RC general

why

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it will work yeas but since you need 5V for your FC you would need to add a bec why not take a PDB with a dual BEC integrated? will be cheaper better and cleaner... also you probably have a power filter on it which is better for your FC especially if you plan on using active breaking or even 3D mode..
besides its an ugly mess.

Pic related my quad

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>>1155828
We live in a society that enables you to buy a frame and a matching PDB for for less than the cost of taking someone out to dinner.

>>1155828
I used to do this a lot. You crimo and colder 0 guage wire in car audio. I suggest a wire jut then solder but solder alone is fine

>>1155851
This frame... it's a fandango? And those motor cables, pls cut it off and solder it directly on the esc

>>1155851
Sorry for beeing this rude, but it's a second to cut this wire with a crash or a prop, you'll have less issue if you solder it, anyway I agree with what you said :)

>>1155851
A linear regulator which is built into my esc already supplies power supply for the FC that is as clean as possible. No filtering for it would be required since an inherent property of linear regulators is that they remove any noise in the supply

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>>1155828
I think you'll find this pdb perfect for you, it cost less than 5€ it's better than wires joint together. You can also make your own one, if it's a cheap diy project, simply take two piece of copper and make a mini structure wich fit in your frame

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Got a bit of a tricky one here, at least for me.
I have 2 different sets of 8.5x20mm brushed motors for my micro quad. One set works perfectly, the others don't seem to spin up enough to take off. Is there a setting in Cleanflight or something ?


Motors: [url=http://www.banggood.com/2-X-8x20mm-Motor-For-Hubsan-X4-H107C-H107D-RC-Quadcopter-p-87683.html?rmmds=myorder]Ones that work[/url]

[url=http://www.banggood.com/4X-Chaoli-CL-820-8_5x20mm-Coreless-Motor-for-90mm-150mm-DIY-Micro-FPV-RC-Quadcopter-Frame-p-1069067.html?rmmds=myorder]Ones that don't work[/url]

Using a Micro 32bits F3 Brushed Flight Control Board as the main board. Same props, battery and frame.

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>>1155828
im in the same boat as you op, hopefully yes.

>>1155914
>>1155851
too few amps, i need over 100 amps, doubt there is a reasonable power distribution board for that.


(pic not mine but same frame.)

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Took my E010 out drinking the other day, had a blast :3

>>1155851
>tells somebody to use a PDB to be 'cleaner'
>has bullet connectors handing sideways over his arms

>>1156640
Demon Core is rated 120A constant & takes 8S?

>>1156680

Powder, is that you?

>>1156684
....?

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Hi guise, electronics is a bit boring and lonely hobby, so I've decided to get into RC. I've set my mind on making a drone, they seem quite unforgiving, so I don't know if this is the best way to start out. I've watched some videos but I still have a lot to learn, so I'll try not to bother you with lots of questions.
I want to get something to fly, add fpv to it and make long range flies, for this last thing I'll probably build a delta wing, drones are fun, but I'm also interested in efficient designs and long range fpv.
Aliexpress seems to offer some acceptable quality frames goo dot gl slash XEiksw motors and electronics so I guess I can start with that, I don't trust their batteries though, I might buy them from a local hobby shop.
Transmitters are quite expensive though, I've found good opinions on the Futaba S-FHSS which is still a bit pricey, any advice on this? Is there some common meme-knowledge I should be aware of?

There is an model aircraft field-club not too far away, I might have to get a license and comply with some regulations, but I live in a sparsely populated area so there's not much to worry about. I plan to start building stuff this summer, since I'm busy with studies.

>11th time trying to get past the spam detector

>>1156776
FrSky is really where it's at with transmitters these days - especially now that they've released the cheaper QX7 there are very few reasons to go with a different manufacturer. Their protocol is solid, they do a long range receiver (LR9) & of course you can use the module bay for something like EzUHF if you need even more range.

A decent transmitter is an important investment because you will literally use it to control every single model you build throughout your time with the hobby, whether it's a tiny indoor quadcopter, a massive outdoor aerial filming octocopter, a long range wing, a buggy, a boat, etc.

I really want an 8S x-maxx..

But with batteries, charger, new ESC it's gonna be like 1600usd.

Help, why am I considering this purchase..?

>>1156911
Neat, after watching some reviews it seems the way to go for a very reasonable price, thank you.

>>1157089
>$200
>reasonable

quanum is the way to go imho for only $50

>>1156680
Goddamn it people are trying to eat in peace, stop being so desperate for attention. Also, looks like you have sickle cell anemia.

>>1155828
yes you can but it gets heavy depending on how much solder you use. you should only need 50 grams or less on the joint. and apply PLENTY of heat. last thing you want is a power fail.

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>>1157327
>$200
I've seem them at 100€ at hobbyking and banggood, I think it's worth spending 40€ more for 8 more channels and LCD screen. Although I'm still too naive to understand all the features.

>>1157370
you do realize that 100 euros is 150 AUD

>>1155828

I think trying to get everything hot enough for a good joint will burn the insulation off for quite a distance.

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>>1157867
I thought you were talking about USD, the euro has fallen quite a lot, it is now lower compared to USD than when it was implemented. I used to save quite a bit a few years ago, but now I'm paying almost the same while earning half of what americans earn in average. Europooring intensifies.

is there a library of PID settings for different frame size/motor kv/prop?

I just built a 450 with 1000kv motors, and 8038 props and its a pain in the ass to fly.

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Op here. I just used this shit

>>1157349
Jokes on you anon, its actually cancer caused by the three strains of HIV im carrying.

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>>1159086
is that to scale of pic related?

>>1159117
yes

>>1159119
I will expect to see you on the news, stealing small amount of servers using a drone.

>>1158955
No, because PIDs are far too specific to any particular setup. Unless you're flying an unmodified RTF copter you can't really expect to copy & paste somebody else's PIDs with much success.

>>1159107
People rage at trips on this board, but then you get people like this shitposting about posts that aren't theirs.

>>1158955
tune it yourself. easy as fuck. p = instant correction, i = over time smooth correction d = last smoothing correction. p and i is more important than d and sometimes d is not needed

why use multiple rotors on arms each with their own motor instead of a conventional helo configuration??

>>1159203
do you mean heli - from the root word helix?

>>1159217
and to answer your question it's because it's a lot easier to crash a helicopter.

>>1155914
>it's better than wires joint together
I'm angery.

>>1155828
NASA has a whole bunch of shit on how to splice wires together in extremely strong ways. There is no point in over relying on a flipping PCB if you can help it.

I came across the Losi DBXL brushless on youtube.

I am now in love.

Do you have to convert a gasoline version into a brushless or are these sold brushless from the start?

I'm in scandinavia so it's very difficult to find sellers.

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Too windy to fly big boy quads outside, but there's always brushed micros :)

Do I need a special camera to see from my rc vehicle, or can I rig up a gopro to transmit since I already got on of them?

>>1160405
You can use a GoPro, however their video output has noticeably more lag than the CCTV board cameras commonly used by quadcopters. Whether the lag is an issue depends how fast you are driving/flying/sailing/whatever.

>>1160415
It would just be to go on long drives with my car, so I guess I can deal with the lag.

>>1160419
....like sitting in the car riding along while your drone is out doing recon of the areas you are passing through?

>imagine being a kid and growing up with today's tech

>>1160422
Oh I meant on the rc car. I have huges planes in the area, difficult to see where I'm going.
Also just a fun thing to try.

And yeah, as long as you don't easily get seasick, driving your drove after your car on roadtrips would be amazing.

Is it possible to share the video feed onto two goggles? I imagine you'd have to go real low quality since you double the data.

>>1160425
You wouldn't double the data, you would just have two receivers both tuned to the same frequency. Like a car radio.

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I am building a sensor system with an Arduino that I'm planning on attaching to a drone (3DR Solo). I want to wirelessly transmit the data from the sensor to a data logging device.

I'm thinking of using these to do the connection between the sensor system and data logger: https://www.amazon.com/Kuman-nRF24L01-Antenna-Wireless-Transceiver/dp/B06VSYJ7HN

Would an nRF24L01 module transmitting data at 2.4GHz from the sensor onboard the drone affect the signal between my drone and controller? Would a bluetooth module?

>>1160471
Two things that spring to mind

1.) Solo is based on Pixhawk, right? You might be able to connect your sensor straight to the flight controller (eg via I2C) & then repurpose a telemetry message to send the data back to your RC radio, with no additional hardware required. I'm not familiar with what sort of radio the Solo uses though.

2.) If using 2.4GHz might pose a problem, you could use 915MHz (US) or 433MHz (Europe), which is commonly used for MAVLink telemetry with the Pixhawk platform.

I'm running a 2600kv motor with 5040 triblades and a 40amp ESC on my plane. Is this shit or am I fine?

>>1160597
There should be thrust data on the webpage for your motor. You can also try putting your info into eCalc, you'll need more info like the weight and wing area of your plane though.

Looking for a nice 1/16 brushless lipo car that's focused on asphalt.

>>1160471
>Would an nRF24L01 module transmitting data at 2.4GHz from the sensor onboard the drone affect the signal between my drone and controller? Would a bluetooth module?

Not really because the NRF24L01 will have its own MAC addresses and the drone controller will simply ignore anything that is not addressed to it

Does this thread have any images or a pastebin for beginners?

I'm getting a rustler with the sidewinder 3 combo, 5700kv motor.

It's REALLY difficult finding the amp rating for the esc, but a forum posts says it's 75-80A.

So I have to get some batteries and the C-rating is giving me some issues.

It's the amount of Ah*C-rating.

So a 5000mAh, 40c battery ends up at 200A, correct?

So I am forced to go with a very low mAh battery, aren't I?

Something like a 2200mAh 25c battery.

Just to make sure I'm not retarded, the higher C-rating, the more constant the voltage is from the battery?
So a 1c battery would start at max voltage, but very quickly drain and deliver small percentage of max voltage? While a gorrilion C battery would deliver 100% voltage all the time till dead?

>>1161446
You have it wrong. The C-rating is used to get the maximum rated continuous amp draw. The bigger your battery is, the smaller minimal C-rating you need to cover the draw of the motors. Anything that pulls less is fine, you can attach a small 1A motor to a 5000mAh battery and it'll be perfectly okay. It only defines the maximum.
For 80A, you can get
>2000mAh 40C+
>5000mAh 16C+
>10000mAh 8C+
Of course, it's best to leave a safety margin, so if you want a 5000mAh battery, then you'll want about 20-30C. But again, as long as capacity x C rating > total current draw, you're good.

No battery will deliver 100% voltage all the time till dead, all batteries lose voltage, but after a certain point they lose voltage much more quickly. You don't need to be concerned about this in practice though, all the ESCs and controllers are made with this in mind.

>>1161466
Oh, ok!

Now all these low c-rated batteries makes sense. Thought it was some kind of jewing going on.

Thanks!

>>1161681
Sure is difficult to find matching batteries.

Forced to buy, cut and do a new solder to match the traxxas-id.

