting! where can i get me one of them? :]

ask peabody in #taulabs on freenode.

few pretty sweet pics from this morning.
The final pic that formation gap was closed to about 2m and the held perfectly for about 270 degrees with a ~100m radius turn. Bloody hard to do and not trying again anytime soon :)

http://s22.postimg.org/h5hyu2ob3/HC4.jpghttp://s22.postimg.org/tiut0zdzj/HC5_10.jpghttp://s22.postimg.org/wae2rlci9/HC5_13.jpghttp://s22.postimg.org/x16sxdevj/HC5_22.jpg

cheers ara! :)

nice pix mephz! perfect weather for it.

i'm working on a mini fpv quad atm :D

I'd like to see some high aerial photography from your quads.
One thing planes can't do is stop to capture a super fantastic shot :)

Quadcopters cant stop either apparently.

heheh yeh saw that video :) ... dji phantom .. the noob'o'copter

it can stop fine... the person controlling it just needs to lrn2fly it.

(edit) mephz : i'll see what i can do... but it's all been technical difficulties & crashing & fixing lately for me! :(

when i get my gimbal quad going ill do it, change the gimbal tilt to straight down with altitude hold on

great vids and pics in here! anyone else using apm boards?
Bixler, Phantom fx-61 and q450 quad.

I run arduflyer boards in my planes and quad, gps and radio links to laptop. I like the follow me feature the gps module allows when you connect to the quad via your phone, but mostly the return to home function when I go out of video or transmitter range
Also neat planning missions and telling your quad/plane where and how high to go by right clicking in Mission Planner Google Earth maps and selecting go here.

A couple cameras my favourite at the moment is the new mobius 1080P.
video tx boscam 200mw 5.8ghz with circular antennas. Very happy with the result.

I'm waiting for the 1080p Oculus goggles(also for iracing) so in the meantime I bought the $99 FPV sunglasses and modded some old dirtbike goggles as the sunglasses don't block out enough light if you know what I mean..

I am quite surprised how ok they are, pretty dam close to the fat shark models. Tho i wish the $200 dollar fat sharks were available when I bought mine.

Bromby, yes great board is another apm copy like the arduflyer, I didn't realise hk now have the ublox gps module, quick lock and precise in comparison to the others.

This is what i use:
http://rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=822&productname=

that does sound pretty cool fukles! i've never used an apm board but i know a couple of guys that do.

i am digging the mobius too :D a great evolution of the 808. i've pretty much ditched my 808 #16 now i have the mobius.

hd goggles are gonna sell out so fast when they finally arrive.

I just finished building a hexcopter, this is my first multicopter. APM 2.5, 600mw video link, OSD, brushless gimbal. Flies nicely although not too happy with the AX2810 motors so have some sunnysky 2814's on the way. Haven't been game enough to do full on fpv flying yet but will do soon!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f3EnwpjBgr4/Ug3_ydXB8KI/AAAAAAAAXBg/jiiXj0Xr6fI/w1026-h577-no/20130816_113226.jpg

I just finished building a hexcopter, this is my first multicopter. APM 2.5, 600mw video link, OSD, brushless gimbal. Flies nicely although not too happy with the AX2810 motors so have some sunnysky 2814's on the way. Haven't been game enough to do full on fpv flying yet but will do soon!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f3EnwpjBgr4/Ug3_ydXB8KI/AAAAAAAAXBg/jiiXj0Xr6fI/w1026-h577-no/20130816_113226.jpg

One of the guys that flys at the turf farm out near beaudesert has the dev kit version of oculus, is working on twin cameras for 3d fpv :O

I'm new to quads and need more practise on keeping an eye on how quickly I'm returning to earth, I tend to focus on the horizon more than I should :P Had a rougher than average landing last weekend, bounced and flew on for another 20 seconds before(I assume) a blade broke sending me back to earth which then broke every arm.
Luckily hk now stock the arms and full kits for $11 so cheap and quick to get back in the air.

Whats your trick for balancing blades? sanding takes aaaaaaages
I've just had some carbon fibre blades delivered so going to try those tomorrow(taking the day off!)

Already the rage builds in my loins for a 6+ way coptor but do I really need to spend the money.. :P
My next move is Turnigy 9XR with FRSky module for two way communication so it'll warn me when link is getting low, bad and goooone. Also link within a second.

