Hoverfly Building an X8 with HFPro

Av8Chuck

Av8Chuck

Member
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]I posted this on RCGroups in the Hoverfly forum but got no response. Not sure if its just a slow day or if the activity has migrated to this forum so I thought I would post it here.[/FONT]

Anyway, I've had a HFPro controller for more than six months and have not installed it on anything but since the reviews of 4.8 have been so good I have decided to build an X8 for the HFPro.

This is what I plane to build:
HFPro Controller [I have]
Rusty's UAP2 frame
8 Avroto 2814 motors [I have]
8 RCTimer 40A ESC's http://rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goo...0&productname=
8 12" APC SF Props [I have]
1 3 Axis Gimbal
1 Sony NEX5n [I have] might like to be able to use a Canon 60D [I have]
4 5800mah 4S batteries [I have]

I'm currently flying a Hex with NAZA/GPS, no gimbal, which flies quite well but every so often it does some quirky unexpected maneuver so I don't trust it. I also had a Y6 with CC controller that flew great but I wasn't a good enough pilot at the time to use it for AP.

So from that experience I'm hoping to build an X8 with the same flight characteristics as the Y6, but can lift more, is as stable as the NAZA but something that I can trust.

So that's what I have, what I'm hoping to build and what I hope to accomplish with it. I realize that I have asked for suggestions in the past but I was reading a lot of negative posts about 4x from people I know had been flying HF's for a considerable amount of time so I decided to wait. Now with the release of 4.8 the trend is certainly positive so I've decided to build something for the HFPro.

Again, any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
 

DucktileMedia

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
It will be a very worthy machine you are building. I have almost identical. Im flying an XY8 with av200/360 and fly the nex5n,cx760 and it is more than capable of lifting these without even noticing they are there. Its nice not over loading your helo in case something does go wrong with a motor you can come down with control. the HFP is very stable and reliable. I dont really know why some have issues and others dont but it is 99% of the time user error. Just take your time and check everything twice or three times.
 

S

Stacky

Member
I just had a test flight of my new X8 in the backyard with the new firmware.
Everything great, its pretty windy and my X8 wasnt even bothered by the wind.
I have a decent size Hexa that I have now been flying for 10 months and have over 10 hours flying time logged on it. It hasnt skipped a beat in all that time apart from one issue which turned out to be my radio rx. It was built using the Rusty frame setup. Its been the best machine I have built/owned, totally reliable and I have never had any flight issues no matter what the firmware. I suspect the X8 is going to be even better judging on the few test flights so far.

My recommendation is really simple. Read the manual, go to the hoverfly website and look at their knowledge base forums link which gets you to their zendesk area. In the zendesk area are the release notes for the firmware. Read the release notes and follow those instructions.
Every build for me is really easy and most of the time when I see people having problems with a new build it ends up being because they simply havent followed the manual or the release notes. there have been a couple of times people have had issues outside of that but the majority of problems simply come from not RTFM or release notes.

When you get ready to wire it all up ask any questions you have in here and you will be in the air in no time.

Once a multi is wired I can get it in the air in around 10 minutes max, including calibrations and following the manual and release notes.
 

Av8Chuck

Av8Chuck

Member
IrisAerial said:
It will be a very worthy machine you are building. I have almost identical. Im flying an XY8 with av200/360 and fly the nex5n,cx760 and it is more than capable of lifting these without even noticing they are there.
Click to expand...

What frame are you using? Also what props are you using?

Stacky said:
I just had a test flight of my new X8 in the backyard with the new firmware.
Everything great, its pretty windy and my X8 wasnt even bothered by the wind.
I have a decent size Hexa that I have now been flying for 10 months and have over 10 hours flying time logged on it. It hasnt skipped a beat in all that time apart from one issue which turned out to be my radio rx. It was built using the Rusty frame setup. Its been the best machine I have built/owned, totally reliable and I have never had any flight issues no matter what the firmware. I suspect the X8 is going to be even better judging on the few test flights so far.