>>1155828
>I'm just going to splice together 6 high gauge wires
Fair enough, a soldered wiring harness is perfectly fine in lieu of a board (sometimes better, in some cases)
>and then melt about 100grams of solder
>100 grams
Why
>>1156776
>That .webm
I can't say I really approve of flying above cloud level whatsoever... but if you're GOING to do it, the inverted descent in that .webm (or at least a steep dive) probably makes a lot of sense. It's a far faster way of losing altitude than a vertical upright descent, and I don't know HOW many videos I've seen where some idiot climbs quickly to cloud level, messes around (often drifting downwind and getting lost in the process) and then runs out of battery while making the agonizingly slow upright descent from 4,000'.
>>1159160
>PIDs are far too specific to any particular setup.
Not with Betaflight 3+. Boris's gyro filters are fucking amazing.
>>1160471
>Would an nRF24L01 module transmitting data at 2.4GHz from the sensor onboard the drone affect the signal between my drone and controller?
Yes, it potentially could. I've had issues with wifi signals (i.e. from a GoPro Hero 3+'s little access point) jam my RC signal before. But unless you're doing real long-range stuff, you can probably make it work fine if you mount the modem's antenna a good distance away from the RC receiver antenna. And if that doesn't work, the Solo has RTH failsafe, doesn't it?
>Would a bluetooth module?
Bluetooth is quite low power, so probably not. But don't expect to transmit bluetooth down to the ground while in-flight.
>>1161145
Even "ignored" signals still elevate the noise floor. And if that noise is screaming right into the receiver's ear, you CAN end up jamming yourself.

>>1161681
>Thought it was some kind of jewing going on.
Oh, there is. Li-polys do vary considerably in quality and performance, but unfortunately C-rating doesn't always reflect that. C-ratings are largely arbitrary, and while you CAN expect high-C batteries of a certain brand to outperform low-C batteries of the same brand, any sense of consistency goes right out the window.

The issue is, C-rating itself is largely arbitrary. Technically it's supposed to represent the "safe" discharge rate for that battery, but there are different notions of what constitutes a "safe" discharge (did the battery explode and set the field on fire? Did it survive without physical hazard, but lose the ability to take charge again? Did it recharge and still function, but at a degraded level of performance? Or is it still performing as good as it did new cycle after cycle?). So since C-rating is so arbitrary and you can't exactly say any given rating is objectively "wrong," per se; some brands play little jewish tricks and label their batteries with inflated C-ratings. Other brands are more honest/conservative with their ratings.

Now, if one wanted to represent battery performance objectively and fairly, they'd use internal resistance instead, or jj604's capacity-normalized figure of merit. But unfortunately these more definitive specifications haven't caught on with the hobby..

>>1161694
But I still have to match the mAh*C-rating to match the amperage of the ESC don't I?

I can't just stuff in a 6000mAh 90C 2S lipo in my sidewinder3 rustler and have it run in normal conditions?

>>1161697
No, the bottom line is to simply use a C-rating with a big safety margin. If you calculate you need 18, don't get a 20C but a 30C or more.
You can put a 6000mAh 90C lipo into anything, because 6*90 = 540, no RC model draws 500amps at 7V. The mAh*C just needs to be bigger, not matching. Bigger.
For your sidewinder3, peak draw is apparently 80A, so

>5000mAh 10C = 50A peak => not good
>5000mAh 15C = 75A peak => (in reality it will probably be okay but) not good
>5000mAh 20C = 100A peak => OK
>5000mAh 25C = 125A peak => OK
>5000mAh 30C = 150A peak => OK <- this is probably the one you want to get, almost 100% safety margin
>5000mAh 40C = 200A peak => OK <- this is what you want if you buy your LiPo from BangGood or China in general
>any bigger C is automatically good

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>>1161704
Oooh, so the C-rating doesn't actually hurt the ESC when you go above? But if I go below the calculated amperage I'd simply not get the most out of the battery?

Thanks anon, this helped a lot!

The world of RC is opening up for me.

Different anon here but im heavily into rc and can help.

>>1161910
>Oooh, so the C-rating doesn't actually hurt the ESC when you go above?
No it doesnt hurt it because the ESC will only request what the motor wants.

>>1161910
>But if I go below the calculated amperage I'd simply not get the most out of the battery?
You will overheat the motor, esc and battery if you go under because now its working harder to get the same output.

It goes in this order

Battery > ESC > Motor

Motor SHOULD NOT exceed ESC rating and battery SHOULD ALWAYS exceed the ESC rating.

>>1156693
Underage

>>1161697
>But I still have to match the mAh*C-rating to match the amperage of the ESC don't I?
Not match, per se. But it should be at least as high as the actual current draw of your setup/motor, if not higher. Same goes for the ESC's current rating - it's okay if it's higher than the draw of your motor, but not lower.
>I can't just stuff in a 6000mAh 90C 2S lipo in my sidewinder3 rustler and have it run in normal conditions?
Yes, you can. That battery is capable of delivering over 500 amps; drawing 50 amps or whatever it takes to run your truck's motor at 2S isn't going to hurt it. And the battery certainly isn't going to hurt the other components (unless you start increasing voltage/cell count, that is).
>>1161910
>Oooh, so the C-rating doesn't actually hurt the ESC when you go above?
Not at all... there's no such thing as "too high" of a C-rating. But the ESC/motor setup can hurt the battery if the C-rating is too LOW for that setup; connecting a small or low-C battery to a big motor is almost like circuiting the battery. Bad juju.

>>1162012
>>1162144
Yeah now I'm on the right track!

Going to order some batteries and charger today so I should have it all in a few days.

I'll see if I can manage my camera while driving to get some material for future threads.

>>1162154
No problem, Don't be afraid to ask more questions because more people get into this hobby the better.

>>1162190
How do I stop the urge to buy more things?

I'm looking at new tires.

Looking at the selection I got available to me in the country. Need some sand tires.

Got some paddles for the rear and for the front I'm considering some traxxas bandit tires. Thin and they have the pattern to cut into the sand.

>tfw try to build a fixed wing frame with a single reasonably powerful motor in the front.
>motor rips out of the frame every time try to hurl it in air and fly
>in the end literally breaks off in two after trying to use a stronger method of glueing it to the frame

>>1162201
Oh, and this sidewinder3 combo says that you can run on 3s for a limited time.

If the heat can be managed via fans, will the ESC/engine still be taking damage in the long run(months of usage)?

I want to cross a off road rc car with a copter. Making a high speed outdoor fpv balance bot with a duel brushless fan jetpack.

The idea is to be able to use the ground more. Not just fly for a few minutes and/or crash. Im going to take this thing to a skatepark. It dont need to free fly just jumpjet from one place to the next, pop up high, "feather fall" back down and burst across the ground at high speed. Wheels for low speed manuvering and fans for high speed. In ground effect fast mode the wheels just need to keep up when touching the ground to avoid face plants. The fans on sevos to adjust angle of attack.

Im under the impression the ability to run on the ground, clear gaps and auto balance on landing can change fpv robotics. My goal is to have fun and im too old for parkor or skating any more but my mind still wants to go fast and jump high.

Been lurking for a few threads now, love it. Not asking for input or help (your doing that already by existing thanks). Just declairling my intentions. When i got more than a box of parts and bad sketches I shall return.

>>1162294
Might you consider a fixed-wing instead?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOzC3z8rj2c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOF9MVVr-DM
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?1094114-Skycart-flying-go-cart-new-video%21-plans-Free-simulator

How do these goggles and controllers manage to keep signal over such massive distances?

Has to be connected to 4G or something?

>>1162790
low frequency and 1W transmitters with decent antennas does amazing things. 433/900/1300 MHz

>>1162791
Oh ok now I see how they do it, large transmitters on tripods..!

Do these need to be stationary or can you take them with you on a car/etc?

>>1160400
noice. you must work for dunder miflin

>>1162793
doesn't need to be stationary.

if directional antenna you need to keep it pointed in same direction at the other antenna. this can be manually or automatically done. antenna tracking systems exist to make things easier

OR

omni directional antenna can be mounted any angle on top of a car roof etc but omni directional antennas arent as strong signal as directional if you compare them with equal power and dB ratings.

>>1162801
Damn, this is gonna be a future project.

Thanks.

>>1157956
Hey, we need to give almost half our paycheck to our muslim overlords, otherwise, WE R RACISSS

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Looking for a poor collegefag build or RTF plane

Been looking at the Hobbyzone Duet for $60; is it good for the price? I'm pretty handy with DIY, could I build something that flies (doesn't have to perform well) for ~$75?

This would be my first RC anything but I'm a pretty quick learner and I've been playing some computer plane sims for a while now

Can someone please give me a list for freestyle quadcopter and also able to handle a go pro session please my budget is 200 to 250 thanks in andvance

how do I make the motors spin the opposite direction without changing any wires if I'm using oneshot125?

Cleaning the gears..

I'm watching videos, and none use chemicals to clean the things before re-greasing.
They just whipe it clean.

What's the deal with that?

>>1163288
Protocol (oneshot/multishot/dshot/etc.) doesn't matter, as long as the ESCs are running BLHeli you can reverse the direction via blheli-configurator.

>>1163219
Any 5" quad will handle acro with a GoPro well. A 4" build will fly okay with a GoPro, but isn't ideal.

>>1163219
>my budget is 200 to 250
Eh
Just get one of those X210 Banggood Specials and a bunch of extra batteries.

well since my last post in previous thread, anon helped hook up my arduino to RC car I bought from thrift store, and I got it to work, perfectly, now all I need sd card reader, and hook up my RPI to it, and control it from my phone.

>>1163402
if they use same thickness of grease or oil why clean it 100 percent? i assume your talking about cars. i only clean the gears with paper towel but if you wanted full clean use degreaser, water and then apply grease

what causes different motors to have a different minimum throttle speed at which they begin turning?

>>1163410
is blheli a firmware?

>>1163791
RC car yeah.

Well sure, but the grease deteriorates it clogs up and would eventually "harden", no?

Sure, this would take a really long time but whatever, if I'm not hurting the housings by the chemicals I'm going to use chemicals.

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rate my flying wing design.

I cut a rough shape of one wing out of stryfoam yesterday and today i am going to try hot wire.

I am figuring this out as i go but i definitely want a apm 2.6 for stabilization (i dont know how to fly). I have never build an rc plane nor do i have any idea what i am doing.

>>1163829
my cars all use 3 sealed differentials so i never use grease, i use silicone oil and never hardens so i don't have that problem. i don't want to advise you the wrong chemical either. i would ask on a dedicated RC forum to be honest.

>>1163843
I would have just mixed regular kitchen grease spray and lighterfluid. So I think it's best I ask a forum.

>>1163832
Check out some of the Flite Test videos

>>1163828
>what causes different motors to have a different minimum throttle speed at which they begin turning?

Just tolerances in manufacturing of the motors & ESCs, I assume. This is what ESC calibration is for.

>is blheli a firmware?

Yes, pretty much everybody is using blheli these days (except for people running Kiss setups). I'm not sure if simonk is even still being developed.

For the X-maxx, is it a better idea to get the 6s version cheap and upgrade to an 8S engine/esc combo rather than getting x-maxx 8s stock? I hear there's a lot of issues with it.

has anybody ever got in trouble for running fpv equipment that isn't FCC licensed?

I'm talking about the cheap stuff you can get on amazon, and I don't mean parts, I mean the cheap chinese quads with 25mw 5.8g fpv that surely are not licensed.

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Does anyone know how to safely shrink wrap lipos? Do I just hit it with the heat gun real fast and hope it doesn't go boom? Same with soldering connections to lipos, can I do that with a regular soldering iron?

I bought a cheap ass 5 pack of 2S batteries and they don't have balance plugs, so I was going to cut off the shrink wrap and solder some on.

What is a safe voltage for lipos under load? I just put an OSD on my quad and I was shocked when I saw them dropping to 6v. They also get kinda hot after running.

