74 replies to this topic

[Dado]

Altho this is still in development i guess considering im doing this for the community and myself i gonna make my work public, as im man of little to no resources, perhaps this inspires someone with resources to deliver souch practical design to the community, hopefuly as affordable as possible.

this is initial preliminar design, meaning its ugly, its a decomposition point, in this case a top down design refinement.
however its a good insight in my work.

Edited by Dadorcp, 30 January 2012 - 01:15 PM.

[LeeS]

Interesting.  Overall it's very close to the folding h-frame I'm making.  You are putting the arms at 45 degrees from the body though, where mine are at 90 degrees.  And the front/back of mine are the narrow parts of the main body.  Can I ask why yo chose to make the long side the front/back?  To me it seems like the short side being front/back allows for better equipment balance and separation (RX/TX).

[bestever]

I LIKE the way it folds.
Folding into a sleek form has become very important for me.

[LeeS]

Drifter, on 28 January 2012 - 09:09 AM, said:

How about something like this based on an idea by LeeS. The name "Idrone" is already taken, so is "Icopter" & "Imulti". So I think I will call this one the Drifter Drone.
IMAG0135a.jpg IMAG0136a.jpg IMAG0137a.jpg

BTW, I like how nice this one folds up.

[Dado]

well first i want it to go that way, but one of the factors also is that folding mechanisam takes certant amount of space, and when you take into account skid folding mechanisam is also a lock mechanisam for skids and motor arms theres no space left.

further more when in foward flight it creates less dragg and less air resistance to set it this way, if you take top surface and rotate it oposid of my design at any fowardflight angle you are creating more air resistance thus more energy consumption etc etc..


as for cg, this is where i want to make it fun, you cant do it wrong, everything is precaculated for the user, just tie down batter and fly, its designed for go pro fpv expiriance. said in simple way to avoid long post.

ofc just my opinion, its not mandatory hehe

Edited by Dadorcp, 30 January 2012 - 01:32 PM.

[Dado]

Also if i ever get to the point of manufacturing, as i mentioned before i dont have resources atm, this design doesn't include primitive approuch like glass or carbon fiber plates.

Again its for the ppl idea, fun and quality in mind not profit on continues repair parts. I see it as Mikado Logo Helicopter plastic quality level, rigid yet light.

Further more as simple as 2 piece plastic body part with motor arm joints wich are incredible resiliant, makeing motor arms only mechanic that is dmgable.

I want end user to discover joy of simplicity on every step of the build, take cc in protective case, use doubleside tape to fix it in protected but accsesable pocket in main body, similar goes for battery, regulators, radio/video tx/rx and so on haveing its own easy accsesable pockets.

When it comes to holding it folded in hand to make it feel just right =)

anyways, its still in development stage, but thats why i think it's important to share this idea, we can refine this design in theory better if we do it thougather and make it better for everyone.

Edited by Dadorcp, 31 January 2012 - 12:04 PM.

[Drifter]

Some very good ideas coming out here.
"Again its for the ppl idea"   I was thinking you could call it the VolksCopter but that name has been used before.  http://theoldmotor.com/?p=13094
One thing that hampers a folding design is the propeller blades hanging out but I noticed that on the LotusRC T380 ARF Quadcopter, they don't use motor shaft retaining clips and the motor shaft ,bell,propeller assembly is easily removable , I wonder if there is enough magnetic force to hold this assembly in place and if so this would help to reduce the size of the folded copter although you would then need to find a place put these.
 LotusRC.tiff   270.54K   16 downloads

Edited by Drifter, 31 January 2012 - 05:05 AM.

[Enthlapy]

Design the landing gear to be part of the Video TX antenna, I think a lot of RF technical knowhow would need to be applied.

My .02.

[K Wells]

Once again Dado, Excellent Design Work

[Enthlapy]

I like it alot, sorta reminds me of James Bond gadget, or a tranformer.

[DonaldVH]

Thank you for sharing!
I have just wrecked a cheap hk plywood frame with my first openpilot flight.
It hovered 3x at about 0.5m and touched down each time.
But alas the 3rd time one of the arms broke near the centerplate.

Given this background I'm digging in where the frame design is happening.
I have seen basic profiled metal, plywood, carbon, injection molded plastic,
the hoverthings 450 design that has a reputation of being indestructible (don't know what material is used though) ...
After my experiment with a prebuilt cheap ass plywood frame I was thinking aluminium sheet.
What kind of materials would you want to apply to this frame, Dadorcp?

Keep up the good work!

[Drifter]

I just tried running a motor without the shaft retaining clip and it was ok.

