Quadra-Pigeon

thingiverse

12/8/2017: After all the interest this quad generates over the years.. You'd think SOMEBODY would at least tip a buck for it! The original quad is long gone! It fell to its final demise some years ago into Chevy Dealership. Luckily it crashed between two cars and nobody was hit. But it crashed so hard that it scattered itself like a grenade. The crash was attributed to flying over too strong of a WiFi signal. One second everything was fine, the next we were a uncontrolled falling object. 10/1/2014 : What you are looking at is the original prototype. This started as a printing exercise about a year ago. It was a mixture of MikeyB's Crossfire and some tweaked bits to fit the hardware I had. This actual quad still exists. (At least most of the hardware does.) Its probably been wiped out, redesigned and reprinted about 20 times. Its still green & white, but now it has a completely different shape with an FPV system installed. Look here for the current version : http://www.leftcoast.biz/iWeb/Left_Coast/Quadcopters.html Why build a quad? Here's a video teaser we made with them : http://vimeo.com/108092499 Instructions The orignial source for most of the parts are in the crossfire II file. Except the antenna mount and that is in.. The Antenna mount file. Everything was designed in Sketchup. Mostly 'cause I could get it for free and the "Crossfire" came that way. First I printed the "Crossfire". And that was cool Thank you VERY MUCH MikeyB! Then there was the madness of sourcing parts. How do people choose? Really, its a nightmare. There are so many motors, controllers, motor drivers and props.. They tell you the info. is all on the web. It is, but they don't mention that much is out of date. And, where on the web, might I ask? Its not like its all gathered in one spot. One website did point to a calculator..http://www.ecalc.ch With this you can see if your combo. should work. When it doesn't, you're back to the hobby shop pages looking for different combinations. Then, when you finally find a setup you like.. You may find they don't ship those bits to the US. Anyway I finally found a set of parts that "should" work and I could buy online. Here's the part list to build this thing. I Bought everything at HobbyKing. I'm guessing they're an importing house from Hong Kong. Turns out their warehouse is not far from me so I got my parts lickety-split. And their online help was VERY handy at the end.http://www.hobbyking.com • (Motor controller) Q Brain 4 x 20A Brushless Quadcopter ESC 2-4S 3A SBEC PRODUCT ID: 9020000001 • (Prop Green RH) Slow Fly Electric Prop 1045R SF (4 pc - Green Right Hand Rotation) - PRODUCT ID: 9329000029 • (Prop Black RH) Slow Fly Electric Prop 1045R SF RH Rotation (4 pc) - PRODUCT ID: 9329000027 • (Prop Green LH)) Slow Fly Electric Prop 1045 SF (4 pc - Green) - PRODUCT ID: 9329000028 • (Prop Black LH) Slow Fly Electric Prop 1045SF (4 pc) - PRODUCT ID: 9329000026 • (Brain box with sensors) MultiWii PRO Flight Controller w/MTK GPS Module - PRODUCT ID: 387000003 • (Batery) Turnigy nano-tech 5000mah 3S 45~90C Lipo Pack - PRODUCT ID: N5000.3S.45 • (Low voltage alarm for LiPo battery) On-Board Lipoly Low Voltage Alarm 2s~3s - PRODUCT ID: 067000002 • (The motors) D2830-11 1000kv Brushless Motor - PRODUCT ID: D2830-111000 Well, my parts didn't really fit the "Crossfire". The motors did. Yay! But nothing else.. So thats when I started changing things around. Then... Then there was the endless configuration and programming the controllers etc. Oh my lord! 1) If you bought a new radio, (I did) you have to "bind" the transmitter to the receiver. Not tough, but needs doing. 2) Now with the radio working.. You have to initialize the motor controller to your radio. The controller has step by step on this. (Only thing that had a manual.) P.S. When they say with props removed? THEY MEAN IT. These things are lethal! 3) - The brain box is really an Arduino Mega. To load your firmware your going to need to get the Arduino programming stuff. Then you will have to customize the config.h file to suit your machine & radio setup. What fun! The code for the MultiWii comes with a java control panel that will show you what's going on inside your machine's head. This is a life saver! NOTE : If your running Mac OSX 8+ Moutan lion. You will have to get the silicon labs USB driver. Cause Moutan Lion has a bug so it can't see all this stuff.http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/pages/usbtouartbridgevcpdrivers.aspx You will find the pinouts and configuration info. on the page where you ordered the controller. Not all, but some. Printing, I printed the arms and the body parts standard with the fill upped to 25%. The other bits just standard. So here it is. It does fly. Its hard to keep it on the ground. I need to learn how to fly it. Have fun!