The funniest part is they came with a 5 to 1 adapter so you can charge them all at once.

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>>1163832
Won't work/10, the airfoil doesn't have have any reflex, try using one like pic related for static pitch stability
I have some theoretical knowledge about stability and wing design, feel free to ask me stuff

>>1163860
why is blheli preferred?

>>1163988
I run an unlicensed 1w 5.8ghz vtx, never got any problems.

The difficulty in triangulating such a signal, on a fast moving target, means unless you piss someone really important off nobody is going to bother.

I have a strange problem. When I move the throttle stick vertically after turning on my trans,otter for the first time, the throttle works as it should. However, if I ever move it horizontally even once after switching the controller on, then all future attempts at moving the stick vertically even the slightest amount result in a maxed out throttle. There affectively becomes two states. Either fully off or fully on. Thoughts? It returns to normal after resetting the controller.

>>1164315
you have to tell us what model controller

>>1164322
quanum i8 with Openpilot CC3D revolution using ppm

>>1164109
>>1163832
You DO need a net upward pitching moment for a flying wing to be longitudinally stable, and ideally this would be achieved by using an airfoil with built-in reflex, but you can achieve similar effect (with somewhat less efficiency) simply by trimming the elevons up to achieve the desired pitching moment. So that design isn't exactly ideal, but with 20% chord elevons deflected up at least 10 degrees or so with the CG positioned appropriately, it should still fly fine.

Also, with a swept flying wing, you can also induce an upward pitching moment with wing twist/washout.

Is there a good youtube video that has something of a untroduction to building drones?

Looking to pick it up as a hobby and just want something to sit back and watch and get a good explanation of what is needed what affects what and so forth. Also focusing on fpv but not worried about the racing atm

Thanks in advance

>>1164404
are you okay with reading? http://beginnerflyer.com/build-a-drone/

>>1164410
not really desu

>>1164004
>What is a safe voltage for lipos under load? I just put an OSD on my quad and I was shocked when I saw them dropping to 6v. They also get kinda hot after running.

If they are sagging too much &/or getting too hot, they may not have a sufficient C rating.

>The funniest part is they came with a 5 to 1 adapter so you can charge them all at once.

Parallel charging is pretty safe if you follow simple safety rules - most people agree that as long as all cells are within 0.1V of each other you'll be fine.

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Is there any way to track a drone's position in super fast real time and do it in a large out doors area?

It'd be nice to be able to track several race drones as they fly through gates. It could record flight path and use that recording to measure speed as well as well as time. It's the kinda thing every drone race needs.

>>1164529
Always wanted to see a top veiw crane cam shot of a race track. Over exposed like those light painting videos to show the LED path of each craft.

That and I think high speed auto tracking turret cameras will become standard race equipment soon (those opensource projects aint for paintball nomore). Its painful to watch ground shots of flying quads you get clearer shots from UFO sightings. The sport needs a breakthrough for the audience if its going to get legit.

IMHO

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Update to;
>>1163832

>>1163847
>>1164109
>>1164374
Thank you for your replies

Heres what i got done today

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Airfoil shape.

It did not end up like this exactly but roughly something like that

Wing spawn will be something like 95cm

Currently the wings dont weight anything.

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Here is the airfoil shape when cut out.

Wings are now 44g per wing.

>>1164529
You could get speed and timing information from a transponder setup. There's already IR transponders out there, and EasyRaceLapTimer is an open source RasPi ground station.

>>1164616
I thought about using low energy blue tooth Ibeacons but their position calculation algorithm is too slow to accurately track movement or acceleration.

Basically all the IBeacons do is triangulate a signal's position using time of flight calculations. I wondering if you could do the same with the camera signal and get a FOV racer's position that way? I"m not sure if it would same latency problems that IBeacons have tho.

>>1164529
Cameras on ceiling, ir transmitters on drones.

>>1164374
I wouldn't really recommend that. Yes, it will fly but why not doing it right from the start instead of compensating for a shitty airfoil

>>1164612
>>1164604
better than >>1163832 /10
Add some dihedral and it will most likely work fairly well. Do you have an idea what the total mass or fly speeds will be?
Also what airfoil did you ended up using

>>1164625
I think IR has too short a range for outdoor use. It'd be good for tracking drones passing through gates. But that'd require putting IR on every drone.

A simpler setup would be placing high FPS camera under the final gate, with some software that recognizes what the bottom of every drone looks like. Program it to only look for intense light sources such as LEDS and it'll be looking for the LED pattern underneath each drone. So long as everyone's flying a unique LEDs pattern it'll be able to register all the racers lap times with no modifications to their drones, amusing they have LEDs.

>>1164410
He nearly lost me at explaining what DIY is but it looks to be exactly what i wanted bar not being a video but that fine, thanks for the link.

>>1164604
Hmm... well I'm sure you can see for yourself what happened here. The wire melts a bit more than its own thickness, and also bows a bit, so when you cut a thin, sharp corner like your trailing edge it can end up eating more than it's supposed to. It'll probably fly okay as is, but if you do cut a new one you should probably have wider tolerances on your templates and maybe a rounded or squared off trailing edge a few mm thick.
>>1164606
Looks thinner than the ~15% airfoil you drew above. It'll still need some elevon trim to fly, but not much.
>>1164612
>44g/panel
What's your span?
>>1164632
>Yes, it will fly but why not doing it right from the start instead of compensating for a shitty airfoil
If you're hotwiring, I'd generally agree.
In some cases just slapping elevons on a flat-bottom airfoil can make sense just for ease of construction (case-in-point: FT Versa). And it works perfectly fine; far from "shitty." An airfoil with designed-in reflex may yield marginally less drag, but ultimately airfoil selection doesn't have THAT big an impact on performance, unless you're going all-out laminar flow (which generally demands a gelcoat-finished composite wing pulled from a CNC aluminum mold to actually achieve).

>>1164338
no programming on that transmitter, mite b fukd mate

I would use GCS to monitor the actual output from the receiver, if it still shows the fucky throttle I'd say it's dead, you could try PWM and see if it makes a difference though

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>>1164529
you could strap one of these to each drone

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>>1164632
I do not know anything about what speeds or total mass i will have. This is literally first plane i have build or held in my own hands for that matter. I have zero RC experience.

Went with TL54 template. I swang one of the foils with my hand and it feld surprisingly stable.

>>1164745
Yeah decided to change the air foil


The wings feel really light weight. What do you guys feel about adding center fuselage to hold battery, esc, amp, motor, landing gear etc to the build?

How do i deside how big of control surfaces should i cut?

Gonna pick up a used, upgraded, rustler today.

Leaving for the weekend and the battery+charger hasn't arrived yet..

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Why aren't 1/5 scale trucks using larger wheels?

I see the tires spin constantly. Seems so wasteful not transferring more of the power into the dirt.

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>>1164004
Soldering the battery turned out to be pretty easy. I already had 4-5 runs on this battery so I was interested to see how far apart the voltages were... less than one hundredth of a volt difference. The battery will just stay taped up for now until my heat shrink wrap arrives.

For how long can I have fully charged 2/3s lipos lying around before I need to worry?

Days, weeks?
Want to know so I can plan ahead for a long day of driving.

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>>1164870
>TL54
https://www.aerodesign.de/english/profile/profile_s.htm
>Let's talk about something else: the zero lift moment coefficient (cm0) is around cm0 =-0.017 and this is unstable.
This means you'll either have to add some washout (this can even be beneficial for performance in small amounts) or have to compensate slightly with the ailerons
Not that it's a bad profile, but keep this in mind

>What do you guys feel about adding center fuselage to hold battery, esc, amp, motor, landing gear etc to the build?
Try to aim for something in the lines of a blended wing body, or at least something with an airfoil shape to it for a better lift distribution
Otherwise it sort of defeats the purpose of a flying wing, which is to eliminate the need for fusulage after all
I guess this is a bit more difficult to cut out of foam, but i honestly have never tried it

>How do i deside how big of control surfaces should i cut?
No idea senpai. I made a glider from balsa once for a project. Like i said i know some theory but that's basically it.

>>1164952
What do you expect to achieve with larger wheels? Contrary to popular belief, bigger contact patches don't directly affect grip (though larger tires tend to have softer, grippier compounds for the same treadwear, which is where the misconception comes from). See Amontin's 2nd law. Bigger wheels are great for getting over obstacles, but you don't sound concerned about that, plus heavier wheels mean more unsprung mass which can actually *negatively* affect handling at speed.

You could try tires with a grippier compound or a grippier tread, but if the surface you're driving on is that loose, I'm afraid there's not much you can do to actually put that power to the ground. I mean you could weigh your car down to increase traction, but that's kinda counterproductive because it also increases mass and yields no net improvement in acceleration (unless you're pulling trailers or something, but that's a different story).

>>1165199
Worry about what? Self-discharge to any significant degree should be in months

I ask this every thread and no one responds.

What are some good websites to learn to build these things?

>>1165624
Probably because it's a shit question. What exactly do you want to build? Starting from what? What budget? What tools do you have available?

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>>1164870
Quick question, do you plan on building this as a glider, pusher or tractor setup? It's worth noting that most (but not all) pusher wings have a large cutout for the prop, so that the motor can be mounted further forward to minimize CG impact. Balancing a flying wing can be challenging, especially with lighter pusher setups.

>What do you guys feel about adding center fuselage to hold battery, esc, amp, motor, landing gear etc to the build?
I used to prefer a protruding fuselage like the Funjet or Stryker for a few reasons. For one thing, it's easier to get the CG right without ballast by putting components in the protruding portion of the fuselage (which is especially challenging on a wing if you opt for a pusher setup), and furthermore, it can give you a place to grip and throw the plane ventrally.

However after some experience I've noticed some drawbacks, especially with regard to durability, and am a bit ambivalent about it. A protruding nose isn't nearly as durable and impact-absorbent as a flush leading edge, and will likely get crushed in a head-on impact. Also, while a pure wing has continuous, uninterrupted wing panels which can be joined and reinforced with tape or laminate, a fuselage section often interrupts the wing panels, which presents a significant weak point unless substantially reinforced with a carry-through spar (see FT Spear). There is an exception, of course, for fuselage pods or nacelles which do NOT interrupt the wing panels, such as the ventral pod on tractor versions of the FT Versa, or motor nacelles of the Kraken.

>How do i deside how big of control surfaces should i cut?
~20% chord or so seems pretty typical. Faster wings sometimes go with smaller elevons to reduce sensitivity and servo load and elevon twisting at speed, but that also reduces your control authority in slow flight (especially with a nose-heavy CG, which you should probably use for your first flight just to be safe).
>>1165624
Flite Test

>>1165624
DIY RC gets expensive very fast when you include all the tools and repairs

I learned from these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jbpwqCCVbs&list=PLgHGpiWXS2eSYeceg736QSESW9mijzuhf

>>1165624
You could read the thread and find this >>1164410 but I guess you need a spoon feeding.

Snark fully intended. Brand spanking new myself and I have been reading every post, watching flight test, uav futures and rotor riot vids. Then I make notes for vocabulary words while watching to look up later. Cant learn if you dont even know whats being said.

Show some gumption for goodness sake. Bleeding edge tech and emerging underground sports dont document as much as they could you aint getting an info buffett like some vidya wiki. Lets call the start up cost of personal research to be price of admission.

You got have some ambition to play.

>>1165731
What is it with this attitude?