I'm currently using Spektrum DX6i with OrangeRX and satellite receivers. I've had a couple unexplained momentary drop outs and the more people I speak to about it ask me if I'm using Spektrum.

Nice quad Bikeseat!/
You really went all out for your first one, looks great

I just finished building a hexcopter, this is my first multicopter. APM 2.5, 600mw video link, OSD, brushless gimbal. Flies nicely although not too happy with the AX2810 motors so have some sunnysky 2814's on the way. Haven't been game enough to do full on fpv flying yet but will do soon!

Cool lookin' hexa. envious of your gimbal :D i reckon those sunnysky 2814s won't fit though... they are massive! what voltage battery do you use with those ax2810s? i have some 750kv versions & they went pretty hard on 4s.

Whats your trick for balancing blades? sanding takes aaaaaaages
I've just had some carbon fibre blades delivered so going to try those tomorrow(taking the day off!)

sanding & a prop balancer :( yup can take a while if the balance is bad.
i use futaba, i've had loss of signal but they are usually related to antennae being chopped by props :p

I can flip the motor mounts to the upper side of the arms so the motors will fit. I'm running on 4s, with one 8000mah pack and AUW of 2.96kg I needed 65% throttle for hover. I have since realised that the props a likely to close to the boom so this may be part of the issue, anyhow will change the motors so I can lift a slr further down the track. The Sunnysky's should do nearly 2kg per motor on 4s with a 11 x 5 prop.

ahh ok.. ~3kg ! that's massive. i was running my ax2810s on a ~1.6kg quad.

6 of those giant sunnyskys will be insane.. so like.. video that! :D

Bromby, make sure you have all the escs calibrated the same, calibrate the ACC too

Yeah I calibrated them with the receiver and then tried through the board with the same result. I calibrated the ACC and it seemed to work fine one the bench while plugged into the computer and observing the feedback in the GUI. Some voodoo s*** was going on.

yes great board is another apm copy like the arduflyer

Yeah I've read mostly good things about the board and the GPS unit seems to be highly rated.

My next move is Turnigy 9XR with FRSky module

Thats what I'm running with my plane atm. It's very handy.

not too happy with the AX2810 motors

Say it isn't so! I've just ordered a bunch of these. I'm only gonna run them on 3S with a minimal load (no camera or FPV). Hopefully they work alright.

They'll be fine with less load, I would strongly recommend changing the bearings though mine have developed a lot play after three flights. It's a known weak point with that motor, after that you should be fine!

Screengrab.
Planes...
boldly going where Quadcopters.....can't?

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/v/1234689_593948003982460_1696210175_n.jpg?oh=b41c8fe586006e15bef644fef889e6ef&amp;oe=521A00FF&amp;__gda__=1377448283_f736d1f65529f8ceb29be63f3379cc25

Ha nice Mephz, Wish the s***ty windy rainy weather would piss off so I can get out and test my Quad/Bixler setup

Pictures gone :( May need to put it on something like imgur.com.

http://s9.postimg.org/5um5wpxlr/1234689_593948003982460_1696210175_n.jpg

So first actual flight today, lots of issues to sort out but not a complete disaster for a windy day. The building you can see on the left after take off is the Mclaren technology centre.

http://youtu.be/EUtm-8QeQnE

Sigh forum seems broken won't let me edit.

http://youtu.be/EUtm-8QeQnE

pretty awesome for a maiden flight bikeseat :) nice action on the gimbal.

hi guys, please do this and report back to me with pixtures

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/unmanned-aircraft-bought-online-being-deployed-to-monitor-private-and-public-property/story-fnihsrf2-1226707858451

CASA requires a drone operator to have a controller's certification and certificate. Drone pilots require general aviation knowledge in line with a private pilot's licence, and specific unmanned aircraft skills.

Drones cannot be used for recreational use.

ROFL.
Whilst yes some knowledge is preferable and makes things safer and easier.

That's about as ridiculous as saying a kid can't play with an remote control car if he doesn't have a drivers licence.
Totally different skill sets even if the basic physics remain the same.

Also, who on earth is going to be spying on women on the beach with these things. Grab some binoculars or a video camera with a telescopic lens wouldjavascript:void(0); provide significantly better footage and easier.

