Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

Associate
Joined
11 Dec 2003
Posts
2,452
Location
Heysham, Lancs
The Q4 is great fun, mine has been seeing more action than my L and C X4s. TBH the jump between toy grade and hobby grade is so huge... I'd be tempted to suggest jumping in at the deep end and building your own :D

Had to buy a couple of new batteries for my Q4. Fly it round the office at lunch times. Its great fun. Need one for home now to annoy the dogs :D
 
Associate
Joined
12 Mar 2005
Posts
1,085
Location
bath
Do any shops do bundles to build your own?

Also, what lights are these?

They do, but then you're tied to the components they pick, which aren't necessarily the best.

The lights are either COB LED 12v Vehicle running light strips off ebay, or they sell similar ones on HobbyKing.

Generally speaking you need:

250 Frame (Carbon if poss)
Flight Controller (Naze 32 Acro, CC3D, Mini KK2.1, Flip32 etc)
ESC's x4 (zMAX or EMAX 12a)
4x Motors (DYS1806 2300kv, EMAX 2204 2300kv etc)
5x3 or 5x4 props
1500mah 35c 3s Batteries (Turningy Nanotech or Zippy Compacts)

Soldering Iron, solder, wires, heatshrink, nylon standoffs and other assorted gubbins.

Receiver and transmitter (range from £40 up £2-300) spend as much as your budget will allow!

Then it's just FPV equipment, but I'd advise learning to fly as is, before loading up on expensive FPV equipment!
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Jan 2009
Posts
17,175
Location
Aquilonem Londinensi
Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2006
Posts
15,940
Think you need the accessory pack

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__16719__NTM_Prop_Drive_28_Series_Accessory_Pack.html

It also has a plain shaft so you'll need some kind of prop adaptor (included in the pack above). I seem to recall NTM motors coming with a short shaft version, which might be worth looking at if there is one for this size. The longer the shaft, the more likely it is to get damaged.

damn - forgot to order anything like this.....

£1.20 each - £4.80 total for 4 ---- £5.18 postage for uk warehouse!

:(:(
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
5 Oct 2004
Posts
1,647
The 250 bug has bitten me! Going to build one I think

Are the carbon frames stronger than the traditional plastic ones? The arms on the non-carbon frames look a lot more sturdy and less likely to snap when it goes tumbling through a field!
 
Associate
Joined
12 Mar 2005
Posts
1,085
Location
bath
I've broken 2 arms on my CF quad, both at the body end of the arm through the bolt holes. First time I hit the ground at full speed, with a 2200mah battery on board as I was testing it. Second time I killed the motors at a height of about 80-100' by accident I think, landed on the arm.

Other than that, still going strong.

G10 is possibly a little stronger, but heavier.

I don't think many people break the arms very often.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Jan 2009
Posts
17,175
Location
Aquilonem Londinensi
I think a good few people make a meal out of breaking stuff. I've crashed my 250 a bajillion times on every type of surface (bar water, ice and lava, fortunately) and only scuffed it. Everything else however... Is not so resistant.
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Mar 2006
Posts
3,975
What would you guys recommend for a quadcopter or hexacopter setup for FPV? Wondering about hexacopter, if it'll be needed for a GoPro FPV setup, as it'll mean 50% more on ESC's and motors. What do you reckon?

What frames do you guys recommend for that?
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Dec 2006
Posts
2,575
Location
Loughborough
Gone from these....
20141113_013311.jpg


To this....
20141201_175654.jpg


I tried the screen mounted on the controller, but it was quite bulky and a little annoying to use.
20141201_175701.jpg


So i made the makeshift groundstation using an old lipo box to hold everything and a camera tripod
20141203_191623.jpg

20141203_191704.jpg

20141203_191846.jpg

20141203_191855.jpg


Been really pleased with it so far. The lilliput screen i had was the cause of all my black "blue-screen" dropouts and this little £20 screen goes to a snow screen on low signal so i can actually use it now. Lilliput got ten feet before cutting out every 2-3 seconds and this one is fine at over 200ft now! The pixel density is pretty poor and the contrast isn't as good as the lilliput but for £20 its a great screen on a budget.

Sony cc1333 is a great little camera too!
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2006
Posts
15,940
damn - forgot to order anything like this.....

£1.20 each - £4.80 total for 4 ---- £5.18 postage for uk warehouse!

:(:(

looks like no other option but to order the NTM Prop Drive 28 Series Accessory Packs from Hobbyking. Sticks in my throat a bit paying £4.80 for the goods and £5.18 for the postage!
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Dec 2006
Posts
2,575
Location
Loughborough
You need to upload some videos of that flying from FPV. :p

Done a couple of laps round the bedroom with it while i was sat downstairs, seems okay with such limited space... although i did hit the metal lampshade on the roof, hence the chips in the nearest prop in the last pictures haha. :eek:

Hopefully getting a mobius to strap on top in the next couple of weeks so i can upload fpv vids :D
 
Back
Top Bottom