If someone asked me the best forum for computers I'd just tell them overclock.net.

>>1165757
Ask that question back when custom pc building didnt have years of mainstream attention. Back then there was no google or youtube. How did anyone get into it in the first time? Gumption, not online hand holding sessions.
Whats with the have no critical thought, need bullet points for direction on /diy/ attitude?

in cleanflight motors tab when I arm my FC it shows that substantially different values are being sent to each motor, and there is visual evidence of this as well because two motors aren't spinning and the other two are.

When not armed and I manually adjust each slider to be the same value, they all spin at the same speed. They also all start spinning at the same minimum value when manually changing the slider.

What causes that?

>>1165469
24 hours or more on 100% charge lipo will damage due to build up of battery internal resistance. its not 24 hours but i wouldn't trust them over 24 hours on a full charge.

>>1166062
Charged 3 batteries the other day, only went through one.
Guess I should put an alarm on to remember to Storage them.

Finally got my rustler with sidewinder 3 5700kv combo.

It got too hot several times.

But I later understood that the gearing was for top speed, so it made sense since I was running on grass, bashing around.

>>1166068
what you should do is buy a high quality battery IR meter and when you buy batteries label them with a ID number and keep track every month of the resistance. if they are increasing too high too quickly then your leaving them too long on full charge or drawing too much from them and should use higher c-rating battery. they will increase in resistance even when not abusing them so keep that in mind. i storage charge if not used in 2 days.

>>1166094
In a nutshell:

Keeping the spur gears size, changing the size of the pinion gear to smaller = more acceleration.
Keeping the pinion gear size, changing the size of the spur gear to larger = more acceleration.

Correct?

I got a 90tooth spur gear and a 15tooth pinion gear that I can change to.

What's mounted is a 76t spur gear and what seems to be 30ish tooth pinion gear.

For bashing around, the 90t+15t combo will be the "best" for acceleration?

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>>1166243
Well the threading on the small pinion gear was stripped, so it's the 21t and 90t combo now.

Gonna try it out tomorrow.

Ghetto-rigged on the spoiler because it attracts the ladies.
Need to paint the body too. As well as getting a wheelie bar.

>>1166243
>more acceleration

the way a not retarded person would say it is:
speed is the inverse of the ratio of number of teeth. torque is the same as the ration of number of teeth.

if the driven gear shrinks it will spin faster HOWEVER acceleration is based on force, torque is rotational force, and torque is inverse of speed as we saw above.

so a shrinking driven gear will reach a higher top speed but take longer to get there. eventually there will not be enough torque to overcome losses in the system (eg friction between teeth). enlarging the driven gear will reach a slower top speed but reach that speed first.

its like driving a normal car, you need low gears to start off (overcome static coefficients of friction) and go up hills and shit because there is more torque. high gears for high speed. you can't pull away in top gear can you? no.

>>1159086
I crashed this thing in surburbia with no clue where it went. Been scanning the neighbourhood using my phantom4 but can't find it. That's 400 down the drain. Kek. When it came down I couldn't hear a loud bang so I assume I didn't damag anyone else's property.

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Bruh

>>1165958
did you calibrate the ESC's?

>>1166518
Maybe you'll learn to fly in an open field next time. Your Phantom 4 might be reliable enough to get away with it okay (and that only comes after years of product development - believe me, those early Flamewheels and Phantom 1s were atrociously unreliable), but by-and-large flying RC over residential areas isn't a good idea. You risk losing your shit into someone's backyard or roof, and not to mention possibly damaging property or injuring people.

Despite flying quite a way from any water, I managed to crash my quad into a small stream and it was there for a good 15 minutes. Oddly enough it was still operational in the water, and after letting it dry for two weeks or so, everything turns on and seems to be working. The only two things I noticed are
>2/4 motors turn slightly harder than before, it's a very small change but noticeable
>LiPo might've taken a hit (although it was firmly inside the body, not on top), one of the cells is out of whack by .1V, but no self-discharge whatsoever over the two weeks
Should I replace the motors/lipo/anything else anyway? I'm thinking about slowly balance charging the lipo and waiting a few more days, then testing it out in air.

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Got a case for my 650, I thought it was going to be pick-&-pluck foam but it was actually regular foam I had to cut, didn't make too much of a mess :) Really need to get out & tune this thing asap but it's been crazy windy recently :(

>>1166633
> didn't make too much of a mess
No, you really didn't, that looks tidy as fuck man. I have some cases I want to foam out for some audio gear, whats your process?

>>1166645
I covered the top surface with masking tape, drew around the objects with Sharpie, cut a shallow cut just inside the Sharpie line through the tape, then removed the tape & continued the cut all the way through. The foam is actually stiffer & cuts easier than I was expecting, it doesn't give/sag much when you push the blade against it, but using a really sharp knife certainly helps.

>>1166593
Fresh water's usually pretty benign. I wouldn't worry about it (other than keeping a close eye on the lipo for the next charge).

is it possible to make a 5 rotor quad?

are 3 inch prop mini quads quiet enough for stealth FPVing peoples houses?

>>1166658
Neat. Last time I tried anything close to that I drew directly onto the foam, which bunched up like a bitch on the initial cut and gave me a ragged edges, even with a brand new box knife blade. Masking tape seems like a solid solution to that. Thanks anon!

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>>1166996
Not really a quad without 4 rotors, but sure. I don't think there's any great reasons to use it over a hex though.

>>1167012
the reason i want to is that hobbyking only had 5 motors left of a certain type on sale and i bought them. i have a hexcopter frame so i guess I'd just remove one of the arms?

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>>1166997
It depends. A heavy 4S setup with bullnose props certainly isn't.
>They don't call it the Shrieker for nothing

>>1167012
Actually, this might be useful for me because of how lipo batteries are never shaped symmetrically so i could place the battery more towards the side where the arm/motor are missing and hopefully balance it this way.

i might be able to place the centroid in the center of the aircraft this way but then there's the problem that you aren't getting thrust from one side of the aircraft. so I'm not sure if the positives outweight the negatives in this regard.

>>1167053
>Actually, this might be useful for me because of how lipo batteries are never shaped symmetrically so i could place the battery more towards the side where the arm/motor are missing and hopefully balance it this way.
That's the opposite of what you should do, though. The CG should ideally go at the center of thrust when all motors are running at 100%. So, if you have, say, a 550 size axisymmetric hex frame, and you put motors of equal thrust on all arms except the front one, the center of gravity should be about 45 mm AFT of the center of the frame.

Also since there's an odd number of motors, you should tweak the thrust angles so that the quad won't spin if the throttles are all matched. So if you have 3 CW and 2 CCW, I'd advise tilting the pair of CCW motors so their thrust angles yaw right harder than the motor torque alone (and adjust it so they can do this while running at the same throttle as the CW motors).

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>>1167011
I was expecting the foam to bunch up a lot, but it didn't at all. I'm assuming it has a lot to do with the particular foam & maybe the extortionate Peli foam is better than cheaper alternatives in this regard?

>>1166996
>>1167023
The only 5 rotor design I know of is the 'dragonfly', which is logically counted as a tricopter because the front 'pairs' of rotors receive the same signal (you can literally splice the signal wires) & the rear rotor is on a servo. Which is what >>1167012 is.

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>>1167079
with tricopters, is one of the 3 motors always mounted on a servo?

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>>1167107
Yes. Because you don't have an even split between clockwise & counter-clockwise (you're always going to have two rotors spinning in one direction & one rotor spinning in the other direction), you have unbalanced torque on the frame. By having the tail rotor on a servo, the flight controller can counteract the imbalance in torque & you control yaw using a thrust vector rather than torque (which gives tricopters their noticeably different handling characteristics).

You can't just have the one odd rotor spin faster to balance out the torque because then it would produce too much lift.

The servo mechanism makes tricopters finicky, but it's interesting how different they feel to fly & I think they look super cool. Picrelated is mine :3

>>1167115
even quads/hex/oct copters are hell trying to fix balance issues. tricopters must be nigh impossible

>>1165911
>How did anyone get into it in the first time?
Books and PC magazine is how I learned. Long before YouTube existed.

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>>1167124
With any relatively modern flight controller & firmware you can slap 4 motors onto pretty much anything relatively rigid & it'll fly okay with zero tuning. Picrelated flew fine on an old naze32 rev5 running an ancient version of cleanflight on stock PIDs. I only came into this hobby ~1 year ago, so I never knew the pain of not having MEMS gyros etc. & I honestly feel a bit spoiled with how well anything I build flies considering how unbalanced a lot of it actually is.

>>1167127
my experience so far has been quite different and i always need to trim the hell out of my roll on my transmitter so my quads don't drift like crazy.

>>1167128
IIRC you aren't meant to use transmitter trim for multirotors. If your quads are drifting you should either be looking at recalibrating the accelerometer (if in angle/horizon mode) or changing the I gains. Can you share more details about builds/components?

>>1167129
600mm radius carbon fibre quad with 10 inch slow-fly propellers and 850kv motors

>>1167131
What flight controller/firmware? If you can do blackbox logging, dataflash logging, etc. it might quickly identify a vibration problem, PID oscillation, etc.

>>1167134
i meant diameter sorry. i had the FC on velcro so i think that isolates vibration. it's an SPracing F3 clone

>>1167139
I think you should be able to do blackbox logging on that, then look at the logs afterward for any obvious issues. If you're running a recent release of betaflight/cleanflight it might simply be because their stock PIDs are more tailored toward small racing/acro builds nowadays.

>>1166996
I keep dreaming of a quad with a pusher prop. High speed with out tilt would let one safely buzz the ground without the chance of tipping into it stable camera while accelerating.

>>1167223
On second thought one motor pushing might work but might also tax the FC trying to counter torque. Might work just fine.

Then this popped up in my YT feed.
https://youtu.be/WNkohUPIRNQ
Thanks algorithms.

Still would take 6 not five motors but damn thats a lot of push in a small footprint.

>>1167223
Foxeer made one. The "Screamer" or something like that. 4 lift, 1 thrust motor.

I also recently saw a compound tricopter built in pod racer format (with 3 lift and 2 thrust motors):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utr6g63JP78

i dont understand why these are so small and can handle so much current and up to 4S

http://www.racerstar.com/Racerstar-MS25A-ESC-p-42.html

do any of you make your own battery packs using 18650s to save money? what are the pros/cons?

>>1167567
pros
>???
cons
>not cheaper
>majority not designed to deliver high currents
>thus will go bad very quickly
>worse form factor/volume efficiency

i just set up my CC3D controller for the first time and the throttle loses all its resolution effectively ending up with only an on/off state after I move the stick horizontally (roll). it's definitely not a problem with the transmitter and has something to do with the flight controller itself.

imagine a nitrous powered quad copter. kek.

this guy reckons he paid $500 for his carbon fibre propellers. the fuck

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/leichhardt/other-electronics-computers/tarot-1000-octo-multirotor-drone-wookong-t8fg-3-axis-gimbal-/1145479142

>>1167612
I think the reason this hasn't been done is simply because nitrous engines don't have the responsiveness that multirotors need in order to fly. The ESCs on a quad make hundreds of tiny alterations to the motors' speed every second to make them fly at all smoootly, any sort of gas/glow engine simply doesn't have that sort of granularity of control surely?

>>1167636
T-Motor brand props are about that expensive for a full set like that, yes.

I've owned the original Phantom when it first came out and I loved it, but it was before FPV was so accessible, and I eventually sold it for one reason or another.

