Spending spare time flying a MikroKopter

[PineRidge]

Is that an Arduino microcontroller or something else? There are some vids on YouTube with guys tuning the feedback loops from gyros and accelerometers to help stabilize the thing, and they were slinging Arduino in there. I suppose you could use just about anything.

Do you have a radio (or at least channel count) you would recommend for this kind of application? I'd been planning to start with a small electric plane and play with FPV on it, and graduate up to heli/mikro over time. I just wanted to buy one radio, though, and wanted to get something that would do a reasonable job at all of the above.

This is a MikroKopter.de product.

I originally was going to use a 6 channel and found out that for FPV I needed more. So the wife is using the DX6i and I went to a JRX-9503 (9 channel)

They do have some sort of multiplier on the market to add more channels to certain radios.

 

[PineRidge]

That's not soooo bad - well compared to other hobby/pastime expenses. Boats, sports cars, snowmoble/ATV, hunting lease, etc.
Dave.

Dave years ago I flew real planes, raced cars, had boats and snowmobiles. Believe me this ain't bad at all.

This past Sunday the wife and I visited a fly-in about 50 miles away and gave a demonstration in 15 knot winds. It went real well.

Less than 3 hours later we were at a different flying field. Now there were 25 knot winds and the pilots were mulling around complaining. I decided what the heck and fired the HexaKopter up. I was doing some fast, steep turns and things were pretty cool until a wind gust hit the Hexa. The Hexa was on it's side and I knew it was gonna come down hard. Fixed pitch props really don't have much lift when they are 90 degrees to the tarmac. I took two steps back, yelled incoming, and it hit on it's side right in front of me. Two support arms (10mm aluminum) snapped and flew, the 4400mah Lipo was thrown free (undamaged) and it put a hole the size of a quarter in the hood. (that will need duct tape) The electronics and motors were all undamaged. The micro video camera was thrown from it's mount (servo taped) and it was also undamaged.

The Hexa is apart in front of me for repairs. Short of the hood the arms are going to cost me 7 bucks for the pair to replace. Forum members purchase the 10mm square alum. stock in lengths and cut it down for spare supports. The support arms absorb most of the energy in a crash.

It will be up and flying again by the weekend. It's a controlled crash when it comes down right in front of you so there is no need to go looking for the parts. :thumbsup:

BTW: Everything that flies carries an expiration date. Unfortunately we never know what the date is until it's too late.

 

[tommu56]

Another RC pilot here

if you are in to electric check out the NEET Fair

Northeast.Electric.Aircraft.Technology.Fair-Home

I've been there many times over the years

tom

 

[PineRidge]

Another RC pilot here

if you are in to electric check out the NEET Fair

Northeast.Electric.Aircraft.Technology.Fair-Home

I've been there many times over the years

tom

Tom thanks very much for the 'NEAT' link. I looked it over last evening and the wife and I are considering attending the event. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Wish I would have known about it earlier as demo registrations are already closed.

 

[thatguy]

Here's a price list I found following the links on youtube. Make sure you're sitting down:laughing:. http://shop.quadrocopter.us/Ready-to-Fly-MikroKopter_c_1.htmlhttp://shop.quadrocopter.us/Ready-to-Fly-MikroKopter_c_1.html

Ken

WOW... They look really cool, but I definitely cant hide that much $$ from the wife..

The worst part is that from what I have read on other forum you will spend that much or more in repairs after crashing OR in upgrades..

Brian

 

[jcims]

You can find kits here from MikroKopter.de - https://www.mikrocontroller.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=80

Not cheap by any stretch, but it looks like you could get a solid start for less than $3K. Aside from crashes, there aren't really any consumables. Batteries and motors will wear out of course, but I know plenty of folks that spend that much in golf in a given year. $3K won't get you anywhere with 'big toy' hobbies.

PineRidge, what would you say is the lifting capacity of a 'basic' hexacopter with 10" blades and 'standard' motors? Could it lift a small camera? Say 4-6oz? How do you like FPV with these?