[Dado]

Im very happy to hear you like the design guyz, means im on the right track here =)

Drifter, on 31 January 2012 - 04:51 AM, said:

Some very good ideas coming out here.
"Again its for the ppl idea"   I was thinking you could call it the VolksCopter but that name has been used before.  http://theoldmotor.com/?p=13094
One thing that hampers a folding design is the propeller blades hanging out but I noticed that on the LotusRC T380 ARF Quadcopter, they don't use motor shaft retaining clips and the motor shaft ,bell,propeller assembly is easily removable , I wonder if there is enough magnetic force to hold this assembly in place and if so this would help to reduce the size of the folded copter although you would then need to find a place put these.
LotusRC.tiff

Hehe, thats a catchy name
I was thinking more of a Revo450 or Revo550 depending on a m2m distance, it will be determend when i research wich has the best efficiency ratio betwene electronics cost/flight time/and punch power to deliver appsolut vertical control giving the comfort in flying.

as for blades, well im all in favor of using prop savers enableing to take of propellers but that is not mandatory.
heres a quick drawing to show it has space for fixed propellers.

now the magnet part to lock motors in place. that might be of a safety issue wich i would rather avoid. better just bare with tiny comfort issue of propellers than leaveing any space for accidents, well in worst case ofc


Donald i would use several materials, there best properties.
For instance, molded case that has two piece design right, now that for it self is ok but considering the nature of the main body hull (I shape)there would be a lot of bending stress both on longer and smaller side,

to prevent this, i would use 2 small carbon I shaped profiles that get installed in predesigned slots in souch way it would reinforce the hull preventing bending in any axis, this also alows plastic body to has less tickness lower weight and appsoult streinght. carbon profiles is not just the material properties but a profile shape as well.

this is the solid way to build things, using more materials to achive required construction properties.

further more, i want to take Thurst efficiency lost area(arms bellow propeller thrust) and use the arms as 'ventilation channel" to reuse lost thrust into a active cooling ventilation system to cool down body electronics at little to no extra weight adding.
however it is something that needs empyric testing as i can only assume there could be issues with air turbolance inside body doing wierd oscilations/vibrations to the multirotor as construction.

in theory, more thurst you punch, more agressive you fly, more stress on escs, you get more thrust ventilated directly to escs. its a mutual system love hehe

i also feel a very simple add on to frame design would be of great feature,
small o ring right in CG of the body to make it easy to ballance entire quad for a end user, insted using 4 lines to each motor, simply hook up 1 line at that ring found on top center of quad and see is it lvled and you can instantly see is there some part of quad that weights more.

Edited by Dadorcp, 31 January 2012 - 12:07 PM.

[Dado]

Drifter, on 31 January 2012 - 10:48 AM, said:

I just tried running a motor without the shaft retaining clip and it was ok.

That is awesome!

[jbkappirossi]

Dadorcp, on 30 January 2012 - 01:13 PM, said:

Altho this is still in development i guess considering im doing this for the community and myself i gonna make my work public, as im man of little to no resources, perhaps this inspires someone with resources to deliver souch practical design to the community, hopefuly as affordable as possible.

this is initial preliminar design, meaning its ugly, its a decomposition point, in this case a top down design refinement.
however its a good insight in my work.

Hey Dadorcp, didn't see it earlyer, to bussy with my own shit, but realy nice work, i love it.

Maybe you can make the hinge ends a little bit further in the frame, so they wont stick out when you fold it.
But it looks really clean. good job!

[Dado]

thx mate, glad you like it =)



new update on research.

first step of top down design refinement finished.

new parameter;
its not acceptable to have arms easily breakable, developeing arm design counting 3 materials to achive light weight, rigidness and flexability.

new material added;
polycarbonate.

a little teaser hehe, enjoy =)

Edited by Dadorcp, 31 January 2012 - 11:05 PM.

[Enthlapy]

Thats hawt.

[jbkappirossi]

wow, now i'm imprest

[Dado]

Thank you guyz, im glad you like it!

lets face it, i'm propably the last guy able to be first one to build it, however thats not the goal.
This would be probably the first complete multirotor airframe product for the end user on the new multirotor market, and i mean end user.

Biggest reward would be that it inspires bigger companies in rc world to start takeing this approuch, provideing hobbiest a true joy in flight expiriance and make every penny spent worth insted makeing ridicules margines on carbon/glass plates cuts and hand full screw pile.

ofc im talking about bigger companys that have resourses but they dont deliver improvments as long as rudimental type of frame is current "tech".

when you look at what you get when you buy a 70$ 450Pro heli clone it truely shows what you get for the money spent. you get nylon gear, carbon fiber frame, cnced headsets and parts, rubber belt and gorments, plastic battery tray and skids, glass fiber main blade etc. wich all requires a lot of specialized machinery, and still the price is right!

who ever starts building this kinda airframe will be the first but not the last, i only can assume that companys will be competative as multirotor is a new hit in rc world, its takeing bigger portion of it every day now.

Edited by Dadorcp, 01 February 2012 - 08:57 AM.

[juz]

killer design. I want one