I would like to get something with FPV, and have been looking at the Phantom 3, but I'm out of touch so I don't know what the other options are, can anybody help me?

I'm not bothered about racing, really just exploration and shit. I don't care about spending up to around £600 or so, and I'm fine with soldering if it's better to make something, but what do you suggest? Stick with Phantom 3 for ease, or go with something else?

>>1167686
Phantom 3 is unbeatable performance/features for the price & you won't be able to build something comparable without spending quite a bit more money. Of course if you enjoy building/tweaking then there are certainly options to build yourself, but it won't be better than the Phantom.

>>1167612
How bout a hybrid?
Imagine a octo with four props synced with a nitro engine for masive horsepower. The other four electric for stability control.
Now thats a package delivery system! Bonus points its loud as f with a load but can go quiet electric after delivery so you can tell when your stuff shows up.

Is there a go-to controller(receiver/transmitter) for rc cars?

Preferably with the possibility to adjust the TSM for traxxas cars.

>>1167567
Well for one thing, you can get lipos pretty damn cheap these days. I doubt you'd save any money. But one thing li-ion cells do have going for them is about 50% more energy density.

However, even high-performance 18650s have MUCH higher internal resistance than lipos. That may not matter much if your application only draws 5C or so, but if power-to-weight is a higher priority than flight time then you're going to want lipos for sure.

>>1167823
>>1167567
To add, the current flight time record holder for an electric quadcopter broke 2 hours using a custom pack of 18650s. But that's a meagre 0.5 C, so internal resistance was almost a non-issue. That's not the case with most RCs.

>>1167726
Better idea:
>Gas-powered prime mover in the middle of the frame
>Turns a large brushless permanent-magnet generator
>Power from the generator feeds ESCs of an otherwise-conventional multirotor
>Can also put a small reserve battery in parallel, so the machine can keep flying a bit if the engine dies

>>1167829
but then you're doubling up on weight unnecessarily
>nitrous engine weight
>electric motor weight

>>1167679
so do you think that stuff is a good buy? He said he spent 10k on it and he's selling it for 2k.

>>1167829
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6CwyoueGIg

>>1168032
It's probably a good deal if you're in the market for a big octo, but don't underestimate how big & unwieldy this sort of thing is - you definitely need to have a use for it & a sensible way to transport it before buying it.

>>1168207
i thought bigger drones were easier to control than smaller ones?

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I got this as my first RC plane. Did i fuck up?
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykingr-tm-sky-eye-epo-fpv-glider-w-flaps-2000mm-pnf.html

>>1168580
Why would you think so?

>>1168616
i started to think did i buy too complex and big plane to start with.

i dont wanna do fvp or anything fancy

>>1168580
It's not a terrible choice. These style airplanes usually have pretty honest flight characteristics. Kind of like a sailplane. Controls on these also tend to be pretty sluggish, which by conventional wisdom is good for a trainer since the student can't get into trouble too quickly... though I don't personally subscribe to that so much - I train people on my TH EPP Edge 540 all the time, since I personally think beginners learn faster and also get hooked more easily if they start off with something more nimble and exciting (and durable of course).

Your 2m rig there is EPO, which isn't the best choice (EPP is more durable and repair-friendly), but it's still pretty tough and certainly far better than EPS or built-up balsa. I doubt that dome will last long, though. Also you could have paid half as much for a Bixler instead. But if this plane manages to survive you're beginner's lumps, you could turn it into a good FPV/AP platform down the road.

>>1168411
I mean big & unwieldy in the sense of transporting it places. You got a decent size car?

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Tried the 16t pinion + 90t spur gear.
Can't get it to do a wheelie.

I'm gonna try changing some settings, iirc I changed it to a smoother punch because the ESC was overheating.

>>1168734
I'm also interested in getting a new servo.

I'm new to the hobby, but from what I've understood is that the servo just needs to fit(unless you diy) and you can use any servo, correct? Matching the cables and gears of course.

Currently looking at HV Alturn 18.2kg/0.09s and a Savöx 1256TG 20kg/0.15s.
I noticed that the current servo is very weak and the delay is above 0.7s.
Is the servo where I mainly control the delay? Will the transmitter/receiver play any roll in that?

>>1168637
thank you for good analysis

>>1168649
yes

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Trying to tune/tweak the gimbal today, but 30mph gusts weren't helping :/ Hoping to take it on a trip that starts next weekend though, so went out today regardless. Seems better than it was last flight, at least.

>>1168734
Holy shitballs is this thing both fast in top speed and acceleration with these gears, 3S and these tires. So much fun.

>>1170086
why don't you FPV so you can spy? drones are too loud for that

>>1155828
Can you send hd video over radio? What if I wanted to make a spyplane and fly around and look at the ground with it?

>>1170686
HD downlinks exist, but they are very expensive compared to 'traditional' FPV video links. You have things like DJI LightBridge, Connex Prosight, etc. but you're talking $500+ instead of <$50.

>>1170686
I would just rig a raspberry pi zero with pi cam. That is what I am planning to do sometime.

>>1170686
It can be done. Analog is simpler, lighter, less laggy and generally cheaper though.
>>1170692
>>1170855
Look up wifibroadcast. Basically uses cheap wifi radios, and bypasses all the handshaking and such to improve lag and signal degradation.

>>1170855
>>1170934
I have done that and you get about 150-200ms lag on it, it's bad enough that you can't fly anything agile like a quad, but for a glider-type plane it might be okay

>>1170149
Spy? FPV on a 1/10 car?
My eyes are gonna explode!

I will however get a yi 4k+ to mount on it.

Is it significantly cheaper to build a drone than it is to buy one?
Are there any guides for it?

>>1171176
>Is it significantly cheaper to build a drone than it is to buy one?
No
>Are there any guides for it?
Yes

What kind of machine are you looking for? Race quad? Gimbal-toting camera platform? Micro? Do you have any RC equipment already or are you completely new to the hobby?

>>1171209
Completely new.
I've always been somewhat interested in having a drone, but they seem awfully expensive.
I just wanted to check whether maybe it was like a computer in that you can save money by putting one together yourself.

>>1171223
>they seem awfully expensive.
Try looking for "outdated" versions, they're often available for far cheaper. This side of the hobby evolves so fast and with so much hype that there's almost always a flood of generation-old quads being liquidated at bargain prices.
>I just wanted to check whether maybe it was like a computer in that you can save money by putting one together yourself.
Either way you go, there are ways to spend a little or a lot. I've tried to shop around to put together the BOM for a bargain build, but most of the time once everything is added up, it still ends up totaling to around the same as a bargain pre-built quad does.

It's also worth noting that, at least as far as the miniquads go, even the pre-built ones are still usually far from consumer-grade and will still require a significant amount of setup before flight. This is less often the case for photography/videography-oriented drones.

Again, what kind of drone are you looking for?
Something to shoot photos and video with?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV64RsmY0NY
Something sporty and exciting for racing and/or stunts?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dds459rHTkc
Or something amusing just to dink around with in the house and harass your family/pets?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef8Qn5NdQXA

>>1171223
You can save money by buying one from china. Kits start at about $90 excluding transmitter and battery.

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will this shreiker fly or will the batteries be too heavy?

>>1171563
looks like the blades will fly off

How long do drone motors last? Can I wire an extension cord instead of a battery and use one as a security camera?

>>1171596
Brushed motors have a limited lifespan, but brushless motors last forever (think about how long even a cheap sleeve bearing computer fan lasts).

>>1171596
Why would you? Is there something specific about the area that requires a drone instead of just putting a camera up on a pole?

>>1171493
I don't really have a specific use in mind right now, so the third option I suppose.

Are there any guides for which old drone models are the best for their price, like /g/ has for old Thinkpads?

>>1171787
>so the third option I suppose.
In that case micro brushed quads are probably the way to go. They don't last as long (in terms of either flight time or motors wearing out), but they're a good bit cheaper and smaller/lighter than anything brushless. Considering you don't already have any RC equipment you'll probably want something RTF that includes everything you need to fly. If you want FPV, a Hubsan H107D or H111D will include everything you need, including charger, controller and FPV screen (built into the controller) for under $100. If you don't care about FPV and just want to tool around line-of-sight, you can get an E010 RTF for less than $20.

And if you've got the itch to /diy/ and, you might want to look into putting together your own Tiny Whoop using an E010 and a TX01, plus a cheapo VRx/screen/goggles (and whatever other Whoop bits you might want to add - motors, beebrain, etc.).

>Are there any guides for which old drone models are the best for their price, like /g/ has for old Thinkpads?
Umm
Not that I know of, but you might find something along those lines on OscarLiang.com. That website has a wealth of all kinds of guides and reviews and shootouts and such.

>>1171596
won't the noise get to you? it would also require GPS positioning for when wind blows it so that it can hold its position. also an extension cord could potentially add a lot of weight to its payload depending on how high the drone will go.

>e-revo 1/16 vxl for 150usd used

So tempted.

Are there any good guides for creating homebrew RC aircraft?

I've got half a mind to recreate some of my Kerbal Space Program airplanes, but I'm not entirely sure how to do so, mainly in that I don't think my center of lift will be in the same place it is in KSP.

>>1172475
There's not much to it, just fuckin' go for it brah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-75v2G1o40U

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>>1172519
Thanks!
Guess I really just have to get over not having nice little COM and COL indicators.

Although, I am a bit of a unconventional design enthusiast.
Pic related is one of my finest.

>>1167115
nice tri lad :D
is that the v4?
and what settings/ firmware/board are u running?

I have a V3 with a naze32 and triflite. Runs, but it aint great. I think I need a new servo, but some input would be great... happy flyin!

i would upload some of my creations but the files are all too big...

>>1172639
Yup, that's a v4 built with entirely David's recommended parts. It doesn't fly amazing (has some really slow oscillations in the yaw axis) but it's pretty good considering I haven't done any manual tuning - just copied & pasted the PIDs provided by David & then ran the disarmed & in-flight tail tune process.

Apparently the feedback enabled servo makes a big difference, so if the one you have now doesn't have a feedback wire I'd guess that should be your first path.

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>>1172641
Thanks, my copter is like very, very, very old.
I built it when dave still recommended the kk2 board. Back then he did not even have any electronics in the store. Mine is a mix and match of different things. HK motors (shit), afro 30A ESCs (kinda ok) and some other stuff. The servo is digital and does not have a feedback, I guess I'm gonna buy the one of David.

And here is a skywalker of mine. Painted it ages ago, and it shows...but still nice to fly

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do you think this battery is going to be bad in terms of moment imbalances?

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Skoreans already have the DBXL-E.

Don't think I've ever been so excited for an rc car..

>>1173224
B E E F Y
E
E
F
Y

>>1173231
It's not the original wheels. But I hope it can handle wheels of that size and weight.

>>1173236
How much are they gonna cost in USD?

>>1173239
Around 1000-1400usd stock iirc..

A new 8s x-maxx is about the same, so at least it's priced accordingly.

>>1168031
>but then you're doubling up on weight unnecessarily
Not when you factor in how much weight you're saving by not needing a big-ass battery to give you your flight time. After a certain point, an engine + permanent magnet generator + gas tank could easily end up far lighter than a battery of equivalent endurance (or could even offer endurance that's simply not possible with batteries).
>>1168132
I've seen that machine. And the acro one Curtis Youngblood was working on. They're neat, but I'm not convinced the belt drive and collective-pitch nets you anything over just using an electric powertrain with variable-speed motors.

