Hoverfly Gimbal For Aerovideo's Homebrew?

[Earl E Adobtr]

Paul and I traded some parts. I got his infamous Homebrew frame - the one that's been in more than a few spectacular (and I might add, entertaining) crash vids but also the source of some of my favorite fpv moments. I added new cf/delrin arms, and designing a simple 2 axis direct linkage 125g gimbal. It's been a 3 week adventure but I think I'm finally ready for liftoff tomorrow. Stay tuned for AV!

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[DucktileMedia]

I see you went with the new gimbal idea. nice!

 

[Aerovideo]

Aww man this is great! I love all the improvements, can't wait to see how it all works. I have to admit it's a little weird seeing a build thread of my own frame, but I like it!

Okay, now just send it back

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

Sorry man, but I love this thing too much to send it back. But it truly is a collaboration and I promise you WILL get a working gimbal out of it - made two of em. Here is short up/down backyard vid - no post except to cut the beginning and end. Roll is a bit lose, tilt is tight. No jello that I could see.

 

[Aerovideo]

HOLY COW that is fantastic!!! Good job including the comparison keychain cam video, that really showed how well it was compensating. Well done!

That looks to be the perfect setup, nice and compact, foldable plus a gimbal! Perfect for backpacking and camping. You've inspired me to build another

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

So the only thing left is to design folding legs. They need to be 2" long and just be able to fold flat against the body for transport. The arms are built with a detent to lock them in place and I was thinking something along the same lines for the legs. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[DucktileMedia]

I have to say, for my fold-n-fly, the folding legs have been the single hardest part to design. Problem isnt making something, the issue is making something that is economical to make and still looks cool and is functional. My 3 axis CNC is just not enough to manufacture these brackets and hinges needed to do this. I've looked for 3 months now obsessively for a light weight hinge that locks. Maybe we need to merge ideas again. Here's what I have so far.

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[Earl E Adobtr]

Glad to see you went with that. Any video? I may just opt for simple friction fold at this point - if it's angled out a little it shouldn't collapse on landing.

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

Well with a few bike spokes and some 1/2" alu channel I managed to kluge something together, but it looks sort of gangly. Definitely minimum air resistance tho


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[Earl E Adobtr]

 

[DucktileMedia]

nice idea. The advantage in not using flat cut pieces is you can do something like that. I have been suffering here trying to figure out a cheap easy way to make a locking hinge that will bolt to my flat cut legs.

 

[Aerovideo]

I received my excellently designed and crafted gimbal, big thanks to Earl E Adotr for generously building one for me. I have some servos on order and can't wait to hook this up to something!

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

Thanks Paul. Looking forward, as always, to what you cook up. As a side note, I'm recutting Aerovideo's great Homebrew design based on his AI plans and some rework in Rhino. I scouted out some 7/8 od silicone tubing on Amazon. Combined with his Lowes rubber bonnet packing rings, they manage to prevent ALL vibration from reaching the camera. The secret, I think, to vibration free camera is using harder and softer materials together. The arms are delrin blocks with 12mm x 1.5 wall from FlyCarbon USA cf tubing with 2 degrees upward cant. For some reason pointing the prop wash a little away from the copter helps give it a more solid feeling when flying. I'm sure eventually they will wake up over there at fpvmanuals and put some folding arms and a gimbal on their QAV500 form factor but until they do...

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[Aerovideo]

Actually you can get a folding frame like the QAV, the iconic X:

http://quadcopter.us/store/index.php?id_product=8&controller=product

But I like where you took this, looks really good. I wonder if you could have a spacer next to each arm as a stopper so you know where to fold out the arms too and to prevent them from folding out further in flight? Or is that not a problem? Looks really cool, I like the big white silicone dampeners.

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

That's a cool frame for the price -arms fold out tho :dread:. For this version of Homebrew when arm block is rotated, the large hole in the block finds the button screw detent mounted in the G10. Motors go on tomorrow along with servos and camera so I should be testing soon!


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[Earl E Adobtr]

Hiking clips from yesterday. Next version is on the boards.

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[Aerovideo]

I really like where you're going with this, looks cool and the results are great!

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

Thanks Paul. Latest version is about half finished. Lots of small improvements. It's going together very nicely - sure is great printing out the template first! All the holes line up, everything is where it's supposed to be, no "oops!" moments like the old days. Plus that "Blade Runner" jigsaw table makes hand cutting plastic sheet 10 times easier. I even copied a feature from the "big boys" in this version (second to last pic) Always wanted to do that :highly_amused: It's a Deans 3 pin connector - very tight.



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[Aerovideo]

WOW, that looks fantastic! Very impressive and cool looking to boot. Can't wait to see the finished product and some video! The plug in motor wires at the end of the booms is slick! Your improvements are great.

I have to admit I was looking at CNC machines this weekend. But that looks like a whole other hobby, lots to learn.

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

Update

Here is the finished Homebrew, pretty much, I think, as Paul envisioned it when he built his first wood design. 17" x 9" x 3 1/2" when folded. Flying weight is 1600 grams even.

Top plate was reworked to add stiffness and protection for the connector pins - my two cents: it'd be nice if those pin arrays were pointed up in next HFP version. Leg design is updated. Battery is quick change and now stored underneath. Locking arms and legs. Integrated 23 degree gimbal. Flow thru cooling on esc's.

Great handling in calm (thanks HF) and so-so in gusty conditions. It's been windy here last few days. This was done in 8-12 mph gusts with post stab applied - wavy gravy - I'm personally not happy with the vid results in wind so far. I have another more open cf/delrin H design with same gimbal that's about 25% more stable in wind gusts. I'm reworking that and using knowledge I gained from playing with this design to see if I can come up with a better wind performing traveler. In the meantime, I'm definitely not going to leave this home when I hit the road!

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