Category: Open Blog

This category is open for everyone, you can share your stories with text and photos.

  • RCexplorer style Tricopter FOR SALE!

    Here we have for sale my custom built Tricopter based on the famous David Windestål AKA RC Explorer design. This build has been constructed with care and attention to detail. It is very stable and agile. The Tricopter folds up for easy storage/transport and helps to reduce damage in the event of a crash by absorbing impact.

     

    The Tricopter features 12mm wooden booms – 30cm long.

     

    The Tricopter comprises of the following components:

     

    • 12mm wooden booms, 30cm these have been tested and this setup provides the best balance between stability and agility.
    • KK Multicopter Flight Control Board.
    • X 3 CF2822 1200Kv 13.5A brushless motors – these are brand new. With their rare earth magnets and excellent build quality they provide 700g of thrust each, thats 2.1 kg of thrust in total.
    • X3 Hobbywing Funfly 18 amp electronic speed controllers – these are ideal for multi rotor platforms and provide more then enough current to the motors which means they stay cool and will last.
    • High quality Hobbyking HK939MG 2.5kg metal gear tail servo.
    • Proven and reliable RC Explorer yaw mechanism.
    • XT 60 battery connector.
    • X3 slowfly 24cm propellers. This includes three props which I have balanced using a precision prop balancer. On top of that I’ll throw in X3 spare propellers.

    The Tricopter is built to be strong but also light and weighs only 500 grams without battery – this means that there is 1600 grams of additional thrust which allows for a huge carrying capacity or great aerobatics. This kind of additional thrust allows for example a battery weighing 500 gram – enough for 5000 mah+ of capacity (very large capacity), meaning that the flight time can be very long indeed (20 minutes + depending of the battery). In addition this allows the ability to add FPV equipment and other accessories.

    You may be wondering why the Tricopter is made out of wood and uses zip ties to hold the components to the body. Well this is because these parts are designed to be easily replaceable and break before other more expensive components. This means that the Tricopter is easily fixable and low cost to do so. The only things you need to fix 99% of crashes is a long wooden rod, zip ties and possibly spare propellers. Being an FPV platform there is an increased risk of crashing, or for beginners this provides a good learning platform.
    All you need to fly is your own 4ch+ receiver and transmitter plus battery and it’s charger. The reason for this is that I’m expecting whomever buys this will already be a hobbyist and there is no point selling them an incompatible receiver. However I am willing to arrange selling a compatible receiver and transmitter, maybe even a battery to a buyer on special request. The Tricopter will require a little setting up before flight but as part of the deal I’m offering my expert advice in the setup and any other hobby related queries for at least the first year after buying the Tricopter.
    I must also say that THIS IS NOT A TOY. I expect that the buyer will already have some hobby experience and have some ability to fly a collective pitch RC helicopter. Also you must understand that due to the nature of this hobby I do not accept refunds.
    The reason for selling this is because I have a limited budget for my hobby and need money to fund my next project (which out of interest is a fully automated drone). The reserve is very reasonable, I have spent over £120 pounds on this without even taking into account building costs and my time, so grab yourself a one of a kind bargain!
    FPV equipment not included, nor Gopro camera. Sold as seen in other photos from the main – the main is an example of it setup with FPV equipment and flying.
    Thank you for viewing!
  • Tricopter servo

    First off, thanks to David for his effort in showing us how build an inexpensive multirotor. I bought all the parts from hobbyking, had great fun building it, and it flew beautifully first time.

    Now to my question. The suggested Blue Bird servo burnt out after a crash and I cannot find a replacement here in South Africa, and Hobbyking is out of stock as well. Any suggestions on a different servo?

  • To simonk, or not to simonk?

    I’m trying to copy David’s V.2.5 tricopter. This is my first tricopter. HobbyKing did not have the exact model of ESC, so I substituted with the Mystery 30A BEC Brushless Speed Controller (Blue Series). I reflashed all of them with the simonk firmware. I bought the HobbyKing Multi-Rotor Control Board V3.0 (Atmega328 PA) and used the latest kkmulticopter flashtool to put Minsoo Kim’s XXcontrol_KR_TriCopter v2.9 on the control board.

    I completed my tricopter and I tried running it up last night and it was extremely jumpy and not controllable at all. I moved the gains back and forth with no change in behavior. I missed the step of balancing the props/motors (I’m using the orange GWS props), so I hope that is the cause of my problem, but it has made me question my choice of putting the simonk firmware on my ESCs.

