K.C.'s Garage

We've had this cool inexpensive Jada Toys "2006 Camaro" R/C car for several years now. The batteries are worn out, the controller doesn't work well anymore and it had been relegated to just being a regular "toy car" for my four year old. I was cleaning my electronics bench yesterday and realized I probably had enough spare parts from my other R/C ventures to gut and rebuild the Camaro with more modern parts.  Sure, the parts probably cost more than the car did, but I already had them so why not? The first order of business was assessing whether the existing mechanisms in the car are serviceable at all.  After removing the 13  required screws to get the body off the chassis, we get a good view of the inside: The brushed motor / gear-differential assembly (right) are probably either usable as-is or not usable at all, so I decide to keep them intact and try just driving them with a brushed motor speed controller. The receiver / control c...

I  have finally submitted my comments to the FAA's NPRM for model aircraft. After reading the proposed regulations, reading the responses from various advocacy groups, and considering both sides I have submitted the following. If you would like to comment to the FAA as well, the link is here: http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FAA-2015-0150 The deadline for comments is April 24th, 2015. ---------- I am a computer engineer, r/c model enthusiast, private pilot, and aircraft owner. I am writing in response to the FAA's proposal to regulate small unmanned aircraft systems, including model aircraft. I support the exemption of recreational model aircraft from the regulation of unmanned aircraft systems. I understand the critical need to maintain separation of the increasing proliferation of radio control and hobbyist unmanned aircraft ("model aircraft") from other aircraft in the national airspace system. I do not agree that trying to interpret model aircr...

I was doing some fast, straight line FPV flying with one of my quadcopters and a few things struck me about how multicopters fly in a straight (horizontal) line; The more you pitch forward (to go faster) the less aerodynamic you are The angle of the pitch actually serves to reduce lift, effectively fighting the motors Finding the maximum forward speed is a risky, manual process. So what if you wanted to build a multicopter optimized for forward flight?  I've seen some 250mm FPV racers that actually had the front two motors angled forward to increase the forward speed at a lower pitch angle.  I found myself asking - what if you could dynamically actuate the front motors forward instead of pitching the whole aircraft?  (Similar to the motors on an Osprey, but sans wings.) Vectored thrust on multirotors is uncommon, but not new.  Still, this idea has a singular purpose which makes working out the details and controls a bit easier. So, I decided to build one....

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...

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...

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, ...

Meet "Sharky", my first non-indoor quadcopter.   (Shown next to one of my brushed-motor nano quads for scale.) I wanted to graduate to a larger quad, but not something huge, so I decided this 345mm span "mini" quad was the way to go.  I liked the size and design of this quad. The "pseudo-airplane" shape on the frame looked more like a shark than an aircraft to me, hence the name. We'll start with what I initially built: Frame: Turnigy Integrated PCB Mini-Quad 345mm Flight Controller:  MultiWii MicroWii ATmega32U4 Flight Controller USB/BARO/ACC/MAG Receiver:  OrangeRx R100 Spektrum/JR DSM2 Compatible Satellite Receiver 4 x Motors:  Turnigy Park300 Brushless Outrunner 1380kv 4 x Speed Controllers (ESCs):  Afro ESC 12Amp (SimonK Firmware) Battery:  ZIPPY Compact 2200mAh 3S 25C Lipo Pack Props: GWS HD8040 3 blade (& their counter rotating counterparts ) I fly this with my existing OrangeRX T-Six DSM2 transmitter. I run MultiWii 2....

Anyone who knows me well knows that lately I've been playing with remote-controlled flying things.   This post provides information and links to the small (nano) indoor flyable quadcopters I've been playing with. I have built & modified a few quadcopters of various (small) sizes, from the tiny brushed-motor nano-quads like the HobbyKing Pocketquad & Syma X1 to a larger, more traditional brushless motor mini quad based on the Turnigy 345mm frame.  (More on that in a subsequent post.) Throughout this endeavor I've been using (and customizing) the MultiWii flight control software , with various Arduino / Atmel-based flight control boards.  It's becoming a FAQ what hardware and systems I'm using, so in this post I'll detail my current setup.  Future posts will cover updates, new hardware, and a couple of crazy projects I'm working on.  ;) Note: I buy a lot of parts made and sold by HobbyKing.com in China.  Their website is a bit... odd.. so I...