The birth of a new MikroKopter

[RTRyder]

Today was Christmas in March when the postman arrived...

Originally I was going to build an MK quad for FPV but then I fell into a deal for the Pulso 2814-22 motors, those will wind up on the Droidworx frame turning that MK into a heavy lifter, That leaves me with the current Robbe Roxxy motors as surplus and enough parts to assemble a complete stock MK Hexa, hmmmm....

Still trying to make up my mind if I want to build it quad or Hexa, but either way I have some parts swapping to do first, and soon afterward a new MK will be born, stay tuned...

Ken

 

[Cabe]

but then I fell into a deal for the Pulso 2814-22 motors

Well that must have been damned inconvienient for you

 

[zorba]

Very nice Ken. What cam mount is that?
If youre up in the air before me can you post some results of the Pulso's?
I have the same and I wanted to know the consumption of a heavy lifter.
I love Christmas..

Bill

 

[FOX222]

RTRyder,
So this is where you've been. I see you got tired of the BS.
Looks like it has not slowed you down that much. What kind of camera mount you got there?

 

[Redhotpearl]

As the the two above me asked, what mount is that? I'd say build the Hexa, little more lift no? Congrats on the build.

 

[zorba]

Hey Fox nice to see you here.

 

[FOX222]

Hey Zorba,
I think my blood pressure likes it here better.

 

[RTRyder]

OK, first thing, the mount is one of these with some modifications... http://www.averticalview.com/stabilized_full_size.html It's a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be, I had it built with the intention of putting it on the Hoverfly quad but it won't fit under the flexlander gear the Hoverfly is sitting on.

I just had the new MK frame setup in quad configuration with the XL landing legs and the big mount attached, it fit with room to spare. I contemplated doing an MK heavy lift quad until I realized MK quads are + config. I could change the front designation through software in MKtools but that doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies, so no MK quad this time around.

So the new MK is going to be a Hexa and oddly enough it will have most of the parts from my original MK hexa. The new frame I just bought is based on a pair of Octo center plates which give a perfect X but can't be setup as a Hexa so I'm going to swap that for the old Hexa frame the Hoverfly board is sitting in now. Once I move the Hoverfly into the new frame I'll rebuild the old Hexa using a couple new arms along with it's original F/C board that was just repaired and the new Navi/compass/GPS. When I get to that point I have to swap the Roxxy motors on the Droidworx for the new Pulsos so I can use the Roxxys on the rebuilt hexa, and they just happen to be the orignal motors that were on that frame from the start.

End result is I wind up with my original Hexa on XL landing legs with the Avertical camera mount, the Droidworx Hexa with Pro Mini camera mount, and the Hoverfly quad setup for FPV with the old HiSight II mount attached. Then I have to spend some time fixing the little 350mm quad that I trashed at the field today, so there's plenty to keep me busy for a while

Ken

 

[RTRyder]

RTRyder,
So this is where you've been. I see you got tired of the BS.

In a word, yes...

 

[zorba]

Thanks for the info Ken. I went to their website, interesting stuff, but no address, no phone #, where are they located?
How long did it take to get your mount?
They don't take any orders right now, maybe next week too many backorders.
Should I trust them????
I wrote them an email to what I am looking for, Time will tell

Thanks for the info.

PS: if is too big for your application sell it to me I'll be morethan glad to take it off your hands..LOL

 

[RTRyder]

Thanks for the info Ken. I went to their website, interesting stuff, but no address, no phone #, where are they located?
How long did it take to get your mount?
They don't take any orders right now, maybe next week too many backorders.
Should I trust them????
I wrote them an email to what I am looking for, Time will tell

Thanks for the info.

PS: if is too big for your application sell it to me I'll be morethan glad to take it off your hands..LOL

According to the shipping info on the package they're in Redmond Oregon, only took 2 days from tracking info to receipt of the package all the way to the east coast of the US. It took another day or two for the package from MK US to arrive and it's the same distance.

They don't have the greatest website when it comes to information but they will respond to email within a few days. It's just two guys doing this as a sideline and they're swamped with inquiries and orders so sometimes they're a little slow getting back to you, but they do deliver as promised. Every order is custom cut so if you order something it goes in the queue and then out the door in about 10 days, it does make it easy to custom order that way if you don't mind the wait.

I also considered their copy of the Skyrover mount that is being sold elsewhere, looks a lot lighter and if the current mount doesn't work well out due to size then I may order one of those to try, a LOT less expensive than the other version.

Ken

 

[zorba]

Well thanks again. I will wait for them to get back to me.
I built a mount kinda the same as theirs but the tilt servo zitters alot. I like the ideaof the pullies and belts.
Don't forget me if you decide to go the other way.

Cheers

 

[RTRyder]

Progress is being made, the Hoverfly quad has been diassembled and rebuilt into its new home along with a firmware update from the folks @ Hoverfly. Haven't had much chance to test it other than a couple passes back and forth out front, it's been very windy here for going on 3 days now, not good flying weather.

