AH-6Z Littlebird Night-Ops build project

[Zeeflyboy]

So, not directly related but kinda cool... Here's the EzUHF mount I designed earlier.








I must say it looks to have come out great. They gave me a discount due to colour issues, but I can't really see any... Or at least under this light I can't.

It's pretty light, so won't add any noticeable weight to the controller but I'm impressed with how strong and rigid it feels.

Just need to wait till I get back on Monday before I can try slotting in my EzUHF and confirming the fit.

[Zeeflyboy]

So a little video to share... got my CNC up and running and have officially just cut my first parts! Decided to keep things simple for the beginning...

They are the frame braces I've designed for beefing up the area where I cut away a lot of frame to fit my oversized motor... I made them out of 2.5mm carbon fibre, very stiff and strong. They look great, and a ruler suggests the size is spot on - we'll see how well I did with measuring it all in the first place when I get back tomorrow and can try it on the frame! Really excited that I can produce parts of such precision now and this is only getting started with it. Next up is figuring out the 3D side of machining rather than just this 2D stuff!

First up here are the braces after a quick wash down:





And heres the vid (with fitting sound track imo! sorry about the ads, apparently EMI are laying claim to the music.)


My first CNC machine

[g.collins]

well don mate, parts are looking great, glad you got the hang of it, one thing to watch out for, is to cut out the hols before the profiling.
its a great feeling to produce your own parts.
:) G

[Zeeflyboy]

You mean in terms of cutting order, cut the holes first?

Makes sense, I just left it how the software had done it. Need to look and see how I change that in the program.

Cheers

[Zeeflyboy]

But of course old chum... but of course.

Here's a little update on a couple of bits...

The frame bracing:

So here in the first pic you can see how much carbon has been left where the motor mounts. Norra lorra is the technical term I believe.... since this is a big motor and driving a big 5 blade head, I would expect at best some flexing there which could lead to gear damage... at worst of course the frame could fail. Neither is good.





So here you can see the frame braces I machined fitted... cross braced by the lower bearing mount at the back and two aluminium cross sections at the front. Much better! Front end feels totally solid now when I try to twist it in my hands.









And here the EzUHF slipped into it's new home - fits just beautifully. I need to mount the module next but there's a complication regarding my plans... so that may have to wait. I have taken a picture to give an idea of how it looks attached to the back of the radio though.

I've just got one or two small tweaks I'd like to do to this design, then anyone who wants to can order it. I will also make the changes needed to fit the new EzUHF this weekend. I'll be releasing it at cost price (ie I make nothing on it) so I offer it on the basis that it's all at your own risk! Pay attention to the tabs on the module and make sure they can deal with the weight of the EzUHF and if you feel the need to mount it more securely, then perhaps make a small bracket or mount directly to your radio. It's at your own discretion.

Oh and some very interesting developments on the way for those of you who use EzUHF by the way... Immersion are doing some great stuff! More on that soon hopefully.

[Brucey]

Nice EZuhf mount. What have Immersion got up their sleeve then?

[Zeeflyboy]

Many things!

For now I'm referring to 12 channel firmware though - I see they have posted it on their facebook page so it's no problem mentioning it.

The really nice thing for a lot of guys here will be the fact you can offload the HT onto higher channels... so let's say you have an 8ch radio, you'll now have at least 10 channels if you want to use head tracking.... you just set the EzUHF to output HT to channels 9/10 or 11/12.

You can also assign any servo output to any pin - so you could run PPM out from ch1 to eg a naza, then have servo pins 2-8 outputting channels 5-12 for example... just a whole lot of flexibility!

Personally my plan is to be running the 8ch from my Futaba, through the channel wizard which will have 6 inputs (pots/switches) multiplexed across channels 9 and 10... the Channel wizard then sends the 12ch stream (channels 11/12 empty) to the EzUHF which takes the HT input and injects it to channels 11 and 12.

End result should be 16 channels if all goes well.

I'll post more details as and when I get it all up and running.

[Coyote]

That a smart cradle, like that a lot :)

[Flyn]

Yeah, I'd like one too!

Just thought, how about adding a tab to the lower edge to protect the s-video plug in the bottom of the UHF tx?

This would stop you pulling it out & allow you to lay the tx down flat

[DaveyLC]

So, not directly related but kinda cool... Here's the EzUHF mount I designed earlier.

That is fan-bloody-tastic :|

[g.collins]

Nice EZuhf mount, I can see one of the big boys steeling that idea and running with it, theory nice.
:) G

[Zeeflyboy]

Cheers guys, I'm just sorry it's a bit expensive... I made it as cheap as possible with all the cut outs etc though.

G if you want the .STL to have a shot at printing one on your machine feel free to give me a shout

[g.collins]

that's kind of you bud, but I will need to make one for my Dragonlink.
:) G

[Zeeflyboy]

Ah ok, nevermind then!


So here's a little look at the new FLIR pod - I have installed the camera (minus wires for now) and have been playing with getting the mechanism for tilt working. Dayum it's tight in there lol...

I've finally got it sorted though I think:

25x25mm camera installed, teeny tiny servo and some 1mm piano wire as a linkage... this is the upper extent of travel.




Full downwards extent:





And all fitted together (minus a front lens cover)





And here's a rough idea of how it sizes up to the heli. In real life it looks pretty good - much happier with the proportions... So if this works out with the chain and sprockets for pan, I should end up with 360 degrees pan (not continuous though... good because it stops the wires getting twisted up lol) and about 75 degrees of tilt.

[Zeeflyboy]

Here's a quick vid of the tilt working.

Quick demo of the FLIR pod tilt axis