Rob2160

Any luck with the Maiden?

ingleburn

Yeah it went ok but theres a few issues I have to sort out. I think a motor or ESC is a bit dodgy as Im getting some yaw and drift issues.
Also in loiter sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. Tried RTL today and the first time it was perfect and the next few times it was scary. Might have to do a reset of the board and start again as well as change the left front motor and ESC as thats where the issue seems to be. On a slow start up that motor lags behing the rest. And to add some more mystery after 6 different flights today I only had 2 logs saved.Of course I blame Brian and Jonesy for getting me into this mess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxT_O6ZUwgs

Rob2160

Thanks for the Report, watching vid now.. hopefully it won't take long to sort out that motor / esc..

I blame Brian for everything.. even slow Hobbyking orders..

rikybob

Heheh, Robbie, I can't help shipping!!!

Just got all my equipment back from a week of camping and just ate 5lbs of holiday leftovers!!

Time for a "safety nap" and I'll attack that APM board project!

All the best!

b

rikybob

Hello KIDZ!!

The ole APM Q450 is back up again!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTScZjcYbho&feature=youtu.be

rikybob

Uh WOW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnGhEInTXYc&feature=em-uploademail

rikybob

Thieving Aussie Eagles...


http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/02/intrepid-eagle-steals-video-camera-shoots-selfie-in-australia/

mnemennth

b -

Good on ya getting the Q450 aloft again; maybe need to start marking "This End Up" on your props.

I've actually had a bit of time to work on the Peaks today; managed to get all the warped Vert Stab and Elevator surfaces straightened out and reinforced with CF (this is evidently a common issue with the Dynam EPO products; wish I'd known that before I jumped into it) Also finished assembling the tail and upgrading the tailwheel by modding the axle wire and installing one of the original front wheels on it. I plan to install a set of 3" LiteFlite wheel on the front; the strip at the club is grass and they don't mow as short as the original 45mm wheels would like.

Currently trying to figure out what died in my beloved iMars battery charger; for some reason, it thinks the cell voltage at #1 is about 1.5V lower than it actually is; it overcharged that cell on one of my newest NanoTechs. I was able to rebalance the pack to a storage charge right away, but i won't know until I get it fully recharged and can fly it to see if it's damaged or not. 'Til then I'm dead in the water with no multicell lipo charger... though I think I can polish-engineer a way to charge my packs from a single-cell charger. My life is an adventure.



A'aight... 'tis late and I needs my beauty rest. Peace and tailwinds,



mnem
I am not my pants.

Rob2160

That is just too funny, you can't help but laugh when he starts pecking the cam.

Great you got the Quad flying again and wow is right!. The Stingray 500 looks awesome. .

ingleburn

That thing looks so wrong in the air. Quads arent suppose to do that. What a strange setup on the radio as well. He really thinks outside the box.

ingleburn

Funny you should mention that. Had the quad out the other day and letting it do the 5 min warm up. Had 3 crows go right up to it and thought they were going to try and steal it.
Should have armed it and scared the life out of them

rikybob

One more!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qeqU3lIH-4&feature=youtu.be

rikybob

Had a blast on the 1st half of my day!

Bull *****ed with Noel and Jonesy in AU while still testing my APM!

We THINK Noel has his posh git name brand setup, SETUP!

I installed the metal trunnion in my T-28 landing gear. I should have just bought the metal version DOH! But I learned a lot about aircraft retracks!

Hope all is well in YOUR worlds!

b


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58lJ6WKUUqc&feature=youtu.be

ingleburn

While the cats away the mice will play. Isnt that suppose to be under the tree

ingleburn

Ok finally got the quad working the way it should Turns out I had the compass set the wrong way.
Went really well and happy to finally have it sorted out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI_3k1RSLMQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVp9xysA75c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku9Fm56gRtA

Rob2160

Watched all three vids, great job on getting the compass sorted. It is flying perfectly, rock steady hover and nice on the RTH mode. cy. There was a lot of discussion on RCG about the 350QX not landing exactly where it takes off but that is totally normal. GPS was originally only accurate to 100 meters until Mr Clinton boosted the accuracy for Civil users by turning off the deliberate errors.. Lots to read about it here but anywhere within 10 meters is typical GPS accuracy now.

http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/modernization/sa/data/

ingleburn

Interesting stuff Rob. Glad the accuracy is better than 100 metres now.

