Strangely I've found myself nearing the completion stage of this build, and havent taken any pictures so far lol
so I quickly nipped down to the garage and took some snaps, just to share some of the features of my build...
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x613.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x613.jpg.html)
Battery bay, just waiting for some heavy duty velcro strip to arrive which will line the bottom of this area. Vector GPS on the top shelf, Vector PSU at the bottom.
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x624.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x624.jpg.html)
Vector main unit installed on some reinforced popsicle sticks and lego (more about that later....)
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x611.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x611.jpg.html)
TGY 4409MD Servos were the perfect depth for the recess when on the side, but I had to cut some foam out to resize the hole itself.
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x615.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x615.jpg.html)
Went for my usual M2 threaded steel pushrod with a Z bend at the servo end and a steel M2 threaded clevis at the horn end. After a few flights, when I've adjusted the rods to the correct length, I'll secure the clevises with heatshrink tubing
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x614.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x614.jpg.html)
EzUHF 4Ch Lite rx in the pre-moulded slot, covered with some correx and fibre tape, the other thing further down near the leading edge is a lost model buzzer operated by a switch on the tx which will also be set to go off as part of my failsafe settings.
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x617.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x617.jpg.html)
1.2GHz VTX de-cased and installed into the opposite, pre-moulded slot, once again covered with correx but this time I've deliberately left the holes poking up from the wing surface in order to divert airflow into the VTX area.
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x618.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x618.jpg.html)
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x620.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x620.jpg.html)
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x616.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x616.jpg.html)
I was going to design some elaborate way of keeping the GoPro in the hole in the nose, but found that shoving in a bit of popsicle stick keeps the GoPro in there nice and tight (ooh err!)
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x622.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x622.jpg.html)
The rear compartment has little ledges on either side of the fuselage... at first glance you probably think they're there to house a shelf of some description... well unfortunately no "shelf" is included with the kit, so people have made their own.
This presented a problem for me as I had already glued my fuselage halves together before noticing I could have put a shelf in there.... and now the hatch at the back is too small to fit a shelf of the right dimensions through
So I came up with a plan... Rather than a single flat shelf spanning the width and length of the rear compartment, I thought it would be a good idea to have ample access around the Vector and to the wires/plugs underneath it.
I got some popsicle sticks and cut them to the right length to span the gap. I glued one on top of the other in order to stiffen them and make them stronger. I then wrapped the ends in fibre tape for extra stiffness and strength.
In the middle I glued a 1x4 flat lego piece
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x604.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x604.jpg.html)
on the underside of the vector, I attached 4 2x2 flat lego pieces using double sided foam tape.
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x605.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x605.jpg.html)
I now simply push the vector onto the long flat black lego strip then push that onto the lego on the popsicle struts.
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x608.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x608.jpg.html)
I can hold onto the vector and lift the entire weight of the X6 without the lego coming apart, but if I need to take the Vector out for firmware updates, or to make it easy to connect/disconnect plugs/wires etc all I need to do is twist it off.
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x611.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x611.jpg.html)
The good thing is, when I put the vector back in, it's always in exactly the same place as it was before.
Its an impressive beast make sure your batteries are well secured I remembered a accident i had many years back where on a abrupt arrival my rx pack( four c size ni-cad cells) went straight through my instamatic camera :( I am thinking of your go pro here ;) I was landing on a cow field but found one of the few rocks hidden in amongst the cow pats :D
dizzy :)
Looking good BF :)
What motor / prop combo you going for?
Looks very nice as usual, I trust you'll be flying it gently and treating it like a lady.
Quote from: Miles on December 22, 2015, 10:52:17 PM
Looking good BF :)
What motor / prop combo you going for?
Turnigy 3548 1100kv motor, in fact it's from my first ever skyhunter when I ran it off 3S
I'll be running a 10x6 prop on 4S
Quote from: Steve W on December 22, 2015, 10:55:45 PM
Looks very nice as usual, I trust you'll be flying it gently and treating it like a lady.
nope :) that's what the skywalker 1900 is for
Looking good as usual Chris, loving the lego! Nice idea!
I haven't managed to post the saw filter yet, as I can't actually find it! Still hunting though so will let you know, sorry man!
That lego idea is pretty nifty Chris :)
Looks great
Quote from: iwan_canobi on December 23, 2015, 01:31:50 AM
Looking good as usual Chris, loving the lego! Nice idea!
I haven't managed to post the saw filter yet, as I can't actually find it! Still hunting though so will let you know, sorry man!
I'm not in a hurry bud... don't worry if you can't find it.
