Zephalcon Z3 Copy Scratchbuild

skyscraper · November 12, 2014, 08:29:01 AM

Yes Its a very nice mod. The only issue with it is that (unless you make the stub fuselage very wide as here) the battery is long ways on. In a crash that is more likely to bend the battery against the front of the fuselage, camera etc. With the battery sideways on and wrapped in foam, its really nicely protected and has a lot of area to cushion it.
Anyway if I did it I would prob like to make the fuselage thin just to fit the battery long ways on and accept the consequences. I dont use a gopro so dont need it wide!

regards
Andy

FPVSteve · November 12, 2014, 10:58:19 AM

^ yep..

If you do a thin nose, make sure to use a carbon rod or something on each side and tape it up nicely, then it'll be virtually indestructible. Even using lollipop sticks can work wonders for strength if you don't have any carbon.

BlueFlyer · November 12, 2014, 12:36:35 PM

only thing putting me off doing the aforementioned mod to my go-discover, is the motor mounting solution... I was thinking about hacking something together from depron and plywood... but then I remembered these:

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__34066__Wicked_Wing_Electric_Motor_Mount.html

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__34074__Wicked_Wing_XL_Electric_Motor_Mount.html

It will be a chopped up go-discover anyway, but I would still want it to look decent

iwan_canobi · November 12, 2014, 12:44:21 PM

Yeah, I only made it so wide to increase the overall wingspan enough to try and make it more stable. It doesn't really look anything like the Z3, that part was more in jest! :)

It does allow loads of room though, it could easily carry 2x 3000mah 4S, although I'm not sure how well it would cope with the added weight.

Next up will be a board cam to sit next to the gopro, and maybe some kind of OSD/Autopilot. I almost lost where I was the other day and without a home arrow it makes things difficult! I've got battery voltage monitor OSD at the moment but thats all.

BlueFlyer · November 12, 2014, 01:06:11 PM

I'd steer clear of the Storm OSD for a wing... I've never been able to get it to work with a wing.. perhaps it's just me lol

iwan_canobi · November 12, 2014, 02:09:06 PM

What was wrong with it? I had mine in the Falcon originally, and also briefly in the Skywalker Falcon wing I had as well and it worked ok?

This will be further down the line anyway, need to reign in the spending a bit for a while! Although I say that every month! :P

I may actually try a mk2 with a brand new Falcon wing, and make the center section thinner and lower profile to improve the aero a bit. Will see how this one fares over time.

CurryKitten · November 12, 2014, 02:12:56 PM

I've got a storm on my Falcon as well, I find it a bit slow in PA... and perhaps I could tune that some more, but it comes on back when I hit RTH, so that bit works well enough for me :)

skyscraper · November 12, 2014, 03:59:00 PM

Quote from: CurryKitten on November 12, 2014, 02:12:56 PM
I've got a storm on my Falcon as well, I find it a bit slow in PA... and perhaps I could tune that some more, but it comes on back when I hit RTH, so that bit works well enough for me :)

RTH is the Number 1 reason I have an AP for definitely, though Ive always used Ardupilot etc...

but RTH and OSD ... wouldnt really want to fly without it!

regards
Andy

iwan_canobi · November 12, 2014, 04:24:15 PM

Hmm, now this could be an excuse to have a play with Ardupilot.....tempting....

What do I need for a basic setup? Just Ardupilot controller + GPS + OSD? I have a minim osd, would that work?

skyscraper · November 12, 2014, 05:35:35 PM

Quote from: iwan_canobi on November 12, 2014, 04:24:15 PM
Hmm, now this could be an excuse to have a play with Ardupilot.....tempting....

What do I need for a basic setup? Just Ardupilot controller + GPS + OSD? I have a minim osd, would that work?

MinimOSD will work fine. It was originally designed for Ardupilot. Ardupilot will work with pretty much any GPS, though I would not recommend one of the tiny ones. The ones with a ( say 40 mm x 40 mm) groundplane and a little backup battery are the best. They get a signal much faster, so you can be ready to fly pretty much straight away. For Ardupilot hardware get a APM2.5 or higher.

The final items I would recommend are an external magnetometer and an airspeed sensor. Some versions of the Ardupilot ( and other FC's) have an onboard magnetometer, but I have found it best to mount the magnetometer on a wing well away from other metal, motors etc. Look around for a HMC5883 or HMC5983. They come on a little breakout board for a few pounds. ( You can also get GPS with a mag)

You can do without the airspeed sensor but its purpose is to compare airspeed and direction with speed and direction over the ground. With a bit of maths in the FC this is used to provide a much better heading for RTH if its windy ( by adding the vectors .. draw a triangle to get the idea), and its incredible the difference it makes.

The above list may be more than you bargained for, but with that on board RTH works really reliable. Miss any bits off and it doesnt work so well. Nevertheless you can get away with just a GPS and add the other bits incrementally and just change the settings as you go.

I cant compare Ardupilot with anything else as I havent used anything else. I have a PX4, but its basically a souped up Ardupilot and not tried it in anything yet.

Final thing is that Ardupilot is open source so you can hack away at it if you need something special. I did just that to get the flap working on my wing Tensor

regards
Andy

iwan_canobi · November 12, 2014, 06:37:25 PM

Wow, thanks for that! Looks like I'll need to do some digging then and read up on it!

I see you can get the clone boards for around £40? I know people usually don't recommend that though. Will have a hunt about, no rush anyways!

skyscraper · November 12, 2014, 07:19:53 PM

Quote from: iwan_canobi on November 12, 2014, 06:37:25 PM
Wow, thanks for that! Looks like I'll need to do some digging then and read up on it!

I see you can get the clone boards for around £40? I know people usually don't recommend that though. Will have a hunt about, no rush anyways!

I'm quite happy using other than official boards, but then I dont get any money for them! Though if you get a duff one its harder to sort it out so that is up to you. and the Ardupilot guys dont officially support the clones, though in practise its not such a big issue and most people on the diydrones forum seem happy to help. just dont mention its a clone!

regards
Andy

iwan_canobi · November 24, 2014, 12:56:32 PM

Some more flight footage if anyone is interested:

River flying with the DIY Falcon wing + Walrus

iwan_canobi · January 08, 2015, 09:26:42 PM

A little update, this has been flying really well but over Christmas I decided to spec it up a bit to get a bit more range on it. I've added in the Storm OSD AP, and also the L9R receiver to open up the range a bit. I also got some vinyl roll and covered the underside as it was taking a bit of a beating! I ordered up some correx sheets as well and cut some new winglets as the original ones were just cut out of foam board and taped over, hopefully these will be stronger.

I just hope I haven't added too much weight and ruined the flying experience as it was great fun! Just need the weather to clear to get back out and give it a test!

BlueFlyer · January 08, 2015, 11:34:35 PM

looks good, I almost made a centre section for my hacked up wing, but I was lucky enough that the CG was spot on with the gear where I had put it. Mine's not FPV though, so I reckon I'd need an extra few inches up front for camera etc.