To whomever can answer this: I noticed in the Parallax store the recommended propeller to use is a 11" x 4.7 for the two different motors, is that a missprint as you only offer the 10" x 4.7 propellers?
This is a little bit off topic, but it's so awesome I had to post it. Watch the videos on the links below. Then watch some of the videos you can click on on that page. This is without a doubt the most spectacular photographic work I've ever seen. I think I finally understand why the photo geeks are so excited about our multirotor platforms. This just blows me away!
Watch this one first to see what he's using:
[video=vimeo;28738207]
Now watch this one to see what he can do with it.
[video=vimeo;35432485]
I had to watch almost all the other videos before I could stop.
If you want to keep up on aerial video platforms and equipment check out http://rc.runryder.com/helicopter/f25p1/. Tabb, the guy from the videos above, is a regular there.
Man, those videos are absolutely amazing...The first thing that came to mind were the "sweeping landscape" scenes from movies like Lord of the Rings. I'm still in the "beginner" phase of robots/DIY UAV's/Quadcopters, but videos like those are really inspiring.
If you make it I'll by it. I would love to be a Beta Tester. My flying skill are decent "I'll ring it out" for you as they say. One thought on the delrin my 90 size Heli (N9) has a a delrin main gear and crown gear it is tough stuff. I have never seen delrin used for any kind of frame's in the RC Air World maybe I am not looking hard enough. After all the holes to lighten it up not sure how much strength is left and I am sure it has some flex. You might consider making one with G10 or Carbon Fiber. G10 preferably cost wise Carbon Fiber is expensive. G10 is just fiberglass like circuit board material, if you didn't already know and available in different colors. It is available in different thicknesses also 2mm would be about right for this maybe 1.5mm would be all you would need.
$250 sounds about right to me. I think the HF board is 3 or 4 bills I looked at it awhile ago.
Ron
Carbon Fiber is much more expensive than usual G10 , The advantage of Carbon Fiber over G10 is it 's toughness and density .
Carbon Fiber has a very strong toughness that higher than Dupont 's Kevlar , And the density is only 1.6 g /cc , G10 is about 2.1 g /cc .
That 's why G10 always very heavy .
All these glassfiber made composites makes skin quite itch in cutting / machining :frown:...
At one point in the video after the antenna fell over you heard the pilot say "I don't know where. . .". From my own experience and from watching Kevin and Nick, it's really important to know the land where you fly - and to visualize how differently it looks from the air. Once you lose orientation and your sense of position you can fly out of range or sideways into something.
Well, I got to the mounting of the Hoverfly Pro and GPS and found that I'm not going to be able to use the great little standoffs. I will send them back to Ken unless someone wants to give me an address so I can snail mail them to you directly.
I wound up using the hoverfly "hardware" (actually nylon screws) along with their grommets. I had to do some minor modification to the mounting system in order to accomodate the larger board. I also have to put some kind of cover over the whole thing to protect the boards, but more importantly, to mount the GPS antenna at least 10cm away from the electronics. When I get everything figured out I'll take some pictures. Still working out the details.
I also found a nifty little RC tx/rx controlled switch to turn the LED lights on the booms on and off in flight.
dmagnus - Just wondering what the issue is with your setup and the standoffs. I just went to the HoverFly site to look at the Pro and I don't see a problem. Does this have something to do with needing to stack the boards? If so, I think there may be an easy solution.
As you can see (I hope this stuff comes through) from the pictures below, the Pro and GPS boards are approximately 25% larger than the Sport board. They also use larger mounting hardward (nylon screws and nuts) and larger grommets. It looks like the grommet holes are the same size in all of the boards, but the larger (6-32? 8-32?) screws fit perfectly. I drilled out the outer holes on the mounting board from Parallax to accomodate the larger hardware and mounted the mounting board to the top frame of the ELEV-8 with the 4-40 screws and standoffs in the inner holes. It looks like everything will work, but if anybody sees anything that I've really screwed up, please holler...
I'm going to use a power filter and fabricate some kind of canopy for the boards from a food container as recommended by Hoverfly. The canopy will also allow me to mount the GPS antenna the required 10cm from the electronics.
