SgtBilko

Hi Scott,
Yeh it's 21F here, 4 inches of snow last night, I took off from inside the garage today intending to fly it outside over the snow for a bit, it was so cold, I lasted about 2 minutes, landed Looks like I'm back to hovering in the basement for awhile... [X(] [X(]

No Stick

Hi Dragonflyers,

Have you seen the newer type of the Silverlit X-UFO being tested in Germany? Here is a link to the post and related video clips:

http://forum.xufo.net/bb/viewtopic.php?p=6694#6694

You have to cut and paste the video links without the " to get the vids to work.

It has been suggested the cost will be less than 1/2 the cost of the Dragonflyer V. At long last some true competition.

Hunter850

My Feedback: (1)

Interesting vids looks like it may be more manoverable than the DF. Either that or the pilots are really, really good flyers.

Winters coming everywhere so flying is becoming limited to basements and garages in the north at least. I broke down and bought a blade CP to play with inside as well.

scottslc

Looks fun (the pezzo/piezo) Unfortunately you can't buy one... "there are only two (and not more!) prototypes at the moment." Cool videos though.

Scott

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

They need to do something because I had one of those silverlit X-UFO's that they just released in November,the supposed upgraded one and flew it twice and sold it on E-Bay,believe me Draganfly has no worries with that piece of crap!!!I got my DF right after I dumped the X-ufo and it is a world of difference.

Sky High

Oops! [X(] I just caught the tail end of this loooooong thread after I created a new V Ti Pro thread! I have finally found a place with others using this helo that I can't seem to get enough of but at times drives me crazy with its intricacies and intermittent issues! Hello folks, my name is Jeff and I noticed that this thread started about two years ago talking about the Draganflyer IV and that it has evolved into discussion about the latest Draganflyer V Ti and Ti Pro. The last few pages have definitely covered some of the issues that I have experienced with the latest model and I want to share some of mine as well as some fixes. I certainly don't want to hijack this thread but would most, if not all, of the latest posters agree to move all further V Ti / Ti Pro discussion to my current V Ti / Ti Pro thread so others with the latest gear can see the latest info faster instead of accidentally discovering it on the tail of this older thread like I did? Thanks!

New V Ti / Ti Pro Thread
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3612894/tm.htm]www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3612894/tm.htm[/link]

SgtBilko

Actually some of us were trying Draganflyers way before the DF4. This thread has evolved over time as a common meeting ground for a bunch of us that discuss (gripe, curse, shout, quit, rejoin, lament, whine, rejoice, praise, reject etc, you get the idea) the various DF topics - DF4, 5, TI, no TI, blades, no blades, what kind of blades, mods, cameras, video techniques, video results, RC toys, the intricacies of various mail systems and lack thereof, Spectrolutions, Mike and no-Mike discussions, batteries, transmitters, inside flying, outside flying, etc etc and the best part is there has not been a single DebianDog sighting in a number of months now There are a number of other threads and web sites that have discussions on the Draganflyer and similar "expensive toys" this one just seems to have the longevity and core group to keep on going. I and others will check on your thread as well, welcome to the DF world

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

DebianDog was on a thread about the X-pro and tried to put down the DF again and praise his Gasser and after he started with me about a few things I told him to go back to his RCheli spot with those other pathetic losers and I have not heard of him being around since.But he has been in a few other DF threads just not this one but there is another person around that is just as bad as him but no names for now we will just see if he shows his unwanted self around here.[&:]We also have a stalker amoung us that likes to follow people to other forums and try to cause trouble so watch out again no names but he is stupid enough he will show himself also.[:'(]

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

I again have a question is there any way to reinforce the blades on the DF so they will not crack so easy???I tried the Black tape on the leading edge but that really threw off the blades bad they started to vibrate I think that the tape was to heavy and threw off the CG on them,is there any way to use packing tape to laminate them like they do with the XRB Blades???I am really at a loss I have been buying up all of the auction Blades on E-bay that Zenon has but that is starting to get expensive,and that cheap laser six radio does not help if you just breathe on the trim sliders they move and really mess things up.Has anyone programed one of these on a more expensive computer transmitter??I have the 9CHPS but cannot figure out how to program the Ti switch or even what switch to use for it,any help would be great.Learning to fly this thing in the house is crazy and we have a foot of snow on the ground so outside is not a option at this point.[&:]Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Sky High

