Originally Posted by goldsworthy

This RC hobby seems to stress most wifes out! I cant understand it?.

My (late) wife and I built her a trainer together and I taught her to fly it. She never became a hard core R/Cer, but at least she had no issues my my R/C hobby.

(I also gave her a tandem skydive, and after that she never questioned my passion for skydiving).

Involve the wife - it pays off in the long term.

Originally Posted by Old guy1

Thanks, just what I had hoped to hear. Added a GoPro to my F450 quad and bought some Gemfan Woodies. Weather so bad here can only hover in the house but they seem real stable, are a little quieter, and very classy looking. I noticed a little more amp draw also, but that goes hand in hand with the additional lift.
Gary

If you are just hovering, how can the lift be higher? (Newton's 3rd law).

Originally Posted by kallend

If you are just hovering, how can the lift be higher? (Newton's 3rd law).

Don't know about Newton's 3rd law, just know throttle % needed to hover went from 55% to 52%. Took a little more weight off of her, hoping next hover will be at 50% where I want it to be. The lift is not higher (would be the same amount needed to move the weight - my misstatement), just throttle needed to produce it is lower, which is what I wanted
Gary

So I've decided to get a gimbal for my GoPro.

I searched the forums for servo recommendations but got so many hits it was impossible to read them all and filter the gold from the dross.

Simple questions:

1. Are there any servos that don't play well with the NAZA f1 and f2 outputs?

2. Some people used the VU power supply, and others a separate BEC. Is there a problem with the VU that makes folk spend more for a BEC?

Originally Posted by v00d0o

Well...I crashed... it flipped over hehe..

Carbon fiber tube arms aren't that great.

May have to grab some aluminum

Stupidly didn't film a video

No broken props.. I think the motors were so strong they just tore right through the arms. Which were carbon fiber.
It happened fast... but my dad said it was hovering then it just tumbled.

EDIT:

After further inspection, I'm positive that when I gave the motors more thrust...they ripped through the carbon fiber arms! Oh well.. Looks like I'm going to have to buy some aluminum arms

Here are some pics for your enjoyment

Looking at the pictures, I think you a right. Aluminum arms will work great and will be much stronger. Remember, when you get it going again, don't try to see how high it will go (see this all the time - major mistake). I have taught a lot of new pilots over the years and have a method that I can guarantee success if you will follow it. Go to a good size open space and draw a circle 12 - 15 feet in diameter. Place the quad in the middle and stand back 10 feet outside of the circle. Start the quad up in atti mode and bring it to a 3 - 4 foot high hover. Do not go higher than 6 feet. Keep the quad inside of the circle. If it starts to leave the circle, land it, pick it up and set back in the middle. DO NOT TRY TO FLY IT BACK INTO THE CIRCLE. When you can fly an entire battery pack and keep it into the circle, you can then make it bigger. NO GPS CHEATING FOR THIS. After enough practice, you should be able to hold a rock solid hover even in manual mode. There will always be time to fly high and long, but you will earn the most respect of other pilots with your ability to keep it under control.

Happy flying
Gary

Originally Posted by Old guy1

Don't know about Newton's 3rd law, just know throttle % needed to hover went from 55% to 52%. Took a little more weight off of her, hoping next hover will be at 50% where I want it to be. The lift is not higher (would be the same amount needed to move the weight - my misstatement), just throttle needed to produce it is lower, which is what I wanted
Gary

OK, but apparently your amp draw went UP when you changed props, for the same thrust.

????

