Looking for a frame

I think a lot of guys are attracted to those inexpensive Gemfan propellers but don't consider the vibration issue. We notice it because we are doing video, but the vibrations also affect the flight controller.

I noticed it while editing the first video, then started watching the quad up close while in flight.
I'd not paid much attention before I put the camera on board, but I could see the vibration come up through the GPS mast in kind of rhythmic surges.
It stopped doing it with the DJI blades.

Does about 12.5 minutes sound about right for flight time on the 3300 mAh batteries?
That's with the camera and the foam legs attached.

12 minutes seems like a long time to me for such a small battery.

I've gotten 18+ minutes with a 6400 mAh on my hexacopter.

Hopefully Tiger will chime in, I think he said he uses them.

Yeah, so 3300 should only be 8-9 minutes.

Interesting, at 12 minutes I'm putting back about 2425 mAh, 80% of 3300 is 2640 so unless I did my math wrong, all is good, I hope. I haven't weighed it loaded, but the camera is pretty light, as well as the foam legs I had attached.

Hi Bill - I'm using Gens Ace 3300's and I think I'm discharging them a little deeper than you are. I run about fifteen minutes consistently. I'm not carrying a camera so maybe that helps a little. I am carrying a lot of lights and a light controller board. I really think 3300 is the sweet spot. Adding more battery is adding more weight so you get diminishing returns. John (GPS) is pretty heavy, which is why his time is down a little by comparison.

Sounds like you're doing great. I'm looking forward to seeing your videos.

...Tiger

John, did you just say I'm heavy?

Tiger, did you get the landing gear mounted yet?

That's how I read it.


Here's the third video of the testing for camera mounting. Please ignore the lighting and my turing the quad to fast and just look for the jello effect. This last video had the cage attached and I'm quite impressed with the difference. I did have to make longer landing legs out of the foam noodle to get enough clearance for the camera and cage to fit. You can see it was a fairly breezy day too.
I did use the youtube tool to remove camera shake on all the videos but it had little to no effect on reducing the jello.

So it's a win for the Wire CAM Stabilizer
... sorry that sounded bad. I don't mean to marginalize the work. Yes I'm glad it works and I gather it's working real well.
... How bad was the Jello before installing the stabilizer?

I'll put them all together here.

Very impressed with that! I will now be making one to replace for my heli and tricopter, what is the diameter of cable you used? 1/8" it looks like? I am ordering some Delrin today for some projects and will machine the two halves for that type of mount.

Ah I see you used 1/16" wheel collars.

Yep, 1/16 wire and collars.
That'll be cool with machined parts, unlike my plastic box tops.

John - YES! We're heavy!

Bill - I have not done anything with the landing gear. I have two DJI frame quads. One is my night flying one so I don't want to mess with it. The other has a KK2 and I really don't want to take it apart. So... I HAVE to build a third one for the camera. Here is a pic of the landing gear since you don't have yours yet. As you can see, it's almost made for your frame.

...Tiger

Geez, I hate when have to build more than a couple of something, that's how I ended up with 3 heli's I think.
Thanks for the photo, I was wondering how it was to fit. I've built mine with the lower plate 90 degrees off though. Won't be hard to change.
How much clearance is under that gear?

There is exactly 3-1/4" under it at the lowest point on the landing gear. That would mean that the camera would mount a little higher than that.

...Tiger

Cool, the jello cage I built, with the camera attached should just fit.

Bill & John, have you guys mounted your landing gear to your F450's?