Home Forums Everything about the Mini Tricopter Interested in Father / Son project

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  • #39654
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    The 3D-printed landing gear & camera mounts I had made came in…

    OMG they’re awesome, Thank you Terje!

    Landing gear is 7-8 grams for the complete set.
    Camera mounts are 4 grams and 5 grams respectively, depending on which camera is being used.

    Will post pics when i have chance.

    Kevin

    #39767
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    My son (Erik, 6-years old) made a video of one of our flights this morning.

    Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/179840952

    Youtube: https://youtu.be/M8KeK9aeGXI

    #39851
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    Body kit received and installed.

    #39881
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    Did a few flights today with the Runcam-Split, body kit and Ducts installed.

    ***Youtube link to video ***

    #39982
    joecamp
    Participant

    good job!

    #39991
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    Working on inverting the motors within the ducts so that the outward airflow isn’t impeded by the duct struts or the tricoter arms. Should see a 5-10% boost in thrust from this as well as motors being placed closer to the tricopters center of gravity.

    The caveat of this is that naturally the ducts will be larger and thus heavier. I am estimating 60 grams per Duct if ABS / PLA printing is used. Could be much lighter and stronger if PA-2200 Nylon (SLA) is used. In my experience with Nylon, its a strong, resilient material and most importantly less likely to see layer separation common with other materials. Naturally with the ducts hanging down instead of up, landing gear similar to what a helicopter needs to be added. This way the ducts do not directly contact the ground.

    This will all take time of course as I am still waiting on the first print of the 6″ duct Version 8. Hoping to see if and how the internal winglets effect lift before proceeding on to other design ideas.

    #40022
    Terje
    Moderator

    Nice canopy! Been working on something new…

    #40023
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    Wow that looks cool…
    Doesn’t the light show up on the FPV camera ?

    Question, are you open to design suggestions for the canopy?

    Would like to see:

    * Quick hatch for the batteries replacement so that the battery doesn’t have to be pulled past the servo and propeller. This arrangement could also allow for a larger battery to be used if it could simply be dropped in from the top.

    * Mounting system for PBC cards such as flight controllers, OSD’s and other electronics can be soft mounted securely to the canopy without modifying the frame.

    * Camera mounts for two cameras with the supporting VTX and antennas. The overall idea being 3D FPV.

    * I love this Skin: http://www.foundation3d.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=76729&d=1421492833

    Kevin

    #57317
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    Just blew up my VTX today by connecting the VTX’s 2-pin power connector backwards. (Attached to the MINI’s RAW connector) This custom connector is bidirectional so unless I’m looking closely, it’s hard to be certain of its orientation. Yes, the VTX went BOOM as did the extra cap I had installed to reduce voltage transients!

    Note: the silkscreen polarity symbols are extremely small and hard to see especially when the canopy is attached.

    Fucking hate working like this! I have both kids home and feel rushed to get something minor like the VTX power rewired. (Was hoping to fly this Weekend) It worked great during a bench test, only to piss it away inserting it into the Copter. The Copter still flies but the auto leveling feels flaky afterwards so i suspect that the IMU took a power hit. Fortunately with the Runcam Split (v1) I had previously installed a diode to prevent power from feeding back into the VTX while the Split with connected to USB. For all intensive purposes the Split maybe fine.

    At the very least I’ll need to replace the VTX and see whats working and whats not. Furthermore I’ll need to install some for of connector that allows the VTX to be powered from the RAW outlet but just force the correct orientation.

    #57323
    LitterBug
    Participant

    D’OH! Polarized connectors. Find them and use them. Saves a ton of headache later.

    LB

    #57324
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    @Litterbug

    Any ideas on where i can find a polarized comnector that can be mounted on the PCB (RAW) connector?

    #57327
    LitterBug
    Participant

    Hard wire a JST connector on a pigtail for example. I do this all the time.

    Mini Tri on 6S

    Cheers!
    LB

    #57381
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    The solution i came up with was to attach / solder pin-header slugs directly to the JST adaptor. I then soldered the hole assembly directly to the RAW connector after first pushing the pin-header slugs though each of the holes. Only need to epoxy it now so it stays in place forever.

    Note: The plastic adaptor for the pin header has been removed.

    Beyond all of that, it appears that the Tri-Mini has a problem with its receivers range. I often get 45% RSSI warning from the Taranis when the Tri is only 80-100 meters away, when it should be good till at least 500 meters or more.

    #57754
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    Encountered a major Desync issue yesterday and crashed as a result. Makes me wonder if some of my control an tuning issues were desync problems as well.

    https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=Gd6hDRKj080

    Today I replaced All the F80-1900kv motors with Davids RS2205-2300KV (Red bottom) motors and swapped out the Tail’s ESC. Performed the bench ESC calibration for multishot and everything seams “ok”.

    However on bench testing I can hear an audible stutter on all the motors. Is it possible that the Flight Controller could be the issue? I mean what are the odds of this considering that I just swapped in another set of motors?

    #57762
    Kevin_Erik
    Moderator

    Got it back up and running using the Stock RS205-2300kv motors. Did a test flight using the Impossible-Tilt Mechanism. So far all is well and flies pretty smooth.

Viewing 15 posts - 46 through 60 (of 60 total)
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