Nighthawk 250 Pro Quadcopter

With a few improvements on my mind I decided to build a new quad.  With speed, efficiency, and durability in mind I constructed this new quad.

Here are some pictures from the build:

Soldering Multiple Wires

Soldering Multiple Wires

Messy Workbench as Always

Pitch Gimbal

Frame - NightHawk 250 Pro
I decided to go with a less popular frame, the Nighthawk 250 pro from BestHobbyMall.com. At around $50 for the full carbon frame, I couldn't be happier with the quality.  There was plenty of space for all my components.

Motors - EMAX 2204 2300kv
So far, these motors have been great.  After several hard crashes, the magnets and bearings have held up very well unlike my old RCX 1804s.  I would highly recommend these motors.

ESC - EMAX 12A
A great, reliable choice of ESC.  Not much else to say.

Controller - NAZE32 Acro
Instead of running baseflight, I'm giving the cleanflight fork a shot.  Not sure how I feel about it yet. The hardware is still my favorite choice when it comes to control boards.

Battery - Nanotech 1300mAH 45-90C 3s
So far these batteries have held up well to high current draws.  They outperform my Zippy batteries and I can usually fly a bit longer on these at 5 - 6 mins.

Receiver - FrSky D4R-II
One of my favorite receivers with 8channel PPM and telemetry all packed into a tiny footprint.

FPV - IRC 600mW & 600tvl CMOS
The original camera from my Fatshark stater kit and a high power 5.8ghz transmitter. Working great so far.

Props - HQ5040, HQ5045, HQ6030
5040 - Good props for smaller 1806 motors
5045 - Great for bigger motors that can't run 6" props. Very fast: high pitch
6030 - Good for getting heavier quads in the air.

Prototype Gimbal for 250 Racing Quad

As I build my next 250 quad with the intent of racing down at my local club, I'm looking to fix the problem of the camera pointing at the ground when traveling at a high angle of attack. I designed this gimbal to work with the Fatshark 600tvl FPV camera and a standard 9g servo. Here are some pictures:

As you can see, I use the servo capabilities on the Naze32. This functionality is switched on and off by a switch on my TX. Once again the workbench is a mess.

ZMR 250 Overview

Today I just finished a quadcopter build for a friend. Here are some pictures of the finished product. I'll add the parts list below.

Parts:

• ZMR 250 3k Carbon Frame
• DYS 1806 2300kv Black Edition
• EMAX Simon Series 12A ESC
• Naze32
• Fatshark 600mW FPV transmitter
• Orange RX 6ch CPPM model
• NanoTech 1300mAh 45-90C
• HQ Prop 5040

Feel free to ask any questions below.

Suppo 10A ESC Simonk Flashing

    When I cheaped out and bought Suppo ESCs, I was faced with the task of flashing them with Simonk. It turns out that the ESCs worked well with the tp_8khz.hex file. After a few hours of aggravating soldering I got four ESCs flashed. This was very helpful http://www.atmel.com/images/atmel-24..._datasheet.pdf

In the end, I would suggest not buying these with the intent of flashing them. However it can be done.

250 Sized Quadcopter

In this post I'll go over the setup of my 250 sized mini quad that I use for all my aerial video.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Components:

RCX 1804 - 2400kv

EMAX Simon Series 12A ESC

Rhino 1050mAh 3s 30c & Nanotech 1300mAh 3c 45-90c

HobbyKing cheap 250 Frame ($9.99 I think)

Naze32 Flight Controller

5030, 5040, or 5030x3 blade props

Fatshark 250mW video transmitter

Mobius B camera

D4R-II Frsky receiver

Motors - RCX 1804

I'm very surprised with the power of these little motors.  However I've found that they aren't very durable.  After a few crashes, the bearings have a lot of slop.  Also, several magnets have had to be re-glued in place.  If you don't mind occasional motor service then I'd absolutely recommend these. I stress that these are NOT maintenance free motors.

ESCs - EMAX Simon Series 12A

Not much to say about these, they've performed great from the start.

Battery - Rhino 30c and Nanotech 45-90c

If you're looking to keep things cheap, the Rhino or Zippy 30 or 35c batteries will get you flying.  However, if you are looking for a real high performer, you'll have to pay nearly double for some quality Nanotechs.

Fame - Modified HK 250

When I wasn't satisfied with the carrying capacity of the stock frame, I designed and printed a vibration isolated camera tray that holds the battery, Mobius, and FPV transmitter. All parts of the frame have taken many hard crashes very well.

Flight Controller - Naze32

I'm not going to go on and on about the Naze32 controller here. All I'll say is that it flies great and is everything I needed for an acrobatic yet stable quad.

Props - 5030 2 and 3 Blade, 5040

I started with 2 blade 5030s then moved on to the other props. 5030s worked fine, but if you're looking for speed or have a heavier setup you'll need the others.

FPV Gear - 250mW and Mobius

So far I haven't ran into any issues with FPV through the Mobius, but that's not to say that it's problem free in all setups.

If anyone has any other questions feel free to ask below.

3D Printed Fatshark Camera and MiltiWii Pro Case

My school recently got a very nice 3D printer, so I just had to take advantage of this and print some things for myself.  So the first thing I designed was a case/mount for the camera that came with my Fatshark Predator v2s.  This part came absolutely perfect as you can see below:

Here you can see that I used a screw from a 9g servo to mount the case to the mount.

