Chris Mitchell, a relatively new member to the TechSpace, brought in his latest quadcopter and showed it to us today at our Sunday Open Meet and Hack Day. Chris’s background: software development – Windows desktop and internet server apps (html, php, python). Chris has been an electronics hobbyist most of his life.
Chris saw a copter on Youtube a couple of years ago, and decided to make one. His first copter cost about $125. This is his 4th, and it has had many incarnations/rebuilds. He has invested approximately 600 hours in this copter, and its replacement value in its current configuration is approximately $700, plus the radio gear.
Some parts are from DIY Drones USA. However most of the flight hardware is from our local Gold Coast MultiWiiCopter in Elanora.
Specs:
- Frame: carbon fibre and aluminium.
- Weight 1.2kg
- Battery: LiPo 11.1v 2.2amp
- Onboard control gear: gyroscope, digital compass, ground proximity sonar & barometer for altitude, battery level display.
- Mavlink transmitter/receiver on copter and laptop for control via Google Earth.
- Payload: Camera, burritos!
- Gross lift capacity: 4.8kg
- Flight time: 7 minutes
- Max altitude: 66m so far, but could probably go higher.
We convinced Chris to give it a short flight inside the space. It was not calibrated for good flight, but he made a short flight before a rotor touched a table leg and it crashed. Apparently the backwash from the nearby wall made it difficult to control at takeoff. Chris has bought 100 rotors and is chewing steadily through them. I made a dodgey-quality video of this flight. There are better videos of it in flight on Chris’s Youtube Channel.