Flite Test Tricopter, V2.5 post build crash and rebuild pics!

[Nicholas]

Hi all! After leaving the hobby for close to 2-3years. Im back

this thread is just for fun, and i really wanna show people how easy it is to fly and build a tri!!

Went straight back to helis (would like to thank feudallord for his mini-titan which i converted to FBL) But I wanted more, something interesting.
Back when i was flying at PFW with my little beamE4, i saw a guy flying a quad copter, I said to myself "I'll never fly a multi-rotor. Its so annoying and hard to see" Boy was i wrong...

Following this link http://rcexplorer.se/projects/2011/0...ricopter-v2-5/ i made my first tricopter =) after buying the frames ofcourse...

For this tri, i decided to use the KK2.0 board with the LCD Display.

Heres the shopping list, you can source them locally or from our bestest hk site:
Motors: DT750 750kV Motors
ESC’s: TURNIGY Plush 18amp Speed Controllers
Battery: 3s Turnigy 25-35C 2200mAh LiPo (im running 2 in parallel for 14min flight times)
Servo: BMS-385DMAX Digital Servo (Metal Gear) (im using some digital 22g digital servo for a better rudder, will explain later)
Props: GWS 10*4.7 or GWS 11*4.7 for heavy lifting (using APC 11x4.7)
Arm length: ~50cm (center to motoraxel) (using 35cm)
All up weight: 860 grams (Including battery) (670 g without) (mine is close to a kg because of the extra lipo)
Amps during hover: ~10A (would say mine may be abit more. Did not measure!)
Motor test: 13.2A@11.7V – 7770RPM – 1080 grams thrust / motor
And a bunch of other stuff that you can find from the link provided....

By the way, you can use 10x10mm Basswood booms from Jet Hobby they are the ones with the red line going through the center of the square side of the booms about 2.00SGD per boom!!

Also, i had to buy the frames from Flite test, which amounted to about 32SGD incl shipping? pretty neat!

the staff at Jet Hobby really helped me in identifying stuff to buy, and stuff not to buy... Thanks!

To everyone who is wondering whether i'll try FPV with this. YES I WILL. I am fully aware of all the frequencies and restricted flying areas (I held a PPL and studied abit into Airport frequencies). my fpv wants would be: Really low level FPV (max 3-4floors up) and Really short range (max 20-30m from where i am standing) i like the ground better than the sky, till date, i don't see a point in doing long distance high altitude FPV -.- you wont even know where it falls, thus i would only require a Fatshark 5.8Ghz system with a 5.8Ghz 100mw transmitter with no recording. As i said! This is just for fun!! Point is to increase receiver strength instead of transmitter power. As i said before, i don't need to fly far and high. And if it all fails, atleast i tried.

Enough with the txt, now with the pictures!



so yea, shot with an iphone4 the above was with 10x3.x APC props and a HS-65MG tail servo without the dampening mod (which i intended to use as a battery tray)
Needless to say, i got the centering wrong, and the whole thing crashed from a 6-7 floor height hurts man... But hey! i built it, i can re-build it!!

Post crash pic, shot with a samsung galaxy ACE:


Thread cant put more than 2 pics =( or something... idk, havent been on dh posting for quite awhile <br> <br>

[wanna_be_pilot]

By centering are you referring to the centering of the KK2 board on the frame or something else???

[Nicholas]

By centering are you referring to the centering of the KK2 board on the frame or something else???

I would be refering to the HS-65MG Tail servo connected to the rudder motor swivel mount. Pics coming up! Apologies, cant figure out why it failed.

[Nicholas]

wanna_be_Pilot: This is what im talking about. The rudder servo had too much binding issues with the tail motor swivel. It was bad! the servo ended up hot after each flight. So i stripped the thing and replaced the servo with a one which can handle more load, and is digital =)






End product of all my hardwork through the day and the night:



Picture of the cover mod for the kk2 board, it won't help in a crash i think, but the main idea is to protect it from the natural elements... I was thinking that its a circuit board and rain contact is a no-no...
Dont ask me for the plans! it looks kinda ugly and i really just built and measured along the way... sorry =( and besides, im sure that there are many other mods available for this.

[Nicholas]

Whats the best part about a tricopter? it folds!!



Front view:

[Nicholas]

Front view of the bottom dampening plate thing that was supposed to be built. Note the camera goes infront of the batteries. but this isnt really done yet, gonna use a dremel to fix up the camera mount. AND I STILL NEED TO GET THE CAMERA. which is in another few months...



Side pic and pic of the battery wiring... its freaking messy and im still trying to sort out all the balance leads and wiring position... knew it had little space for neatness.
But didnt expect the final build to be so... small...

