K.C.'s Garage

So you got a quadcopter or other multirotor aircraft recently. Welcome to the hobby! Here's some notes about getting started, learning to fly, and what to watch out for. This is not an all-inclusive list, and I highly recommend also reading / watching some other guides . Above all else, be safe and be mindful of where you fly. Don't fly over unwitting crowds or people, over other people's property without their permission, or any place that might pose a hazard to aircraft, automobiles, or people. I highly recommend learning to fly with an inexpensive "nano" quadcopter such as the Blade Nano QX or the Hubsan X4 (Amazon).  If your first quad is a DJI Phantom 2 or something of similar size and weight, please consider buying an inexpensive nano quad like the ones mentioned here and learning on that first. There are a few reasons for this: You will crash. Crashing a $60 quad is a lot easier to deal with than crashing a $600+ quad. Small, lightweight...

So last week my wife and I left the kids with the grandparents and headed for the hills in my '67 Skyhawk for my 40th birthday.  Our plan was to fly from Palo Alto to the Grand Canyon by way of Las Vegas. Day 1 Flight One: Palo Alto (KPAO) -> Shafter / Minter (KMIT) Mohave (KMHV) Route on Skyvector.com Departed as planned, but the haze in the south central valley was terrible. Bakersfield reported "Skies clear, visibility 2 1/2 miles" (That's not haze, it's fog!) So, I amended my destination and went over the hill to Mojave (KMHV) instead. While having lunch I double checked the rest of the route and decided since we were already in the Mohave desert to go ahead and continue via the Trona, CA corridor instead of going South to Palmdale. Flight Two: Mohave,CA (KMHV) to Henderson, NV (KHND) via Trona Corridor Route on Skyvector.com I've done this route a few times now. This was the first time into HND that LAS approach refused to clear...

This morning my inbox exploded with articles about the FAA's recent Interpretation of the rules for R/C flying. Specifically with their consideration for "First Person View" (FPV) flying. (Flying by reference to a video transmitter on board the model aircraft.) http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-faa-is-trying-to-ban-first-person-view-drone-flights http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=16474&cid=TW223 http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/media/model_aircraft_spec_rule.pdf Summary: According to the FAA, FPV flying in the US is not legal, even with a spotter. Details:   [14 CFR Part 91 ,  Docket No. FAA-2014-0396, " Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft"]: Under the criteria above, visual line of sight would mean that the operator has an unobstructed view of the model aircraft. To ensure that the operator has the best view of the aircraft, the statutory requirement would preclude the use of visi...

Update :  Have one?  Building one?   Click Here: Donkey Quad Manual A while ago I bought an inexpensive HobbyKing F330 frame, thinking I would use it with some SunnySky X2212-9 1400KV motors and 8" props I had.  Unfortunately, that turned out to be a very unstable combination.  It was fast as hell, and good at aerobatics, but I couldn't tune the shakes out of it.  I decided those motors were just too big for that small 330mm frame. On a whim, I was looking at the cheapest 3S capable outrunners that HobbyKing sells when I ran across these ugly duckings here: The Donkey ST2004-1550kv , "When pulling power matters and looks.. well.. just don't." HobbyKing Donkey ST2004-1550kv The mounts are nonstandard ugly aluminum tangs with holes in them.  The sticker oddly says "ST2204-1550kv" whereas the website part number os "ST2004-1550kv".  They have 3mm shafts, but don't include any collets or prop adapters. But, they're dirt ch...

I had the EDFs mounted to the frame with zip ties for the first test.  That proved a bit unstable.  I also had the problem of the motor housings sticking down lower than the rest of the quad, which posted a threat to them on landing. Talon motor mount So, I decided to kill two birds with one stone by making some EDF mount brackets that extended vertically below the bottom of the motor housings.  The Turnigy Talon frame I used included these aluminum "T" mounts, intended to be mounted horizontally at the end of the tubular arms to allow you to mount the motor on top.  I simply turned them 90 degrees so that the flat face was vertical to align them with one of the two flanges protruding from the side of the EDF housings. To mount the EDF flanges to them, I fabricated a mounting bracket to use as a clamp.  I used an old license plate frame that I cut into four equal length parts and drilled matching holes in: Four mounts cut from a discarded license pla...

I decided, against conventional "wisdom", to construct a quadcopter that uses Electric Ducted Fans (EDFs) for thrust.  There is conjecture all over the internet as to why this is a bad idea, but I was having a hard time finding any real science or performance data to back it up.  So, why not build one and see what happens? What are EDFs? EDFs are basically small, higher pitch, higher rpm propellers (sometimes called "impellers" in this application, to differentiate them from conventional propeller design) inside a cylindrical duct with a tapered inlet and as little clearance between the blades and the duct wall as possible.  They look more like jet engines than conventional propellers.  Tangent: Modern jet engines actually are turbine driven ducted fans, called " turbofans ." The primary benefit of a ducted fan is increased efficiency of the propeller by preventing (or reducing) the phenomenon of "tip vorticies" and allowing a greater ra...

A common question I get is:  "What MultiWii flight controller should I use?" There are a few determining factors involved in this decision.  The primary considerations are: What microcontroller (µC) do you need What integrated sensors do you want? What Microcontroller (µC) should you look for? MultiWii is based on the Atmel corporation's 8 bit "megaAVR" series of µCs.  All the MultiWii boards I've seen are based on one of three µCs, but you could certainly port the software to others if you're good at microcontroller integration. Below is a table of the three most common and their relevant specifications: µC flash ram eeprom serial uarts usb ports ATmega328p 32 kilobytes 2048 bytes 1024 bytes 1 0 ATmega32u4 32 kilobytes 2560 bytes 1024 bytes 1 1 ATmega2560 256 kilobytes 8192 bytes 4096 bytes 4 1 Those of you who are familiar with AVR µCs will notice I left off the number of digital, ...