Originally Posted by Brandigan

...All we need is someone to work out the volume of the inside of the boom, and the extra weight that would be added by it being filled with glue. At a rough guess, it's got to be 40-50% more weight than the empty boom on its own, so has anyone got any proper 0.01g scales to weigh a boom? Mine only do whole grams (food scales) so aren't accurate enough.
...

On a 0.01g scale, I got 5.45g for 4 booms and their associated wires: so 1.3 to 1.4g per boom (and associated wires).

Besides cutting your own CF booms (mentioned earlier in this thread),
yet another alternative is to use square aluminum tubing for the booms:
Post 172 of this Helifreak "Quad Mods?" thread:
http://www.helifreak.com/showthread....377068&page=18

As I've lost one 'copter and lost and found a second, I'm always on the lookout for ways to find mine should it happen again. There's an expensive and excessively heavy (for mQx) solution on the market, but heavy doesn't work for this lightweight flyer.

Just yesterday, I learned of the Hone for iPhone4S, never lose your keys again. It's a key fob that you can find with the newer models of the iPhone4S and new iPad, but not the older versions and not an iPod of any sort. That puts me out of the loop, but plenty of people have the new stuff and I may yet find that route.

The key fob is designed to be on your keys, but that's not to say it could be attached elsewhere. I sent a message to the inventor and was told that the weight could be reduced to 8g, perhaps slightly less with a smaller battery. That's still a bit heavier than I'd like, but it's impressively light.

With a range of 150 feet (45m), one might consider it to be limited, but I would have found loss number two that much more quickly (same day) and not had a failed battery, and I might have found loss number one straight up.

It's not like our 'copters have autopilots like the big boys, so they have to come down reasonably close. Losing one in a 150 foot tall tree might complicate things though.

US$49 is a bit pricey for a flyer that costs slightly less than three times that, plus an 8g payload means no other accessories while flying.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...again?ref=live

Originally Posted by Brandigan
This is a request for a link to a post in this thread.
Someone listed all the different ways to do rolls, flips etc. with instructions on how to do the various types: when to cut/restart throttle, when to pitch/roll etc.

Originally Posted by flying-llama

You might be referring to post 1314 of this thread (Tres Wright):
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...postcount=1314

I fly in a limited space, so I tend to try stationary flips, rolls, etc. I can get the mQx to flip/roll the 360 degrees and recover, but I lose 10 to 30 feet of altitude doing so.

That is the very one, thanks for that. Now to find some fairly long grass to practice over/crash into.

Originally Posted by flying-llama

On a 0.01g scale, I got 5.45g for 4 booms and their associated wires: so 1.3 to 1.4g per boom (and associated wires).

Besides cutting your own CF booms (mentioned earlier in this thread),
yet another alternative is to use square aluminum tubing for the booms:
Post 172 of this Helifreak "Quad Mods?" thread:
http://www.helifreak.com/showthread....377068&page=18

Great, so probably 2g maximum weight added in glue overall. I think I'm going to need to get the Dremel out to make several holes along the top of the boom to squirt the glue in. It's going to end up looking like a very thin penny whistle.

Actually, I might try Zoandar's 'thread and CA glue' suggestion first, as I can always scrape all that off if needed.

Aluminium tubing looks interesting, although on that mod that wiring he's used looks a fair few grams heavier.

Originally Posted by fred_dot_u

As I've lost one 'copter and lost and found a second, I'm always on the lookout for ways to find mine should it happen again. There's an expensive and excessively heavy (for mQx) solution on the market, but heavy doesn't work for this lightweight flyer.
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If weight is more important than price, what about a Loc8tor?
Range is 600ft (183m) and the tags weigh only 5g
If you removed the casing you'd probably shave another gram or two off.

Worth considering on a heavier, more expensive Quad at least.http://www.loc8tor.com/uk/2-mini-homing-tags.html

The range is impressive and the price is good, especially as I don't have an iOS device that works with the Hone for iPhone product. Thanks for the link.

PNP for $99What do you think?

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...m_medium=email

Originally Posted by Thetis

PNP for $99What do you think?

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...m_medium=email

Maybe this thread helps : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1610229

Originally Posted by mystman

Maybe this thread helps : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1610229

Wow, thanks. I got an email today from HK and I thought it was just announced.

I have tried this motor from HK: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=18751 and can confirm that it works. You have to replace the pinion.

It replaced a CW motor and is slightly more powerful than the original, but it flies as originally.

Originally Posted by Brandigan

Really? The cogs are the smallest, toughest thing on the Quad and for an impact to 'warp' them the rest of the quad would be a complete write off. Just try 'warping' one by bending it with your bare hands and see how far you get.

Yes, do remove them before you start balancing the props because you certainly can't do it with them on, as they'll engage with the motors and the props will not rotate smoothly.

As for mud in the gears: they are a very tight fit so even the smallest particle of grass jammed in the gears stops the prop rotating at all, so gears 'blocked' with dirt seems fairly unlikely.

FYI I have had one cog crack during a crash that also took out the landing gear. Another warped I suspect because I hurriedly replaced a dislodged motor or when popping the wheel back on after it dislodged. They are far more fragile than you think, because they're made of nylon, which is ideal for anything but impact And yes I have tried warping one with my bare hands, and while I am in no way macho, it was a piece of cake. The question is have you?

To answer your second point I didn't say anything about mud, I said vegetable matter. Neither was I making it up as you seem to imply. Chlorophyll, pollen, fine blades of grass or whatever can get in there. I know first hand because that is what I found. If it's just one or two cogs the prop can continue to run, but with a lot of vibration.

All I was doing was passing on a couple of tips (i.e check your gears for distortion and fouling) in the hope that someone might find it useful when looking for sources of vibration, so just quite why are you rubbishing what I'm saying? Do you think I would just make stuff up or something? I find it extremely rude and arrogant behaviour

Anybody seen/used this canopy yet? It comes with an LED set! If so, I'd like to see your paintjobs/designs...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blade-MQX-En...item3f1878e159

C

Originally Posted by Zoandar

After watching that night flight, I have to wonder if the USAF was experimenting with something like this back in the 50s out in a certain area of Nevada?

I am pretty sure I made a couple more 'believers' in my neighborhood this evening

attempted a couple backflips in the dark!

Blade mQX - backflips in the dark (0 min 41 sec)

alright here's a question for everyone. I need help!

today I decided to try replacing my cracked cf booms with the aluminum tubes from Lowes, an idea from this thread: http://www.helifreak.com/showthread....377068&page=18

the aluminum tubes are 6" and I cut them in half. at about 3" they are shorter than the cf booms, but since they are more difficult to fit in the frame they end up fitting snug anyways. 3 of my cf booms were cracked (except for the starboard side rear boom), so I replaced the 3 of them, running the wires out side the tubing next to the wires for my LED kit.

I decided to try flying it with the 3 aluminum booms and the 1 good cf boom to see if the aluminum tubes are truly interchangeable in terms of performance. they feel more snug than the cf ones, which is a good sign.

well I go to take off and to my dismay something odd is happening and I'm not sure if it's related to the aluminum booms. the majority of the power seems to go to the starboard side front motor (the one cf boom is on the starboard side rear). if I keep giving it power the mqx will literally flip over, making it unable to fly. has this happened to anyone before?

it was flying completely fine before taking it apart, albeit wobbly because of the cracked booms...

edit: here's a quick video showing the issue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIQkz37c2Z0

Beerassassin,
have you checked the alu beams weight against the CF tubes? I suspect they are far heavier, thus requiring you to replace all booms (even the sane one) to keep it balanced. Just my 2 cents