Went out yesterday for a few flights to test a few things. Wanted to see if the Mobius interfered with the GPS. Glad to say it didnt. Also the footage was pretty good but I can see a brushless gimbal making it even better.

Also tested the telemetry radios which worked ok but need to rig up a stand for the tablet and telemetry TX to get them off the ground. That would increase the range and make it easier to see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjCmHCprN1I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dLwmqD6NBs

rikybob

Pithy comments on YouTube!

Thanx for sharing!

b

PS Anyone wanting a Taranis in USA, I have a vendor who sells them for 175USD

rikybob

Ok Ladies!

I attended the yearly "Blow Out" at my flying club!

Enjoy the rough pone cam viddy below.....


b


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7JAXNkKsGw&feature=youtu.be

mnemennth

Ummm... yeah.

GPS has come along way since those halcyon days of yore; the Sirf3 and Sirf4 chipsets have been around for 5 years and bring +/- 1m accuracy without calibration using the included patch antenna; the calibrated board in my Toughbook provides sub-meter accuracy more than 80% of the time. The problem is tiny memory space and tiny calculation power vs multi-core laptops that can keep an entire continent in active RAM and can support multithread hashtable processing. Modern GPS can lock on as many as 48 satellites (If that many were actually available to "see" in the sky); they use that capability keep inactive tables for quicker satellite locks until the space is needed for active tables.

[EDIT]

On a slightly less (or perhaps differently) geekoid note; right now I'm making servo extension s for my Dynam Peaks; the ones that came with were exactly 3/4" too short to reach where I have my RX3S gyro mounted in the cockpit for easy adjustment. Of course.

Next will hopefully be fixing my iMars charger; parts ordered last week should arrive next week (I hope) via ePacket from China. If that is successful and I can charge batteries again, then some static testing with props and maybe assembling the wings if I can get the battery hold-down mod completed. I keep vacillating over whether to order more CF rods and wait for them to come from China or just suck it up and use the bamboo skewers I have in the drawer in the kitchen.


b -

Looks like U got up close & personal to some 700-class T-REX & SAB Goblins there; did you get bitten? I have actually found myself looking at an Align product and not groaning; the 150 DFC looks like Align is FINALLY taking microhelis seriously. At $225-ish BNF it's still twice what most competing machines cost; but it comes with all the hop-ups & bling we add on as standard gear so really some fair bang for the buck.

[/EDIT]


mnem
moo. Or don't; its entirely up to you.

rikybob

All the best!

b

mnemennth

b -

I'm like... the "World's Oldest Noob"; in that I'm probably the only person I know of who's been stuck at that stage for oh, 30 years or so. When I was a kid I used to build and fly and crash all sorts of airplanes; from stick-built with tissue-paper to hacked styrofoam gliders to the earliest forms of what we call the "Big Stick" now. I THOUGHT I was at least an intermediate pilot when I got back into it... now I find that I am now, and always have been, a "Stick-banger". The difference is... when I was young, I could bang the sticks fast enough to make 6 wrong moves for every right one and still keep it in the air; now... well... not near fast enough, and not near good enough eyesight. I REALLY need to learn to fly from the floor up.

I'm doing my best to get as much stick time as possible; it's not a thing I can make happen as often as I'd like with our money situation right now. I haven't even been able to mess around with the RealFlight because of my computer going boots up; so on that score, I'm REALLY bummed.

I'm hoping that the gyro will let me just "drop the sticks" as it were, and have it straighten out by itself so I can figure out orientation; that seems to be my main failing. I get disoriented and let it get far enough away I can't tell what it's doing, so I try and bring it closer so I can see, then I'm not "Enough mistakes high" to keep from ditching it.

This is mostly why I keep gravitating towards bigger, more brightly-colored birds... I'm hoping to attack the issue of being able to see it better, too.

