My Drone.. as requested

[Mr Pheer]

This is a follow-up from **********'s thread at http://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=1094249



What you see there:

Zombie 2 Quad Frame - http://www.hauntnet.com/frankenquad/...4674bee7b14690

That guy used my photo of my chassis when I first built it... I should charge him for that.

Keda 2020L motors and Keda 25a electronic speed controllers - http://strongrcmotors.com/

Quadrino Zoom V2e flight computer - http://www.flyingeinstein.com/index.php/quadrino
Purchased from Innov8tive Designs http://www.innov8tivedesigns.com/

CCTV Camera: RMRC-700XV NTSC
Video Transmitter: 1.3GHz 1500mW
Video Receiver: 1.3GHz "Tan" Custom Ready Made RC Version with SAW Upgrade
TX Antenna: Cloverleaf Circular Polarized Antenna (Side Feed)
RX Antenna: Optimized 1.3GHz Patch Antenna
Batteries: One Each 460mAh and 1100mAh RMRC Batteries for TX and RX
Video Goggles: FatShark Dominators
All of that from http://www.readymaderc.com

RC Transmitter: JR 12X (already owned) http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...-only-JRP12TXX

RC Receiver: 7-Channel Spektrum (already owned) http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...iver-SPMAR7010

AeroXcraft 2-axis gryo stabilized camera gimbal - http://www.aeroxcraft.com/index.php?...&products_id=5

GoPro Hero2 HD Camera - get them just about anywhere. http://www.gopro.com


Ok, now for what you dont see...

1. My base station: Just a cheapo camera tripod from Best Buy. But instead of a camera mounted to it, I have my video receiver antenna on it and my video receiver & SAW filter. The antenna looks like a small pizza box... pretty much just a flat square piece of plastic about 8"x 8" and 1" thick with a wire coming out, and my receiver screwed to the back of it. My video goggles plug into the receiver. For power, I have one of those medium size plastic toolboxes from Sears, the kind with wheels and a handle that pulls out. I keep some tools in it and spare propellers, but the bottom of it has a 12v marine battery that powers my goggles, the video receiver, and my battery charger for my flight batteries.

2. Battery charger: You have to get a LiPo charger in order to charge LiPo (lithium polymer) batteries. They are pretty much like cell phone batteries, but larger with more cells and higher voltage. The charger has a computer that monitors each cell and controls how much charge goes into it, because if you overcharge a LiPo they can catch on fire... and burn your house down. My charger connects directly to my 12v battery, and at home I use a 12v power supply for it. I use one that can charge 4 batteries at once. http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...arger-HRC44151

3. Batteries: LiPo flight packs and a 12v marine deep cycle battery to run my equipment in the field.


Stuff I would do different: I wouldnt have bought a 1500mw video transmitter. It's way more power than I need. 400mw would be plenty.

I wouldnt have bought that big cloverleaf video transmitter antenna. The small whip antenna works fine, the big antenna doesnt really fit on the drone without the props hitting it.

The cool stuff about all of this... if I want to build another drone or a plane or whatever, as far as the video equipment goes I just need another video transmitter, CCTV camera, and a transmitter antenna.


If you decide to build one, you dont need a $1500 JR 12x RC transmitter. A $300 Spektrum DX8 will work fine. The JR 12x is a professional level radio that I already had for my planes and jets. Yes, I fly planes at a professional level, have been flying them since 1985.

Now, why does it use a CCTV camera, video transmitter, AND a gopro camera? Simple to explain. You wear the video goggles and you see the image transmitted from the CCTV camera. This is your "flight" or FPV camera. The gopro is just for recording a HD video, you download that from the gopro after you land. Video recorded from the CCTV camera is pretty shitty, while the gopro is nice and clear. You could transmit the video from the gopro to your goggles, but the gopro video-out tends to go blank for a couple of seconds when transitioning from dark to light areas, such as turning into the sun or flying out of a shadowed area. That's all it takes to make you crash.

I've got this apart right now while I'm making a new power distribution cable and soft mounts for the motors and camera mount, trying to kill all the vibration.

This is a demonstration of how the camera gimbal works... it uses two servos connected to the flight controller (which has three gyros and acceleromoters) keeping the gopro steady relative to whatever the drone is doing.



And here is the kind of stuff that you can do with it









I dont know how to embed Vimeo here, but these are really nice:
http://vimeo.com/44180619

http://vimeo.com/47979798

http://vimeo.com/40374903

This aircraft is a step up in cost, capability, and complexity from a AR Parrot Drone... but the results speak for themselves dont they?

How long before somebody builds one to use at an adult photoshoot?

I could maybe lend my services to content producers in the Las Vegas area

[ottopottomouse]

Watching some of the videos it seems to be able to fly quite far away - what is the range of the radio controls?

[bns666]

wow, nice

[Mr Pheer]

Range depends on a lot of factors... atmospheric conditions, trees, buildings, power lines, other types of radio interference, solar activity, etc.

Generally, the range of the radio control is farther than you can see your aircraft, or to be able to tell what it is doing.

Some guys that have HAM licenses have made their own radio systems and have flown 3 - 5 miles away, but you need a license for anything that transmits more than 1mW (not a typo).

[seeandsee]

wow great shots, how much for such drone?

[Mr Pheer]

wow great shots, how much for such drone?

I have about $3000 in it, but my radio system alone is half of that. I wouldnt suggest a radio like mine to someone starting out.

You could probably build something like this for around $1100 if you shopped around.

[AllAboutCams]

Great stuff whats it like to fly compared to a heli

[Scott McD]

Yeah that burd didn't like you snooping around that nest very much ;-)

Cool stuff !!

