Multirotor, multicopter and quadcopter discussion - The Drone thread

[SteveOBHave]

Awesome pictures fair play guys!

Where do you guys get your props from?

I'm after some 10x4.7 SF (or RD) props but GiantShark and HobbyKing (UK) have none

Edit: They're for my tri

I just bit the bullet and ordered a stack of 8's 9's and 10's in different colours from Hobbyking International Warehouse. I also took the opportunity to order some of those random useful bits and pieces like the screws for motor mounts, nylon screws and stand offs for mounting flight controllers, spare fine glass and CF sheets. Also some electronic tid bits like RX controlled switches for lighting, programming cards for ESCs, bullet connectors, some spare 10cm male to male servo leads, some extra xt-60 connectors, battery straps, prop adaptors and random LEDs for messing around with.

Just identify stuff that they don't stock in the UK warehouse and buy a stack of them. Even get together with some of the lads on here and bulk buy some stuff - it'll easily offset the shipping.

 

[pazza]

Awesome pictures fair play guys!

Where do you guys get your props from?

I'm after some 10x4.7 SF (or RD) props but GiantShark and HobbyKing (UK) have none

Edit: They're for my tri

I normally buy a load of carbon fiber ones from rctimer or graupners from electricwingman,there not cheap but ive had those plastic props from giantshark and hobbyking snap in flight 3 times and also the hubs tend to crack.

 

[Rilot]

I'm seriously considering going commercial with this hobby. I've done some research and there's certainly demand for what I have in mind.

I'm going to start studying for the BNUC-S certification, pass it and then see where I get.

I need to build a new platform first though as you get certified on each platform you wish to fly. No point in submitting an operations manual for my F550 if I then go and fly a SkyJib or Droidworx frame and have to do it all over again.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Big old set of legs that doofer, how much does that lot weigh?

So the husban x4 sounds like a bee on crack, but its hilarious to try and fly

Haha, yeh a lot of my friends said that about mine, great fun to fly. Although now I've got the full size quad I've not really touched the hubsan. If only it had a full acro mode

Even get together with some of the lads on here and bulk buy some stuff - it'll easily offset the shipping.

Top idea. I'm happy to look at things like this if others want to do it? Not that I can think of anything I particularly need at the moment!

Sounds good Rilot. Would definitely be a fun way to make money if you have the gear and ability!

 

[pazza]

I'm seriously considering going commercial with this hobby. I've done some research and there's certainly demand for what I have in mind.

I'm going to start studying for the BNUC-S certification, pass it and then see where I get.

I need to build a new platform first though as you get certified on each platform you wish to fly. No point in submitting an operations manual for my F550 if I then go and fly a SkyJib or Droidworx frame and have to do it all over again.

Thats sounds like a good idea,there is a huge market for this.

 

[pazza]

This is about as high as I'm comfortable with, no idea how high it is but I think it's well under 400ft, guessing around 120-150ft, I get in a right old flap when it gets this high and have to land it straight away to calm down for a while heheh Any dogs start chasing it get led in to the pond...

And some bits arrived this morning One super fast (5 days ) delivery from China! But it was sent with the instructions (In Chinese..) for something else! So had some head scratching building it, but got there in the end, quite impressed with it for the money, not sure whether to keep it on the F450 or put it on my Dead Cat hybrid.

And these:

Just waiting on the 3.5" screen to arrive, my 7" screen is way too big to try and even modify into fitting so will keep that as a spare and actually choose a FPV system, I want to use the Mobius as the FPV and the flight camera, don't want a GoPro as I know too many people who've had problems with them and I really think they are very overpriced for what they are.

I was all set to order an Ardupilot 2.5 too but now there's a new one coming out soon from them so I think I'll hang on for a while and see what's what with the new one before making a decision.

That mobius camera looks pretty good,ive seen a few youtube videos,great price too.

Whats the new Ardupilot coming out? is that 2.6?.

 

[Rilot]

This is what I'm considering as my pro aerial photography platform:

Tarot T960 hex
XAircraft SuperX FC
Tarot 5008 340kV motors
DYS 40A ESCs with SimonK
2 x 5000mAh Turnigy Nano-Tech 6S LiPo
17x5.5 props
Foxtech NEX5/7 2-axis gimbal

 

[Flukester]

Rilot, I thought of doing the same... even registered some pretty funky domains for it some time back. Problem is as far as I see is the market is literally going to be swamped in the very near future as it's very accessible to even non hobbyists

http://www.belowfromabove.com/

 

[pazza]

This is what I'm considering as my pro aerial photography platform:

Tarot T960 hex
XAircraft SuperX FC
Tarot 5008 340kV motors
DYS 40A ESCs with SimonK
2 x 5000mAh Turnigy Nano-Tech 6S LiPo
17x5.5 props
Foxtech NEX5/7 2-axis gimbal

Looks pretty good,i love the tarot frames,got an ironman 650.

Im also looking to get that SuperX FC it looks a lot more reliable than the others.

 

[Addicted]

Looks good, what's the Foxtech gimbal like?

I have the Tarot one, and haven't had to touch the firmware at all, it's perfect!

 

[Rilot]

Rilot, I thought of doing the same... even registered some pretty funky domains for it some time back. Problem is as far as I see is the market is literally going to be swamped in the very near future as it's very accessible to even non hobbyists

http://www.belowfromabove.com/

There is a fairly large barrier to entry though in the form of the CAA certification. Most hobbyists won't bother to do it and so will be flying illegally. Non hobbyists will find the cert tough to complete due to the technical requirements of the flight manual.