[Nicholas]

UGLY Canopy! and Landing gear

This is what i mean by my canopy looks ugly in real life:



Its really sticking out like a sore thumb for the tricopter. Looks really like the AT-ST From starwars... Even my GF Who came over says it looks kinda fuggly... And its in comparison to my Mini-T and Edge 540! So imagine how bad it looks

What an AT-ST looks like for all the younger folks in DH =) (im not that old, but i really liked starwars when i was a kid) either this or some land speeder... anyway idea is that it looks bad in my opinion!!!!!! and made entirely out of balsa and hot glue -.-




On to the landing gear... I found these little landing gear frame pieces off my previous RJX50 spare parts mould. Its made of G10 material, so its perfect! just used my trusty dremel and drilled 1 more hole and widened another already-present hole to allow for zip ties to go through. Works amazingly well with the lock-nuts and M3-Bolts to tighten the landing gear!

[Nicholas]

Final word!

The Tricopter is wonderful to fly and a great transition from conventional flying to multicopter flying. The tricopter handles like a really stable heli, but yet is nimble and quick to responses when you want it to.

Maybe i have not really programmed the KK2.0 board properly and all yet. And i haven't updated the software to the latest firmware. that the auto stabilization function seems a little off

Now on to the Tips and pros and cons of the entire build as well as the tricopter in flight

BUILD

Tips
- Get everything before hand! and for the arms, get atleast 1-2 replacement sets!
- Make sure that all the electronics are hooked up properly before plugging anything in. Its really essential if you don't wanna invest in 3(or more) sets of electronics because of a wrongly wired battery lead.
- Balance props, Balance them again, and again and again.... it really helps. Trust me, i thought it was useless untill it started affecting the kk2 board.
- Learn how to solder and mount stuff on other platforms before starting this tricopter build. A basic knowledge of "How to do ******** " is really needed to get this thing flying.

Pros
- Given experience, its really easy to build =)
- Follow the instructions by RCExplorer's David Windestål on the link provided. Videos available will do practically step by step instructions on how to do what, when and where.

Cons
- Do NOT build this if you have no prior experience in RC, you may have more regrets and frustrations than others. I would suggest getting a DJI Kit or something where everything is more or less there with proper detailed instructions.
- ZIP TIES. YOU NEED ALOT OF THEM. LIKE 100++ OR SOMETHING.
- Soldering and wire placement. i consider this a con because i can never get this right -.-

Flight

Tips
- Handles like a heli, so having some heli experience would be a +
- DO NOT go inverted unless you have programmed it, ive yet to figure out how to do this, but yeah... program the multirotor board (for instance, mine a kk2.0) before trying!!!
- Orientation is important, so get it right. you don't really want 3 or more props flying into you =) It hurts.

Pros
- Agile! Fun! and Addictive! relatively stable in the wind.
- You can rope your fellow fliers in for a fun time thanks to the KK2.0 board's self leveling feature! I intend to get my dad into multi-copter flying for fun, he seems interested!
- I purely fly in non-self-leveling mode just because it seems damn fun!

Cons
- For some reason, my entire system crashed on me, could be the rudder or even an arm folding back mid flight (yes the arms are being held by friction).
- Its pretty hard to see at a distance, so i'd recommend you to just fly short distances and close to you.

**Pic above is not the final product... changed stuff here and there prior to these string of posts....

And thats that for my review-ish post on the V2.5 tricopter! Theres still so much to do on the tricopter that i really haven't figured out yet. If you see this unique flying AT-ST in the sky one day at the flying field, please do come approach me =) im not the defensive and un-friendly sort Haha!

Prior to flying the tricopter, I flew a whole string of RC stuff, from 450Helis (mild 3D), 50sized once, to high wing trainers, Low wing Trainers, 3D planes as well as gliders, so i can say that atleast im not going into the multi-copter thing blind!!

For any questions regarding this build or comments that you may want to add, feel free to pm me or post it in this thread for all to see, I would like to share and learn from all the more senior multi-copter/FPV Fliers in DH. I guess its back to basics and noob-mode on! If im wrong in anything, please do tell me!!! sharing is caring =D

Cheers and happy national day!

-Nicholas

[Aramid]

Great build and post, bro! Being in multirotors myself, tricopters have a different feel, particularly with the great yaw authority.

Here's some comments regarding your build:
- do away with the canopy, it adds weight and aerodynamic drag; although it may be functional as a protection against rain, it would be better to just avoid flying at all if rain is likely
- the KK2 board is a bit sensitive to vibrations, so make sure you dampen it;
- my experience with KK2 on a previous tri build is that it doesn't like a tail heavy craft, and i had a crash because of this; I find that the better performance is when more of the weight is carried by the two front motors, leaving the tail motor's extra power mostly for yaw and pitch; alternatively, you can have a more powerful or higher kv motor in the tail
- make sure you secure the arms when flying, I had another crash because of the arms folding while in flight

[Nicholas]

Great build and post, bro! Being in multirotors myself, tricopters have a different feel, particularly with the great yaw authority.