    I’ve been blindly following all the tutorials/tips I can find without fully understanding the reasons behind them. What does the simonk firmware give us? Should I even be using it? I noticed that David did not reflash the ESCs on his V2.5, but he has commented on reflashing them before (V2), but he has never specifically called out the magic “simonk” firmware like others have. My understanding is that the new firmware offers greater precision and responsiveness compared to the stock firmware, but is that true? Do I HAVE to reflash in order to use a KK Board?

     

     

  • How to control a rc helicopter

    Nowdays people are organizing parties, most are always at their wits end as they try to ensure that there are enough fun activities for the guests to engage in. Remote control helicopters can be an excellent source of entertainment at parties and other events. The guests at the party can get to watch, a highly advanced remote control pilot, perform impressive air tricks with the remote control helicopters. The person, who will be navigating the remote control helicopter, should be able to do so without injuring those who will be watching the rc helicopter.

    Admittedly, navigating the remote control helicopters is not an easy task. It takes hours or even days of practice how effectively to maneuver the RC helicopter. While a navigator is still practicing how to pilot The RC helicopter, it is best that the person only fly the helicopter in a wide and open field. This is a precautionary measure against possible accidents, especially if the person is training in the house or a crammed back yard. Once the person has mastered how to navigate the remote control helicopter, then the person can go ahead and fly it in the house. The recent model of the electric remote control helicopter is best for in the house flying, because it is small enough to be maneuvered around.

    While the simpler tricks can easily be mastered within the first few days of using the remote control helicopters, the advanced maneuvering tricks can take months and maybe even years to master. Therefore, before performing this tricks, that the pilot ensures that he or she is well adapted to executing them.
    There are six steps generally.
    1.Charge the helicopter completely. The Havoc attaches with a wire to the remote control and charges from there. A full charge ensures that you will get the most flight time out of your Heli before having to come in and land.
    2.Place the controller in your left hand in position as if you were holding the controller with both hands.
    3.Place the Havoc Heli in your right palm and ensure there is ample free space above your hand.
    4.Gently press up on the left thumb stick. This stick will control the lift of your helicopter while you are flying. It is important to gently increase the strength of this lift to ensure that the helicopter does not spin out control.
    5.Straighten out the helicopter using the L or R button. Often at take off the helicopter will be spinning to the left or to the right, and these buttons are used to straighten it out before using the turning thumb stick. Press the button opposite the direction the nose is turning, and repeat as needed until the helicopter is hovering in place with no spin.
    6.Use the right thumb stick to control the turns of the helicopter, and the left thumb stick to move the helicopter forward and up or down, with more pressure on the left stick causing the helicopter to travel higher and faster, and less causing it to slow down and lower.

  • propellors

    hi David I notice that you always refer to using standard rotation propellers on your tricopters, yet all the KK boards only show CW and  C C W blades in there instructions.Is there a special set up required to be able to use standard pop,s

    Nealy ready to trial your tricopter design but which props?

  • Setting CG

     

    So here’s the basic purpose of taking this action. A multicopter with an excellent CG will make your flight that much nicer. You always want your CG to be at a point where it is the same distance from the shaft of each motor. This way at hover the weight is at the Center of Lift as I call it and the copter will not wander due to weight imbalance. For a quadcopter set up in an X this is easy as the X already marks the spot but on a tricopter or H copter the center is a little more difficult to pinpoint. I did this on my tricopter using yarn. I strung the yarn around each shaft making a triangle. From there I tied more yarn around the middle of each side and tied the other end to the shaft directly across the triangle as seen in the picture. Where the strings meet is the center of lift. This is where you want to center your weight. Mine happened to line up with my KK board exactly. On a tricopter you may need to move the weight a centimeter or two forward since the rear motor compensates for yaw a little. Thanks for reading and post up the comments!

    Though I do not have much up for aerial at the moment check out my Youtube channel for some RC action! Madbassmassacre is also my username on Youtube!

    -Caleb

  • Great site David Keep it up 🙂

     

    Here is one of my videos,   Enjoy.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • UFO caught via FPV!

    Im glad they didnt fire their photon torpedos!

    🙂

  • Winter FPV experience

    Hi,
    some days ago I went Skiing at Oberjoch, south Germany.

    Of course I had my Tricopter and A Dslr-Hexacopter with me:

    check out the Video:

    Sorry for the shaky Dslr-footage, there was something wrong with the deinterlacing !

    visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Sky.Pictures

    Best Regards
    Fabian

  • Super Simple Gimbal (SSG) for Tricopter – Also very cheap and awesome!

    Check it out:

    How to build it:

    http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1793759