Hoverfly H Quad

[Earl E Adobtr]

OK, first post here. This is an HFP controlled H quad that I put together from spare parts last Sunday. The front loaded gimbal is my home brew "Earl's Gimbal" which is coming along but not quite ready for prime time. The quad is a bit front to back tipsy for all the known reasons but when I throw it into AL it is very flyable. I also designed it to be back packable with folding arms. HF - I'd love it if you could create a new H Quad algorithm that would allow for the tipsy nature of this configuration. Except for the weight distribution disaster, it's a great layout and I think more guys would build them if the board "knew" what it was riding on. I'd even loan you this one to work it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyhNg9kG1YI&feature=youtu.be

 

[S11D336B]

That's really cool Earl! I want to build one now. I've always wanted to Kayak out into the middle of no-where and fly. I may build one!

In terms of needing a different mode, you don't. As long as the motors form a nice square (not rectangle) the X mode will work without any modification.

OK, first post here. This is an HFP controlled H quad that I put together from spare parts last Sunday. The front loaded gimbal is my home brew "Earl's Gimbal" which is coming along but not quite ready for prime time. The quad is a bit front to back tipsy for all the known reasons but when I throw it into AL it is very flyable. I also designed it to be back packable with folding arms. HF - I'd love it if you could create a new H Quad algorithm that would allow for the tipsy nature of this configuration. Except for the weight distribution disaster, it's a great layout and I think more guys would build them if the board "knew" what it was riding on. I'd even loan you this one to work it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyhNg9kG1YI&feature=youtu.be

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

Thanks George. When you fly it I think you'll find it tends to want to rock front to back because of the extra weight sitting out on the ends. The board, I think, isn't expecting such a radically different inertia between x and y axis. Justmy laymans 2 cents. Motors on this unit form perfect square with board at exact center and CG also at exact center of board. It's a little squirrely without AL.

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

OK, just ran this again this morning with the new firmware and it flies much better. Only thing that's a little troubling is it needs to fly at a main gain of 11 as shown on the client. I've never flown anything at this low of a gain. Could be my motor/esc combo is causing this and not the form factor. Other negative is that it's sort of a flying wing in that the frame is one old big piece of G10 that the wind likes to play with. Will need to punch some holes in it. Like I said, I threw this thing together with odds and ends.

Update: Changing out motors and esc's doubled the gain.

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

Lots of changes since first version - I made up some press fit blocks out of Delrin, idea borrowed from tinker toys. Combined with 1/2" CF tubing it forms a pretty torsion resistant frame (with cy glue at certain points) but will still deform to absorb shock in a crash (this I know thru experience). What I really like is that the craft stays on the same flying plane a lot better than previous attempts (since it's flat and doesn't drop, I can fly in and out of trees).


I built a wire cage with camera inside instead of on top. The mini gimbal is also inside the cage above the camera and has just 15 degree pan tilt. With AL on that’s all I usually need. I know I'm not there yet with the video (gotta get that last little bounce-and-jitter out but obviously this is NOT a Cinstar rig - it's almost a toy - so maybe that isn't possible). The video is straight out of camera but trimmed on GoPro Cineform Studio.

 

[Earl E Adobtr]

Update

I've been tinkering with this design off and on since last August. Some of you have seen more than a few of those designs. Compared to my somewhat utilitarian first attempt above, this one looks a whole lot better imo. And though the original handled well, this one flies like it's on rails in a stiff breeze with the HFP. Now along comes the brushless gimbal to complete the picture. So even though this one is pictured with a static camera mount, it is already pre-drilled for the Quaternium Ver3 BL which will fit where the static mount is now. It's also modular - I can swap out HFP for NAZA system in 3 minutes. Once the gimbal goes back on, this thing is ready for a road trip!
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[awbarton]

I've been tinkering with this design off and on since last August. Some of you have seen more than a few of those designs. Compared to my somewhat utilitarian first attempt above, this one looks a whole lot better imo. And though the original handled well, this one flies like it's on rails in a stiff breeze with the HFP. Now along comes the brushless gimbal to complete the picture. So even though this one is pictured with a static camera mount, it is already pre-drilled for the Quaternium Ver3 BL which will fit where the static mount is now. It's also modular - I can swap out HFP for NAZA system in 3 minutes. Once the gimbal goes back on, this thing is ready for a road trip!
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Earl, have watched your design from the very beginning and this looks top notch. Great job.