Matts PVC T-QUAD

[mattsPVC]

View attachment 3465View attachment 3466

My new PVC T-QUAD design. AN UPDATED VERSION ON PAGE 3

My aim on this build was eliminate the propellers from the gopro's field of view.
And to have a central mass for better stability.

Total cost for the frame would be under $20.

DJI Naza flight controller
Gemfan 9x4.7 props (himodel.com)
NTM Prop Drive Series 28-26A 1200kv & NTM 28 series prop set (from hobbyking.com)
Advance 20A ESC
FPV Gear from (rangevideo.com)

Total Flight weight 1420 grams (with Gopro Camera in housing) NEW GOPRO ANTI-VIBRATION MOUNT, ON PAGE 4

3s 3000mah 25c Zippy Flightmax Battery (Approx 7-8 Minute flight time)(hobbyking.com)

Materials used & Measurements:

Class18 PVC Pipe 15mm

Arms x4 @ 20cm
Centre joiners X4 @ 3cm
Down tube x1 @ 5cm (for Gopro mount)
Cross Tubes x2 @ 5cm (for Gopro mount)

And 5x 15mm T's connecters.


Motor mounts made from: GO TO PAGE 3, I SHOW YOU HOW TO MAKE THEM

Carinya Make a Bracket http://www.carinya.com.au/make-a-bracket?id=24

or the lighter method,

fabricated out of 25mm square aluminium tubing (will need a dremel tool, to help you make these)

And fixed with 3mm x 30mm bolts & M3 lock nuts.

The main body is glued together with PVC cement.
The arms are fixed with three screws.

For the mounting of the Naza Controller I used a sample sheet of wooden flooring laminate.

Build instructions:-
1. Cut the PVC tubing to size.
2. Glue centre body together. (hint! to get centre body level, put 20cm arms in main body then step on main body on flat surface before glue sets, you will only have seconds to do this)
3.make motor mounts.(hint! to get the correct motor fixing holes on your motor mounts make a template out of clear thin rigid plastic (ie from some packaging) drill a hole for centre shaft then place clear plastic sheet on bottom of motor, punch holes in plasic where the screw holes are. Then place plastic tempate upside down on your motor mount to give you the hole locations.)
4. Mount motors on arms with propellers & insert into main body.
5. To get your 4 motors and propellers level with main body. Turn your Quad upside down & place on level surface (ie. table). use a ruler to measure distance from outside edge of propeller to table, both sides of propeller should be equal distance to table, if not trist arm till equal distance. Repeat for the other 3 arms.
6. Drill 3 holes in each T adapter and arm. Fix with 3 screws.
7. Mount Flight controller on sheet of laminex. Fix to main body, Take some time in aligning controller, needs to be pointing foward between two arms.

The DJI Naza settings are as follows:

Pitch 95%
Roll 95%
Yaw 90%
Vertical 70% (Have set up as remote adjust (X2) on radio, variable from 50% to 170%, slow vertical movements to fast vertical movements)
Pitch Atitude 85% (Have setup as remote adjust (X1) on radio 85% for fast flying, 52% for slow stable flying, & 40% for super slow stable flying)
Roll Atitude 75% (Have setup as remote adjust (X1) on radio 75% for fast flying, 46% for slow stable flying, & 40% for super slow stable flying)

Radio & Transmitter: JR DSX9 MK2 2.4G DSM2 Transmitter w/RD921 Receiver (Mode 2) from hobbyking.com

This is my current FPV. (first person view). set up.