>>1172536
Just err on the nose-heavy side for the first flight and consider a glide test before going all-out. Other than that, if you can make it happen in KSP (without zillions of SAS keeping it steady, that is) you'll probably have an easy enough time getting it trimmed and balanced IRL.

Would it be possible to knock out drones in the area or make them lose contact with their home base quite easily?

>>1173486
Get a job, Jamal.

>>1173488
just curious

>>1173491
no, it's impossible to jam radio signals

Hey guys, I'm new into /rc/ and need some general directions, hope you can help me out with this.

My idea is to build a drone controlled from a PC (maybe a smartphone but I don't know about that) probably using a Raspberry Pi, I'd also thought of 3D Printing the frame and making it different from the standard quad drone, maybe having the general shape of a jet fighter.

Is this a good idea? I have a few hundred bucks to throw at it so money is not a primary concern.

>>1173515
>drone controlled from a PC
It's possible, but the reason people don't do this is that a joystick or the keyboard are inferior to a normal RC controller.
>3D printing the frame
Don't. You'll be crashing a lot and a 3D printed frame will keep breaking every single time. Use carbon, it's not expensive if you buy it from chinks. These heavy big quads aren't really suited to any kind of prettying up because when they inevitably crash, they keep breaking the shell to pieces. Very light (sub-100g) ones are better in this regard.

>>1173519
>It's possible, but the reason people don't do this is that a joystick or the keyboard are inferior to a normal RC controller.
I'll look into it some more, my idea is using a double Joystick setup and pedals.

>Don't. You'll be crashing a lot and a 3D printed frame will keep breaking every single time. Use carbon, it's not expensive if you buy it from chinks. These heavy big quads aren't really suited to any kind of prettying up because when they inevitably crash, they keep breaking the shell to pieces. Very light (sub-100g) ones are better in this regard.
So how could I approach building a drone with an unconventional shape? Like I said, my idea is to build something with a shape similar to a fighter or a plane, not unlike those drones the military uses, except much smaller. Previously I'd thought of studying some aerodynamics and using my 3D modelling skills to design the parts of the drone and have them printed, but if there's a better way I'm down for it.

>>1156693

lel he doesnt get it

>>1173529
New anon.
So you want to make an rc airplane. I would look into foam build airplanes. With a heat gun you can shape foam sheets to give you those sexy predator UAV curves you crave. Cosplay tutorials for foam armor would have good tips on forming and heating. A lot of plane build vids on yt for basics and electronics. Foam stiffened with ribs can take a beating. Not packaging styrofoam that crumbles but closed cell "camp mat foam".

Look into base stations/ ground stations. It sounds like you want to go a step beyond rc hobby controlers and think a full pc setup is needed. It may not be needed. Arduino can talk with most joysticks and output to a radio module. Lot of tutorials on custom controllers/code for reading usb. Your video should be analog anyway if you want to fly fpv. Observation/photography cams can be digi and controlled via phone app/pc. This will lag for you live but gives easy to work with media on the backend. DVRing analog sucks. Analog= grainy but fast. Digital= clear but lags.

Just missed a deal on a hbx rocket pro for 30usd.

I feel bad.

>>1173576
Thanks, this seems enough to give me a good headstart on what to do

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>break a simple plastic joint and the shock flies off
>look for some replacement parts
>cheap stuff
>look around the site some more
>an hour later I'm up at 200usd

M-make it stop..

>>1173637

>carb needle breaks
>old engine, finding parts might be tricky
>be sad because I can only find a new carb for $50
>be happy when find carb needle alone for $2
>spend $35 on random stuff anyway

>>1173625
Anon1: I got an idea. How do?
Anon2: Here is some basics, some vocabulary words and clues for research.
Anon1: Thanks. Im on it!

Everyone that comes here for "spoon feed me" could learn a lot from this anon.
You'll do just fine with that mind set. Welcome.

>>1155828
i'm a casual to imageboards but remembered this place, i hope you can help me with this issue.
I designed a gps patch antenna, the deal is that i dont know how to feed it, by this i mean , can i just take an rg147 cable take the inner and outer conductors and solder them to the patch and gnd plane, or do i need fancy sma connectors between the antenna and the cable? thanks.
i think some of you have practical experience with antennas and stuff .

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>>1173529
>my idea is using a double Joystick setup and pedals.
If that's all you're after, might want to look up Windbox. No need for a computer, just any universal USB-HID joystick or gamepad and the Windbox brain. Alternatively, there's an all-in-one setup with a Saitek X52 throttle and joystick already installed.

https://hobbyking.com/media/file/696951020X1606554X21.pdf

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>>1173637
Got my spare parts and a new servo.
Hopefully I haven't been a retard and it works.

>>1173638
I'm afraid it's just going to get worse for me.

>>1174543
Man that's super cool, would save a major part of the work, do you think it is feasible to use one of those for a portable control system (embedded in a case) while keeping the capabilities to connect the drone to a computer?

I don't want to rule out PC compatibilty because my plan was to add 360º cameras feeding a VR system on a PC as a second project when I get this working.

So how bad an idea is it to buy one of these https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykingtm-titus-600-carbon-fiber-tri-copter-frame-with-integrated-pcb.html mount it on a custom foam fuselage and put a couple of EDFs on the back?

>>1174660
>360º cameras feeding a VR system
You're looking at it the wrong way around. I've already done the same thing for like $15.
>2 4g servos
>3d printed gimball frame
>arduino + gyroscope on HMD + 433mhz wireless
>arduino + 433mhz wireless on quad

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>>1174725
Not at home, but you can have this shitty picture of what it looked like before I crashed it

>>1165239
>high tech prototype plane made out of wood
>rust graphics
10/10 Russian game

>>1174725
>>1174729
hmmm that does look interesting, I'll see if I adapt the idea when I get the drone working

>>1174725
That's more or less what I'll be doing for a turret on my tank too.
>>1174737
If you don't have a 3D printer, just buy a servo-fitted robot arm hinge from ebay. One continuous rotation servo on the flat bit to rotate, and one limited servo on the edge for panning. Just fit the camera to the edge servo and enjoy. http://www.ebay.com/itm/252605066497?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Or if you don't care about looks, you could just grab your glue gun and attach your camera to a servo, then that servo to another servo.

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Took me surprisingly long to install the new servo.

Placement is really troublesome on the rustler.

Forgot to record the old servo of course.

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>>1174818
I agree, the location of the steering servo on the rustler sucks
The whole front end is in the way

What motor and esc is that btw?

>>1174849
Those little rings that attach at the bottom of the steerings rods, they always fall off unless you grease them.

Truly planned to be torture.

It's the sidewinder 3 combo with 5700kv motor.
It can handle 3s, but only for 5-7 minutes on the road. I'm wondering if a fan on the ESC will help.

Does yours benefit from it?

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>>1174853
My reciever doesn't have a channel for the fan so I never bothered plugging it in lol
But mine runs fine on 21/86, doesn't get too hot on my 2s 20c 7.4v lipo at least...
Anyways, we have the same motor, I got the sct bundle a few years ago and it has a different esc, but otherwise the same I think.
I think mine can do 3s too, not sure though I havent checked
What upgrades would you recommend for a mostly stock car except for the electronics? I was thinking of getting a new servo and steering linkages just because these are such a pain, not sure how much it'll help though

>>1174858
Whoops I was wrong, mine is 3800kv

>>1173486
enjoy getting anally raped by the FCC and FAA

>>1173486
https://youtu.be/5CzURm7OpAA

>>1174858
Fair enough..! I think I run the same gear setup. Havn't tried much offroad since 1/10 isnt really that much fun since it gets stuck everywhere.
Don't know how much your esc can take, but 3s really transforms it. Get a cheap 3s and hook the fan up somehow.

Havn't had the time to try the new servo outside, but so far it seems like a must upgrade for any car. Mine does 20kg, was like night and day.

in cleanflight what do I select my ESC firmware to be if I have these?
https://www.fpvfaster.com.au/products/racerstar-25a-esc-ms-series-blheli_s-opto-2-4s-bb2-mcu-supports-dshot600-oneshot-multishot-1

>>1156680
what kind of drone is this? Does it come with camera? I found Bangood E010, but it is without camera.

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>>1175206
ooohhh shit, I'm retarded.

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>>1155828
Could I make an rc plane out of this old foam glider I have?

>>1175393
Only thing worth doing might be thrust vector, these things are shit, we don't use them for a reason

>>1175198
answer this niggers

>>1175426
Alright I'll just buy some foam and make my own

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I want to make a RC missile that is not propelled by explosives but by a pusher prop in the rear and that is steerable

Maybe i could use an Estes rocket model for this? I'm not sure about the tail fins though, as they are made for stabilization rather than steering. And I have no idea how to setup rudder control.

Do you think it might be worthwhile?

>>1175512
No missiles are propelled by explosives

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>>1175519
I'm not so good at english so I don't know what it's called... solid fuel? Monopropellant?

Basically I want to convert an Estes rocket like this into a RC plane

>>1175198
Haven't used CF in a while so I don't know what setting you're referring to, but you shouldn't have to screw with ESC firmware unless you really want to. Those are already flashed with Blheli_S

>>1175512
How are you going to cancel out the prop torque? You'll either need counter-rotating props or you'll have to put on wings and basically make it a plane.

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>>1175554
>How are you going to cancel out the prop torque? You'll either need counter-rotating props or you'll have to put on wings and basically make it a plane.

Do you think this will do?
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/contra-rotating-bl-system-375w.html

>>1175558
Seems like it should work. It means that you'll probably need a flight controller though, if the torque is slightly different between the two motors it will still start spinning and you'd probably lose control.

>>1175554
It's just that cleanflight asks you what firmware is driving the motors. There's no option for blheli. Only oneshot45/multishot etc

>>1175662
Ah, those are motor protocols, basically how your FC talks to the ESC. Multishot gives you the lowest latency, I don't think there's any significant downsides to it as long as your FC and ESC support it.

>>1175565
He could just slap on a normal RC helicopter ESC, coaxial helicopters use thrust differential for yaw control, and his rocket is basically just a coaxial helicopter flying upside down with very high "lift".

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I'm gonna have to charge up all my 2s batteries for next time I head out.

My rustler eats up the 4000mAh battery in minutes. Granted, it's an old used battery I got with the car.

>>1175393
You could, sure. Might make a decent thermal glider if you keep it light with just a rudder and maybe elevator. Can't really see that sort of airframe being good for much else though.
>>1175512
>I want to make a RC missile that is not propelled by explosives
Like this?
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?501856-Flying-Sidewinder-missile
Or this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwBTMdqqPjo
>Pusher prop
Tractor or slot would probably fly better. Propwash over the fins for steering and whatnot. A pusher wouldn't offer effective control authority until you already have lots of airspeed - meaning launches will probably be difficult.
>And I have no idea how to setup rudder control.
If the fins are cruciform, you could simply pick two to be left and right "elevons" and then use the other two as "rudder." Only two would move when you roll, but that's all you'd probably need anyways. Alternatively, you could set up your own mixing. The way I'd mix a 3-fin arrangement is as follows:
>3 fins: left elevon, right elevon, and rudder
>Mix roll axis into rudder -100%
>Mix yaw axis into roll +50% (I think)
Hopefully this would isolate roll and yaw control inputs. Signs may be flipped depending on servo installation and servo reversing.
>>1175521
Propellant would be the preferred term. It's not necessarily completely wrong to say explosive though - most solid propellants are considered low explosives by themselves.
>>1175554
>How are you going to cancel out the prop torque? You'll either need counter-rotating props or you'll have to put on wings and basically make it a plane.
Small, high-RPM props don't produce as much torque for the amount of thrust they make - and their propwash is higher-velocity too. And even a big slow-fly prop (like the Sidewinder I posted uses) can be overridden by reasonably large elevons, especially if they are positioned in the propwash. And naturally, the more airspeed the "missile" has, the more effective the steering fins will be.