To whomever can answer this: I noticed in the Parallax store the recommended propeller to use is a 11" x 4.7 for the two different motors, is that a missprint as you only offer the 10" x 4.7 propellers?
It is in fact a mis-print. The recommended propeller size is in fact a 10x4.7, not an 11. I'll try and have that fixed as soon as I can. Good catch!!
I am intrigued by the possibility of autonomous flight, following a route, returning to base, etc. I plan to put a camera on it when I get proficient at flying it and try to do some aerial photography and, eventually, FPV flight. Many years ago I was into RC planes pretty heavily and a few years ago I had a RC Heli that I was able to hover and fly around the yard, but never got much further than that. A few months ago I became interested in Robotics and then discovered the ELEV-8. The Hoverfly technology really impressed me and I didn't want to wait for the Open board. I eventually may get an open board and "scratch build" another, bigger quad (or maybe get whatever Parallax comes up with by then - I don't think this is going to go away very soon ;-). Anyway, I'm looking forward to really enjoying this experience. I will be attending the Expo and can hardly wait to see what everybody comes up with for the contests. Maybe next year I can bring my own entry...
dmagnus - Been kicking around some ideas for shock mounting your boards better. Not at all sure it will pan out, but just in case it does, I'd like to know the EXACT spacing between your boards. I see there is a header plug between the boards. If that is not fully mated, then I would want the spacing you would have if the standoffs were the perfect length and it was fully mated. I'm sure the standoffs are some standard length now so it's probably not perfect. Hopefully you have calipers to get the exact measurement. If not, maybe someone else out there has the same stuff and can tell me.
I've been thinking about doing this for a while too, but I was going to try to use helicopter tail rotor assemblies and tail blades. They won't be as efficient as traditional props, but the idea of being able to fly inverted is pretty tempting.
I am using all of the parts that Hoverfly includes with their boards. In the Pro, you basically get the grommets. With the GPS board you get more grommets, standoffs for between the boards and nylon screws and nuts. On the "in the box" page (pp 18) of the
GPS manual, the following note is displayed prominently: Important:The included Nylon Standoffs should be used to space the
HoverflyPRO and HoverflyGPS properly. The boards will seat closer together, but they must have a reason for spacing them as they do. The top part of the pins are silver in color while the bottom part that seats in the Pro board are gold. When seated with the standoffs, only the silver shows.
I've included some more pictures that show the contents of the package(s) and the boards mated as shown on page 21 of the GPS manual.
When the boards are joined as shown and the whole assembly is screwed to the ELEV-8 base plate (made for the Sport board and modified as shown in my other pictures, it appears that everything is very secure. The boards are held by the grommets and the screws go through the holes in the grommets perfectly (not too tight or loose) so I think it will work fine.
I don't know how the Sport board was packaged, but if you only have grommets and use 4-40 hardware, I could see how you might have problems.the
Are you worried about the use of nylon hardware?
Oops, forgot the measurements. With the included standoffs the space between the boards is .480, the standoffs are .315. If you mash the boards together to fully mate the pins (beyond where they have them marked) (see third picture for the pins) the distance between the boards would be .390 plus the shoulder of the grommets. The distance between the grommet shoulders is about .230.
Tail rotor assemblies on 50 size helis are around there. A 50 size usually uses 90mm blades (or larger), which puts just the blade lengths, excluding grips, at about 7". The grips add at least another 2", and you can get longer tail blades.
Alternately, since you control the pitch, you could run smaller blades at higher speeds and still have great control.
dmagnus - Thanks for the great photos and the measurements. Using the Hoverfly hardware that fits the grommets is better than the ELEV-8 4-40 screws, but its still not the best solution. The basic problem is that the grommets were designed to dampen loads up to three pounds and we're trying to use them on something that's not even three ounces. I think it's still worth taking a look at different configurations that might help. BTW - That line of silver/gold is just the result of selective plating of the gold. It has no significance other than that. It's just a way to save money by not plating non-contact areas with ($$$) gold. I wish they had that selective plating on all their connectors. It would certainly help reliability.
