Help with Building a CineStar 8 (& Copters in General)

[3dheliguy]

Kloner, I will be attending helifreak.

 

[kloner]

next year, my MD900 is just too far from flying.

 

[3dheliguy]

Sweet, well I will be down in your hood soon testing my MR. I will keep u up on it just in case you want to join.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Exactly! Crazy, isn't it? Not saying it isn't well made, capable, well supported, etc. - but I am (deeply) familiar with the materials and manufacturing costs of such things and... errr, just a minute: there's some men in dark suits at my door.

Yeah... I see about $300 up to $600 tops in materials on these frames. Not that I think people shouldn't be able to turn a profit, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money for a design that is really not optimized.

There are plenty of threads here about power distribution - a search should reveal them (although the search facility is a bit challenged).

I'm trying to find these threads as I'm at this point in my Octo build. I have only found one good thread:

http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?4226-Another-power-distribution-thread&highlight=distribution

But maybe there are others.

I'm wondering, is there any reason to not simply get two copper washers. Solder 8 female barrel connectors to each, then solder male connectors on the ESC's, and plug them in? Seems pretty simple. I realize there are a few extra joints which *could* fail but, I haven't had any problems with barrel connectors yet. And the servicability aspect of being able to simply unplug the ESC's would be nice.

Another idea, is why not simply use aluminum for the washers/board? Aluminum is about 1/2 the conductivity of copper, but 1/3rd the weight. So it's actually better on a conductivity/weight measure. Heck, for that matter, why not use aluminum wire? We actually manufacture aluminum wire where I work, but unfortunately it's a bit too big... (2/0 AWG and bigger). Still, for the run from the ESC to the motor, it's a straight shot, I have thought about simply using solid strands, insulated with heatshrink tubing. Could work.

 

[kloner]

the washers are heavy, ideally you want that 2mil pcb,,,, kinda like copper tape, except i tried that and because it wasn't bonded ot the frame like wet copper, it peeled up easily and tore.

can you solder aluminum?

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I don't know if you can solder Aluminum. Google says yes. I'll give it a shot.

You can definitely weld it. that would be ultimate.

I found McMaster Carr sells bare solid aluminum wiring. Lots of gauge sizes. I could easily run that through an insulating line here at work.

Apparently the A380 uses aluminum wire, for the weight savings.

 

[kloner]

i've got a 1920 house full of aluminum wire, but they quit that a long time ago around here.

in making all these antennas theres only three things i've found i can solder to flux or not.... copper, galvanized and wire. just don;t what the wire is...... some does look like aluminum, though i figure it's some tin crap metal from china, half hazardous waste, half metal.

Will be interesting to find what you do. You want to make sure whatever is solid is secured so it can;t crack. house wire is solid, it doesn;t move much, auto wires are stranded, moves around alot, keeps form breaking

 

[almphoto]

"I'd suggest getting the gps module, naza, and a f450 arf"

Any reason why you would suggest a f450 quad instead of a f550 hex?

 

[kloner]

2 less props to break, 2 less arms to break, no real advantage over a quad unless you wanted to carry a little more weight. just that alone if running a decent prop could be $20-$30 more a crash, happens in the blink of an eye

One really good thing about multi rotors in general is they hold there resale value great. Has to be one of the hotter segments of rc out there right now

 

[almphoto]

So the 450 would have no problem carrying a gopro and fpv system?

 

[kloner]

that's what i do,,,,, i use slightly bigger motors and special frame plates the seperate components better but it's in addition to a f450 arf

naza, gps, dji arms, dji esc's, only different is 2810 instead of the stock 2212 motors and the frame like i said

if i was strickly building for fpv to go a mile tomorrow i'd just go through tbs and get everything good they have for a disco like above

http://www.team-blacksheep.com/shop/cat:discovery with a core installed and with the 4 black arms

http://www.team-blacksheep.com/products/prod:750kv_30aesc

from there all your missing is a naza gps, video transmitter, video receiver, camera, monitor, rc control

 

[kloner]

it'd be a better option for the OP Brian too. Something he can hang cameras on later once he's got it down and do stuff with. Flamewheels are alright if you don't want to fly forward much and if you don't want fpv gear. There just a little tight to make it all work perfect. The discovery just works

This would have enough power you could easily get a decent little camera up there with and have a view of the picture realtime, etc with alot less trouble.