>>1175662
Easy (lazy) setup: Just plug your shit in, make sure looptime is slower than 1 kHz, and use Oneshot125. BLheli on the ESC should be able to auto-detect the protocol if it's in stock configuration.
Harder (but better) setup: research your hardware, determine if you can run Multishot or Dshot on your ESCs and FC or not. Then use BLheli configurator to assign that protocol to the ESC, and set the FC to speak the same protocol and run a fast as fuq looptime.

Also if you're interested in actually knowing what the fuck any of this shit means, you can sit down for an hour or so and listen to Joshua Bardwell explain it all:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=36552970&postcount=2765

>>1174660
Sorry for not replying sooner, I tried a couple times but I've been getting "connection error" bullshit from 4chan.
Anyways
>do you think it is feasible to use one of those for a portable control system (embedded in a case)
Sure, the brain itself is small enough, so it's really the joystick itself (and other GCS components, if applicable) that will probably have more impact on portability.
>while keeping the capabilities to connect the drone to a computer?
>connect the drone to a computer
That could mean any number of things. The Windbox is basically just an RC transmitter which takes its control inputs from a USB-HID joystick device. It uses a real-time processor running mostly-typical RC transmitter firmware and transmitting RC signals out over either the included 2.4 GHz FHSS RF module, or alternatively out to an external LRS module. About as reliable and responsive as it gets. You can still connect the aircraft's telemetry or FPV or whatever to a computer in parallel with this RC control link, if you like... it's no different from an ordinary RC controller in that regard.

Now, if for whatever reason you want to put a computer BETWEEN the controls and the aircraft, the Windbox probably isn't the way to go since you're going to have to write your own software either way.
>I don't want to rule out PC compatibilty because my plan was to add 360º cameras feeding a VR system on a PC as a second project when I get this working.
Yeah, I've thought about this (and even experimented with digital FPV some), and I don't feel like the technology is quite there yet for FPV. It's only just recently become possible to stream 360 video wirelessly at all, and I think it will be some time before there's a reasonably lightweight, long-range and lag-free way to achieve this for FPV. In the mean time, there's always analog video (or Connex) and servo-based pan-and-tilt.

>>1176509
In blheli I never saw an option to select the protocol. However I've tested with multishot and seems to be running well

>>1176606
I see, I've been working on the ideas I had and I've more or less decided what to do.

I'm going to make a VTOL (plane shaped) drone and put a camera on a couple of servos underneath, this camera will be transmitting to the control system which will have a screen attached.

The idea is having a Raspberry Pi or Arduino on the drone control all the systems (camera, engines, gyros, parachutes...) and a second one on the controls. I intend to have it be a very long range drone, up to 30-40KM of range would be ideal (battery is not a problem, I need the range because I plan to tie it to a weather balloon and send it to space, then glide back down).

Any advice you have before I dive into it?

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>>1176859
This is the first draft I've made of what the overall shape would be

wingspan would be around 1.11m, tail to front would be about 0.5m

Wings would be flat bottom

I'm torn between making it full carbon fiber and making a carbon fiber structure to support everything and then making a foam exterior

I'd thought of using one of these for the back https://hobbyking.com/en_us/dr-mad-thrust-110mm-12-blade-edf-electroplated-version-980kv-10s.html
Is it a good idea?


Also, for controlling the Raspberry Pi I'd use this http://rpi900.com/hardware/introduction.html as a receiver and http://wireless.murata.com/eng/dnt900p.html as the transceiver
Alternatively, I could swap the RasPi for an Arduino which could do the trick as well but as of now I'm more worried about the overall design than about the electronics

You guys think it could work? I've yet to do the math and figure out the aerodynamics part of it but I'm getting good vibes from it

>>1176962
>doing a flying wing as your first rc project
Getting the centre of lift right, and giving the wing a proper camber is a bit difficult. Especially when you're slapping huge rotors into it. Why not choose something simpler for your first plane?

>>1176989
Well first of all it's not a project I'm doing on my own, I needed to do something flashy to get some friends to participate and put money in it (otherwise I'd be short on that end)

Second is that I'm applying to MIT this year and my physics professor agreed to giving me a recommendation letter if I managed to do something more impressive than just an standard drone/rc plane, as some people in my class already made projects like those and, apparently it is expected that I do something better because I'm older and have more ambition

Also because it's fucking cool and all other ideas were just too boring compared to an RC VTOL

>>1176859
>The idea is having a Raspberry Pi or Arduino on the drone control all the systems (camera, engines, gyros, parachutes...) and a second one on the controls.
Might want to look into companion computer arrangements for APM/Pixhawk. I used one such setup myself for a university project, with a Pixhawk autopilot coupled to an onboard Raspberry Pi which handled imaging and various other systems while the Pixhawk handled basic flight and navigation.
>I intend to have it be a very long range drone, up to 30-40KM of range would be ideal
You're going to need directional antennas for that, at least on your ground station.
>I need the range because I plan to tie it to a weather balloon and send it to space, then glide back down
Then what's the VTOL for?
>>1176962
>This is the first draft I've made of what the overall shape would be
Hang on. Which end is forwards?
>Wings would be flat bottom
Flying wings need reflex (or at least wing twist) to trim properly. They can still be "flat-bottom" (look at the FT Versa for a notable example of this), but keep in mind that you'll need some kind of reflex/kick-up at the tail, so it can't be flat EVERYWHERE.
>I'm torn between making it full carbon fiber and making a carbon fiber structure to support everything and then making a foam exterior
Foam is super easy to repair. This matters a lot with RC, doubly so if you're dicking around with experimental electronics and autopilots and whatnot.
>I'd thought of using one of these for the back https://hobbyking.com/en_us/dr-mad-thrust-110mm-12-blade-edf-electroplated-version-980kv-10s.html
Is it a good idea?
Nah, EDFs kinda suck unless you're really bent on building a "jet" for whatever reason. Lots of current draw for underwhelming thrust.
>Also, for controlling the Raspberry Pi I'd use this http://rpi900.com/hardware/introduction.html as a receiver and http://wireless.murata.com/eng/dnt900p.html as the transceiver
Seems a bit pricey compared to something like OpenLRS with RFM23BP.

>>1177151
>Then what's the VTOL for?
Landing basically, and the whole "launching from space" is a one time thing so it should be able to fly normally on other conditions.

>Hang on. Which end is forwards?
Red points are in the front, thought it might not be a good idea but I was thinking of doing it that way because of the cool factor. Should I reverse it?

>Flying wings need reflex (or at least wing twist) to trim properly. They can still be "flat-bottom" (look at the FT Versa for a notable example of this), but keep in mind that you'll need some kind of reflex/kick-up at the tail, so it can't be flat EVERYWHERE.
I know, I meant mostly flat, back would be slightly tilted upwards, soon I'll have a 3d model I can easily modify and share

>Nah, EDFs kinda suck unless you're really bent on building a "jet" for whatever reason. Lots of current draw for underwhelming thrust.
I'm kinda torn on this, the EDF kind of makes the whole thing a lot cooler by making it more like a jet, both sound wise and visually, I'd already heard about the not very good performance but I'm inclined to make that sacrifice in performance to make the plane much cooler. Not completely decided tho, fortunately untill I start buying the pieces I have some time to decide.

>Seems a bit pricey compared to something like OpenLRS with RFM23BP.
Looking into that now, thanks for pointing me to it

>>1177195
Your VTOL will ruin your gliding characteristics. Build the plane from foam and glide to a landing in grass, 99% of the time if you do it properly the plane will be completely unharmed.

A forward swept wing on this is a terrible idea. You're going to be enormously unstable, particularly in a yaw and in a stall.

If you want to glide for 40km, efficiency is actually going to matter. An EDF gives you no benefit and actually harms your performance in a few ways.

What I would do is have the red point be the rear of the plane. Flatten the wing out a bit at the rear center, and mount a propeller there.

>>1177229
>Your VTOL will ruin your gliding characteristics. Build the plane from foam and glide to a landing in grass, 99% of the time if you do it properly the plane will be completely unharmed.
I didn't think it'd be that bad, I've seen very similar concepts working allright. That said I can work with keeping it as a glider if it means it will work better and still look cool. I can also make it look much cooler covering the foam with carbon fiber fabric

>A forward swept wing on this is a terrible idea. You're going to be enormously unstable, particularly in a yaw and in a stall.
Ok that's something I was half expecting to be the answer

>If you want to glide for 40km, efficiency is actually going to matter. An EDF gives you no benefit and actually harms your performance in a few ways.
>What I would do is have the red point be the rear of the plane. Flatten the wing out a bit at the rear center, and mount a propeller there.

Would it really harm that much to keep the EDF after fixing other points? How can I compare the efficiency of certain propellers vs an EDF? I kinda want to keep it because of the aesthetics (props look hideous imo) and the sound

>>1160400
This is so cool

>>1177321
I can guarantee that having huge sections of your wings chopped out will obliterate your glide capability. This is particularly true at high altitude where the air is thinner.

Is your main motivation here to just make something cool? That is fine, but I think you need to lay out some clear objectives of how you want this thing to perform before you move on much more.

On the subject, MIT can see through bullshit. If you are making something that is more of a facade of capability, don't expect it to help you. What really impresses them are people that understand how the physics of the design's performance influence design choices.
Based off the configuration you showed and what you have posted (and I am not trying to put you down. I honestly want to help), this isn't the case. If you have a clear goal on what sort of a "mission" you want your aircraft to perform, that can help you use math to optimize your design.
That is a higher level of thinking that engineers care about: making serious design tradeoffs instead of just trying to make shit that "looks cool".

What is your experience here? If you want suggestions, I need an idea of your skill set.

How much time do you have to work?
What manufacturing experience do you have and what resources do you have access to?
What experience do you have with physics and aerodynamics?
What equipment do you have?
What RC experience do you have?
What is your budget?

>>1177195
Alright... this isn't with respect to any one thing but I gotta say it seems like you're pushing way too hard for the "gee-whiz" factor with this project. I'm not saying it can't be done, but the complexity is definitely adding up and I'm 105% certain at this point you're getting way ahead of yourself.

I'm still gonna try to let you decide which gimmicks to drop and which to keep, and I'll try to provide advice whichever way you go... but for your own sake, you should take about 10 steps back and think about seriously simplifying your project.
>Landing basically
I really don't see how that's necessary. But if you MUST do it, I'd recommend looking at other examples of APM quadplane or tailsitter designs and sticking to that. I really don't think you'll want to be developing your own autopilot modes and mixers on top of everything else.
>Red points are in the front
Forward-swept flying wings are possible (Alula is a good, if mild example of this), but have their own funny little quirks about them that you should probably be aware of. Some good attributes, some bad (especially if you're too aggressive with the sweep angle). As a general rule, whenever trying an unusual configuration I recommend first building a little chuck glider version out of scraps and trying to trim and balance that. If you can get the little one to achieve a stable glide, the same setup should work for the real thing.
>because of the cool factor
Sounds like your project in a nutshell.
>>1177229
>A forward swept wing on this is a terrible idea. You're going to be enormously unstable, particularly in a yaw and in a stall.
I kind of have to disagree. Forward-swept wings are fundamentally less-prone to tip-stalling, and dutch-roll as well (the roll/yaw wobbles that tend to plague other flying wings). That said, excessive forward sweep can still cause deep-stall/pitch-up tendencies, and unlike on aft-swept wings, washout with forward sweep produces the wrong pitching moment.

