XAircraft X650 build thread

[Bartman]

I had a few minutes just now to get the quad powered up and connected to the computer. I still can't get comm between the quad and my Windows XP laptop although others claim to have that capability but I borrowed a friend's Windows 7 laptop and things work fine with it.
A few important points before I head out for the night,

• DO NOT connect the flight battery and the USB link at the same time.
• Connect the USB link to the FC board like the manual says. If you're tired or in a hurry (I am usually both) it's very easy to put the USB link into the top module which is the AHRSs (there's even a port labeled Link which is what you're looking for but you want the Link port in the flight control module located just below the AHRSs)
• The USB link puts about 5 volts to the flight control which is sufficient to power all electronics and the motors so don't do this the first time with the props mounted.
• The receiver and satellite won't get power until the controls are initialized. To initialize move the throttle stick and the throttle trim all the way to zero. When you do that you should see power at the receiver and advancing the throttle will make the motors turn.

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll be flying late tomorrow night or Saturday!
Bart

 

[Bartman]

After many hours of computer wrangling (that reminded me of the days of Windows 95) I've finally got my Windows XP computer talking to the X650's flight control board. I uninstalled all of the old Microsoft .NET versions and installed MS .NET 4.0 (Outlook isn't working now but I'll worry about that later). I also uninstalled the XAircraft configuration software and reinstalled the latest version from the internet (http://www.xaircraft.com/wiki/X650_Downloads#XAircraft_Configuration_Software_Download). With the configuration software .zip package you also get a USB configuration utility which I installed for the hell of it. AFter all of this I restarted the computer.
It was mentioned to me that I should plug the quad into the computer in a certain order so i tried that as well.
SO this is how it went down;
I plugged the four wire comm cable into the Link port of the FLIGHT CONTROL and then plugged the other end into the "USB Link". I then ran the software and once it came up with a gray screen I plugged the bare USB cable into the computer. With all of that done, I plugged the other end of the USB cable into the "USB Link". At this point, the computer gave me a new hardware pop-up and then said it's all ready to go. I waited another minute for good measure and then clicked the "Connect" button. After a brief pause which I suspect the computer inserted just to get once last bit of blood from me, the software connected to the Quad and I was in! Can't you just feel the relief I experienced?!?
Anyway, I went about snooping around inside the software displays like I shouldn't have been there but after a while I started to make sense of how XAircraft gets things done. I'm going to stop here and get myself a coffee before attempting to explain the XAircraft way of thinking.
With a great sense of relief,
Bart

 

[Bartman]

Go to post #10 to see how the first flight went. The good news is, nothing really important seems to have broke in the crash. The bad news is it crashed. Also worth mentioning, it's really sensitive in ground effect. If you're new to multi-rotors and attempting a first flight I'd recommend putting something at least as heavy as a camera (or two) on the camera mount to make it less sensitive. The other side to that is that it's going to fly like a freakin' demon without a camera and a small battery.
More later.
Bart

 

[FlyEYE]

About your comment on ground effect on the X650. Is this a fair statement about quads in general vs Hex or Octo configurations. Or is it more of a low weight weight issue on this guy?

 

[Bartman]

FlyEYE
For the first flight of the Okto I had the stock gear and a single 4S 5000 mah battery so it was pretty light and also very sensitive. It never flipped over on its back though so maybe there is some correlation between configuration and ground effect.
This has been a very interesting day. If nothing electronic got damaged I may have a shot at another flight tomorrow after I get the replacement hardware I need.
Bart

 

[FlyEYE]

My only experience is with the the Hexa. I didn't feel the ground effect was significant but then again I've been flying squirrely 450s prior to the MK.

 

[walkerinerie]

Bart I just received the X650 kit and put it together yesterday. Today I hooked up an RC unit and battery to see if everything works. I held on to a skid and cranked up the throttle. The motors started fine and all control seemed to be working correctly- but... I loosened up my grip on the skid, gave it full throttle and it just sat there. I first checked the rotor rotation and made sure they were all turning the correct direction (the instructions say clockwise and show the direction CCW- I went by the arrows and ignored the words and it worked fine). So, I'm thinking that I need to hook up the pc interface and change some setting in the software. I installed the software off of the CD and everything is in Chinese once the program comes up. There isn't an English button. Anyone have any answers? I order this through Jeffrey Wright also - does he have a help line?

 

[Paul@scc]

I installed the software off of the CD and everything is in Chinese once the program comes up. There isn't an English button. Anyone have any answers? I order this through Jeffrey Wright also - does he have a help line?

Hi.
When you open the software you will see the grey connect box. In the top left corner are 4 drop down menus. Go to the third one along and left click, scroll down to the second box and left click again. You should now be able to change the language to English.

