It's been a few weeks since posting but have been getting on with the build, although its been a staggered process. Waiting for parts to arrive has been the main bug bear. Even so, the build has progressed nicely and my prediction of having the quad in the air by mid January 2015 has been spot on. So, what has been happening?
The FC has been moved to the bottom plate. Reason being that all the electronics are protected and also the Receiver (Rx) can sit on the bottom plate too. One of the problems I've encountered with the plates on the quad are that there is not enough room to just lay parts on. Careful consideration is required.
The arrival of the Turnigy x9 Transmitter (Tx) also arrived in the first week of January. It comes with an 8 channel receiver. Really excited and set about connecting the Rx (as in the image above). I had already downloaded the Ground Control Station (GCS), updated the FC firmware to the latest release 14.10 - Mini Me!
Going through the wizard setting up the 9X was a breeze until I tried setting the switches. A bit fiddly and very confusing especially to a novice like myself. programming the switches would give me control of different flight modes and a few other functions. Even after a visit to my brother who has the same transmitter, couldn't resolve the issue. Solution, bought a modification for the 9X called a 9x Solderless Programmer Board from SmartieParts.com. As the name suggests, no soldering, just open the transmitter, follow instructions (available on the web via Youtube) and connect to a computer via USB and change settings - easy (well sort of)! Had a two week wait but in the main time I was able to test fly the quad with basic controls and conjure up mess about with some mods of mine, like the receiver mod in the photos below.
As the Receiver module came with the aerial as a floppy cable I had a brainwave to made a support so it stood in a vertical position. Using an old bit of packing from some long unpacked item, I thought this bit of plastic tubing would do as a base.
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| Cur tube to length and ground out a groove for the floppy bit of the aerial cable to fit in. Bottom of the red section fitted snugly into the tube. |
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| Sanded the transmitter to give a rough surface for a bit of glue gun action. |
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| Finished off with a bit of electrical tape for a smart finish ;). |
As a precaution and from a previous experience of losing a micro, I bought a battery alarm from makeitbuildit.co.uk (excellent service if I say so myself). They are cheap and very useful in more ways than I can describe. Also added a Bluetooth module which is great for wireless connection to the FC via a computer or an android device. For the time being I connected via USB to configure. More on this later.
After basic settings & configurations, I then balanced some of the 10" props I had bought. Prop balancing is a tedious process but from research, seems a good exercise to be undertaken. My understanding is that it helps with reducing the wear and tear on the motors and reduces vibration in the craft, allowing for a stable flying experience. If anyone else has a better explanation, I am willing to edit this post - after all, I am just learning and cannot profess to know everything.
The 10" props have still not been fitted to the quad yet as I have been having issues sourcing a set of clockwise rotating props, and the ones I had wouldn't fit properly.
Checking the Hobbyking UK warehouse, at the time, stated that they were out of stock. In the mean time, I was given a couple of sets of 9" self-tightening props buy my brother to get me started. To date, I am still using the 9" props and enjoying them, although I am now down to one set of 4 and a few spares.
First test was conducted to see if the quad fired up correctly, it didn't flip due to improper motor or prop rotation and not magic puff of smoke. Very short test and successful it was - Yay!
First test was conducted to see if the quad fired up correctly, it didn't flip due to improper motor or prop rotation and not magic puff of smoke. Very short test and successful it was - Yay!
Gosh, didn't have to move the throttle too much and realised this was much more powerful than any RC model I had played with before. By the way, the rasping sound near the end was NOT the kitchen furniture being cut to size but was the battery strap flapping due to prop wash lifting it up towards the props. Took it as a time to stop test and too out the very next day for its maiden flight. Not forgetting the missus moaning about carving up the kitchen furniture :).
Following day, I headed off to Tottenham Marshes for the inaugural test flight.