My recommendation is really simple. Read the manual, go to the hoverfly website and look at their knowledge base forums link which gets you to their zendesk area. In the zendesk area are the release notes for the firmware. Read the release notes and follow those instructions.
Every build for me is really easy and most of the time when I see people having problems with a new build it ends up being because they simply havent followed the manual or the release notes. there have been a couple of times people have had issues outside of that but the majority of problems simply come from not RTFM or release notes.

When you get ready to wire it all up ask any questions you have in here and you will be in the air in no time.

Once a multi is wired I can get it in the air in around 10 minutes max, including calibrations and following the manual and release notes.
Click to expand...

Before I can wire it I have to buy ESC's, I read the Castle Creations thread on RCGroups and like many of these threads was a bit all over the place, if everyone said they were great maybe I wouldn't mind spending the extra money but it wasn't clear to me that you get anything for the additional expense. So I'm hoping that the RCTimer 40A ESC's would work, I use RCTimer ESC's with the CC and NAZA and they work great. although I've heard good things about the SimonK flashed ESC's I've never tried them. Will these work with the HFPro?

Also since these are OPTO's do I need a separate BEC or will the HFPro power the Rx?

Thanks for the responses.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

JZSlenker

JZSlenker

Yeah, I can blow that up.
You will love the X-8 config with HFP. We love ours. I personally would not waste my money on Castle. The X-8 flies fine with one dropped motor / esc. We have 200 flight hours on our newest rctimer escs with zero failures. As Stacky says, read the entire manual... Twice.
 

P

PaNt

Member
JZSlenker said:
You will love the X-8 config with HFP. We love ours. I personally would not waste my money on Castle. The X-8 flies fine with one dropped motor / esc. We have 200 flight hours on our newest rctimer escs with zero failures. As Stacky says, read the entire manual... Twice.
Click to expand...

why are you doing this??? you will make me change my cinestart from flat 8 to x8
 

DucktileMedia

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
Av8... I build my own frames. I'm flying 12" APC SF and they work great. They are the easiest prop to balance. I have also tried the thins with 12x6 top and 13x6.5 bottoms and that worked well too. The APC thins are a lot more hub to balance so they have to be perfect. I'm using 40amp Turnigy Plush ESC's. I'm using the Tiger 2814's. It's a great machine.
 

jfro

jfro

Aerial Fun
Av8Chuck
user-online.png
... I'm using same frame, going x8 with Avroto's. Using 30amp ESC's. Haveven't decided on the camera gimble as I'm waiting to see if a Alexmos gimble pops that can handle a GH2.

I 'm almost done wiring. Have updated the HFP and am itching to get going.

Stacky: "Once a multi is wired I can get it in the air in around 10 minutes max, including calibrations and following the manual and release notes. "

I wish you were around to check my radio settings. What you can do in 10 minutes is probably going to take me hours.

Will keep up with this thread to see the progress.
 


JZSlenker

JZSlenker

Yeah, I can blow that up.
PaNt I've flown both octo and X-8. I've had a prop fly off of our X-8 and landed with no issue. In my experience, the X-8 handles wind much better. I also find it much easier to keep oriented when flying LOS. The only argument that I have heard for Octo over X-8 is that the octo is more efficient since its not coaxial. This point is true however it's not a huge percentage and the other advantages of X-8 far outweigh that. We have lots of battery packs after all.
 

P

PaNt

Member
JZSlenker said:
PaNt I've flown both octo and X-8. I've had a prop fly off of our X-8 and landed with no issue. In my experience, the X-8 handles wind much better. I also find it much easier to keep oriented when flying LOS. The only argument that I have heard for Octo over X-8 is that the octo is more efficient since its not coaxial. This point is true however it's not a huge percentage and the other advantages of X-8 far outweigh that. We have lots of battery packs after all.
Click to expand...

So i have to doit...!!!!
if i have 14/4.7 on my flat can i put the same on X??
 

JZSlenker

JZSlenker

Yeah, I can blow that up.
You can use your 14s for sure but you may want to play with sizes and pitch for the most efficiency. We run 1" larger (than the tops) props with slightly higher pitch on the bottoms.
 



JZSlenker

JZSlenker

Yeah, I can blow that up.
It's still my preferred configuration. Still flying smooth as silk. Waiting for a descent brushless gimbal for DSLRs to put on it.
 


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