Sweet vid BiKESEAT. If only all maidens went so well

Sigh forum seems broken won't let me edit.

http://youtu.be/EUtm-8QeQnE

Where was this?

Woking, UK. Hence why you can see the McLaren building :)

the hkpilot board looks/sounds like an ardupilot board... And if it runs (or is able to run) the arupilot firmware, gps shouldn't be a problem.

Demon, I'm looking at build a Quad, budget around $300ish give or take.

My current reading has the cc3d as possibly one of the better FC's around for a reasonable price. Except I'm having a terrible time finding a place that sells it in stock, even having trouble finding a clone that will run the software.

Can you help a brother out and help me get an idea of how to get hold of one of these? Or if there is another flight controller that is similar?

Nevermind, found a place that sells them and have stock.


However looking around I'm still thinking perhaps I should go for an arduino based controller, arg.

Anyway, I give it 1-3 years until Laws come out that stop people from using these without a license.

Managed to get around to actually going for a fly and re-arranging my cockpit a bit.
I might throw an extra servo on there next and make the flight stick moveable with controls.

I have taken the canopy off for now until I build a proper one, the old coke-bottle has become far too scuffed and difficult to see out of:

Nice morning for some altitude climbs ;)

http://s18.postimg.org/48100oz48/Bixsphere.jpg

hey toll, sorry missed your previous post! cheapest cc3ds are at readymaderc

i think you will find that the laws will be here very soon.. my prediction is in the next 6 months.

Went for my maiden flight this morning without a single error! Then threw in the second battery send received a ACC error. f*** this hobby is frustrating. (kk2.0 board)

i got that with some kk2.0 boards. especially if i didn't power them up while sitting level. re-doing the acc calibration fixed it.

So demon, in your opinion are there any better boards than the cc3d? I was looking at some of the Taulabs stuff and wondering about that. Also the Naze 32 is good too.

The reason why I think cc3d is for me, is that I want to control most of the quad myself, keeping it highly agile yet be able to let the board take over when I want.

Once I settle on the board I'll go into choosing my other components, I figured it would be best to start with the board.

the openpilot cc3d is my favourite (atm) of the 3 controllers i have tried... naza-m, kk2.0 & cc3d. there could well be 'better boards' but i have no experience with them so i can't really say. i would probably say that the openpilot revolution is a 'better board' than the cc3d because it has all the cc3d goodness plus some 'yet to be fully released' extras.. but good luck getting one.. rare as hen's teeth. openpilot did one kickstarter run of revolution boards for the dev team & there is currently no set plan to produce more.

a couple of my fpv friends swear by the naze32.. the expensive version of the naze32 can use gps & has a lot of functions. atm i have a cheap (acro only) naze32 but i have yet to use it... still having too much fun with my cc3d copters :)

the cc3d is great for tuning the copter to exactly how you like to fly it, a great pilot's acro board! but when it comes to 'letting the board take over' when you get in strife... all it can do is level the vehicle. it won't auto-land or return to home.

just bear in mind that no matter what board you start with... if you are new to multirotor r/c flying... you will smash it up! we all do! :)

i got that with some kk2.0 boards. especially if i didn't power them up while sitting level. re-doing the acc calibration fixed it

Yeah no dice. I've had a brief look into it and it looks like it's broken a accelerometre.

So demon, in your opinion are there any better boards than the cc3d? I was looking at some of the Taulabs stuff and wondering about that. Also the Naze 32 is good too.

naze32 is a better quality version of multiwii. runs multiwii ported to stm32. some guy has also ported cc3d fw to it, and at once stage timecop ported TL fw to it but it isn't actively being maintained. it is the same cpu as a cc3d, which means it is pretty much at the limit of its abilities.

if you want to do GPS fencing, back to home, GPS route plotting, you need a OP revo or a TL sparky/quanton.

Revos are only if you got in the KS, Sparky can be picked up for around 85$US if you ask nicely in #taulabs on freenode, and quanton can be bought online in EU but are pretty exy.

http://www.quantec-networks.de/shop/en/quanton/1/quanton-flight-control-rev.-1

all the TL/OP boards use GCS, a gui software program for win/mac/linux that makes setting up your quad super easy.

starting out, i would get a CC3D. you can fly that in attitude or rate mode with the flip of a switch on your transmitter. if you want to play with GPS stuff later, get a sparky/quanton.