Video quality was not very good as I was using an old handheld 720p camera sitting in my breast pocket. Working on a different solution that will be attached to a cap. Anyway, as I'm just a novice full of excitement, it didn't take long for me to crash. Within minutes (more like seconds), the aerial mod had fallen off. Tucked it into the frame and carried on. Hoovering was the game and learning how to control the quad. Learning its characteristics and throttle movements. Step by step! Inevitably, I crashed it again. This time snapping off a chunk of a rear prop. Battery alarm sounded almost immediately - I hadn't charged the battery after spending time setting the quad up. Off home I went. Later, chatting to fellow experienced RC pilots on the forum, I was told height was my friend - more time to recover and less prop wash to affect the stability of the quad. Sound advice, but when your confidence is reminiscent to a bag of nerves, height is worry and not a consideration. Confidence is the luxury of the experienced. Coupled with patience the confidence grows.
About two weeks after ordering, the Smartiparts board arrived. Hastily fitted the board and then set about installing the custom firmware. I chose the er9x firmware and eepe EEPROM editor combo, mainly because that's what my brother had installed and also came very highly recommended as stated earlier in the post and others. Always try and go for what everyone else is using - the tried & tested method. If something goes wrong, there's always support.
Setting it up was supposed to be simple but hit a few snags. Firstly, use a Windows PC to do the initial configuration. I have several PCs with several Operating Systems (cause that's how I roll), and at the time I was working on my newly installed Debian Wheezy laptop (64bit architecture). That failed to load up the editor, then moved onto my Macbook Pro. Everything loaded but no communication or other requiring extra patches etc etc. Long and short of the matter, it was easier and quicker to use Windows. As Windows is one of the OSs I'm moving away from, I had to 'borrow' the missus's laptop. After this setup, I could then go back to the Macbook Pro.
Setting up mixer channels, it is now much easier and quicker to configure the added switches and dials on the transmitter. So, the three position switch was one of the controls set. Now I have three flight modes. Next was a test flight in the back yard.
Following day, I headed off to Tottenham Marshes for the inaugural test flight.
Video quality was not very good as I was using an old handheld 720p camera sitting in my breast pocket. Working on a different solution that will be attached to a cap. Anyway, as I'm just a novice full of excitement, it didn't take long for me to crash. Within minutes (more like seconds), the aerial mod had fallen off. Tucked it into the frame and carried on. Hoovering was the game and learning how to control the quad. Learning its characteristics and throttle movements. Step by step! Inevitably, I crashed it again. This time snapping off a chunk of a rear prop. Battery alarm sounded almost immediately - I hadn't charged the battery after spending time setting the quad up. Off home I went. Later, chatting to fellow experienced RC pilots on the forum, I was told height was my friend - more time to recover and less prop wash to affect the stability of the quad. Sound advice, but when your confidence is reminiscent to a bag of nerves, height is worry and not a consideration. Confidence is the luxury of the experienced. Coupled with patience the confidence grows.
About two weeks after ordering, the Smartiparts board arrived. Hastily fitted the board and then set about installing the custom firmware. I chose the er9x firmware and eepe EEPROM editor combo, mainly because that's what my brother had installed and also came very highly recommended as stated earlier in the post and others. Always try and go for what everyone else is using - the tried & tested method. If something goes wrong, there's always support.
Setting it up was supposed to be simple but hit a few snags. Firstly, use a Windows PC to do the initial configuration. I have several PCs with several Operating Systems (cause that's how I roll), and at the time I was working on my newly installed Debian Wheezy laptop (64bit architecture). That failed to load up the editor, then moved onto my Macbook Pro. Everything loaded but no communication or other requiring extra patches etc etc. Long and short of the matter, it was easier and quicker to use Windows. As Windows is one of the OSs I'm moving away from, I had to 'borrow' the missus's laptop. After this setup, I could then go back to the Macbook Pro.
Setting up mixer channels, it is now much easier and quicker to configure the added switches and dials on the transmitter. So, the three position switch was one of the controls set. Now I have three flight modes. Next was a test flight in the back yard.
No test flight is worth it if there isn't a crash. Another lesson learn't. Avoid testing in a yard if its anything like mine. Its narrow but long. I could have gone further into the yard where its wider but I opted for the concrete section and it cost me another blade. Again, so focused on one element and didn't consider other factors. All further test flights would have to be conducted in open areas with little or no obstructions.