Comments
Thanks Tiger/Julia and Ken!
*This is the second item in as many weeks that has been mutilated by the postal service.
...Tiger
Watch this one first to see what he's using:
[video=vimeo;28738207]
Now watch this one to see what he can do with it.
[video=vimeo;35432485]
I had to watch almost all the other videos before I could stop.
...Tiger
1 x Red equiped Camera = minimum 100 x Elev-8 $
This is real broadcast quality, shure not hobby !
Please don't crash it
http://www.red.com/products
Thanks Tiger/Ken/Julia !
Jean Paul
Carbon Fiber is much more expensive than usual G10 , The advantage of Carbon Fiber over G10 is it 's toughness and density .
Carbon Fiber has a very strong toughness that higher than Dupont 's Kevlar , And the density is only 1.6 g /cc , G10 is about 2.1 g /cc .
That 's why G10 always very heavy .
All these glassfiber made composites makes skin quite itch in cutting / machining :frown:...
Awesome video sets the bar high, Tiger.
Roy
Those Movie guys like to take the same shot over and over again until they get it right
Doing that under human control is not going to be easy.
The guy who can program the copter to do the same run over and over again is going to be the hero.
Something like a memory setting were it will record the first flight in manual mode then
fly the pattern over and over again automatically.
I wound up using the hoverfly "hardware" (actually nylon screws) along with their grommets. I had to do some minor modification to the mounting system in order to accomodate the larger board. I also have to put some kind of cover over the whole thing to protect the boards, but more importantly, to mount the GPS antenna at least 10cm away from the electronics. When I get everything figured out I'll take some pictures. Still working out the details.
I also found a nifty little RC tx/rx controlled switch to turn the LED lights on the booms on and off in flight.
...Tiger
I'm going to use a power filter and fabricate some kind of canopy for the boards from a food container as recommended by Hoverfly. The canopy will also allow me to mount the GPS antenna the required 10cm from the electronics.
It is in fact a mis-print. The recommended propeller size is in fact a 10x4.7, not an 11. I'll try and have that fixed as soon as I can. Good catch!!
What type of application do you have in mind for your ELEV-8? I am just curious about the use for the GPS Board. Thanks!
Thanks! ...Tiger
Variable Pitch QuadCopter. Pretty awesome.
Roy,
I have two of the variable pitch propsand motors, and I always wanted to do a quad copter with them. Hollow shaft motors are needed, and not cheap.
http://search2.hobby-lobby.com/psearch/svc/search.php?uid=2&q=AXI+2204%2F54&x=16&y=1
Jim
However, they look kind of cheap. Might have to order a few next time I get something from hobbyking.
Roy,
Nice find! That is a great price! And one of their cheap servos to control it.
Jim
GPS manual, the following note is displayed prominently:
Important:The included Nylon Standoffs should be used to space the
HoverflyPRO and HoverflyGPS properly.
The boards will seat closer together, but they must have a reason for spacing them as they do. The top part of the pins are silver in color while the bottom part that seats in the Pro board are gold. When seated with the standoffs, only the silver shows.
I've included some more pictures that show the contents of the package(s) and the boards mated as shown on page 21 of the GPS manual.
When the boards are joined as shown and the whole assembly is screwed to the ELEV-8 base plate (made for the Sport board and modified as shown in my other pictures, it appears that everything is very secure. The boards are held by the grommets and the screws go through the holes in the grommets perfectly (not too tight or loose) so I think it will work fine.
I don't know how the Sport board was packaged, but if you only have grommets and use 4-40 hardware, I could see how you might have problems.the
Are you worried about the use of nylon hardware?
Oops, forgot the measurements. With the included standoffs the space between the boards is .480, the standoffs are .315. If you mash the boards together to fully mate the pins (beyond where they have them marked) (see third picture for the pins) the distance between the boards would be .390 plus the shoulder of the grommets. The distance between the grommet shoulders is about .230.
True, but are there 9-11" tail rotor assemblies available? I could not find any with a quick check.
Jim
Alternately, since you control the pitch, you could run smaller blades at higher speeds and still have great control.
...Tiger