10-Mar-2017, 09:38 AM
I thought you might like to see my latest build. I call it "The Purple Nurple".
Here's the parts list:
Frame: Armattan Chameleon - Suki Limited Edition
Motors: DYS Fire 2206 2300kv
ESCs: RacerStar RS30A V2 BLHeli_S
Propellers: Dalprop 5040 triblades
Flight controller: BrainFPV RE1
Power Distribution: BrainFPV mPB
Flight Camera: RunCam Eagle 16:9
Video Transmitter: TBS Unify Pro
Receiver: FrSky XSR
Battery: Turnigy Graphene 4S 1300mA/h
All Up Weight: 545g
I liked the sound of the BrainFPV RE1. It's a high quality F4 based flight controller with matching PDB and regulator board that can run both dRonin and Betaflight. Here's the first layer of the build:
I added some extra electrolytic capacitors to the RacerStar ESCs for the sake of the rest of the electronics and then covered the ESCs with some glue lined heatshrink. The glue lined stuff is great for making your ESCs immune to the dew on the grass if you're going to be out flying in the early morning.
The Armattan camera mount is designed for the Foxeer XAT600M camera and my Runcam is looking a little unprotected.
I guess I'll have to make some further modifications to get the camera moved back a little so that the aluminium cage protects the lens properly.
Then it was on to getting the flight controller added to the stack and connected to everything:
Thankfully, there's plenty of room in the Chameleon and it ended up being a very painless build.
Mounting the pigtail from the Unify Pro VTX was a little more tricky, but cutting off the top of the antenna connector bracket:
and using an o-ring on the other side to prevent it falling back into the frame when the VTX antenna is removed, sorted that problem out in short order.
Then it was just a matter of adding the battery strap, putting some zip ties on for the XSR antennas and screwing on the top plates.
Although the RE1 can run Betaflight, I decided to give dRonin a try to see what it was like.
I was very pleasantly surprised with dRonin! After running through the setup wizard (which took me instantly back to the old OpenPilot days), I was ready for a maiden flight and an auto tune. After taking off and verifying that everything worked as intended, I put the craft in a hover a few metres up and enabled auto tune. While the auto tune is running, the craft kind of wobbles as the firmware collects data about the craft's handling characteristics. Once that stopped, I landed and disarmed. This saves the data and then you need to connect to the dRonin GCS so that it can download the data and analyse it.
So I retreated to the nearby pub for some warmth and refreshment and completed the auto tune. Suitably fortified, I returned to the field and took to the air in level mode. Everything seemed immediately much tighter and responsive, so I landed, switched to horizon mode and took off at full throttle!
Not only is this build incredibly fast and powerful, the tune that dRonin had worked out was absolutely spot on. The Chameleon flew like it was on rails and no matter how hard I pushed it with flips, rolls, punch outs, last second catches from dropping straight down and turns as sharp as I could manage, nothing would provoke any kind of questionable handling. So despite the fact that my fingers were starting to turn blue in the just over freezing temperatures, I can promise you I had a huge smile on my face.
For the time being, I'll be leaving the dRonin firmware on the RE1. It was much better than I thought it would be and the auto tune feature worked perfectly for this build. The Armattan Chameleon frame is excellent, as you'd expect of an Armattan frame. The low slung battery keeps the weight central and close to the plane of the propellers giving excellent handling. I think the frame looks stunning and of course, it comes with the unique Armattan lifetime warranty.
I can see this build becoming one of my all time favourites.
Here's the parts list:
Frame: Armattan Chameleon - Suki Limited Edition
Motors: DYS Fire 2206 2300kv
ESCs: RacerStar RS30A V2 BLHeli_S
Propellers: Dalprop 5040 triblades
Flight controller: BrainFPV RE1
Power Distribution: BrainFPV mPB
Flight Camera: RunCam Eagle 16:9
Video Transmitter: TBS Unify Pro
Receiver: FrSky XSR
Battery: Turnigy Graphene 4S 1300mA/h
All Up Weight: 545g
I liked the sound of the BrainFPV RE1. It's a high quality F4 based flight controller with matching PDB and regulator board that can run both dRonin and Betaflight. Here's the first layer of the build:
I added some extra electrolytic capacitors to the RacerStar ESCs for the sake of the rest of the electronics and then covered the ESCs with some glue lined heatshrink. The glue lined stuff is great for making your ESCs immune to the dew on the grass if you're going to be out flying in the early morning.
The Armattan camera mount is designed for the Foxeer XAT600M camera and my Runcam is looking a little unprotected.
I guess I'll have to make some further modifications to get the camera moved back a little so that the aluminium cage protects the lens properly.
Then it was on to getting the flight controller added to the stack and connected to everything:
Thankfully, there's plenty of room in the Chameleon and it ended up being a very painless build.
Mounting the pigtail from the Unify Pro VTX was a little more tricky, but cutting off the top of the antenna connector bracket:
and using an o-ring on the other side to prevent it falling back into the frame when the VTX antenna is removed, sorted that problem out in short order.
Then it was just a matter of adding the battery strap, putting some zip ties on for the XSR antennas and screwing on the top plates.
Although the RE1 can run Betaflight, I decided to give dRonin a try to see what it was like.
I was very pleasantly surprised with dRonin! After running through the setup wizard (which took me instantly back to the old OpenPilot days), I was ready for a maiden flight and an auto tune. After taking off and verifying that everything worked as intended, I put the craft in a hover a few metres up and enabled auto tune. While the auto tune is running, the craft kind of wobbles as the firmware collects data about the craft's handling characteristics. Once that stopped, I landed and disarmed. This saves the data and then you need to connect to the dRonin GCS so that it can download the data and analyse it.
So I retreated to the nearby pub for some warmth and refreshment and completed the auto tune. Suitably fortified, I returned to the field and took to the air in level mode. Everything seemed immediately much tighter and responsive, so I landed, switched to horizon mode and took off at full throttle!
Not only is this build incredibly fast and powerful, the tune that dRonin had worked out was absolutely spot on. The Chameleon flew like it was on rails and no matter how hard I pushed it with flips, rolls, punch outs, last second catches from dropping straight down and turns as sharp as I could manage, nothing would provoke any kind of questionable handling. So despite the fact that my fingers were starting to turn blue in the just over freezing temperatures, I can promise you I had a huge smile on my face.
For the time being, I'll be leaving the dRonin firmware on the RE1. It was much better than I thought it would be and the auto tune feature worked perfectly for this build. The Armattan Chameleon frame is excellent, as you'd expect of an Armattan frame. The low slung battery keeps the weight central and close to the plane of the propellers giving excellent handling. I think the frame looks stunning and of course, it comes with the unique Armattan lifetime warranty.
I can see this build becoming one of my all time favourites.