Drones.

[Artlav]

Orbital, hm... Maybe it should be a laser etcher? Plenty of deserts on Earth to cover with interesting shapes and mountains in dire need of some facelifting.

 

[Andy44]

Orbital, hm... Maybe it should be a laser etcher? Plenty of deserts on Earth to cover with interesting shapes and mountains in dire need of some facelifting.

Crop circles too!

 

[Notebook]

Been selling my flat, so was forced to find out what was at the bottom of the deepest pile of junk in the bedroom wardrobe. Scary.

Seems I bought a drone thing nearly twenty ago, and never got round to building it...

What now?

N.

 

[Loru]

Sigh. I wish i had a laser cutter...

It's pretty weak laser. I can't for example directly etch PCBs, however it's ok for plywood (up to 20mm), plexiglass, ABS, rubber, cork, wood or even glass (I can't cut glass but I can engrave it). If you need some parts just poke me via PM. I'd be happy to help out.

---------- Post added at 12:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:21 PM ----------

Seems I bought a drone thing nearly twenty ago, and never got round to building it...

What now?

Build it?

 

[Notebook]

Build it?

Could do, though I have a few other projects on the go. Looking through the paperwork, looks like it takes the servo outputs from a r/c receiver, and sorts out the motor drives from there.
Also it looks like it has three gyros or similar on the board. edit: Tokin ceramic gyro, never heard of them, looks interesting.
Could be fun to find out, might even fly. Wonder if the battery is still viable?

http://www.geocities.ws/dr_birajashis/piezoelectric_gyroscope.html

N.

 

[C3PO]

Seems I bought a drone thing nearly twenty ago, and never got round to building it...

Heresy!!! You need to say 20 Hail Probes and do at least 5 laps 'round Brighton Beach in a Shuttle-A.

I'd make a template of all plywood parts before assembly because I've had problems with old plywood that had lost most of its strength.

 

[Notebook]

Strangely, I feel no guilt!
Its had a nice quiet time at the bottom of the wardrobe. I've had a stressful time flogging my flat.

Good idea, I'm halfway through building a 3d-printer, that could be an early job for it.

N.

 

[Quick_Nick]

A 20 year old quadcopter? Does it get more than 45 seconds of flight per charge?

 

[Notebook]

Who knows, it never flew!:blush:

To C3PO above, the frame is made of a sandwich of plastic skin with a sort of foam filling.
Quite soft now, maybe it has been moth eaten?
I thought it was plywood too, but its much lighter.

N.

 

[C3PO]

Plywood can become brittle if it's allowed to dry too much without some coating. If you bend it too much it will delaminate.

 

[Notebook]

I don't think its plywood, it looks to have a spongy or foam core, with a plastic skin. I'll take a few pics, and see what folk think it is.
Something popular in the Nineties!

N.

 

[Proximus]

I'm lucky enough to own a DJI Mavic Pro which is a fantastic little platform.
I tinkered a bit in the past with an AR Drone and some aftermarket software but the Mavic is fast and simple to fly.

 

[C3PO]

I don't think its plywood...

Oh! My bad. I was going by the drawing because it says the motor-mounts are made out of plywood. Manufacturers aren't always on the ball when it comes to updating documentation.

 

[Notebook]

Well spotted C3PO, hadn't seen that on the drawing. Lots of materials in this, but you are right that the motor-mounts are plywood. Haven't figured out what the rest of it is yet!

N.

 

[Notebook]

http://imgur.com/a/9NDN4

Pics of one of the arms.

N.

 

[C3PO]

http://imgur.com/a/9NDN4

Pics of one of the arms.

It looks like what we used to call styropor. I'm not sure that's the correct term (I think it's a brand name) but it's some kind of polystyrene foam.

The main thing about styropor is that you can't use epoxy because the solvent will dissolve the material. The correct method is to use contact adhesive.

 

[Notebook]

Yes, feels like polystyrene foam, quite soft, and quite thin plastic on both sides. Thanks for the info on the adhesives.
I think its going to go back in the wardrobe for the time being, got too much on.

N,

 

[Fabri91]

After some time, the FPV camera and receiver "watch" arrived. The goal with this was to keep costs to an absolute minimum, but it appears to be working:

 

[Loru]

How's the latency on this thingie??

BTW. ordered some parts (not all of them as I need to spread the cost) and in the next week I'll be ordering the rest. Revised some parts and went with AIO containing PDB, FC and FPV transmitter. After they arrive, I'll do new frame to contain them.

 

[Fabri91]

Excellent: it's an analog transmitter and from what I've seen latency is their strength and for this reason they're used in FPV racing, for example.

Absolutely no comparison with a pseudo-GoPro we have which can interface with a smartphone.