Ground station:
1x 1.3ghz 8dBi Patch receiver antenna. from rangevideo.com
1x 1.3GHz 3dBi Antenna. from readymaderc.com
2x standard 1.3ghz receivers. from rangevideo.com
1x Eagle Eyes FPV Ground Station. from hobbyking.com
1x Fatshark video goggles. from hobbyking.com
1x 3s 2200mah battery. from hobbyking.com


Quadcopter:
1x 1.3GHz 300mW audio/video transmitter with standard antenna. from rangevideo.com
1x 900MHz / 1.3GHz low pass filter. from rangevideo.com
1x KX-6 Micro color CCD camera. from rangevideo.com
1x Camera to harness cable set. from rangevideo.com
1x Wire harness for video transmitters. from rangevideo.com
1x 3s 500mah battery. from hobbyking.com

 

[mailman35]

nice video matt.
i need you to ship me some of those brackets

 

[mattsPVC]

Thanks,
That can be organised. They come in flat sheets ready to be cut. So postage shouldn't be that much.

I spent the afternoon fine tuning the Naza settings and came up with these settings:


Pitch 95%
Roll 95%
Yaw 100%
Vertical 70%
Pitch Atitude 85%
Roll Atitude 75%

 

[mattsPVC]

Also made a new mount for the gopro housing. Total weight now has gone from 1450 grams to 1485 grams.
Only getting 6-7 minute flights on 3s 3000mah battery.
And moved the esc's to under the props for better cooling.
Also isolated the gopro mount with a rubber gromet, to reduce vibration to the camera.

View attachment 3565

 

[mattsPVC]

Update:

Changed the motors to:

NTM Prop Drive Series 28-26A 1200kv (from hobbyking.com)

And the props to Gaui 8x4.5


Now getting a more stable flight and better descents.

Also made new motor mounts out of 25mm square aluminium tubing, saved about 2 grams per mount.

Also made some modification to the GOPRO mount: (Due to excess vibrations being transmitted to the Gopro camera)

I replaced the PVC short down tube, with some automotive rubber hose.

Now have the weight down to 1280grams with out FPV Gear. Should be under 1400grams with FPV gear.

Will be posting a new video shortly.

 

[mattsPVC]

 

[Tomstoy2]

Matt, you are having way too much fun with that cheap damn quad! You need to knock it off, how are all these expensive kit companies supposed to make a living when you post stuff like that?

 

[juz]

sweet...I like this

 

[rcmike]

I may have to build something like this. What is the diameter of the PVC in inches? Here in the US there is 1/2", 3/4", 1" etc. The thickness of the wall is sch 20, 40, 80, etc.

 

[mattsPVC]

This is the class of pipe i used in Australia.

http://www.blackwoods.com.au/PartDetail.aspx?part_no=03652002

I would go for the 1/2 inch in the states.

 

[fayrwerks]

Whats the mounting bolt dimension on those NTMs? need some 16mm x 19mm on my project... thanks...

Update:

Changed the motors to:

NTM Prop Drive Series 28-26A 1200kv (from hobbyking.com)

And the props to Gaui 8x4.5


Now getting a more stable flight and better descents.

QUOTE]

 

[mattsPVC]

They are M3 bolts (3mm)

 

[mattsPVC]

Another video brought to you by PVC T-Quad

 

[mattsPVC]

Changed propellers to Gemfan 9x4.7

http://www.himodel.com/plane/GF_9x4..._rotating_one_counter-clockwise_rotating.html

Seem to be a better balanced blade and more efficient now getting less jelly effect and longer flight times 7-8 minutes
will also try the 8x4.5's in the future as well.

Here is my latest video with the Gemfan 9x4.7 blades

 

[mailman35]

awesome videos matt.
i cant wait to get goggles and the video transmission to make some like that

 

[mattsPVC]

Thanks.
Careful though, it can become highly addictive.

 

[mattsPVC]

I helped out on this music video a couple weeks ago.
Spot the T-Quad footage!

 

[Breezemont]

I helped out on this music video a couple weeks ago.
Spot the T-Quad footage!

Cool!

 

[mattsPVC]

Made a rare earth magnet trigger release for my T-Quad.

 

[mattsPVC]

Another film by T-Quad
Set up:
Filmed with my home made quadcopter "T-Quad"
DJI Naza flight controller.
Gemfan 9x4.7 props.
NTM Prop Drive Series 28-26A 1200kv motors & NTM 28 series prop set.
Hobbywing Flyfun 18a ESC.