Less talk more RC imagery noobs.

Finally completed my cockpit in a view I like, wing roots just in view and pilot limbs.
Next stage is making pilot limbs move with control surface movement. Just need to get some pushrods to be able to do it none spare.

So I ended up crashing into a tree (wingtip) on landing today thanks to a forced landing from low battery but that's another story.

--The Bay and Redcliffe + the hornibrook bridge viewable to the right.

http://s14.postimg.org/bb7wpwc3z/Freesolo_bay.jpg

-- Lake Kurongbah


http://s21.postimg.org/ivauugrbp/Freesolo_Kurwongbah.jpg


-- Lake Samsonvale

http://s14.postimg.org/gcjw508y7/Freesolo_Wing_Lake.jpg

What happens methz if something goes wrong and you lose all connection/control when you are flying over a populated area and that thing just drops?

Surely it will happen eventually that someones FPV quad/plane fails and falls several hundred meters and nails someone in the head.

Those altitude shots the plane is up there for about 3 minutes max. (actually by video accounts, by the time its at that altitude is about 60seconds), and a round trip of no more than 3 minutes.

The area is very quiet.
Most directions where I fly is parkland and/or cattle-area.

It's a fixed wing, they don't just drop out of the sky. It will glide to the ground travelling probably no more than 20 kph.
Law of aerodynamics also dictates it will not crash at high speed.
As it picks up speed wings will generate lift and pitch the nose up, thus arresting its descent rate.
Now if it failed during a maneuvre and control surface locked up it may plummet, but again its hundreds of meters (from where the plane is it may not look like it but those houses are nearly 500-600m laterally from the plane - it's glide ratio would probably barely get it there).
As for normal flying i.e. 99% of the flight where we chase each other around at say 400ft/100m altitude max, if something went wrong it would barely get out of the park. Not a chance of reaching any house or road.

I'm also not sure how heavy you think they are, but they aren't 10kg models.
2Kg of compressible foam travelling at about an estimated stall speed of 20-25kph (where it will naturally glide),. Yeah, it's not killing anybody anytime soon.
Plastic propellors.

A quad copter would fall like a brick if something went wrong, but have the advantage of not falling far laterally.

I'd bet on winning lotto over killing someone.

(there was recently an RC helicopter that killed its pilot, but it was a massive helicopter with fibreglass blades and the guy was a tool. He would kill the throttle with the helicopter inverted then take off inches above his head. He literally misjudged it and scalped himself)

Brisbane CBD this morning, floating in the fog in the distance.

http://s23.postimg.org/qi2rcqhkp/CBD_why_so_Foggy.jpg

Great image Mephz. Is that Warner below you there?

Bray Park technically. Warner is just under the nose/prop.
Image taken from technically well into Petrie. Just altitude makes everything seem closer laterally than it is.

Can see eatons hills from here. Just a smidge above nose line and to the left (the white water tower in the distance is just west of Eatons Hill pub).
Altitude only approximately 400ft.

- The houses in view are over 600m as the crow flies from the camera.
The CBD is over 20km as the crow flies

Dogfighting and simulated hit from forwards perspective and rearward perspective :)

http://s9.postimg.org/6eryk923x/Dogfight_Hit.jpg

You guys really need to be careful doing this really dangerous hobby, or you'll end up like this bloke, who scalped himself by playing with an RC quad copter.

Taking images is fun, but not when your skull gets sheared off.

http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2013/09/06/1226712/976049-roman-pirozek-jr.jpg

What dick stands near blades spinning at high revolutions/second though?

John Wayne Bobbitt?

that bloke ^ was a mad 3d heli pilot! he was known to be a bit of a risk taker from what i have heard but it is suspected that it was a mechanical failure that caused the accident. those nitro powered are deadly whirling 700mm blades of death, ie: totally awesome.

this is that guy ^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRPfLKVMGM8

the copters i play with would just take my skin off. the mini quads would just sting. i still wouldn't want to cop one in the face at full speed. so i avoid that.