Laminating Rotors

Howdy Moe. I was very tired of clipping blades while in flight as well. DFI recommended that I use packing tape to reinforce the blades. However, they said that I should only apply it to the bottom. Well, I did that and cut the tape to perfectly fit the contours. Then, I thought of the fact that over time and with temperature changes and blade flexing that eventually the edge of tape is going to slightly begin to separate from the blade surface allowing air to be caught between the tape and the wing surface. This would cause drag and affect performance. So, the solution was to get some 3" (minimum width) clear, thin packing tape and just cover the top and bottom of the blade with the closed end of the sandwich on the leading edge and the opened end on the trailing edge. Actually when you fold the tape over on itself, it sticks together quite well at the trailing edge, even after trimming it down to contour the blade. So, with this method, the leading edge is not succeptible to separation. I did this seperately for the left and right of the blades and covered the middle section with a single layer to each side. Any more than 2 layers in the center increases the thickness of the rotor thereby shortening the nylon bolts penetration into the rotor head gear. I let these sit overnight to see if there was any separation and there was some slight bubbling and separartion but mostly near curved areas. I just took a pin and popped the bubbles and that fixed them but I have had to make some small cuts to relieve the stress of the tape in the curved areas. The blades look really nice and are very smooth but it just takes too long to do. I also noticed that the wind noise was much quieter because of the smoother finish of the blade surfaces. I bet they will be more efficient too. I think the standard blades' texture is just too rough for maximum efficiency, especially the sanded leading edge, and just have to create more drag than desired as they are. I am definitely going to be investing in carbon fiber blades soon.

Sky High

[sm=idea.gif]Maintaining Day/Night Orientation with Navigation Lights

I noticed that maintaining orientation of the Draganflyer was mentioned several times in this thread. That is one of the first issues that I encountered when my helo was around 25 ft+ horizontally or vertically (when not directly overhead) from me. I didn't know if I was coming or going. So, the first thing I did was to attach navigation lights, an LED strobe to the tail, a nose light to the front and two wing lights. I actually learned how to fly this helo at night because of these lights. As if it wasn't hard enough in the daytime, right? So I fly much better at night because of the ease of navigation with these lights. You can't even see the frame but the lights are very bright. As for day flying, I have found that green and/or deep blue is/are the best color(s) to use for bright days because it contrasts the best with the blue sky when your helo is 300 ft+ horizontally or vertically (not necessarilly directly overhead either) away from you. If you want to fly 300+ feet horizontally I would definitely recommend using wing lights in addition to the nose light to have 3 staring at you when you're nose in. There's no mistaking where the nose is when using these lights. These things are so bright at night, anyone who didn't know the scale of the helo would think that a full size plane was on approach at a distance when looking at it. Once again, in daylight, green and deep blue are also great to have as nav lights for the nose firing straight down when at altitudes of 500+ ft with a tail strobe. I currently use 2 nose lights (blue & green), two wing lights (white), a tail strobe (white), port (red), starboard (green). It truly looks like a UFO when flying at night. I was flying in some dense fog in an open field about 3 weeks ago and all of these different colored light beams cutting through it was really a sight. I am currently making a custom wiring harness and separate power supply (4 rechargeable Lipoly button cells) for 4 more white landing lights that will fire straight down and be controlled from my transmitter as needed. These super bright LEDs can be bought at a custom RC light provider or most outfitter type stores like REI. If you go with the keychain lights, make sure to get the ones with a built in switch so they will constantly burn. Ultimately, the custom lights and harnesses are the way to go because of the varations of colors and SFX that they offer like multi-colored strobes, etc.. They are a bit more expensive but are worth it! I have sent my helo to at least 1000 ft on a very calm night and was able to see the lights only, predominantly the strobe. It was so high that I couldn't even hear it in the dead of night. Of course the more lights you have the more visible your helo will be in day or night but especially at night. Another cool idea that I'm going to try at night is to put LEDs firing up under the rotors. The existing lights already partially illuminate the underside of the rotors so I can't imagine what a direct light would look like! I wonder if a phosphorous component could be mixed with the PVC when rotors are made. This would produce glow in the dark rotors. Maybe glow in the dark film, laminate or decals would be easier.

One thing that I have noticed with some other LED setups that I have seen in this thread is that the lights are mounted on the motor arms behind the motors! That does you absolutely no good because you're not getting the full intensity of the LED beam as with a head on orientation. The solution is to simply put the nose light either on the front strut or hang it below or to the side of the motor. The wing lights need to be mounted to the frame facing forward or at least hanging down below the motors to be visible from the side. I guarantee the difference is like night and day! One other note, I would not recommend tapping into the DF power supply for two reasons. The first is that you will reduce flight time no matter how minimal. The second is that if the light circuit fails and you are flying at night, uh, you are screwed!! If flying at night and you are at a high altitude, a considerable horizontal distance and/or over trees, etc., you will more than likely never see your bird again. But with an independent light circuit they will stay on even up in the trees after the fuse blows from jammed rotors. Been there!! If it wasn't for the LEDs, I never would have found my helo!

