(probably only of interest to people who do radio control stuff)

The domestic authority has given me the green light to build a tricopter!

I have always been fascinated by R/C helicopters, but could never, EVER, justify the huge initial outlay. Also, I could never afford to spend the time and money learning to fly one properly, assuming that I ever managed to develop that skill. Finally, repairs after the inevitable crashes would be too expensive.

Then I saw articles about tricopters... for those who have never seen these things - they are small aircraft with a Y-shaped frame and a small electric motor at the end of each leg. They stay in the air by sheer brute force, as the motors provide thrust that is greater than the weight of the aircraft. Their big advantage is that they are stabilised with 3 gyros (roll, pitch and yaw) so can be relatively easy to fly (but can still be flown into the ground by incompetent pilots!). Also, the inevitable repairs are far less expensive as individual components are relatively cheap. Finally, the initial stages of learning to fly can be done in my back garden.

Oh - another bonus - the airframe can be folded up small enough to fit in the boot of my Locost!

The trouble I'm currently having is understanding all the new systems that are available in the R/C world - my last experience was with 27MHz radio kit which, from the expression on the salesman's face in the local shop, is akin to coal-powered steam technology! I now have a 2.4GHz 6-channel radio set for less than I paid for my old 3-channel 27MHz set-up - and that's ignoring inflation over all those years.

I'm also having to learn all sorts of new terminology:

Brushless outrunner motors - tiny 3-phase motors that consume huge amount of current!
ESC - Electronic Speed Controller - manages the 3-phase supply to each motor.
BEC - no, not that one! - a battery eliminator to power the receiver from the propulsion battery.

And so on, and so on...

Good fun though.

Anyone else playing with these things?

I have quite a nice rc copter which made friends with the ground about a year ago, its been in the box since

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
Anyone else playing with these things?

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I'm looking at the KKmulticontroller (KKmulticopter) - expensive, but it takes a huge amount of hardware off the aircraft (e.g. the gyros are on the board) and can be modified for different configurations just by flashing new firmware onto it.

This will be the last thing I'll look at anyway - I want to build the tricopter first, and get the controller at the end - after all, I might find a better/cheaper one!

Liam - when I was in the model shop there was a HUGE helicopter stripped down on the counter - it was about 5 foot long, with a massive i.c. engine inside. Probably spectacular when flying, but I *really* wouldn't want to pay for repairs if it crashed!


[Edited on 11/8/11 by David Jenkins]

Welcome to the learning curve....Ive been doing this for 5 years concentrated time now....have designed 4 types of helicopters all electric and full on!

Here is a link to what the boys are doing in Australia..really cheap and definatly locost ideas too....
http://www.archeli.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=142733&highlight=tri+copter

lots of very usefull stuff on this site...

all I can say is...."hobbyking.com is your friend"
ive spent 8 g's there in 5 years..they have every thing you need at a teenth of the price your local hobbyshop will "hobbyshops give ya one up the foofy valve without vaso mate!"

next best advice I can give you is get a decent simulator...you will save hundreds of thousand worth of crashes ..well my helicopters cost 5 grand each so not something ya want to go in EVER!

Phoenix is one of the best and value for money....

Cheers

H
http://www.rjxhobby.com/en/pro_detail.asp?id=1645

sell a package that has all of the best simulators in one box and cost only a few dollars....

this is a vid of me overseeing a pilot fly my latest design at a funfly in australi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkr7zRfAMRg

lots of other very intersesting vids under my username

one of my bigger helis pulls 248amps in some moves and a top speed of 257kms

[Edited on 11/8/11 by VanHaydn]

[Edited on 11/8/11 by VanHaydn]

Lots (infact too much) info on rcgroups forum on multicopters....

http://www.rcgroups.com/multi-rotor-helis-659/

I've sort-of given up on rcgroups - one really good thread was just under 1000 pages long! At least, there was some good stuff in there, but I had to wade through tons of "what a good thread" posts, flame wars and occasional personal abuse to find the 4 or 5 useful bits.

I have dents all over the walls and ceiling.

To learn get one of the 20 quid thingys. They are good fun, you will learn a lot, and then you can throw it away.

I went straight for one of these 'Raptor 50 SE' Nitro powered beasts. Still learning to fly it. Joined a local club to get proper instruction and so far no accidents but it think its only a matter of time. Also bought the 'Phoenix' Flight simulator which is pretty good and gets you familiar with the controls etc and lets you test a lot of the flying RC models, both heli's and planes.