Originally Posted by Old guy1

Looking at the pictures, I think you a right. Aluminum arms will work great and will be much stronger. Remember, when you get it going again, don't try to see how high it will go (see this all the time - major mistake). I have taught a lot of new pilots over the years and have a method that I can guarantee success if you will follow it. Go to a good size open space and draw a circle 12 - 15 feet in diameter. Place the quad in the middle and stand back 10 feet outside of the circle. Start the quad up in atti mode and bring it to a 3 - 4 foot high hover. Do not go higher than 6 feet. Keep the quad inside of the circle. If it starts to leave the circle, land it, pick it up and set back in the middle. DO NOT TRY TO FLY IT BACK INTO THE CIRCLE. When you can fly an entire battery pack and keep it into the circle, you can then make it bigger. NO GPS CHEATING FOR THIS. After enough practice, you should be able to hold a rock solid hover even in manual mode. There will always be time to fly high and long, but you will earn the most respect of other pilots with your ability to keep it under control.

Happy flying
Gary

Thanks for the advice...I didn't even get one foot off the ground hahaha!

But I was very delicate with the controls...didn't jerk the throttle. The motors just decided to pop off

Originally Posted by kallend

OK, but apparently your amp draw went UP when you changed props, for the same thrust.

????

Ya, that is kind of weird, I know they weight quite a bit more, 16 grams vs 6 for the plastic ones I was using. Maybe the extra 40 grams caused the amp draw but the extra blade width still allowed it to hover with less throttle %.
Gary

Originally Posted by v00d0o

Thanks for the advice...I didn't even get one foot off the ground hahaha!

But I was very delicate with the controls...didn't jerk the throttle. The motors just decided to pop off

I dug out an old quadcopter design of mine that incorporates a clamp on type motor mount.
Using a fabrication technique like this does not sacrifice the integrity of the carbon fiber.
Check my blog for pictures...

Originally Posted by T J Gilbert

I dug out an old quadcopter design of mine that incorporates a clamp on type motor mount.
Using a fabrication technique like this does not sacrifice the integrity of the carbon fiber.
Check my blog for pictures...

Just ordered some 10mm x 10mm x 1mm aluminum square tube from a guy on here.

This should fix the splitting problem.

I'll keep you posted!

Originally Posted by kallend

OK, but apparently your amp draw went UP when you changed props, for the same thrust.

????

I'm with you in the confusion canoe! Here is a pic I have posted before showing the GemFan woody vs. some other popular props. You can see the woody makes more thrust with less RPM which may translate to a lower stick position but I'm too tired to think about it right now...

Originally Posted by u2builder

Consider Protek bullet connectors from A Main Hobbies. Different construction, much better, easier to solder, no risk of messing up ESC's and you can change motors if you ever need to to test things.

+1 on these connectors, now add a smidge of Dr. Martys conductor grease and blenderm tape to hold them together!

Originally Posted by Old guy1

Ya, that is kind of weird, I know they weight quite a bit more, 16 grams vs 6 for the plastic ones I was using. Maybe the extra 40 grams caused the amp draw but the extra blade width still allowed it to hover with less throttle %.
Gary

6g- that seems very light. My stock DJI 10" props are 13g each.

Any way you can measure your current draw (or mA.h used per minute of hover)?

Just out of curiosity..would a 450mm frame be less stable than a 500mm?

I'm rebuilding my quad arms so I was wondering if I should change it to save weight.
My quad's main purpose is to film with a go pro. Thanks!

Originally Posted by kallend

So I've decided to get a gimbal for my GoPro.

I searched the forums for servo recommendations but got so many hits it was impossible to read them all and filter the gold from the dross.

Simple questions:

1. Are there any servos that don't play well with the NAZA f1 and f2 outputs?

2. Some people used the VU power supply, and others a separate BEC. Is there a problem with the VU that makes folk spend more for a BEC?

All I've tried so far does not work very well.
1. My two cents: no servo plays well with the NAZA Gimbal output. Best results at the moment are Hitech HS65BB, Nick-axis seems to be ok, but Roll-axis far from being good.
2. Have only used the VU power supply (NAZA F1/F2) for the servos yet - no problem with that.

If you have some time left, wait a little before buying a gimbal. There are several projects at the moment going on for constructing gimbals with brushless drives - quality will be comparabel to DJI's Zenmuse but for appr. 300€ only.
See here:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1815204