Next I decided to design a sturdy case for my MultiWii Pro flight controller board:

I can also reccomend this vibration dampening mount for the MultiWii Pro even though it wasn't my design:

There are a few more picture on the Thingiverse page for this here:  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:198114

You can use these rubber dampers for this mount:  http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__37447__General_Purpose_Anti_Vibration_Rubber_w_M3_x_11mm_Screw_and_M3_Nylock_Nut_4pcs_set.html

If you don't have access to a 3D printer, you can buy these parts at my Shapeways store:

http://www.shapeways.com/designer/Jsut210

Here are the Tingiverse links for my two designs where you can download the files ofr printing:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:239405

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:238109

RC Kill Switch

Hey guys, just thought I'd share what I've been working on lately.  Recently, the club I fly at made it a rule that you must be able to kill your engine remotely; choking the engine to kill it was deemed unreliable and dangerous.  This means that ignition to the engine must completely stop on demand.  For most guys who use electronic ignition systems, this is no problem.  However, the enigne that I'm planning to use has a magneto ignition.  This means that a magnet attached to the flywheel passes by a coil to generate the electricity for the spark.  This ignition is particularly hard to stop because as long as the engine is spinning, sparks will continuously be created.  Luckily the magneto on my engine has a wire that when grounded to the case of the engine will short out the sparks and effectively kill the egine.  So, all I had to do after I figured this out was create a device that shorts this wire to the case whenever it loses power or signal.  Here's the final product:

So how does it work?  Well, let's start with the switching.  The white component on the board is actually a very small, low power relay.  I have it wired in so that when there's no power to the board, it shorts out the engine and stops it.  This is so that if the plane loses power in flight, it won't run out of control.  The other major component on the board it the microcontroller.  I used a surface mount attiny85.  This chip reads the radio signal coming from your receiver and switches the relay on only when it gets a valid signal.  There's also a blue led on the bottom to indicate when your engine is "hot".  For those of you who are more electronic savvy, here's a shot of the board traces and schematic.

Here's the code that runs on it:

##################################CODE####################################

int relayPin = 4;
int signalPin = 3;
int ledPin = 2;

void setup() {
  pinMode(relayPin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  int signal = pulseIn(signalPin, HIGH, 100000);

  if(signal > 1500 || signal == 0) {
    digitalWrite(relayPin, LOW);
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
  } else {
    digitalWrite(relayPin, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
  }
}

#################################CODE#####################################

Well, if you've made it this far you're probably interested in building your own.  I'll add link below to all the project files so you can download it all and make your own.  I don't think I am going to make instructions for this because this project required quite a few skills (PCB making, soldering, electrical knowledge, just to name a few).  You can feel free to ask any questions below however.

FILES:

Download

PARTS:

attiny 85 smd

IM23 relay

10uF capacitor

standard diode

5mm screw terminals

LED and matching resistor (optional)

Ansley Peace Drone FPV Platform

Here's a look at the plane I built called the Ansley Peace Drone.  I got the design for this plane from Ed at Experimental Airlines.  He has some great designs and building styles that all use the dollar store foam and I would highly recommend checking his Youtube channel out for more information.  My primary reason for building this was to get a cheap, stable, and efficient FPV platform and this plane has done nothing but deliver this criteria.  It only uses 4 sheets of foamboard and I can easily get 30+ minutes of flight time with the 2 x 2200mAh batteries for a total of 4400mAh.

Here's a list of parts that I used:

• Dt850 Outrunenr Motor
• Hobbyking 30A ESC
• 2 x Turnigy 9g servo
• 2 x Turnigy 20C 2200mAh Lipo (in parallel)
• APC 12x6 prop
• Hobbyking multirotor controller board v2.1 (optional)

Here's a look at the 6" chord foam airfoil

This is how the wing attaches to the fuselage

This is the 3D printed camera mount I designed for my Fatshark Predator v2's (More info on this soon)

This is a view of the forward hatch for FPV equipment

Here's the rear hatch which holds the stabilization board and receiver

This is the connection between the large wing and the fuselage

Here you see the bottom of the plane with the HK 30A ESC mounted for proper cooling

This motor mount is just an L bracket with some break away zip ties for those rough landings

Here are all the parts disassembled for easy transportation

To sum it all up this plane flies absolutely great!  The dt850 motor is more than powerful enough to push this plane along.  I rarely need to exceed 1/2 throttle!  Though the stabilization board is nice to have, I hardly ever use it because the plane is already so stable and smooth.  It's nice to have when you fumble around trying to pull down FPV goggles though.  Maybe I'll write an aritcle on how to use this hobbyking board with a plane; it was a bit tricky to get right.  Launching the plane can be kinda hard because of the 12" blender in the back.  What works for me is throwing it hard into the air with no power on so that it glides, and then giving it some gas to power away from the ground.  I found that the CG is best at 1/2 the length of the fuselage, but performance isn't effected much if it's not exactly there.  This is by far one of my best flying planes and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an FPV platform.  Flight videos coming soon!

- See more at: http://flitetest.com/articles/ansley-peace-drone-build#sthash.PG9ndnh8.dpuf