I've just rebuilt my groundstation with the Lawmate RX which doesn't appear to need any modifications (or so I've read... and I've been over 5km so far on stock antennas so all's good)
Quote from: Gundummy on December 23, 2015, 10:46:58 AM
That lego idea is pretty nifty Chris :)
Cheers mate... I was looking around for something stiff enough to span the gap, and saw the big box of lego and went hunting lol
Quote from: Billy_boy_2010 on December 24, 2015, 01:31:29 AM
Looks great
Ta buddy
Well it's completely finished now...
All switches and channels are programmed in the transmitter, EzUHF bound, Vector receiver wizard has been run and failsafes set.
Vector is all programmed for Elevon airframe and the control surfaces move in the right direction... which is always a good thing :)
all I need to do is find a day when I can fly it.... and a field that isn't flooded around here lol
just a few more pictures, mainly of the FPV camera installation.
I know it's poking out a bit on the top, but it's fairly aerodynamic anyway so I'm not too fussed. Much better than having a mobius or runcam velcroed to the top of the hatch, or god forbid a full on pan/tilt setup
in my opinion, planes like this shouldn't have pan/tilt setups... completely ruins the profile of it.
anyway, I think this still looks sleek and fast, and I certainly won't be worried about anything breaking off lol.
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x626.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x626.jpg.html)
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x628.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x628.jpg.html)
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x629.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x629.jpg.html)
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x630.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x630.jpg.html)
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x631.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x631.jpg.html)
(http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/chrisbrit81/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x633.jpg) (http://s1215.photobucket.com/user/chrisbrit81/media/FPV%20Private/Skywalker%20X6/x633.jpg.html)
Quote from: BlueFlyer on December 29, 2015, 01:34:06 AM
... or god forbid a full on pan/tilt setup
in my opinion, planes like this shouldn't have pan/tilt setups... completely ruins the profile of it.
Ooops.....
(http://s8.postimg.org/aqw2kz54h/WP_20151229_00_37_05_Pro.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/aqw2kz54h/)
haha, well good luck with it mate, here's hoping you don't fly it fast enough to rip that mount off lol
Hi Blueflyer, just working on my X6 and wondering if you have found out where the c of g should be. According to my calculations it is just in front of the wing joiner tube.
Thanks
zagifly
Sorry, just found your crash video and not a very polite question to ask.
zagifly
Quote from: zagifly on January 03, 2016, 06:09:08 PM
Sorry, just found your crash video and not a very polite question to ask.
zagifly
Oh no... that wasn't the X6 that crashed lol
the X6 is still in one piece, had to abandon the maiden
X6 maiden update.... there was no maiden lol
Got to the field and before I set any of my gear up properly, I chucked my falcon wing in the air to get a feel for it LOS before popping the goggles on... mega tail heavy and a crash ensued.
I recovered it, put the mobius on the front in the hope that this would make it less tail heavy, and launched again.... LOS... still completely unflyable and another crash happened, this time completely wrecking my mobius.
So not a good start, but I thought heck, I've brought 3 planes, I've still got the X6 maiden.
first thing... I forgot to put my GoPro in the nose, then I forgot to press record on the GoPro... then I realised I had forgotten to put the wing screws in... By the time I thought I was ready to launch, my head was all over the place.
so all powered up, surfaces checked moving the right way, stabilisation checked moving the surfaces the right way, prop nut checked, thrust test..... and there it was.... the straw that broke the camel's back.
I took absolutely NO notice when plugging the 3 motor wires into the ESC, because this particular ESC you can change the motor direction by simply plugging in it's programming card and telling it to.
The motor was spinning the wrong way, and with the wires buried deep in the tail of the X6 and my programming card at home on the bench... I had no option but to abandon the maiden flight.
Good job I had my trusty Skywalker 1900, otherwise the morning would have been a complete waste of time lol
So there you go... the crash on new year's day was NOT my X6 and the X6 is still unflown, motor now spinning the right way but it's currently hanging on my garage wall :)
Here's to the next good weather window :)
Still no maiden... and I realised I hadn't done something extremely important....
I hadn't checked the CG
I was all ready to chuck my X6 into the air without checking the CG was OK. It's a good job all those things happened that led me to abandon the maiden because as people have already said... this thing is MASSIVELY nose heavy.
I picked it up earlier tonight and checked the CG without the GoPro in the nose but with the LiPo in place... and it's nose heavy... with the GoPro its a nose dive waiting to happen.
