New Tripod GS

[iPeel]

Carbon Chic.. Very Bling... But Just to clarify for newbies.. you don't need to make everything out of carbon plate... In most uses, including the above pic, 4 mm ply would be more than adequate and a fraction of the price.. not that anyone ever listens to me  :+

When we met up last weekend I couldn't figure out whether you were setting up your groundstation or building a shed Andy.

[skyscraper]

Carbon Chic.. Very Bling... But Just to clarify for newbies.. you don't need to make everything out of carbon plate... In most uses, including the above pic, 4 mm ply would be more than adequate and a fraction of the price.. not that anyone ever listens to me  :+

When we met up last weekend I couldn't figure out whether you were setting up your groundstation or building a shed Andy.

With the combination of my rampant agoraphobia, missing my workshop and the bleedin cold...  it was obviously ... the latter   :laugh:

regards
Andy

[Coyote]

Ok so change of plans...........

The plate looks great, cut really well, but I don`t like it :(

The problem is that the size of the carbon sheet was limiting how far I could get the GPS sensor clear of the tracker above. It will no doubt get sat lock, but I want it much further out then it was to get a much better lock.

The only way around this without a botch job is order another sheet of carbon fiber, this time an A4 size. This would give me a further 8cm to push the GPS sensor out and another 2 the other side so I could bring the display and button out too. This wasn't necessary but I might as well while I could.

As Andy said, this could all be done with ply wood instead of carbon. Carbon is more expensive, but the new sheet costing a grand total of £12 isn't going to break the bank.

So as I extended the plate in sketchup I figured it was perfectly laid out, everything spaced to keep the plates strength, blah blah blah......... But it also looked incredibly dull too. Basically a rectangle slab of carbon that did what is was supposed to but looked boring lol

I was starting with essentially a fresh plate anyway so added some contours to make it look just a little bit better

[Gundummy]

Ok so change of plans...........

The plate looks great, cut really well, but I don`t like it

No.. no.. I'm not having that lol  :P   perfectionist? OCD?  :D

[Coyote]

OK so progress .......... Of sorts .......... Not a great deal but I thought I`d show you the layout at least of how its going to be.

Fitted the battery holders with straps then the holders to the legs. I cut the foam to remove slots in the tripod and then clamped them to the two rears.

The sizes are to accommodate Zippy 3S 5000mah Hard case lipos from Hobbyking.



As you can see in the third picture when the legs are closed down the bracket clears the center tube.

The plates are pretty wide though, did my maths work out so when the tripod is collapsed they clear each other still ??



Too right :) ;)



Then the little bracket was glued up, then also foam was slotted, and it was fitted to take the diversity receiver / monitor / DVR :



This way the :

1) Monitor can come straight off and be put in a protective case ( old one is scratched all over because of no protection.)
2) Tripod lipos are now no longer taped or velcro`d to the inner shaft. Instead mounted on a solid surface.
3) Tripod can now be fully folded up and placed in bag for protection and portability.
4) Multiple lipos can be used for whole days instead of swapping out each time a 5000mah 3S has ran out.
5) Not a single wire will run to the receiver so no failure points due to damaged cables during transit.

[Coyote]

Ok so change of plans...........

The plate looks great, cut really well, but I don`t like it

No.. no.. I'm not having that lol  :P   perfectionist? OCD?  :D

Erm ........... Can I pick two :)

[marcin]

I just find out that tread  :laugh:

[Coyote]

Ahhhh well............ In for a penny in for a pound :)

With a better look for the tracker plate the battery plates and monitor plates had to be redesigned to match up or it just wouldn't look right :)

[marcin]

I will have full time soon with Ian ideas  :P

[Coyote]

Marcin has started to cut the plates, the new larger tracker plate and monitor holder that matches better are done.





Not a massive difference, just a few curves to make it more pleasing to the eye :)

Next up ready cut is the tracker plate. Nice and clean. There is a point to redesigning this one though, to bring the GPS sensor much further out for a better reception area. On the top with GPS, lipo straps, MFD ATT, Vtx, Power switch and voltage display mounted :



Underneath the wiring has been done, nothing spectacular, power for each unit, switching, AV for the VTX etc :



So far looking really good and almost done now





Still waiting for the new battery holders, but once they are here the tripod is then done.

Very excited for Monday, Tim ( Gundummy ) has had my suction cup part of the ground station and has been dipping it with carbon look film. Now this was not an easy job and took many attempts but from pictures from Tim it looks awesome and with let the yellow handled clashing part now match up with the themed ground station beautifully :)

[stevec]

Tart


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[Billy_boy_2010]

Wow this is excellent.

You're a real perfectionist Ian.

When it's all done could you make a video demonstrating it all? I don't think the photos will do it justice.

[Coyote]

Cheers bud, yeah I`ll do a video of it all together and the case once its done

[Coyote]

The GS sits nicely on the suction cup handle



The handle then sits everything nicely on the car roof too



Very quick demo

[Billy_boy_2010]

Looks great

One question- is this car mounted GS to allow you to fly from inside the car on a cold day? And if so, how do you control a plane with your Tx inside?

Watching that video of it I noticed your wordpress site- can't believe I have never noticed that before! Gonna spend ages reading up on it! :)