Great fun but needs real concentration and plently of spare time. (something i don't really have right now with building a car (well thats nearly done as its down at MAC#1 at the moment waiting for its IVA next Thursday), moving house and all the other things life throws at you).

www.rcheliaddict.co.uk

quote:

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Originally posted by designer
I have dents all over the walls and ceiling.

To learn get one of the 20 quid thingys. They are good fun, you will learn a lot, and then you can throw it away.

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I've wanted one of these for a while...

MikroKopter

...but I've no idea how it compares to other stuff on the market. That was based on seeing a youtube video and thinking "wow, I want one!"

Chris

Internet videos have got a lot to answer for! That's what made me take an interest in these things - because of them I also fancy putting my el cheapo video camera on the front of it sometime in the future.

Mind you - videos like this one open up a whole new world of mayhem possibilities! (best done when there's snow on the ground, to avoid setting forest fires...)

this is where to start.....

http://rcexplorer.se/projects/tricopter/tricopter.html

and once you are good and know what you are doing a few months down the line upgrade to this

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/

its a no brainer

SIM FIRST! many many crashes later

FLY and of course crash but not as often!

Cheers

H

What amazes me about rc helicopter pilots, is their ability to think mirror fashion with tje controls.

Always fancied one but i am certain it would of got trashed, and with a million otjer hobbies to upset her indoors i havent bothered.


My preference woul be fixed wing, maybe one day i will have a go.


For the guys interested in helicopters, heres a link to a picture of my "office".

The learning curve was fairly steep here too.


http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Police/Eurocopter-EC-135T-2/1265452/&sid=90a280ef9cc822f1f88d42ce398aefaa

quote:

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Originally posted by VanHaydn
this is where to start.....

http://rcexplorer.se/projects/tricopter/tricopter.html

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I domt have broadband at the minute, but ive saved the link as it looks very interesting.


Want one.

I've been flying a raptor 50 for years now, just love it. Not to impressed with the electric ones as the cost is vastly more than nitro and still with rubbish fight times of 5-10 mins, my raptor will fly for half an hour on a tankful.

Good tip is to paint the canopy a bright colour like mine below so you can tell at a distance which way the stupid thing is pointing, especially helpful when doing stunts.





[Edited on 12/8/11 by Mr Whippy]

Canopy!? We don't want no steenkin' canopy!

(with apologies to Blazing Saddles)

I was thinking of painting one side fluorescent green, and the other in fluorescent red... probably with a super-bright LED of the appropriate colour on the end of each side arm, and a white one at the front (hardly any current consumption when compared to the drive motors and hardly any extra weight).

I assume you guys have seen 'care free' mode on the mikrokopter? From what I understand it eliminates the problem of 'which way is the thing pointing?'. Not sure if the others do it, but it can't be that difficult to patch the software.

Chris

packed up flying rc last year as i just dont have the time any more. i recall one year spending over 5k on heli's and their repairs alone.

the inevitable fact is.... its not if it goes in (craches) its when it goes in. the best route to take with rc is if you think the model was expensive to buy then its will certainly be too expensive to maintain. always buy models where you think the price is reasonable or cheep, then you wont be shocked when you have to fix it. i was flying 1-2k helis and on average every time i crashed one it would cost minimum of £200-300 to fix when i had a proper crash.

That's exactly why I didn't try helis - and exactly why I'm having a go at a multicopter. Broken props are the usual result of a crash, maybe a broken arm (on the airframe!) which is a length of hardwood, or if I'm really unlucky a broken tail servo or a bent motor. Props are about £4 for 6 from HK, the motor would be around £10, and the servo around £16. The wood is around £2. If I trash a GRP bit on the airframe that's £6 a sheet and quite a few man-hours! The only PITA from a crash is the time I'd have to wait for mail-order parts.

The one bit I'd hate to damage would be the flight control board (£65!) but that will be protected to the best of my ability (and is a tiny PCB with surface-mount components, so it's not exactly fragile). I've seen a great "canopy" made from one half of an Easter egg cover (the egg-shaped clear plastic they put around the chocolate).

[Edited on 21/8/11 by David Jenkins]

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins

I've seen a great "canopy" made from one half of an Easter egg cover (the egg-shaped clear plastic the put around the chocolate).

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All these posts about radio controlled thingies... Digged out the ERB Electric Lama Heli and a cheaper similar thing.... Got the bug again!!!

Ive just watched this, have a look


http://av.vimeo.com/17028/039/37645662.mp4?token=1314084095_33e4e1359ce66288684ee54474435f1b

[Edited on 23/8/11 by T66]