XAircraft X650 build thread

[Bartman]

if you hold any throttle as the craft touches down, it may try to level itself if the landing spot isn't level. as this happens it can add power itself to stay level and the result is that it'll bounce around and maybe damage itself. this can happen to any multi-rotor with gyros really. as it touches down, move the throttle to idle so it'll stay down. if you have to abort the landing, add power and fly away but don't try to massage a landing by slightly increasing power as this can lead to an inadvertent encounter with materials more rigid than your quad. either land or fly away. when you get better with it you'll have more options as you get close to the ground.

 

[brendonvz]

Heeded, I ran out of space, so I cut the throttle ... it was either that or hit the air con unit on the wall , my fault I know I was just too impatient to get a test flight in ..
Re : battery mount, (I dont like the landing gear its too flimsy so along with it comes the battery mount)
I though I might do that as I'll have a sponge/foam fender on the underside with a vent for the fan and I'll remove the standard landing gear, maybe make up a new more forgiving frame from carbon but still retain the camera mount for later.. but for the time being I'll not be taking photos, so I'll use a foam block based landing gear which I should fabricate tonight, I'll defo put some pics on when its done .. Actually I might rethink the battery move though… maybe build a battery hanger underneath and wall it with foam

 

[brendonvz]

Anyone ever made replacement arms for the X650 ? I crashed mine on the weekend, so need 2 more arms , I was just thinkin I could get raw 10mm od carbon fibre tube and drill 4 holes in it ?

 

[Bartman]

brendon,
i suppose you could buy tubing and cut/drill it yourself. they're cheap though so buy two for now and keep a full set on hand. i've got a small stash of parts because every time i need one i buy a few.
but no snap ring!
gotta do something about it today.
we need another thread just for tuning the X650. i'll start it today so we can get ours flying better. i hear jingchen's is a whole different level of stable compared to stock. i'm thinking maybe i need to bend my mounts a hair in or out so i can remove the trim i have in there now.
bart

 

[Buzzed]

Bart most local suppliers of bearings carry snap rings. I would advise taking one from another motor so they can measure it with calipers.

 

[Bartman]

buzzed,
good point, i've got a local mill/machine supply place nearby that i can visit but i still need a motor bell with magnets to replace the one i have.
the way i'm going i'll have enough parts to build another copter from scratch.
thanks,
bart

 

[Buzzed]

Bart if you need a motor bell you may not be flying for a bit. Don't you just hate when that happens?

 

[Droider]

Think I saw a post from Moslow offering some spares cheap!

 

[Bartman]

I heard from moslow late last night but was heading to bed when he got a hold of me. He's got a motor, motor mount, and arm but I only need the motor and a few other small things. I had to call Jeff from XAircraftUSA this morning anyway because I had a problem with his website earlier last night so I ended up just buying the stuff from Jeff this morning. I had to buy stuff from him anyway that I need to get myself flying again so adding the motor seemed like the right thing to do.
I hope moslow will list his parts for sale in the classifieds so someone else can take them off his hands.
Bart

 

[brendonvz]

Can someone please send me the default AUX1 AUX5 settings for the FC1212-S as well as the INPUT-OUTPUT settings for the RC tab and the Camera tab ... I kinda played around with them (and didn’t note the defaults) and now when I'm in hover mode the thing wont hover it just keeps going in one direction and needs me to compensate for it as opposed to righting itself ... not good

 

[brendonvz]

Coming from simple 3ch aircraft (gliders and microcopters)it can be quite alien to change to have the rudder on the left stick. Could I just pose the question of what is more of a natural way to have the controls configured for a quadcopter ?