Well don't I look the fool now!

i finally got my brushless gimbal assembled & installed on one of my quadcopters.
still needs some tuning & tweaks but does excellent stabilisation str8 outta the box.

demon, got a pic?

which BGC are you using?

hey ara, yep i got a few pics of my early setup.. it's a bit neater wiring now but basically the same.

the controller is the alex mos simple brushless gimbal controller (2-axis only)
the mech hardware was designed & 3d printed by a mate locally. it holds my gopro hero3 black.
gimbal motors are rctimer motors

http://imageshack.us/a/img138/4250/n923.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img716/961/3eeh.jpg

hey ara, yep i got a few pics of my early setup.. it's a bit neater wiring now but basically the same.the controller is the alex mos simple brushless gimbal controller (2-axis only) the mech hardware was designed & 3d printed by a mate locally. it holds my gopro hero3 black. gimbal motors are rctimer motorshttp://imageshack.us/a/img138/4250/n923.jpghttp://imageshack.us/a/img716/961/3eeh.jpg

neato.

did you get the alexmos from multiwiicopter? a mate of mine made all those (the boards, not the cases they are in) on consignment.

also, you might want to see if you can reconfig your gimbal so the lens of the gopro lines up with the centre axis of your motors.

neato.did you get the alexmos from multiwiicopter? a mate of mine made all those (the boards, not the cases they are in) on consignment.also, you might want to see if you can reconfig your gimbal so the lens of the gopro lines up with the centre axis of your motors.

cheers mate! :)

i got my control board from flyduino.net.

yeah... erm... i put the roll motor mount onto my disco frame upside-down.. that's why the gopro lens doesn't line up with the centre of the copter :( by the time i realised it was all together & working ... i'll fix it next build ;)

yeah wow cool thread its been said but it would of been cool if this stuff was around when i had the time to get into it

one of william gibsons novels had a spy drone quadcopter in it and i have been keen on them ever since

nice quad demon, just got 3d printer in the middle of making a buch of bits for my hex :)

this video was filmed with a hexacopter with a tx controlled gimbal. so much awesome!

What's more impressive is they seemed to have landed the rocket!

Here's my uncle's video:

http://vimeo.com/76299808

His rig is awesome. Check out how stable the video is!

tis a nice smooth gimbal :)

but you lost several cool points saying that a dji phantom is an awesome rig :P haha

it probably is an awesome rig, but they have a bit of a bad name in the fpv quadcopter community because anyone with money can get one flying... & because of that you get a lot of dills doing silly things with them.. such as the recent crash into high rise buildings in manhattan. that was a phantom. i believe the recent crash into the sydney harbour bridge was also a dji phantom.

Would it make sense to place the lens on the GoPro in the centre of the gimbals axis ? Or does that not make a difference. Thinking about it last night it made sense to have it all centred.

I started designing my gimbal for the 3d printer last night and looks just the same as your one demon.

Would it make sense to place the lens on the GoPro in the centre of the gimbals axis ? Or does that not make a difference. Thinking about it last night it made sense to have it all centred.

it definitely makes sense to try & get the gopro lens as close to the centre axis of the roll motor of the gimbal. mine is offset a bit to one side because i have one of the parts around the wrong way :p it doesn't make a huge difference (with roll or tilt) because the gimbal imu levels itself regardless of the quadcopter attitude... but perfectly centred will make any rotation seem like it is centred in the camera.

I started designing my gimbal for the 3d printer last night and looks just the same as your one demon.

cool! :) one thing we have found with this design is that the 3d printed arm that connects the roll motor to the tilt motor is not rigid enough under heavy throttle or wind buffeting. it bends & then vibrates resulting in some jello in the video. so if you are still designing it you might want to make it a bit more rigid with some support structure.

s'funny, but , originally i got into fpv quadcopters for the aerial photography / video & so the brushless gimbal seemed like a must! but now that i have one... i hardly ever use it & prefer to bang around in parks with mini-quads! :p

current quad of choice is the blackout cf mini-h quad... it's a screamin' tough little beast :D

tis a nice smooth gimbal :) but you lost several cool points saying that a dji phantom is an awesome rig :P hahait probably is an awesome rig, but they have a bit of a bad name in the fpv quadcopter community because anyone with money can get one flying... & because of that you get a lot of dills doing silly things with them.. such as the recent crash into high rise buildings in manhattan. that was a phantom. i believe the recent crash into the sydney harbour bridge was also a dji phantom.

