Hi

Maybe this can help beginners to be more fearless when flying for the first times.
My friend and I are total beginners and purchased the DF SAVS. After the first test run we decided we need a landing gear. So, we got some aluminium profile, L shaped, 1mm, 4x40cm lenghts and 4 pingpong balls...all together app. 2US$. Just make 2 holes in each profile with 6cm distance and fix them to the bottom plate. Cut the pingpong ball a bit and clue it to the profile. (See pictures)
After the first tests we must say it just works great. It is so lightweighted that it doesn't effect the DF at all. It prevents the rotors from hitting the ground when you have a hard landing and makes it a much "softer" one too as there is app. 1 cm space between the pingpong balls and the DF.

Looks cool!

Did you weigh the setup? I'd be curious to know how much weight it adds...

Will

That is interesting. Post some video of it in flight if you can. The only thing that concerns me with that setup is where it is attached. If there is a significant sideward impact force to one of those arms, there is a high possibility of shearing off the plastic thread shafts where the battery tray attaches. I have done that by overtightening a nut. The thread shaft just came off inside the nut. Unfortunately, a whole bunch of stuff has to to come off just to replace a strut. If it's just for learning to hover a few feet off the ground, it shouldn't ever be a problem.

TheHindmost:
We didn't weight it but it has app. the same weight as the camera mount only.

SkyHigh:
We where also concerned about the thread shafts so we clued the profils to the battery tray to give the whole thing more strength and to distribute any impact force to all the vertical risers more or less equaly. On our first test flight we had some hard landings (even on only 2 of the balls) due to some wind coming up without any damage. The highest "hard landing" was from app. 3m and everything was fine. We only want to use it for low level flight training until we are more confident in our flying skills so it should be ok. I will try to post a video from last weekend (short one though)

Ok...I hope i got it right with this video stuff..first time I did that
check here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...48710582&hl=en

Nice landing.

(Cool video, thanks for posting that!)

Will

Okay kokomiko, it looks like you've got it covered. Thanks for posting the info and video.

Wish I had one of these when I first started, I think I've paid as much in vertical risers as I did for the draganfly. lol. Good Job!

Hehe...yes, that was what we where thinking about after our first flight when: flipping over, adjusting the folding blades after each landing (means every 30 seconds), scratching the rotor blades at every landing and sanding 1mm of the vertical risers on the concrete ground.
We where scared to death to break the little baby.[:-]
Now we can fly (try to) without getting a heart attack every time he crashes to the ground. Highly recommended!!

I've been lucky on the vertical risers and main cross-brace...I can't believe they're still intact after a few of my early, er, landings! Motor mounts and (before the new ones came out) rotors on the other hand...

Will

After 2 weeks of not flying (monsum season, rain and strong winds) [] I finally could test our landing gear a bit longer (armed with 4 battery packs) and I am so happy about it. It works like a charme. See some footage of catching some wind and dropping like a spring and a nice hover (for me though) afterwards (so no damage done)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...87026977640446

For a real easy landing gear,get some heatshrink tube which fits the motors,cut it as long as you think you need it(don't overdo it off course) shove it over the motor and wires,heat and voila.The tube gets very stiff once cooled down and makes for nice ,bit flexible feet and protects your wires/condensators as well.

Dutchie, what about motor cooling? (And the motor heating up the heat shrink...?)

Will

You're right there but I didn't mean cover the whole motor in heatshrink.Anyway,I'll try it and if there are any negative results I will post it here.

We just made a new landing gear[8D]...same same though...with 2 changes: now the front balls are white and the back ones
orange for better orientation and we inserted a LED (cheap ones from a 2$ flashlight - we got 12 LED's for that) in each of the balls (connected to the 5V camera power outlet)
The landing gear without the LED's weighs 40grams and the LED's with all the wires 16grams.
Below some pics and 2 videos..1 showing the set-up and one nightflight (almost)
Enjoy

Nightflight: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...32919403336523
Setup: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...25291147211656

Maybe I am missing something here because I don't have mine yet in front of me to see how it works but... wouldn't it just be easier to attach to the bottoms of each corner some of the foam you get electronics products packed in? I am talking the stiffer plastic type foam not the spongy stuff. The foam is extremely light and I can't imagine four decent size pieces of it weighing more than a few grams. It's great at absorbing shock (considering that is what it is made for) and it's free.

The problem with using foam attached to the motors is the heat so it should be heat resistant foam or it won't last long. You don't want to cover any motor vent holes. The nice thing about the solution presented here is you save your motor mounts which usually break when used as a support for landing. And when one of those goes, heat up the soldering iron, pain in the butt.

You probably don't want to cover anything on those motors. The vent holes are one thing, but the case itself is also providing a fair amount of exposed surface area for heat dissipation. Wrapping a portion of it in a foam blanket could shorten the life of the motor drastically, even if the foam doesn't melt!

Will

I wasn't talking about wrapping anything. I know better. I am talking about mounting the foam UNDER the chassis to absorb the shock. I guess I'll be able to better see if this will even work when I finally have the unit in my grubby little hands. Muahahahahahaha lol

Ahhh, zBig, I see what you're saying now. Yeah, that could certainly cushion landings and should weigh next to nothing!

Will

I'm sorry, I quickly assumed the motor mounts... I understand now, the only concern would be to have it thin enough so that it doesn't interfere with the air flow.