SplashDrone

[Miles]

Hi all,
I'm doing some work for a Local Canoe centre to build an aerial platform so they can produce footage over the water, rapids etc :) It's based on a Tarot 680 Hex frame, with a pixhawk on the flight controls hooked up to a Storm32BGC 3 axis gimbal.

Because of its role over the water, one of the objectives for this build is water resistance on critical components. This isn't to protect it in a crash, it's so we can fly 1~2 ft above the rapids whilst it gets soaked without it falling out of the sky.

Build specs are
Frame: Tarot FY680 Ironman
Motors: NTM 2830s 800KV
ESC: 30A BLHeli
LiPo: 8~16 AH 4S Multistar
Props: tbd (12-13 Carbon)
FC: Pixhawk
     GPS: M8N
     Telemetry: 3DR 500mw
     BEC: 3DR Power Module
RX: FRsky X8r
VTX: Eachine TS840 5.8G

Video feed will be from GoPro. For more close proximity shots, the aircraft will be fitted with another regular FPV cam for the pilot, along with a camera operator.

I'll be posting photos as I go along :)

[Coyote]

Looks a good spec list :)

[BlueFlyer]

reminds me of this

! No longer available

[FPVSteve]

Question: will this float?

[Dillwhacker]

Question: will this float?

Question: Will this sink?

LOL
;D

[Miles]

Looks a good spec list :)

Hopefully :) Based on a tried and tested powersystem from my discovery :)

reminds me of this

! No longer available

Its a similar idea, though rather than sealing the entire frame, I reckon it'll be easier and lighter to seal off individual component groups.

Question: will this float?

Potentially. Making it truly waterproof would be quite difficult, and as the water isn't always smooth, it wouldn't be viable for launch and landings, so it wouldn't need to float for that. The plan is to operate it from 2 rafted canoes, bit like the pic below, but with 2 joining beams and a landing pad.

There is a possibility that (as long as it doesn't affect the flight time too much) the legs will be fitted with air canisters (Bottles...) so that if it does ditch it will not sink, but that wouldn't be stable enough for landing.

The frame and motors arrived yesterday, and I've made a start bolting it all together :) I like these Tarot 680 frames, they feel well built but not too big compared to some non folding hexcopters. Photos to follow.

[FPVSteve]

lol .. remind me not to be in one of those boats (bobbing up and down) while someones trying to land it on the landing pad .. what could go wrong :D

[Miles]

lol .. remind me not to be in one of those boats (bobbing up and down) while someones trying to land it on the landing pad .. what could go wrong :D

Hahaha! It'll be interesting :P I'll make sure we film the first few attempts, should be quite interesting... :)

Because we have a Pixhawk and the boat will be anchored, we can bring it in on RTH and "recentre" it on the way down. The boats we are using are also a bit longer than those in the pic, so we should be a nice distance away from it :)

[Billy_boy_2010]

flite test did an article on this once. they used a special spray to waterproof components and had a rx, esc and motor all running underwater perfectly well.

Is it worth building this so it floats? or has a fishing float and a line visible on top that's easily released with a servo so if you crash it you can see where it is?

[Miles]

flite test did an article on this once. they used a special spray to waterproof components and had a rx, esc and motor all running underwater perfectly well.

Is it worth building this so it floats? or has a fishing float and a line visible on top that's easily released with a servo so if you crash it you can see where it is?

Just looked it up :) That CorrosionX stuff looks interesting :) Have ordered a tin, will be good for general waterproofing, even if not for this build specifically.
I'll update the floating situation later, but I've had a couple of ideas that should increase floatiness without a huge weight penalty :)

[Jake Bullit]

Reminded me of this

http://youtu.be/AyPMhK5XVQg

[Harveybear]

Liquid electrical tape is excellent for waterproofing components, and comes off easy when no longer needed, used on my buggies to waterproof them. CorrosionX is good too.