Left stick = Throttle / Rudder ie (Throttle / Yaw)
Right stick = Aileron / Elevators ie (Pitch / Roll)

Or

Left stick = Throttle / Elevators ie (Throttle / Roll)
Right stick = Aileron / Rudder ie (Pitch / yaw)

 

[Bartman]

brendon,
i can understand the alienness (word?) of changing controls but, where i live, all rc is done with rudder/throttle on the left and roll/pitch on the right. there are two standard modes in rc, mode 1 and mode 2. in most of north america we use mode 2. the rest of the world is standardized on mode 1. use whatever works best for you but if you're likely to do other rc stuff in the future you should probably get comfortable with one of the standard layouts.

http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/rc-transmitter-modes.html

 

[Bartman]

With my X650 flying again I've been able to turn my attention to getting the video Tx set-up and my GoPro mounted. Most of the time my equipment is sitting in the basement so I have to bring things up to the 1st floor to charge batteries and I wanted the GoPro to come off and go back on easily. To that end I made a small mount for it out of lite plywood, my memory foam sample (thanks to whoever it was that posted that tip about the free memory foam sample), a strip of velcro and a couple of #10 screws.
The pics are pretty self explanatory and I'm happy with the way it worked out. I suppose I could have made it lighter but I'm still below the weight where I think my X650 should be to fly best.
I spent some time at the XA wiki last night and from the software downloads available it looks like the new firmware doesn't support 4 cell battery packs. If that's the case then my days trying to keep my X650 evolving are probably numbered and it'll live out its life as a GoPro mule. I'm not going to buy all new battery packs just to do the GPS upgrade. If Jingchen will ever respond to a question I'll find out if 4 cell packs are incompatible with the GPS and firmware upgrades that are currently available.
I've still got some software tweaking to do and I'd like to adapt a dual battery set-up so I'm not done just yet but I'm figuring, if I can avoid crashing for a little while, I'll be moving onto other projects soon.
Let's see what Jingchen has to say about the firmware and take it from there.
Thanks for reading.
Bart

 

[Bartman]

i received a reply from Jingchen of Xaircraft this morning.

We haven't tune the 4S parameters because our pilot said it's too powerful for new guys.
and our 4S battery is dead a month ago.
i can tune the 4S settings for you with a power source if you wish. and what style you used? X or +?
if you using X style, you can load the X450 settings for a try. if it is jerking, then you can lower down the Attitude P, I, D and damping factor. BUT BE CAREFUL while trying this.

Jingchen

it's nice that he offered to custom tune a config file for me but, in general, i'm not happy about this. i don't think i'll buy a new collection of batteries just so i can add the gps and maintain factory support. who's to say if there's a problem with the file if it'll get any attention sometime down the road.

 

[brendonvz]

Well I will say this much, the GPS of the Xaircraft is NOT worth the money ... !!!
Takes way to long. and then even when it does the position hold is ridiculous and the altitude hold is no better that without the GPS ...

 

[Bartman]

yup, there seem to be all sorts of problems. I haven't been able to reach Jeffery Wright from XAircraftUSA.com. You?

 

[brendonvz]

I’ve not managed to get ANY decent response from anyone "Xaircraft” no explanation of perhaps how to set it, no examples etc... I mean how much effort would it take to have made a standard settings pack on the website for beginner, intermediate and expert??
And the instructions are a guess at best.... time for eBay I reckon before throwing any more cash down the pit.

Well that’s my B1tch for the day

 

[Bartman]

Brendon,
Have you read through the latest posts over at rcgroups? there's an active group there trying to make it work. i don't understand why people spend money on something and then play along as they try to make things work to the standard that the manufacturer should have already accomplished....but i digress...there's an active thread there. i've tried to encourage both Jeff Wright and Jingchen to come join us here but it hasn't happened. I was pretty turned off when they just suddenly stopped supporting 4 cell packs. The frame is nice enough that it's worth putting some different hardware into to make it fly better.

 

[earthman]

Hello All,

A big THANK YOU to the Bartman for letting me in. I've picked up a lot of tips from everyone in getting started with my X650 and appreciate this forum.
I was wondering if anyone has tried an export and shared out their debugged settings at all. Since I've upgraded all the firmware, I'm not sure what needs to be set or if it's even needed.

 

[Addepat]

camera servo's

Which type of servo's do i need for the cameramount?