Here's some comments regarding your build:
- do away with the canopy, it adds weight and aerodynamic drag; although it may be functional as a protection against rain, it would be better to just avoid flying at all if rain is likely
- the KK2 board is a bit sensitive to vibrations, so make sure you dampen it;
- my experience with KK2 on a previous tri build is that it doesn't like a tail heavy craft, and i had a crash because of this; I find that the better performance is when more of the weight is carried by the two front motors, leaving the tail motor's extra power mostly for yaw and pitch; alternatively, you can have a more powerful or higher kv motor in the tail
- make sure you secure the arms when flying, I had another crash because of the arms folding while in flight

Okay! the canopy looked weird anyway~ hahaha!

However i did notice that whenever i lift off the ground, the tricopter tends to pitch forwards... is this normal or did i do something wrong O_O But thanks for the advice! i'll shift the Batteries around =)

Arms folding... hmm, the issue im having now is, how tight is tight and how secure is secure?

I'll post pics of the tri flying soon!

Cheers!
-Nicholas

[sauravbh]

Great build buddy. And thanks for postin all those pictures. I am waiting for my hobbyking order of the tri parts - same stuff as rcexporer

I am planning build it using the bat bones frame. Which I still need to order.

[Aramid]

Okay! the canopy looked weird anyway~ hahaha!

However i did notice that whenever i lift off the ground, the tricopter tends to pitch forwards... is this normal or did i do something wrong O_O But thanks for the advice! i'll shift the Batteries around =)

Arms folding... hmm, the issue im having now is, how tight is tight and how secure is secure?

I'll post pics of the tri flying soon!

Cheers!
-Nicholas

Check your weight distribution if it pitches forward on lift off, you might be too front heavy. Also check your ESC calibration, and make sure the motors start spinning at the same time. Calibrate them together via the KK2.

As for the arms, I'll let these pictures speak describe what I have:



My tri is based on the Delrin Pro frame, which has a rear set of holes on each arm "sleeve". The build manual says that most users of this frame do not need to secure the rear holes as long as the front screws are tight enough. Since my crash, I used nylon screws to secure the arms, which still allows it to give way (along with the wooden arms) in case of a crash rather than the frame.

I didn't really spend too much time with KK2 and eventually shifted to CC3D, which was a lot easier to work with and was very forgiving with the CoG (you can be off by a few cm) as long as you have a esc/motor/prop combo that are powerful enough to compensate.

[quaDrobot]

Whats the best part about a tricopter? it folds!!

my newly built also folds bro. and fit in to a trex250 case...

[Nicholas]

Check your weight distribution if it pitches forward on lift off, you might be too front heavy. Also check your ESC calibration, and make sure the motors start spinning at the same time. Calibrate them together via the KK2.

As for the arms, I'll let these pictures speak describe what I have:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]126121[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]126122[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]126124[/ATTACH]

My tri is based on the Delrin Pro frame, which has a rear set of holes on each arm "sleeve". The build manual says that most users of this frame do not need to secure the rear holes as long as the front screws are tight enough. Since my crash, I used nylon screws to secure the arms, which still allows it to give way (along with the wooden arms) in case of a crash rather than the frame.

I didn't really spend too much time with KK2 and eventually shifted to CC3D, which was a lot easier to work with and was very forgiving with the CoG (you can be off by a few cm) as long as you have a esc/motor/prop combo that are powerful enough to compensate.

awesome!!! i guess i'll getsome G10 plate and start modding!

Thanks for the info!

[timatworksg]

Great build with pics! Congrats on the completion!
I've built many tri's since coming across RCExxplorer's build 2 years back. I currently run a larger 17" arms version with the wire dampening for my Gopro and another micro for fun. I had a 12" arm version but it was sacrificed for the micro.

In what way did it crash? Did it start to occilate or inputs were twitchy? Default tri settings on the KK2 board are sensitive. Drop me a PM and I can pass u my basic set up...you should be able to work from there. Other areas of consideration:

- Servo used..digital or analog? If digital you should set servo to 'high' (sorry can't recall where in the menu but scroll around and you will find it.) If analog switch to 'Low'
- Gyro's correcting in the right direction especially the rudder servo
- Ensure when you calibrate the Acc gyros the tri is flat...I used a spirit level for this.
- The Delrin frame is smooth and doesn't make a good friction hold for the arms. I had the FPV manuals Pro delrin tri once and it was a pain without the good friction hold. I ended up selling that and scratchbuilt with ply. You could lightly sand the delrin around the area where the arms fold or just do with the locking screw if your not into that.
- Lemme know if you need any help. My tri's fly great without probs.

cheers!