Is the turnigy t8fg an outdated transmitter? If not then what's so good about it

>>1177542
I see, seems I was planing backwards, my idea was to set a cool design and then do the math and optimize it, I see now that it is not going to work and I should focus on performance first

>How much time do you have to work?
About 3 or 4 months
>What manufacturing experience do you have and what resources do you have access to?
I've worked with electronics before, and have made a couple of projects with mechanical parts
>What experience do you have with physics and aerodynamics?
I have a basic understanding of aerodynamics, I have progressed a bit part HS physics on my own and learning more physics is basically a hobby for me at this point.
>What equipment do you have?
As in tools? or do you mean parts ready to start building? I don't think I'm short on tools but if we're talking about parts for this I only have the parts of a drone I dismantled a couple of months ago.
>What RC experience do you have?
Little to none, I know how to fly them and the basics of how to build one, electronics is the part I have more experience on (albeit there are a lot of RC specific parts I'm still learning about)
>What is your budget?
For the moment, I'd settle on about 400€, but it's not a fixed budget, it could go up if it's needed.


>>1177590
I see now that I'll have to cut down on all the gimmicks and think about performance first. If I don't go with aft-swept wings I'll definitely lower the sweep angle

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>>1177647
For an engineering project, what MIT wants to see in terms of process is:
1. Goals of the mission.
2. The most effective method to achieve these goals.
3. A well put-together presentation on the above.
4. A good-looking plane.

Your goal is to launch a glider to the edge of space with a weather balloon, releasing it, and having an autopilot glide it to a landing back at the launch site, right? Maybe collect some temperature and pressure data on the way? What I would do is start with something like my pic, and then research how conditions at high altitude (temperatures, air pressure, whether foam can survive partial reentry) would affect your plane, then modify/build your platform accordingly. After I have a functional platform, I'd add a telemetry recorder and the sensors you need (I would suggest a thermometer, a barometer, and a pitot tube), then add a setup like Arducopter for the autopiloting.

And, the most valuable advice you're going to get: Keep it small and light. Long and thin wings glide better, but a small and light plane is a lot more durable. Your weather balloon isn't going to travel far enough away from you that you really need extreme gliding capabilities. Any off-the-shelf plane should be capable of gliding long enough to return from such a drop. Even so, if you don't absolutely need something, don't add it. Carbon fibre film looks cool, but it's a lot of weight that doesn't provide any benefit. MIT will look at it and go "Why do you have the film on it?", and you won't be able to give an answer that will satisfy them. Do more with less, engineering 101.

>>1177675
I see, thanks a million for taking the time to help me this much. I intended to manually glide it back down tho, or at least turn off the autopilot once it reaches a certain altitude.

I'm now working on a 3D model of the glider that I can easily modify afterwards and put in simulations, I'll read a couple of books about aerodynamics this week and make sure it's has the most stability possible.

>>1177688
Hol up hol up. New to the discussion, but you're going to optimise that shit with CFD?
Good luck with that lol.

> I'll read a couple of books about aerodynamics this week and make sure it has the most stability possible.
You don't want it to be too stable either or else maneuverability will become problematic

>>1177691
I suppose after getting through a couple of books and/or courses I'll be able to sort through this stuff, right?

And with "optimise" I mean, get informed on the basics and use to give me a general idea of how much lift it'll have, I was advised to do this recently, is it not a good idea?

>>1177647
Alright man, you might seriously be over reaching here. I once did something similar in high school, so trust me when I say that you are going to under deliver. This isn't a trivial problem to start with for someone with experience.
Issues with radio telemetry alone will make you run into walls so fast that you will have no idea what to do. There is a lot of systems integration going on here, and if you and none of your friends know what you are doing, you won't make much of anything, and could possibly end up not learning anything (which is much worse).

With that budget and time, you seriously need to ditch some of the tasks you've put on your plate.
Also, you need a way bigger budget, but maybe you will understand as you organize and plan the tasks ahead of you. Equipment aint cheap.

1. Get rid of this home made flight controller and ground station idea.

That alone is an immense task that no highschooler but the most exceptional could manage. If you haven't even heard of PID, have no experience with filtering, and have never used interrupts or I2C, don't even think about this. You will be will be wasting your time.

Buy a proven autopilot/flight controller if you want onboard flight logging and autonomous function. APMs and Pixhawks suck, but they do work and will save you way more time because there are people that know what they are doing (sortof) behind them. Mission planner will be sufficient as a ground station. However, radio telemetry is ass.

2. Significantly decrease your operating range.

Range of operation significantly increases the complexity, cost, and safety risk of an aircraft design.

You suggest you need reliable connection beyond line of sight. Not going to happen for cheap and not easy or safe to test for the inexperienced.

Differing flight regimes requires much more time spend in design studies on performance changes. Limiting flight conditions to much lower altitude will make that much easier.

1/?

>>1177700
That highly depends on your experience with CFD. If you have no experience whatsoever i highly believe you're wasting your time, as lift and 3D drag can be reasonably well approximated without the use of such a program.
For example, i designed a glider for my bachelor with a specific LoD using a 2D approximation with a correction for 3D phenomena. A few years later i did a CFD simulation of it for shit and giggles and got a very similar result.
You might get a bit more accurate result (if you know what you're doing that is), but the extra time investment can be huge.
On the plus side, CFD makes it easier to gain info on, for example roll and yaw stability, or more complex geometries where approximations become tricky. In my case it was just a rectangular wing, which is a lot simpler than a swept wing with a certain twist distribution and taper.

What software are you using btw?

>>1177701

3. Simplify the aerodynamic analysis

CFD is a whole field of study. If that is really what you are planning, don't assume you will be successful. People specialize in just understanding how to properly setup a simulation they can run, and good simulations take a lot of time to run. There are more basic performance measures that can be used with straightforward equations. You can make a spreadsheet and tinker with varying design parameters much quicker this way.

Stability is very broad. You have dynamic and static stability, and stability in different conditions. Also, you cant be over stable or you r won't be able to maneuver the aircraft. It is easy enough to make a reasonably stable aircraft with experience, but you have none. If you can source from existing designs, or literally rig up to an existing design, you will save yourself a big hassle. Otherwise, there are tools I can share with you to help you do these performance measures.

4. Look more at what hobbyists are doing that what professors are teaching,

Hobbyist know all the short hand and will get you a good plane in the air much faster. You need to learn the components and techniques from them before you can start doing the professional stuff.
Look at YouTube channels like Flite Test, RCModelReviews, and Samm Sheperd.

5. Have a clear scientific/engineering goal in mind.

If you are latched to the weather balloon idea, I think MIT would be much more interested in someone that did a novel and interesting experiment and high altitude for the curiosity and love for it. That would simple require recoverable instrumentation in a weather balloon payload.

If you make a plane that has exceptional endurance or is optimized for a competition (say SAE Aero design, Speedfest, or AIAA Design Build Fly), that will also be impressive.

2/2

2/

>>1177700
Maybe you can manage, but aircraft design is a multifaceted and complex mulitvariable problem. It is not easy to lean without some help.

Yeah, that is not what optimize means and that obscures what you are trying to say.
It is good to get a general idea of lift and drag characteristics. But that is not what you use CFD and simulation for.

>>1177708
I see, my original plan regarding lift was to work with approximations, CFD only came into mind when I was recommended to use it by a friend who's currently studying AeroE, but if it's as complex as both you and >>1177709 say, then I'll probably drop it.
>>1177701
>>1177709

>1. Get rid of this home made flight controller and ground station idea.
That was pretty much the last part I was thinking of so I have no problem dropping it

>2. Significantly decrease your operating range.
I realise this is one of the most complex parts of the project but if I want to do the whole dropping it from a super high altitude I need to have a huge operating range, right?

>3. Simplify the aerodynamic analysis
As I said before, I was only recommended to do this recently, and had no idea it was this complicated, I'll go with simpler methods

>5. Have a clear scientific/engineering goal in mind.
For the moment the goal was to have an FPV drone capable of gliding back from high altitudes while straming video from an onboard camera to the controller, I'm going to look into those competitions tho, see if I could adapt to one of them

I realise I'm reaching here, but if it was easy it wouldn't be impressive

>>1177719
I agree that if it is easy, no one would care, but what can often be worst is trying to do too much and embarrassing yourself with a mess. I can personally think of several examples.

Let me know if you need some resources to pull from for aircraft design. I can hook you up.

>>1177719
>For the moment the goal was to have an FPV drone capable of gliding back from high altitudes while straming video from an onboard camera to the controller
That is simply not going to happen for an amateur on a 600 dollar budget.
You'll have a hard enough time doing FPV from 4km range with that budget, let alone getting the FCC and aerospace certification needed to fly a >25mW (you'll need orders of magnitude more power, that means amateur radio license) radio transmitter at high altitude and outside visual range.

What you can do is send up a gopro and some basic sensors on a plane, and have a pixhawk pilot it down for you. But forget about being hands on at that range on such a tiny budget. The certifications alone would be outside your budget.

>>1177768
I second this

>>1177719
https://youtu.be/rpBnurznFio

>>1177768
>>1177818
That video is David from FliteTest. He's good at this stuff, and usually very helpful. You could try contacting him and seeing if he has some advice for you, but he'll likely tell you the same thing we've been. The video does show a big problem you'll have to consider: Wind. You'll want your flight to start upwind from your destination, since your range will be minimal if you're struggling to fly against the wind. With a decent autopilot, getting it to land close to a set coordinate should be possible, David's big problem there was trying to pilot it himself, and the balloon getting blown far enough away that his original landing target was unreachable due to the wind.

>>1177823
Yep. That is why I posted that. This is something that has been done before. It got cool footage for sure.

>>1177691
Not him but Javafoil and XFLR are pretty user-friendly. Both are still susceptible to garbage-in, garbage-out though.

>>1177675
>Your weather balloon isn't going to travel far enough away from you that you really need extreme gliding capabilities.
Yeah, it will. Keep in mind that balloons always drift downwind, and you have to penetrate a pretty stiff, headwind (often 20+ knots easily, 50+ if passing through the jetstream) on the way down to get back to where you launched from. Most gliders only go about 20-30 knots in the first place, and their glide ratio will suffer greatly in a typical stratospheric headwind.

Overcoming this will probably favor a fast glider with high wing loading. Slope gliders often carry ballast to go faster, but that's probably not a good idea on something that needs to be carried aloft via balloon (the heavier it is, the slower it will ascend and the further downwind it will drift). So the only other good option is to keep the glider compact and streamlined.

>Do more with less, engineering 101.
Damn straight.

>>1177688
>I'll read a couple of books about aerodynamics this week and make sure it's has the most stability possible.
Must-read: https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/media/00-80T-80.pdf
I also found this pretty informative: http://docs.desktop.aero/appliedaero/preface/welcome.html

>>1177768
You'd be amazed what can be done with 25 mW and a good directional antenna and tracker.