Bottom line is I'm looking for more real stick time... and I'm looking for anything that'll help me keep the bird in one piece long enough for that to happen.

I DID receive the APM board; made a prelim autopsy and didn't find an obvious cause of death, so I shelved it until I'm done with my current build. My next quad build is gonna be an Armattan; that too has been shoved to the back burner due to shortage of funds, so not much need for ANOTHER FC as I now have 2 KK2.0s, 2 MultiWii Lites (somewhere; they're in one of the boxes I haven't unpacked yet) and 2 of these RS3X receivers as well. I WAS planning to try Open Aero on one of the KK2.0s; but when you dropped dime on the RS3Xes on sale, I scoped 'em out at the Swarm and picked up a couple at $13 & change. (BTW, they're still on the swarm; now priced at $17.56)

Now, I'm just trying to get past the known issues with my big yellow beastie; it's a slow process due to not a lot of time without little fingers in EVERYTHING, so here I am, bit by bit, nibbling away at it.

As for the TREX 150DFC... for an indoor bird, that IS going up in size; I think that was part of the attraction.


A'aight; time for me to give the kiddles a bath before mommie eats them in self-defense;


mnem
POIT!

rikybob

Hiya Mnem,

I appreciate your candor. I find that on occasion there are folk who join the fray and either have never flown (to include the fella who originated this thread) or seldom fly or attempt to fly but don't have the skill set at all.

I won't speak ill of the dead but Peter, by all accounts simply couldn't fly as God didn't give him the hand/eye and he figured it out and pulled up stakes and abruptly left. One other fella, Spiros did the same. Video after video proved the inevitable. They would simply NEVER get better!

It HAS been my observation that unless you have that rare defect, you CAN attenuate hand/eye and it can be enhanced to fly, shoot, play basket ball, hockey or what have you.

The author of this post is one of those folk that has a natural, middle of the road skill set. I taught myself without the aid of a SIM to fly helis and if you stomach my videos you will see the evolution of both that AND the plank.

There it is! Right on Youtube ME learning orientation on a GWS Slow Stick (65bux to your door)!

Got that B1TCH down!

If I had to do it ALL over again I would have used the SIM. It's physic's engine does well enough to teach you basic orientation and movement.

Good luck in YOUR evolution. I had to wait for my spawn to leave before this endeavor as I didn't have the cash to go that route! You are already well ahead of the curve!

All the best!

b

mnemennth

I am the guy who can fix anything, but can't PLAY anything. Can't play guitar, can't play piano, can barely play Pac-Man. I spent 3 years in the pool halls of my home town, practicing my badunka-dunk off just to get "Above average"; and it was ALL skill, not a shred of natural talent. I call it being "First Person Shooter Defective"... I'm the guy who eventually ALWAYS winds up stuck in a corner looking at his feet; and by the time I figure it out, I've been fragged by at least two different people. I've been playing Halo 2 for 10 years because "Hey; why bother spending a fortune so it can just kick my ass in higher resolution?"

The weird part is... I can DRIVE anything IRL. I used to race motorcycles, boats, stock cars, snowmobiles, fork lifts... and I was pretty good; got a barn full of trophies back home. Took me 5 minutes to figure out how to run a commercial crane; I was operating it in a quarry after a day.

Bottom line is... I am a mechanic. I fix machines; I have "The Knack". Along with that comes an innate understanding of how machines work, and I guess in some manner that has to include how to use them. My "Science" is strong; it is my "Art" that's weak, and always has been.

As you say; any skill can be learned with enough repetition. I know this from hustling pool in my college years. We'll see if I can overcome the CRS and bad vision that has come with old age before my back totally gives out... LOL.


mnem
Wait... what? I thought it was SUPPOSED to be going that way...

rikybob

Funny how we're wired!

I have to say, JNAIL who was on here some time back sent me an "E" privately and MADE me buy the Slow Stick and it is/was a HUGE confidence builder and a JOY to fly helping me with orientation and all the trappings of an early plank career to include helping me with helis!

Good luck on your personal journey!

b