 

[tommu56]

Tom thanks very much for the 'NEAT' link. I looked it over last evening and the wife and I are considering attending the event. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Wish I would have known about it earlier as demo registrations are already closed.

I haven't been up for a year or 2 but we usually make it a 4 day weekend Thursday after noon to Sunday to get a good camping site
reservations are a must if you want hookups
you have to do this through the camp ground

Peaceful Valley Campsite

tom

 

[RobertN]

Looks like a lot of fun. Our local ACE Hardware removed thier equipment rental, and replaced it with an RC section. They have a variety of Helicopters, some of which they fly in the store.

I go in to RC sailboats a couple years ago. Lotsa fun! I have three and am building a fourth, a Victor "Footy". 12" long full fledged RC sailboat.

 

[dodge man]

Cool pics and thanks for sharing. I don't think it sounds like that expensive of a hobby either. Do they let people go to these fly ins with shotguns to work on there skeet shooting?:laughing:

 

[frogfish]

Here's a price list I found following the links on youtube. Make sure you're sitting down:laughing:. http://shop.quadrocopter.us/Ready-to-Fly-MikroKopter_c_1.htmlhttp://shop.quadrocopter.us/Ready-to-Fly-MikroKopter_c_1.html

Ken

Whoa!! About 10 times what I was thinking! Looks like a lot of fun though:

 

[dfkrug]

The idea is to buy bare boards from MikroKopterm get your parts from Digikey and build it yourself.

Looks like fun.

Did you build it yourself from a kit?

What is the GPS for?

 

[PineRidge]

You can find kits here from MikroKopter.de - https://www.mikrocontroller.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=80

Not cheap by any stretch, but it looks like you could get a solid start for less than $3K. Aside from crashes, there aren't really any consumables. Batteries and motors will wear out of course, but I know plenty of folks that spend that much in golf in a given year. $3K won't get you anywhere with 'big toy' hobbies.

PineRidge, what would you say is the lifting capacity of a 'basic' hexacopter with 10" blades and 'standard' motors? Could it lift a small camera? Say 4-6oz? How do you like FPV with these?

If you go back to page one 1st post you'll see a youtube video of Holger flying a HexaKopter. He has a camera mounted on the belly of his Hexa and in the payload test still easily lifts a full litre of Coke, or was it Pepsi?

I have all the materials for a FPV setup. TX, RX, solid state voltage regulator, color video camers, Headplay goggles, recom, and even a EPI-OSD to give me artificial horizon, battery mah left, compass heading, altitude, direction to take-off point (home) and lots more info right in the goggles. The FPV is being installed now that the Hexa is apart for repairs.

 

[PineRidge]

Cool pics and thanks for sharing. I don't think it sounds like that expensive of a hobby either. Do they let people go to these fly ins with shotguns to work on there skeet shooting?:laughing:

Wanna hear funny? I have a neighbor Jeff who lives about a half mile away. I can easily see his house from my deck. Jeff knows I have a burn pile and use it quite often. One day he placed a M-80 or similar in the cold ashes knowing I would be building a fire the same day. About sunset I went out as usual with some old remodel debris and lit it up. I was standing there enjoying the sunset when the explosive went off. You could hear a pin drop after the explosion and fireball. Then I heard the laughing from his deck.

I don't get mad I get even. :thumbsup:

I took a Google Earth satellite snapshot of the local area and imported it into the MK-waypoint software. I then plotted a flight path for directly over his house closest to his bedroom. I installed a electronic whop alarm as used in car alarms and set it to trigger with a PicoSwitch so I could turn it on with a flip of a switch on my transmitter. I waited about a week and one night about 1 AM, I set the Hexa free. When it got to Jeff's house (waypoint #1) it stopped for a predetermined amount of time, then I flipped the switch. I only let it scream for about 20 seconds before hitting come home cause Jeff has lots of guns. When I heard Jeff out on the deck he heard me laughing.

He hasn't messed with me since.

 

[PineRidge]

Looks like fun.

Did you build it yourself from a kit?

What is the GPS for?