I've decided I need to use a dedicated 3S LiPo in the rear bay to power the BEC, FPV cam, VTX and the Vector... may take a little longer to get this baby in the air now
Today was the maiden of the X6. It was very windy, gusting up to 35mph at times but the X6 is substantial enough to cope with the wind. The launch was pretty uneventful (that's a good thing ;) ) and I'm happy that my motor/prop combo is suitable for this airframe.
Here are a few points:
1. The X6 likes to send itself into what some may call a "Death Spiral" without much warning. I will be fitting some wing fences to the top surface in an attempt to keep air flowing over the wing instead of along it. I think on swept back wings like this, lateral airflow can result in a sudden loss of lift near the tips of the wing which causes one wing to drop violently, making the X6 roll quickly.
2. The X6 was bobbing around all over the place... This may be because of the awful flying conditions today, but it may also be attributed to high gains within the Vector flight controller. I will put the gains back down to their defaults and see how it goes next time
3. I wanted to maiden the X6 exactly how it was designed... with the wings attached as per the included methods. The clips in the middle and the screws did a fine job of keeping the wings on, and after I landed the wings were still attached fully (thank goodness). Also, the D-SUB connectors for the control surfaces, VTX and EzUHF wires worked perfectly throughout the flight. However I'm not overly happy with the small gap left between the wing and the fuselage. I can transport the X6 in my car without needing to take the wings off so I might end up permanently gluing and taping the wings on.
4. I actually quite like the slightly downward angle of the footage from the GoPro... it's different from my skywalker as I like to keep that pointing straight ahead for a more real feel to the flight. The GoPro angle from the X6 means it's always got a lot of the ground in view.
things to address:
nodding dog syndrome... look at gains and control surface throws.
death spiral... wing fences
wing attachment... glue/tape
Flight footage to come later....
Good stuff, I helped my friend maiden his last week and it was also uneventful, seems like a nice flying platform. He did comment on the gap at the wing join as well, looks like it is a common issue. I've yet to start mine but not in any rush at the minute, and this weather isn't looking like it will let up any time soon either!
My mate and I have a couple of these to setup too, although I'm also in no rush as I'm not really sure it's going to do anything vastly different to the Falcon I bought off you.
cheers. I'll try that.
At the moment I've got the CG so that the x6 balances with my fingertips placed in the centre of the wing clips.
I'll move the main LiPo forward a bit. Like they say... a nose heavy plane will fly badly, a tail heavy plane will fly once ;)
Quote from: skyscraper on January 26, 2016, 11:48:03 AM
Try moving the C.G forward. That will cure that problem
regards
Andy
This too imo.
Had a couple of planes death spiral and it has always been a very slightly tail heavy problem in hindsight.
Looking forward to your X6 Maiden Blue, and that that downward viewing angle on your GoPro is pleasing after all...more ground, less sky...:)
See, clouds are just not that interesting, except perhaps when flying through them...lol.
:vulture:
Quote from: English Turbines on January 26, 2016, 04:05:44 PM
Looking forward to your X6 Maiden Blue, and that that downward viewing angle on your GoPro is pleasing after all...more ground, less sky...:)
:vulture:
my flight cam is still pointing straight ahead
I don't think it's worth posting the X6 maiden video, it's dull, it's windy and the vector was bobbing the wing all over the place... I'd probably just end up making you all feel queezy lol
This evening I made a few minor changes to the X6 that should help get it a bit more dialled in for the kind of flying I want to do with it.
1 - In order to avoid the dreaded death spiral, I've moved the rear 3S LiPo forward about 10cm. It now sits underneath the Vector lego shelf.
2 - I've moved the pushrod clevis to the upper-most hole on the control horn at the elevons, the Z bend is already at the lowest hole on the servo horn. This will physically reduce the throws to the minimum possible before adjusting endpoints in the TX.
3 - I've reduced the gains within the Vector software back down to 50. They started at 50 as default, but for some reason I had set them to 75 before the maiden.
Gains/Throws - Too high gains make the vector too sensitive to movements, and this causes it to put a fair amount of opposite signal down to the control surface. Add to that, the large throws and the aircraft over-corrects the movement, causing the over-sensitive vector to once again send a signal to the surfaces to correct this new movement... it's over-correcting and over-sensitive all at the same time and the plane just ends up bobbing along. It starts off slowly and eventually gets to the point where it induces vomiting lol
Hopefully by reducing both the throws and the gains, I can get the X6 flying without making myself sick :)
loving the use of the lego !
i made this if you need one http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1419025 (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1419025)
did that take you long to get it the right shape/size?