 

[Bartman]

Hi.
When you open the software you will see the grey connect box. In the top left corner are 4 drop down menus. Go to the third one along and left click, scroll down to the second box and left click again. You should now be able to change the language to English.

I had the same problem. If your computer doesn't have the language pack in there for chinese you just get boxes.
Have you guys flown yours without changing the bottom screws to steel or protecting them somehow?

Walker, what configuration did you choose? '+' or 'x'? The X650 comes from the factory ready to be flown with 3S battery packs in the '+' configuration. If you built it to be an 'x' quad you'll have to reconfigure it with the software. For example I loaded firmware for mine to be an 'x' quad with 4S packs. The number of cells in your packs is also part of the config firmware.

Bart

 

[walkerinerie]

Paul and Bart,
Thanks for the info - I clicked through the drop down menus and did find the English option but haven't had time to hook it up yet. Bart's tips will certainly help with that. I'll definitely switch out the plastic screws before I take it up. Bart - I configured the + option, just because it was the first one in the instruction pages and I didn't understand at that point what they meant by the plus and cross. When I finished and saw the additional pages with the 'x' option, I figured out what was going on.
So, my big question is - is there a "increase power" option in the software or is the thing going to just sit on the floor at full power like it did the first test?
Thanks,
Walker

 

[Bartman]

Walker,
Very carefully recheck everything from the mounting direction of the control boards to the proper order of the motor wires and orientation of the props on each arm.
Note that the XAircraft labels on the flight control and AHRSs face in opposite directions. Make sure your motor wires are inserted in the proper order for each position around the quad. Also look in the book and you'll see a diagram showing which shape prop turns in each direction. Check and double check that each one is in the correct location. It sounds like your props are reversed from where they should be or that the motor wires are installed backwards.
When you run up the motors (don't do this with the usb port, use a battery or you risk burning up the usb link from excess current) do they push air down or do you feel the propwash above them? They should be blowing air downwards.
Come back and give us an update if it still doesn't work right.
Bart

 

[Bartman]

I seem to have lucked out as everything is back together and working properly. i misspoke in my previous post, it was the power distribution board that wore through the plastic studs and caused the component stack to break loose.
In rebuilding the components stack I did the following;
from underneath inserted four M3x25mm steel screws and anchored them tightly in place with 3mm nylock nuts.
installed the fan normally onto the steel studs.
put a 3mm nylon washer followed by a steel flat washer and a steel nut on each stud, using locktite on the nuts
threaded a stand-off onto each of the four exposed screw ends
installed the power distribution board and anchored it with a steel washer and steel nut (no locktite on any plastic fasteners), followed by a threaded stand-off onto each spot
installed the flight control board normally
installed the AHRSs and anchored it in place with a nylon washer and steel nut on each stud.

I saw someone mention somewhere that the AHRSs came unstuck from it's foamy double sticky tape and that got me thinking that a tape failure could cause the same crash I had yesterday so I'm going to work on finding a source for these
http://www.mcmaster.com/#spacers-and-standoffs/=b168lb
and put a brace across the top of the AHRSs to keep it from popping off the plate it's stuck to.

The pictures below show the rebuild. It's very windy otherwise I'd be outside flying instead of typing.

Bart

 

[Xaircraft USA]

I seem to have lucked out as everything is back together and working properly. i misspoke in my previous post, it was the power distribution board that wore through the plastic studs and caused the component stack to break loose.
In rebuilding the components stack I did the following;
from underneath inserted four M3x25mm steel screws and anchored them tightly in place with 3mm nylock nuts.
installed the fan normally onto the steel studs.
put a 3mm nylon washer followed by a steel flat washer and a steel nut on each stud, using locktite on the nuts
threaded a stand-off onto each of the four exposed screw ends
installed the power distribution board and anchored it with a steel washer and steel nut (no locktite on any plastic fasteners), followed by a threaded stand-off onto each spot
installed the flight control board normally
installed the AHRSs and anchored it in place with a nylon washer and steel nut on each stud.

I saw someone mention somewhere that the AHRSs came unstuck from it's foamy double sticky tape and that got me thinking that a tape failure could cause the same crash I had yesterday so I'm going to work on finding a source for these
http://www.mcmaster.com/#spacers-and-standoffs/=b168lb
and put a brace across the top of the AHRSs to keep it from popping off the plate it's stuck to.

The pictures below show the rebuild. It's very windy otherwise I'd be outside flying instead of typing.

Bart

Very Impressive Bart, This is seems to be a good idea, will watch, check with the engineers in a couple days, get their opinions. I see no problem(s). Will test it on a machine in the mean time.