Night Flight Nav Lights Demo Videos
[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/NIGHTFLIGHTLIGHTS.asx]Night Flight Lights![/link]
[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/NIGHTFLIGHT1.asx]Night Flight 1[/link]
[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/NIGHTFLIGHT2.asx]Night Flight 2[/link]

The demos below were done before I added the wing and colored nav lights. I'll post some updated video with the additional lights soon. These were shot with my digital still camera during the last few minutes of daylight which is the best time to shoot the flyer with lights because the lights are visible on the DF frame silhouetted against the sky.

(click OR right click, save as these links)
[link=http://198.65.158.133/demo/helo/flight1.avi]Nav Lights 1[/link]
[link=http://198.65.158.133/demo/helo/flight2.avi]Nav Lights 2[/link]


Custom RC Lighting
www.maxxlights.com

Princeton Tec Pulsar II item# 671104 - Keychain Switched LEDs (very affordable)
www.rei.com

Google Search Princeton Tec Eclipse/Eclipse II (both have 2 strobe settings & detachable heads)

Sky High

Draganflyer V Ti Pro Transmitter / Lipoly Combo Charger Issues

When I first got my DF, I used the DFI combo charger and would only get 30-35 minutes of flight time from my HiTech Laser 6 Tx. This was frustrating after waiting for a 14 hour charge for the Tx. What was worse than that was that all 3 of my flight packs were outlasting my Tx so I had to go home and wait another 14 hours to fly again after getting only 35 minutes of flight time.[&o] Well, I told DFI about this and they agreed that something was definitely wrong and said that I should be getting at least a 1-1.5 hours out of the Tx pack. So, they sent me another battery and a HiTech wall charger for the Tx. WOW!![X(] What a difference that made! I am now able to stretch the use of the Tx over about 4 days with about 2 hours of flight time per day. I turn the Tx off between flyer pack changes and cool down breaks. So, I guess that's partly why it's lasting so long. With two Tx batteries I can always be flying! Apparently the DF charger was not providing an adequate charge to the Tx pack so if you are or have experienced this issue, that is/was probably the problem. Another way that I prolong flight times in the field is to use an inverter in my truck with two Lipoly chargers to always have a fresh battery in rotation. DFI also offers a DC adapter for charging Lipolys in the field. There's nothing worse on a great flying day than having to go home just to charge batteries.

One more thing for new DF owners. If you are using the yellow DF charger for Lipolys, you must unplug the wall unit (10-15 seconds) or remove the power lead (5 seconds) from the yellow box until the status light goes out. Plug the power lead back in and the light should blink to indicate that it is ready for charging. This is in the manual but failure to reset the charger each time will result in a wasted hour of charge time and even worse, downtime that you could be flying!

Sky High

[sm=idea.gif]Smoother & Quieter Rotor Operation

When performing other repairs and maintenance, I noticed that when I spun the rotor head gear with my fingers with the motor removed, the gear bearing did spin freely but didn't stop with a slow, gradual stop as if it was really free spinning without friction. In other words, there was friction, however slight. So, I loosened the allen bolt just a small amount (about 1/8 turn) and spun it again and....... that thing spun like I had given it a laxative! To test them even further, I took a can of compressed air and hit the gear teeth with the air. What a cool noise that made! It sounds like a jet turbine. All four bearings were like this and that means the whole time from the factory all four bearings were not spinning as efficiently as they could have been. The factory setting always worked fine but I think that my helo will fly better now since loosening the rotor gear bolts to where the allen head is barely not touching the bearing race. If you do this, make sure that you loosen it only slightly just enough to notice the difference in the stop time from an abrupt slow stop to a slow, gradual stop. The more gradual the stop, the less friction, the looser the bearing and most importantly, longer bearing life!

Sky High

[sm=idea.gif]Helo Recovery Info

After a few close calls near the tops of very tall trees, 300-500 ft linear distances and other risky operations such as night flights and sudden wind gusts, I have attached ID tags on my DF. I would highly recommend doing this if you are going to be doing some high risk flying where you could lose your helo in an inaccessable, restricted or remote area. You never know who might recover and return it. These are simple labels that I made with a Brother PTouch label maker. I have put one on the battery tray and one on the frame that says reward if found with a phone number and my website address. I would recommend putting one on at least two parts in case the thing breaks up such as part in a tree and part on the ground. It's just too simple to do to risk losing your helo forever.