Orly, heh. He is going to use his for commercial video work so I think ease of use, stability etc were more important than price. I think he's pretty happy with it from that side though. He won't be doing any mad bush bashing like you!

demon, lot of artifacts in that video; is that just using a native camera built into that copter?

Haha they sound mad, like there's a back of 4cyl rally cars behind it.

trog : commercial use eh!? interesting! a lot of guys i know are waiting on the casa announcement on the commercial use of uavs in australia. i really hope they decide to let everyone have a go & not restrict it to pilot license holders.

the video artifacts are from youtube (blurtube) compression. the output mov from the video camera doesn't have an of it :( it's recording high def footage with a mobius action camera. not awesome image quality but it is very small & light.

in this pic you can see the mobius mounted on top with anti-vibration bobbins (the blue things) to take some jello out of the video... these mini quads vibrate a lot. under the mobius is a ccd camera that i use to fpv fly with.

http://imageshack.us/a/img209/5841/4l7e.jpg

ph33x : yep the minis sound mad :) really high rpm motors with tiny props... they freakin scream :)

this is probably the most screaming video of mine.. so far :)

trog : commercial use eh!? interesting! a lot of guys i know are waiting on the casa announcement on the commercial use of uavs in australia. i really hope they decide to let everyone have a go & not restrict it to pilot license holders.

I'd be very surprised if CASA approve unlicensed people making money from this. I reckon the best you could hope for is they will allow it up to 500ft over private property or where you have permission from the property owner, still below 500ft.

viper : it's the commercial bit of the law that is set to change soon. there are already rules in place that govern where & how high we can fly our quads.

at the moment it is illegal for anyone to be paid for uav use. it's just the old timers trying to maintain the status quo. light aircraft pilots will lose a lot of aerial footage business when it can be done a lot cheaper by a uav pilot & so they are lobbying casa to make is so only people licensed to fly real aircraft can commercially pilot a uav... which is pretty dumb imo.

there are rumours afloat though that australia is going to go for a >2kg doesn't require a full pilots license.. it will just require a special commercial uav license. which is a lot more sensible.


it's very interesting that there is a court case going on atm in the usa where the 'badboy' of global fpv called trappy, has been fined by the faa (usa version of casa) for accepting money to film some aerial footage for a university in america. he was hired by the university to get the footage & did so safely & without incident.. but because he accepted money has been fined us$10k !! he is fighting the fine in court & i really hope he wins the case.

I'm just concerned about use in built up areas. Sure it sounds ok now when there will be 10 flying around. But think about it, once you look out your windows to always see a UAV, there'd have to be many failures and injuries.

If bad weather hits and they lose their location, what happens? If a servo/controller/motor fails, can it still fly or will it end up in my face?

Not against these things personally though, they look f***ing awesome and lots of fun. I have a 5th scale Baja myself, with a 30.5 ESP motor form the US in it, poured tons of money into it when I should have bought a UAV :

yup, there is definitely need for some concern. if everyone had a self-built uav there would not only be a lot of electrical / mechanical failures that would cause a crash, but there would also be a lot of signal saturation (both control & video) that would also likely result in a crash. loss of gps signal would also be bad for some controllers.. where other controllers would handle it ok. some multirotors have redundant systems so that there can be a failure & it will keep flying... like x8 octocopters.. but they are pretty rare. even then, a 2nd failure will likely result in a crash.

personally, i don't fly anywhere i am not willing to walk or climb to go pick up the broken pieces. :) i never fly in dense suburbia & stick to parks where if my quad did come down it's unlikely to damage property or people. i don't even fly over water (much) coz i'm too scared it will choose that time to fail.

r/c cars are great fun too.. especially with fpv.. it's all about the fpv :D

viper : it's the commercial bit of the law that is set to change soon. there are already rules in place that govern where & how high we can fly our quads.

at the moment it is illegal for anyone to be paid for uav use. it's just the old timers trying to maintain the status quo. light aircraft pilots will lose a lot of aerial footage business when it can be done a lot cheaper by a uav pilot & so they are lobbying casa to make is so only people licensed to fly real aircraft can commercially pilot a uav... which is pretty dumb imo.

there are rumours afloat though that australia is going to go for a >2kg doesn't require a full pilots license.. it will just require a special commercial uav license. which is a lot more sensible.

yeah I have no idea what the rules are for flying RC machines, I come from the other end, flying planes.