[2MuchMark]

Very nice! Looks like a sick amount of fun

[Harmon]

It looks complicated.

[John-ACWM]

Really fun time playing with that!

[PR_Glen]

definitely a cool hobby. crashing one of those sounds like it would be expensive! Pretty easy to control for someone experienced i imagine?

[Phoenix]

that is very cool you built it on your own.

[Penny24Seven]

when will the first drone site start with it spying on girls laying in the sun?

[TheDA]

Cool as fuck, been wanting to do something like this for a while. You've spurred me on to make this a project for the New Year.

[candyflip]

Thank you thank you thank you.

Quick question though, can you mount any camera to it and if so...what would the weight capacity be? Mine is about 7lbs with lens. GoPro are awesome, but I prefer something more filmic...which is why I'd be interested in mounting and flying my FS100.

I might need something a tad bigger, like one of the ones in the videos you posted.

[candyflip]

I could maybe lend my services to content producers in the Las Vegas area

There is a HUGE market for aerial cinematography, which is definitely why I'm looking into it.

[Mr Pheer]

Great stuff whats it like to fly compared to a heli

Much easier than a standard heli because the flight computer is doing all of the hard work for you. You just tell it where you want it to go.

It pretty much uses the same sensors from a Wii controller or an iPhone to tell the computer what the aircraft is doing, which direction it is facing, if it is level or not, etc etc.

The coolest thing about these is that the hardware is open source... you could buy a board and program it to do your own things.

[Mr Pheer]

It looks complicated.

It's pretty complicated at first. But like anything else, you learn how it goes and then it isnt so bad.

[candyflip]

Much easier than a standard heli because the flight computer is doing all of the hard work for you. You just tell it where you want it to go.

It pretty much uses the same sensors from a Wii controller or an iPhone to tell the computer what the aircraft is doing, which direction it is facing, if it is level or not, etc etc.

The coolest thing about these is that the hardware is open source... you could buy a board and program it to do your own things.

Being able to program a shot and have it repeat it until you're happy with the results is awesome.

Is there a good message board or resource site for this sort of thing?

[Mr Pheer]

definitely a cool hobby. crashing one of those sounds like it would be expensive! Pretty easy to control for someone experienced i imagine?

I havent crashed badly yet, but I have a smaller drone that I fly often, and I did fly that one into the side of my house once on a windy day. I replaced a prop and kept flying it.

The cool thing about my Zombie drone is that the metal parts are aluminum towel rack available from Home Depot. The carbon fiber parts are pretty cheap and I can order them today and have what I need at my house in 2 or 3 days.

You can get a Blade MQx to practice with and use a real airplane radio or get one that comes with a cheap radio, just to practice with. My Zombie drone is actually easier to fly than the Blade MQx.

http://www.horizonhobby.com/webapp/w...:cp=1/:ip=45/:

The problem with the blade MQx is that its really small, and the wind blows it around. But it's small enough to fly in your house and light enough that it wont hurt anything that you run into. But it doesnt carry a camera so if you get it too far away from yourself, it's hard to tell which direction it is facing and that is when most people crash.

[RyuLion]

Very nice man!!!

[Paul&John]

awesomeness!

[Mr Pheer]

Thank you thank you thank you.

Quick question though, can you mount any camera to it and if so...what would the weight capacity be? Mine is about 7lbs with lens. GoPro are awesome, but I prefer something more filmic...which is why I'd be interested in mounting and flying my FS100.

I might need something a tad bigger, like one of the ones in the videos you posted.

All of the videos I posted are using the same aircraft except for the one at the beach, it carries two gopro cameras and it really isnt much bigger than mine.

To carry a professional camera you're going to need an octocopter (8 motors) or a large RC Helicopter (more difficult to fly) and possible have someone else fly the aircraft, while you 'fly' the camera. The price gets exponentially higher, like 10x - 20x more depending on how complicated you get with it.

Or you could do it like the Brain Farm Cinema guys do it with a Hollywood-quality Cineflex camera

There is a HUGE market for aerial cinematography, which is definitely why I'm looking into it.

There is also huge opposition from the FAA regarding commercial use of unmanned aircraft. Otherwise I would have been into this 2 years ago when I first started playing with these things. But at least now the FAA is starting to listen and have people dedicated to coming up with solutions on licensing and waivers, etc. But the gears turn slow with the Government. Luckily I live in an area with large amounts of open desert.

Being able to program a shot and have it repeat it until you're happy with the results is awesome.

Is there a good message board or resource site for this sort of thing?

I dont want to get in trouble for linking to other forums so copy and paste these into your browser...

diydrones.com
aeroquad.com
rcgroups.com/multirotor-talk-659/
rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_81/tt.htm
rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_487/tt.htm

I've been on rcgroups and rcuniverse for years, but I just lurk at the other two.

[SilentKnight]

The vid with the bird is amazing. Reminds me of one of my flights where the bird came within a few feet of the lens (not nearly as close as in yours, though).

Next summer I'm hoping to take the quadcopter to the base of a local waterfall and shoot video from the lagoon upwards to the edge of the falls. Just need to get a little more experienced with the controls - the falls have some wicked updrafts and unpredictable wind shifts.

And then there's the whole water thing.

[Mr Pheer]

The vid with the bird is amazing. Reminds me of one of my flights where the bird came within a few feet of the lens (not nearly as close as in yours, though).

Next summer I'm hoping to take the quadcopter to the base of a local waterfall and shoot video from the lagoon upwards to the edge of the falls. Just need to get a little more experienced with the controls - the falls have some wicked updrafts and unpredictable wind shifts.

And then there's the whole water thing.

Those swimming-pool noodle things provide great flotation and can be cut easily

[Theo]

Wow impressive