 

[E-Copter]

Hi,

i have been flying a F450, 4S configuration with the 8' props, with a Gopro and a carbon 2 axis gimbal with absolulty not problems, this has been pretty reliable and the weight of the gimbal + additional landing skids was 3 times the weight of a regular transmitter


Best regards,
Fabien

 

[kloner]

hows the video signal? what rc controll? any sats? any waiting?

 

[E-Copter]

Hi,

standard F450 worked fine for me with gimbal ( 2 axis), Go Pro, and video transmitter, there was good power. Sure not enough for drag race but really enough to do a lot with it

in 3S / 10' props it was not very good and in forward flight ( fast) it was not that "straight". BUt with the 8 inches and the stock motors / 4s, really worked fine.

That said, i did not FPV with it but made quick aerial videos and pictures for checking a building roof construction, and video signal was perfect with pinwheel antennas.

For FPV, the high amount of copper on the lower frame could be a problem for long range i admit, but all depend how far you want to fly

BEst regards,
Fabien

 

[kloner]

the difference between fpv and ap is that exact part, the real estate to keep interference down isn't there with the stock frame and the square shape makes it hover better than fly. if your doing them 1/4 mile an hour shots in 120fps then slow it down, keep the square frame, but if lets say the op wanted to do geo studies on a mountain or fault, he could make a mile run down the thing and the bigger frames make it do it. The stock frame isn't so much the metal in the pcb cause they both do, mine actualy more, all 8 channels are pcb in the top plate to further clean up wires and make less interference.

a stock 450 sucks going forward with any speed at all for the distances an fpv rig does.

heres a stock frame doing fpv, couldn't get 2200 feet away and tuning for winds and crap was a joke

but go with a spider frame that has room to run an lrs rc control and has range does this

AP wants a nice symetrical frame that hangs something straight off the bottom and hover. It's the other side,,,,, the dark side

frame wise, the only difference between the two videos is the center plates. Same motors, esc's naza, everything. Got it for christmas last year, drowed it twice. sent it to hell a few times...... you know

 

[Photronix]

Brian

I sent you a Private Message (PM). I believe I can help you figure out what to spend your time and money on. I will give you my honest unbiased opinion and maybe help point you in the right direction.

Al

 

[almphoto]

Al

I am interested in your opinion also. While I am not ready to purchase now, it is the direction I am moving in.

 

[Brian Iannone]

Hello everyone. Apologies for disappearing from the forum, but I just four days ago returned from Réunion. I was there for quite a while shooting Production Phase 1 on RIDF (Réunion Island Documentary Film), captured on EPIC. None of the material shot during this trip was done from any sort of multicopter, however.

Now that I'm back, I would like to continue learning about multicopters and begin putting a list of octocopter kit components together. The next phase of RIDF will take place at the end of the year, so I have quite a bit of time. I myself will not be flying the octocopter during that stage of shooting, though. I plan on bringing an octocopter pilot as part of the RIDF team since I've continuously heard that piloting octocopters can take months of nonstop practice; something which I would like to do, but I'm not certain I will have time for.

So at this point, I'd like to build a very small, non-cinema-related quad/hexacopter for personal flying, perhaps with a GoPro or ultra-light DSLR. I'm intrigued by the F550, so I'd like to ask for some thoughts on that.

My question now is, what is the least expensive F550 kit that I can build? (As in, least expensive, but still worth flying?) Since I've just returned from this trip, my budget is quite small and will remain that way for several months. Especially since I will be returning to Réunion on a photography and RIDF location scout trip in July. Is something in the sub-$1,000 range possible? Preferable closer to $600?

Thank you for the help.

 

[cofhal]

Would it be possible to publish the config parameters for that octo Wookong.