If you are going to be making money, I think its fair that you have to be licenced. Also, if you are going to be flying above 500ft, you would have to have some sort of radio endoresement, can't have UAV's just crusing around unannounced in CTAF area's, thats just dangerous. Also, I can't see them ever be allowed in controlled airspace, CASA won't allow RA-Aus pilots who don't also have a PPL into controlled airspace.

In short, I think if you are below 500ft and have some sort of licence, they should allow commercial UAV use.

last edited by `ViPER` at 16:17:05 15/Oct/13

some articles on this subject of late.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-01/drones-set-for-large-scale-commercial-take-off/4546556

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/10/drones-at-a-crossroads/

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/mystery-drone-collides-with-sydney-harbour-bridge-20131004-2uzks.html

i think flying in populated areas is pretty dumb, these things fall out of the sky sometimes, no matter how careful you are.

So I went down to a hobby shop today to have a look at some quadcopters, I've been thinking bout doing a hobby build of one and they have pissy little kiddy ones for cheap and the guy in the shop recommended it as a good starter to learn controls and stuff before jumping into one that could potentially cost more if i was willing to put the cash in. Are they really that hard to learn that I need training wheels on or is it a decent learning curve that I can ride the big bike right away.

Its not hard, get a good one not a pissy kids ones for cheap.

You'll learn quicker.

if you have never flown an r/c aircraft before the learning curve is pretty steep & you will probably crash many times & break a lot of parts.

the small cheap quadcopters have the advantage that they are so light they will resist the damage for a while, especially if you crash on softer surfaces like grass. the disadvantage is they might not be so easy to get parts for & fix. i wouldn't advise getting an expensive rig for your first r/c aircraft.. unless you are wealthy n want to :)

i wouldn't bother with local hobby shops though.. research n order online.

i agree with demon.

you can put a decent one together yourself for around 300$ or so and the big advantage is you fix it when you crash it, and you will crash it.

the preassembled plastic ones are hard to source parts for, if you can get parts at all and in most cases have completely different flight characteristics to a decent quad copter. some of the ones i see have no roll, just yaw/pitch/throttle.

QGL Quadcopter

This hasn't been updated for a while so not sure how accurate it is anymore.

the worst bit about r/c scale hobby is when you have a crash and you fix it back up you're worried about crashing it again so you just don't take it out for a fly and it just sit's there on the shelf collecting dust

or maybe that's just me

Yep that's just you :P

the worst bit about r/c scale hobby is when you have a crash and you fix it back up you're worried about crashing it again so you just don't take it out for a fly and it just sit's there on the shelf collecting dust

or maybe that's just me

Definitely just you.
I recently half wrote off my big hurricane. 7/8th of the way through rebuilding it, can't wait to fly it again to see how well my repairs went. Fixed things a lot of people would write off and they fly fine.

If anything the more you crash it and repair it the better you generally get with it because the less 'perfect' it is and thus the less concerned you are about breaking it. Being too concerned and too nervous with them causes far more crashes than random blunders.

Haven't crashed my jet yet. Taken a very small bit of foam out of the tail boom but that was just due to a stick chomping out a little bit on landing.
The hurricane is a huge handful to land, incorrect use or amount of throttle will lead to a crash. Requires some real skill so it's always a thrill to land :P

cool!



embed mite not be working:

ghost at halloween here:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=869_1382508212

Do these typically come with blowout diagrams of all the parts and assemblies?

heh, cool ghost quad! :p i bet you could freak some people out with that :)

Do these typically come with blowout diagrams of all the parts and assemblies?

nope. some fully integrated kits do, but they would be a minority.

I thought these might belong in here. Not sure what the second one is though.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=869_1382508212

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB8D2QZ9lA4

beat you to it taipan :)

ph33x, you don't really need them. There are plenty of quadcopter forums filled with quality information (and not so quality, <3 internet).

The components are fairly straightforward and really you're probably not going to design and build a better flight controller than what is already available for a good price. I mean you might be able to, but it wouldn't be worth your time or money.

beat you to it taipan :)

s*** i went back three pages looking and didnt spot anything. :-(