I agree that there will be more and more people doing it soon but I really think there is a market for what I have in mind.

The thing is, it's a no-lose proposition.
Either it takes off and I can make a decent wage out of it, of it doesn't take off and I am still left with a great multi for amateur photography. The investment required is minimal (About £2k to build that multi I specified, £1.2k to do the cert, and about £800 for liabilities insurance) and I can start doing it in my free time and see how it goes.

 

[rhysduck]

More stuff turned up for the tri yesterday.. just waiting on the KK board and sourcing some wood and fibre glass!

 

[Rilot]

My F550 in flight

 

[rhysduck]

Looks lovely Rilot!

Anyone need anything from HobbyKing?

 

[Flukester]

There is a fairly large barrier to entry though in the form of the CAA certification. Most hobbyists won't bother to do it and so will be flying illegally. Non hobbyists will find the cert tough to complete due to the technical requirements of the flight manual.

I agree that there will be more and more people doing it soon but I really think there is a market for what I have in mind.

The thing is, it's a no-lose proposition.
Either it takes off and I can make a decent wage out of it, of it doesn't take off and I am still left with a great multi for amateur photography. The investment required is minimal (About £2k to build that multi I specified, £1.2k to do the cert, and about £800 for liabilities insurance) and I can start doing it in my free time and see how it goes.

Yeah very true, that CAA cert will stop most people. If it pans out it could make nice money for doing something you truly enjoy. I'm still mulling it over on wether it's worth the investment in time mainly.... Obviously a GoPro on a phantom does not really cut it, but on a calm day it can get surprisingly good shots (albeit noisy).

I have some nice plans also on markets to target, and it would provide a almost unlimited amount of work just within Dorset never mind traveling far and wide.

 

[Rilot]

Yeah very true, that CAA cert will stop most people. If it pans out it could make nice money for doing something you truly enjoy. I'm still mulling it over on wether it's worth the investment in time mainly.... Obviously a GoPro on a phantom does not really cut it, but on a calm day it can get surprisingly good shots (albeit noisy).

I have some nice plans also on markets to target, and it would provide a almost unlimited amount of work just within Dorset never mind traveling far and wide.

For what I have in mind a GoPro probably isn't going to cut it. Great though they are.
My plan is to target markets traditionally served by photographers that charter helicopters. I can undercut them by a huge amount and still get the same quality of picture. I can also target markets that cannot get the pictures they want due to the huge cost involved using traditional methods.

I've been looking for an angle for a long time and am desperate to get out of IT. Maybe this can be profitable.

 

[spookywillow]

Theres a company by me that does that sort of thing, Can post the link if anyones interested in looking.

 

[doofer]

Big old set of legs that doofer, how much does that lot weigh?

Hardly anything really, I wanted to add some weight to help me with the excessive lift but it hasn't affected it at all, sure makes it awkward to lug about now though..

That mobius camera looks pretty good,ive seen a few youtube videos,great price too.

Whats the new Ardupilot coming out? is that 2.6?.

The Mobius is really excellent for the money, seriously impressed with it although the battery life would be the only thing that lets it down, only lasts 30-40mins whilst recording 1080 and it is very easy to forget it's on or even accidentally switch it on unknowingly just handling it (Done this several times now.) There's a 2.6 out but the new PixHawk will be worth keeping an eye on I think, let the bugs be found etc. first I reckon

Finally got around to flashing my 9x this afternoon and managed to make a fancy new door-stop One of the pads just would not take any solder, used flux and did it properly, just wouldn't tin at all, got frustrated and managed to land a dollop of solder over the chip pins, pulled it off and a nice piece of track from the resistor came with it. Tried to bridge it but I'm way too ham-fisted with a soldering iron so it's a spares bin now

To cheer myself up I bought the Hobbyking Ardupilot 2.5 + GPS while I ordered a new 9x, it's very cheap there as it's a clone/copy but it doesn't need ****ing soldering! (Phew!) Sucks the stuff is coming from the Global Warehouse though, hate waiting for stuff to come.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Hardly anything really, I wanted to add some weight to help me with the excessive lift but it hasn't affected it at all, sure makes it awkward to lug about now though..

Excessive lift? Surely there is no such thing!

I think I'll put a set of skids on my next quad, or some form of legs that don't put pressure against the arms like my current one.

The Mobius is really excellent for the money, seriously impressed with it although the battery life would be the only thing that lets it down, only lasts 30-40mins whilst recording 1080 and it is very easy to forget it's on or even accidentally switch it on unknowingly just handling it (Done this several times now.) There's a 2.6 out but the new PixHawk will be worth keeping an eye on I think, let the bugs be found etc. first I reckon

Finally got around to flashing my 9x this afternoon and managed to make a fancy new door-stop

Still not grabbed a Mobius but the more I hear the better it sounds.
Bad luck on breaking the Transmitter though. I was looking at how to do it last week and it looks far more complex than I feel comfortable with trying at the moment - I've not even fitted the backlit screen yet!

 

[rhysduck]

Can someone clarify, I think I'm going bonkers, it is the Slow-Fly/RD type like these and these that I need for the tri?? Head's completely gone.

On another, slightly related note, i didn't realise the KKBoard was so small!

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