Sky High

[sm=idea.gif]Hover Tips for Calm Air & Light/Moderate Winds for Low & High Altitude

I have found it's easier to make a controlled hover by first trimming out the DF V Ti Pro for level flight then setting level calibration and then after liftoff either overtrimming the fore or aft pitch and then counteracting that overtrim as needed to induce hovering. This prevents overcorrecting when initiating a hover and works very well to maintain a controlled hover at low or high altitudes. When there is enough of a headwind this obviously acts as your counter trim so you can actually set the trim to match the wind and the DF will ride that wind like a wave. Both methods require constant attention with the first method maintaining constant pressure on the stick but the results are very precise.

Sky High

Well, I have been power surfing this thread trying to catch up and was 2 pages away from the very area that you're talking about when I got your message. Can you believe I have covered 35 pages in 8 hours, whew?! [sm=redface.gif]

Sky High

FINALLY!! I just finished getting caught up. I read 62 pages and over 1500 posts in about 18 hours and my eyes are killing me! [sm=spinnyeyes.gif] [:'(] Where did everybody go?

Sky High

Motor Magnet Slippage & Heatsinks

Numerous posts have mentioned checking for internal motor magnet slippage due to rough landings, etc.. Well, I checked my motors and the magnets in all four of them had slipped down blocking the air vents. One thing that I wanted to mention was that I use heatsinks and almost forgot to check the air vents under them and yes, those magnets had slipped too. So don't forget those if you use heatsinks.

Relative Post
www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3468741

Sky High

Transmitter Antenna Connection

I noticed another post about always making sure that the antenna on your transmitter is fully extended. In addition to that, always make sure that the base of the antenna is completely tight and flush where it threads inside the transmitter (Laser 6) or wherever yours connects. Mine had gradually loosened and I didn't notice for a while because the HiTech Laser 6 has a plastic sleeve that protrudes from the top which sort of braced it. After a crash and some other intermittent erratic bahavior, I discovered it was loose and am confident that it may have contributed to some earlier control issues and crashes. Before each flight, I always just grab the very bottom of the shaft right at the plastic sleeve and give it tightening check. One thing's for sure, I know that won't be the cause of control issues or crashes in the future.

Sky High

Control Settings (throttle & trims) When Arming

I saw a post about someone using a fully charged flight pack and Tx battery, powering up the DF and then arming it. They then said that it wouldn't respond as far as throttling up. Well, this happened to me a couple of times and I discovered that I had either had the throttle stick engaged just a bit or too much or and/or one or more of the trims off center a bit or more than allowed for initializing. That is apparently a safety so when you arm it, it doesn't go berzerk on you. Each time I have learned something new about this machine, I become more and more fascinated by it's complexity of design yet simplicity of it's operation. So, if this happens to you, check to see that all controls are neutral before arming.

Sky High

Threading Motor Arms


Scott mentioned a useful method for threading the motor wires through the motor arms. In case there is no line or string available, you can also use baby powder. Just dump a very small amount in your palm and run both wires through it. Make sure that the wires stay side by side and not twisted when feeding them through the motor arm. Very slowly, carefully feed the wires a small bit at a time so they don't bunch up.

roxyboby

hi! does anybody know How I can extend the cable which connects the camera to the connectors. I have deviced a vibration removal technic which needs the camera to be fixed slightly away from the center. Now the only problem is that the camera cable is very short!!!! Where do I get to buy a longer cable. Should I cut the cable and extend it??

Sky High

Camera Power Lead Extension

Hello Roxyboby. I would not advise cutting that camera power lead. The more splices you have, the more possible issues that can arise. Maybe DFI or Spectro has some jumpers with the correct gauge and connector. Do you have any pictures of your isolation solution?

Sky High

Camera Mount Vibration Isolation

After reading every post in this thread and seeing all attempts to dampen camera vibration, I never saw anyone do or mention placing soft but firm weatherstripping foam in either or both ball joints of the Eyecam mounts. Neither 1videoman1 or David did this in addition to their very effective 3 stage/axis isolators. I have just done this recently and haven't had an opportunity to test it because of the weather. This texture of this foam looks like typical soft packing foam because of the flash but it is very firm but soft and spongy. If anyone tries this MAKE SURE to use that weatherstripping type foam that is soft and spongy but dense and firm and about 1/4" thick before it's compressed. The great thing about that particular kind is that it conforms so well when compressed and it has an adhesive side to help stick to the inside of the ball socket. You can find this stuff in rolls at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.. The other type that had a slight rough texture is too porous because of the larger cells and will compress to much and not provide the proper isolation. I'll be sure to post the results along with the video. [sm=thumbup.gif]

David's Isolator
www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3330110

Maybe if formostin used this type of foam in the primary ball joint with his custom camera mount it might be the solution for his application.

formostin's composite camera mount
www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3411580

Sky High

Ti IR Sensors

Has anyone else noticed how the rear IR sensors on the Ti point down slighty whereas the front sensors are more level?