Saturday February 12, 2011 at 1:44 am | Filed under Hobbies, Projects, Quadcopter
Today some new components came that I ordered, it was like Christmas… if you bought everything for yourself. Batteries, a terminal block, a switch, servo wire extensions, and some new material called G-10 for the body. I didn’t really want to depend on the wood for the body integrity and exactness (wood could get a little play going after time). I also picked up my transmitter. It’s a Walkera WK-2603 6-channel Tx which isn’t the best radio I could buy, but for the $20 I got it for (craigslist), it will be more than adequate. More on most of these parts later, when I need to install them.
The plan for tonight was to cut into a little G-10 and maybe getting the arms on it instead of the wood. G-10 is a glass-epoxy laminate that is incredibly strong. It’s like fiberglass on steroids. I chose 1/8″ in thickness and when I ordered it I thought it might be too thin as my plywood was much thicker, but my fears were soon disproven. I was in for a surprise when I tried to use my hole saw with my cordless drill. It didn’t have enough power to get through the stuff! So I called my dad and borrowed his ancient corded drill that has a lot more power (Thanks Dad!). That did the trick and I cut the two circles within a few minutes. Maybe tomorrow I’ll make more progress assembling the body.
G-10 is tough stuff!
Friday February 11, 2011 at 1:33 am | Filed under Hobbies, Projects, Quadcopter
A what? A quadcopter. Don’t make me say it again. A quadcopter. Okay, now you’ve gone too far. I supposed you want me to explain it to you now, huh? Fine.
A quadcopter is a helicopter with 4 propellers on it, all spinning parallel to the ground (if it flies correctly, that is). I’m of course, speaking of the remote controlled variety–what did you think I was crazy? I’m acquiring the pieces and parts to make one on my own, rather than buying a kit, which I seriously considered doing before impatience and curiosity got the better of me. You see, I started saving for a RTF (Ready To Fly) kit, but saving wasn’t going as fast as I wanted it to, so I took what I had saved so far and went to home depot and got some frame fixins. That night I build this:
That was the situation a week ago. Since then as I’m ordering parts, I’ve changed the plan to a quadcopter since the off-the-shelf FY-90Q controller (The one I’m buying so I don’t have to become a circuit board solder maniac) only works with 4-rotor aircraft, so I’ve pruned two arms.
Nice CD Spindle, huh?
So that’s where I sit right now on the build. I have a parts list going that changes a lot, but once it gets closer to stable I’ll post it here. The total cost of this endeavor is going to be around $430. The only thing I have that I didn’t have to buy is a LiPo battery charger that I used for my RC cars. I’ve read a lot on RCgroups.com and found it to be a really helpful resource for this kinda thing, and even recruited two friends to dive into the RC Quadcopter world too. Ironically, they’ll probably be up in the air before I will!
One of the goals of this little project (aside from seeing if I can get the thing to fly and having some fun while learning a few things) is to experiment with a little aerial photography.
I’ll update you all on my progress. Wish me luck!
Monday March 30, 2009 at 3:26 pm | Filed under Journal, Me
I’m starting a new journal! I pulled the whole “I’m getting something cool for a friend for his birthday so I think I’ll pick up one for me too” thing and now u plan to track some stuff in this bad boy. It’s pretty cool. But there’s no storage for my french fry pen. 
