Quadcopter build

#1
As my interest with Videography/Cinematography has sparked, I have become fascinated with the amazing shots you can get from a quad,gimbal and a gopro. So with a bit of guidance from a fellow Cinematographer/Model Airplane builder i sent off a order to Hobbyking and a few other suppliers.

One point i will make is to NEVER fly this in unsafe situations or near/risk hitting people, I see quite a bit of liability with these things.

I make no guarantee this thing will ever fly with these parts, but its what im starting with.

Parts list

HobbyKing

2) Hobbyking X580 Glass Fiber Quadcopter Frame (1 extra for spare parts)
4) HobbyKing 30A BlueSeries Brushless Speed Controller
4) NTM Prop Drive 28-26 1000KV / 235W (short shaft version)
5) NTM Prop Drive 28 Series Accessory Pack (1 extra for spare parts)
1) Hobbyking Multi-Rotor Power Distribution Board (DIY 8 x output PCB)
12) 10x4.5 SF Props 2pc Standard Rotation/2 pc RH Rotation ( I was told i would break quite a few of these)
1) Turnigy 9X 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver

HobbyPartz
2) Sky Lipo 3000mAh 11.1V 40C

Witespyquad - US Seller of MultiWii Pro flight control boards.
1) MultiWii Pro 2.0
1) uBlox 6M GPS W/ Mounting backplane and compass ( Return to Home and Fully autonomous Missions)

Amazon
1) Tarot Brushless GoPro Gimbal

Random Parts
Mostly just wiring and hardware(stand offs)
 
#4
yep, same here.. watching for some cool shots from this.

out of curiosity.. how does the sum of the pricing of individual parts compare to some of the preassembled ones?
 
#5
Rebel OffRoad uses one of these type R/C's a good bit lately on their YouTube channel. They have a bunch of cool shots on the beach and in Moab.
 
#6
yep, same here.. watching for some cool shots from this.

out of curiosity.. how does the sum of the pricing of individual parts compare to some of the preassembled ones?
For the caliber of the copter I'm building I'm saving about 2/3 of the price of a ready to fly unit, with more features and the ability to upgrade as i see fit.

For instance, This copter will be able to fly fully autonomous missions. I should also have enough lift to fly dual batteries for extended run time. Also if i ever decide to build a Hex or a Octo Copter i can reuse some of the components.
 
#7
Made a good bit of progress last night, I completed all of the heavy DC wiring (- the battery connector, Ran out of Deans) and routed the Control wires to the control board.
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#8
Hey tripp, I know you are a stickler for name brand stuff, but I bought some of these knock off deans a while back and they seem to do the job just fine. I also bought their servo plug kits and some of their 4mm bullet connectors. For the price it was hard to beat.

http://www.valuehobby.com/accessories/connectors.html?p=1

a lot of it is just stuff you can buy from hobbyking or hobbypartz, but they already stock it in the US so you get it faster.
 
#11
so, will the gopro mount be motorized and rotating independent of the copter itself? Pan/Tilt ??
The gimbal will provide stabilization on the roll and pitch axis. Its keeps the camera perfectly level unless i feed it a overriding signal to tilt or roll the camera. It has its on control system independent of the flight controller. I will more than likely leave it as a combined system but eventually i will add a second Radio for a "camera operator" and a Video Transmitter for a live feed back.

One day id like to feel confident enough to build one for a DSLR or Cinema Camera. Similar to this.
cinestar8.jpg
 
#12
The gimbal will provide stabilization on the roll and pitch axis. Its keeps the camera perfectly level unless i feed it a overriding signal to tilt or roll the camera. It has its on control system independent of the flight controller. I will more than likely leave it as a combined system but eventually i will add a second Radio for a "camera operator" and a Video Transmitter for a live feed back.

One day id like to feel confident enough to build one for a DSLR or Cinema Camera. Similar to this.
cinestar8.jpg
Tripp, I'm convinced that what you need in your life is a screaming child in the middle of the night to distract your hobbies.. :+)
 
#14
Looks like progress is coming to a stop, I was setting the direction of the motors last night and discovered one of my speed controls is bad. I have 2 on the way form a state side source. Once those come in I should be able to get this thing off the ground.
 
#19
Well ive been a bit slack updating this. I got the props balanced and attempted several fights. I quickly learned that the tall landing gear was a disaster waiting to happen, so i ditched it in favor for some custom ones mounted to the arms.
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After several un successful attempts to get this thing up in the air, i admitted defeat and I dropped it off for a buddy to look at. He basically told me i needed to learn to fly. Totally opposite of what i was expecting... after all all you have to do is drive it like a rc car...WRONG...
Fast forward, a little practice later and I discovered another issue. Its very hard to identify orientation from the ground. That becomes very important very quickly. So i have added a FPV (First Person View) camera and High power Video transmitter to give a front seat view while the craft is airborne.
Here is the video from today. Its super boring so feel free to skim. I also need to work on the antenna situation, the Video TX didn't work as well as it should have. This video is also not in hd or stabilized, its directly mounted to the chassis.
[video=youtube_share;iU1Tbf8_caY]http://youtu.be/iU1Tbf8_caY[/video]
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