 

[Bartman]

I flew again on Wednesday and wrecked again but it was my fault this time as I took off in Cruise mode and just lost it. The good news is the quad took it pretty well with only one broken arm and a stack that stayed put through the rough ride.
I thought I took off in Hover mode which would have had full gyro stabilization helping me. Cruise mode has been explained to me as being like flying "a flybarless 450 heli" which I guess means the gyros are having snack time while you manually fly the copter, in my case, into the ground.
Bart

 

[walkerinerie]

Bart - Sounds like you're having about the same luck I am. I quickly realized that all of my controls needed to be reversed. I reversed them all but the throttle (I'm doing it too, once I fix my landing gear). So pulling the stick down to go up for throttle kinda messed me up. After I lost it in the sun and decreased throttle it crashed in the weeds - and broke the landing gear. I'm wondering if my cruise and hover mode are opposite of what I think they are also???
Walker

 

[Bartman]

sorry to hear that Walker. Lay a couple of 2x4's across the gear and run the motors up a little before you fly next time. You'll be able to see if the copter leans the way it should as you roll, yaw, and pitch. You'll also know immediately if the throttle is correct or not.
Have you been able to find your way around the XA Config software? I forget which page it is but there's a page in there that shows the flight mode changing as you flip the switch on your transmitter so you can see which switch position corresponds to which mode. I thought I had it set up correctly but it was backwards.
Keep at it. THe repairs you make just bring you closer to your aircraft and make it uniquely yours. How's that for positive thinking?

 

[Bartman]

Haven't posted to this thread in about a week. I flew it twice the morning of the 20th and then wrecked again later that day after rushing to get up to altitude for some video. I lost orientation and zigged when I should have zagged (classic old time rc saying, i love it!) and put it in from about 150 ft. Amazingly the gear didn't break but I broke all four arms, bent a motor shaft, bent a motor mount, and broke a gear skid. I thought I only broke three arms but in disassembling arm four earlier this evening i found it too was broken.
So it's all back together again and the computer link seems to show that everything is functioning.
I made another modification after kicking around ideas over the last few days. I wasn't happy with the props floating on the shaft just above the hub of the motor and relying on the friction between the prop face and nut to keep it from lashing on the shaft. I wanted the prop hub to bottom against something that was in turn bottomed against the motor. What I ended up doing was buying 4mm nuts and drilling out just enough of the thread so they'd slip over the last 1mm or so of the shaft where there aren't any threads and seat against the motor. With the nut tight against the motor you can now screw the prop snug against the nut and then put the prop nut on. There aren't as many threads for the prop nut so you have to use locktite and be REALLY REALLY careful not to strip the nut. With it all together this way I'd bet bucks that that prop isn't going to slip or move at all on the shaft no matter how heavily loaded the quad is.
Weather permitting it'll fly tomorrow. I may or may not upgrade the FC software to version 1.3 (I think that's right) before I fly it again.
I'll be adding a new servo to the camera mount since the old/new Tower Hobbies servo stripped itself in the crash. I ordered a really fast, metal gear Turnigy servo which will either be perfect or a piece of crap out of the box but such is the world of discount RC.
If everything goes as planned I've got an Iftrontech 5.8 ghz transmitter for this quad so it can get to work with my Okto ASAP. These little craft generate a huge amount of interest once you start talking up their capabilities but you've got to be able to deliver the goods and so far I've been all talk and no goods. Hopefully that will be changing very soon.
Flight report tomorrow evening!

 

[RTRyder]

Beware of using locktite near plastic props! Locktite attacks plastic and seems to have a special affinity for the material most props are made of, there's numerous accounts of folks locktiting the prop spinners on the Gaui 330X quads and having the prop hubs split in two on the very next flight. Use sparingly and make sure to not get any on the prop itself, I just don't use it in that application at all.

Ken

 

[Bartman]

I'm glad somebody is reading this stuff! I've been using the locktite very sparingly. I actually use the red stuff so if I use too much I'm not getting things apart, especially with the small size screws we use.
The X650 is flying again. I need to recalibrate the AHRS since it wants to fly with a slight lean so later tonight I'll level it and also update the firmware to 1.3 while I have it on the bench. It might be my imagination but it seems to fly more consistently with the props modified the way they are. Originally the quad seemed to have a case of the yips where it would dip and wobble for no reason at random times. It was wobbly at first but that was due to loose bolts holding the arm mounts in place. That's fixed and it still flies pretty well given its damage history.
More on this tomorrow. I'm taking it to the park for a couple of more flights along with the Okto for some AP.

 

[Bartman]

Bart - Sounds like you're having about the same luck I am. I quickly realized that all of my controls needed to be reversed. I reversed them all but the throttle (I'm doing it too, once I fix my landing gear). So pulling the stick down to go up for throttle kinda messed me up. After I lost it in the sun and decreased throttle it crashed in the weeds - and broke the landing gear. I'm wondering if my cruise and hover mode are opposite of what I think they are also???
Walker

Walker,
Making any progress?
Bart