After freeing up the needed bits to build a Hexa, I did just that, assembled the center plates with arms, added in the XL landing legs, Avertical camera mount, and new smoked dome. Sitting perched on the shelf it has a kind of post-apocalypse the machines are in control look to it, think futuristic scenes from the Terminator movies...

Before I can go much further I need the 6 Roxxy motors that have been powering the Droidworx Hexa, so last night I started the process of doing the motor swap. The Pulso 2814-22 motors are significantly larger than the Roxxy's so it's not a straight bolt on swap plus I discovered that I don't have a few key items needed to finish the job like 8 to 6 mm prop adaptors and enough 16 gauge wire to hookup all of the motors. A couple small parts orders this morning and everything should be here before the end of the week, I hope.

At least the Hoverfly is ready to go if the weather improves, otherwise this coming weekend will be more build time, would like to get the Droidworx back together and check out how much less flight time I get with the monster motors. With the extra lift capacity I should be able to carry a pair of 4s packs without problem so maybe with a few new packs I'll be able to get most of the lost flight time back, time will tell.

I'll try and get some pictures up later today...

Ken

 

[RTRyder]

Pics of the progress

Some shots of what I've managed to get done so far...

A comparison between the Roxxy kit motor and the Pulso 2814-22, a little more beef to the Pulso, should give the AD-6 a little more carrying capacity I think!

The Roxxy on the AD-6

The Pulso mounted up and ready for wiring

The Droidworx AD-6 in its new heavy lift incarnation, still have to wire up the motors to the BL's and reassemble the electronics stack, 16 gauge wire and connectors for the motors plus some other assorted bits ordered today, completion of this one is on hold until the boxes arrive.

The new MK Hexa Custom build with Avertical camera mount

The camera mount by itself

After I took these I stripped the new Hexa back down to the bare frame and started installing motors and electronics. I have everything I need to put this one together and get it flying so I'm going to concentrate on this project for now and should have it pretty much done by the time the parts I need to finish the heavy lift upgrade on the AD-6 arrive. The goal is to have everything completed before I have to go out of state on a business trip the week of the 21st. If I can get the 350mm quad repaired I might see if I can fit it in my luggage so I can do a bit of flying in the evening rather than sit around in a hotel room watching TV

Ken

 

[Droider]

Interesting camera mount there Ken. Will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the AV130

Dave

 

[FOX222]

Me too. It will be interesting to see how it compares to the Pro mount using the Vixia.
One question though. How are you going to mount your batteries?

John

 

[RTRyder]

Me too. It will be interesting to see how it compares to the Pro mount using the Vixia.
One question though. How are you going to mount your batteries?

John

I think the same way I do it on the Hoverfly quad which is built on an MK frame, you can see where they sit in this pic. Should actually have more room since the landing gear won't get in the way as the flexlander tends to do with this setup. The packs are velcro'd to the bottom center plate on each side and secured with velcro straps that loop through the lower plate and around the battery, and that reminds me I have to take a trip to Walmart for more velcro...

Ken

 

[RTRyder]

It Lives!

The new MK just had it's maiden flight out front by street light

Just the basics right now, no camera mount, no electronics beyond the basic flight controller and populated PDB. I've got a few brackets and things to make for the camera mount before mounting it for flight, and I still have to do the connector soldering on the Navi, compass, GPS, etc.

Nice to see a new build fly for the first time, even if half of it has flown before as part of a another MK.

Ken

 

[Droider]

Why u wasting time tapping your keyboard? just get cracking and get it finished... or is it snowing again!!??

 

[RTRyder]

Why u wasting time tapping your keyboard? just get cracking and get it finished... or is it snowing again!!??

Raining, we're done with snow for this winter it appears...

Actually it was a case of I needed parts that hadn't arrived yet to go any further on both of the MK's, a box arrived in the mail and I made a trip to the LHS today and was able to make more progress. The heavy lift Droidworx is done now and I got in a little test hop out in the side yard between rain showers. "Heavy" it certainly is, I put it on the scale after the flight and the little porker weights in at 3204 grams or 7.1 lbs ready to fly with a GoPro on the platform

Don't know what the flight times are going to be like using the same set of batts that powered it on the stock motors but I'm willing to bet it's going to be considerably shorter with the big Pulso motors on there. I think I'll order up a cheap pair of 4S packs and run them in parallel if the flight time with the current packs turns out to be less than 8 minutes, the question is how much will I gain in flight time vs. the extra weight of the two 4S packs. At least now I have the power to fly with that much weight, tried a parallel 4S setup with the stock motors and could barely get it into a steady hover at low altitude before there was no more throttle left to use.

I'm hoping to get enough of a window of no rain tomorrow to test the flight time but according to the latest weather forecast not likely, probably have to wait until Saturday or Sunday.

Now I can focus on getting the other MK Hexa finished off...

Ken