Yes I built it myself. The wife will tell you that I have about 8 months invested in the electronics. She might be right.

GPS will give you a 3D satellite lock when it sees a minimum of 6 satellites in the sky.

Once that happens it will alert you with a flashing LED light.

At that point you have use of 'position hold' and 'come home'

With 'position hold & altitude hold' the MK will hover motionless until the battery goes dead. If the wind blows it off point it will correct and return to where it was instructed to hold.

With 'coming home' you can fly the Hexa and if you get disoriented or for any reason you can throw a switch on the transmitter and the Hexa will 'come home' which is determined wherever you plugged in the Lipo battery.

 

[PineRidge]

Check this out, 2 quads flying at the same time, same pilot, Holger.
RCMovie.de - MikroKopter - zwei MKs gleichzeitig steuern - Videoplattform für den RC-Modellbau

 

[jinman]

So, are you changin' out your Mike-ro-Tractor for a Mike-ro-Copter? Besides, isn't Mike Rowe that guy on Dirty Jobs?:laughing:

It's great to hear from you Mike. I hope you and all your family are doing well. Last spring Ron Hall (ronjhall) and his wife, Betty, came to visit us and I took him to a gymnasium in Bedford, Tx where a bunch of RC airplane enthusiasts meet and fly every week. One of the guys flying was the original test pilot for the F-16. They start out with rubber band powered airplanes for a couple of hours and then they go to the ultra-lightweight airplanes and park flyers. If you go there often enough, you'll see everything from helicopters and blimps to styrofoam plates flying. The fact that you can fly outdoors in a stiff breeze above 12 mph is pretty amazing. Do you have an indoor place to practice or are you always at the mercy of mother nature and the weather?

 

[ray66v]

WARNING: If your interested in R/C helicopters, I can fly a full size Robinson R22 helicopter, cheaper than my R/C Venture 50. :thumbsup:

Seriously, buy a simulator for your computer, http://www.realflight.com/new/index.html, and spend a year learning to fly, before you do anything. You will save enough money to buy a new car.

 

[PineRidge]

Hi Jim glad to hear from you. Hope you and the wife are doing fine.

Bet you, Ron Hall and his wife had fun at the gymnasium in Bedford, TX. I have found out that the folks involved in this hobby are very interesting to talk to and love to share their flying stories.

A week ago we met a ghent at a fly-in (Steve) that puts air shows together for the Air-Force at individual communities. He was telling some interesting stories to say the least. Then at a different air show there was this group of old timers that asked me a million questions about the Hexa. I had no idea these guys were each actual pilots and at that time we were flying at an active airport. Turns out each flew an experimental aircraft and when each took off they formed a line and flew parallel to the runway to the point where we had our canopy set up. Then as each passed they wagged their wings to wave as they flew by. It was great!

Around here there is no place to fly indoors that I am aware of with the exception of the pole barn and it's full. Can't fly the HexaKopter inside the house it's too big for that so I am at the mercy of the elements. However I do brush up flying skills by flying one of those mini E-Flite helicopters inside. The fact that the great room has a cathedral ceiling is a plus.

The 3 on-board gyros in the Hexa can handle most winds without problem. The Hexa platform itself is very stable, that's why it's an excellent for photographers. There is a software program called MKTool that connects the Hexa to my laptop via USB so I can tweak the settings to fly in higher wind conditions, unfortunately I did not have the laptop with me on the day I crashed so I couldn't change those parameters prior to flying.

 

[dfkrug]

WARNING: If your interested in R/C helicopters, I can fly a full size Robinson R22 helicopter, cheaper than my R/C Venture 50.

Years ago, I paid an instructor for a ride in an R22. She let me take the
controls. I can certainly say that the controls are non-intuitive. Tons
of practice, and a flight simulator is called for.

 

[dfkrug]

With 'position hold & altitude hold' the MK will hover motionless until the battery goes dead. If the wind blows it off point it will correct and return to where it was instructed to hold.

How interesting. That capability is so you can take videos or transmit
TV images of an event on the ground, I assume?