Hey guys, thought I'd chronicle my build progress in this thread. It's gonna be a very long progress due to the impact of COVID-19 on parts availabilty, as well as availability of funds to spend on parts and whatnot. I'll try to keep the thread tidy by posting new progress in 'chapters' and index them in this post.

1. First Batch of Parts
   

First Batch of Parts

Mail day!


T-Motor F7 FC


iFlight Xing-E 2306 1700KV motor


AKK FX2-ultimate-mini VTX


Test-fiting the FC on the frame


Upcoming stuff to buy:

• T-Motor F45 45A 4-in-1 ESC
  
• Props -- I'm thinking HQ 6x4.2x3
  
• FrSky XM+
  
• Emax Nano SMA VTX antenna
  
• Caddx Turtle... Because DVR   although to be honest, I'm kinda on the fence on having a DVR vs going with the Caddx Ratel/Baby Ratel and mount a GoPro Session 5 or Runcam 5 Orange instead
  
• Several packs of Dinogy 6S LiPos
  
• ISDT T6 Lite charger (man these are goddamned expensive)
  
• Longer motor screws, because the ones that came with the motor wouldn't be long enough once I factor in motor guards and anti-vibration silicone pads
  

As for the radio -- FrSky Taranis Q X7 -- is already on its way and should be on my doorstep within a day.

Hi, nice build you going there.

Quick question: why do you use anti-vibration pads? Are there really a lot of benefits of using those?

Thanks and have a good day

(26-Mar-2020, 02:27 PM)Superflim Wrote: Quick question: why do you use anti-vibration pads? Are there really a lot of benefits of using those?

Probably not with modern flight controllers and modern flight control firmware. In fact most people don't fit motor anti vibration pads any more but back in the day these were sometimes helpful.

I have some on my 5" but I just did it for a belt and braces approach when I built it 18 months ago. Likewise, you can get away without a capacitor on a number of modern flight controllers and ESCs, but people still add them to be on the safe side and to avoid any hassle of having to go back and add them in later.

(26-Mar-2020, 03:01 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: Probably not with modern flight controllers and modern flight control firmware. In fact most people don't fit motor anti vibration pads any more but back in the day these were sometimes helpful.

I have some on my 5" but I just did it for a belt and braces approach when I built it 18 months ago. Likewise, you can get away without a capacitor on a number of modern flight controllers and ESCs, but people still add them to be on the safe side and to avoid any hassle of having to go back and add them in later.

Yep, it's one of those "why not" precautionary measures

Got bored today, so I installed the motors, soft-mount pads and motor guards just to see some semblance of progress:


Payday isn’t until the 24th but I’m itching to order more parts. It’s really tempting to use the card, though given the present situation, I have to be really careful with my spendings.

Up next would be the ESC, RX, camera, LiPo packs and props. Thinking about going with T-Motor F55A 4-in-1 ESC just for the extra headroom, but at that price point, I could get Hobbywing’s 60A ESC (that allegedly survived being raced by Vanover for a whole season). Decisions decisions...

The rest will be XM+, Foxeer Super Micro, Dinogy 1600mAh 130C packs and... HQ 7x4x3’s? Ethix K2 6040 biblades? Gemfan 5x5.5x3’s? Pretty sure those monster HQs would look good on my 290mm frame

Am SURE the 7x4x3's will look great! They are an exceedingly smooth prop as well. I found a little throttle tuning with the 3 blade props turned it into probably my smoothest flyer. With a straight linear throttle curve, I found them to be a bit "jumpy" in the low end and having the throttle calmed on the low end made for super easy takeoffs/landings and altitude control.

My 7" hovers at about 23% on them so I flattened from about 15% to about 40% out a little.

Your RX will give you over a kilometer, so good there. I have come to like Foxeer cams a lot and have the V3 Predator Micro as well as the Falkor2 Micro...they make a great cam.

Are you considering GPS?

(04-Apr-2020, 08:38 PM)kaitylynn Wrote: Am SURE the 7x4x3's will look great! They are an exceedingly smooth prop as well. I found a little throttle tuning with the 3 blade props turned it into probably my smoothest flyer. With a straight linear throttle curve, I found them to be a bit "jumpy" in the low end and having the throttle calmed on the low end made for super easy takeoffs/landings and altitude control.

My 7" hovers at about 23% on them so I flattened from about 15% to about 40% out a little.

Your RX will give you over a kilometer, so good there. I have come to like Foxeer cams a lot and have the V3 Predator Micro as well as the Falkor2 Micro...they make a great cam.

Are you considering GPS?

Thanks for the heads-up on the props. I’ve been having a hard time deciding on props, but you sold me on the HQs!

I picked the RX simply because it’s cheap and has RSSI over AUX 16. And Oscar’s review on the camera pretty much decided it for me

I’m considering GPS for the GPS rescue as well as altitude and speed on my OSD, rather than for the autonomous flying capabilities (I’m running BF 4.1), though I’ve heard that GPS altitude is somehow less accurate than barometer altitude. Is this true?

The accuracy of the altitude reading of the GPS is fine for GPS_RESCUE. When I started flying, the XM+ was a really well regarded FrSky RX still, but it was eclipsed when the small RX's with telemetry became common (notably the R-XSR).

With the OSD on your goggles, you can get away with just the RSSI of the XM+. I really only started caring to have telemetry when I started to push my ranges out past about 500 meters.

Try every prop you can. Each of our aircraft is unique and what flies PERFECT on one will produce OH-HELL-NO results on another. Part fo the fun of this habby is finding what works best for you!

(05-Apr-2020, 12:14 AM)kaitylynn Wrote: The accuracy of the altitude reading of the GPS is fine for GPS_RESCUE. When I started flying, the XM+ was a really well regarded FrSky RX still, but it was eclipsed when the small RX's with telemetry became common (notably the R-XSR).

With the OSD on your goggles, you can get away with just the RSSI of the XM+. I really only started caring to have telemetry when I started to push my ranges out past about 500 meters.

Try every prop you can. Each of our aircraft is unique and what flies PERFECT on one will produce OH-HELL-NO results on another. Part fo the fun of this habby is finding what works best for you!

Currently looking at the props available in my local market — definitely gonna order several different diameters and pitches. I could only hope that it’s safe enough outside for me to fly and get enough flight hours on all of them to cast any judgement

Well well. Look what came in the mail!

I'm glad to see we now have a new member on "Team Ummagrip" It looks like "Team 3M Dual Lock" is starting to lag behind with members

(24-Apr-2020, 12:15 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: I'm glad to see we now have a new member on "Team Ummagrip" It looks like "Team 3M Dual Lock" is starting to lag behind with members

JB’s subliminal propaganda on the Ummagrip is so strong I couldn’t resist

—

Anyways: quad fired up alright the first time. That ESC startup tone is the best melody I’ve ever heard after a long day of working, waiting for the mail man and assembling the whole nine yards.

Here she is on the bench, just idly sitting after I did some post-motor-remap-and-reverse sanity checks:


And here’s a test fit of everything with shorter standoffs (25mm and 20mm for the front and rear deck, respectively):

Very nice build!
As a side note though, that red tape is quite ugly and ruins the aesthetics of a otherwise great looking quad.

(24-Apr-2020, 08:48 PM)Smoses221 Wrote: Very nice build!
As a side note though, that red tape is quite ugly and ruins the aesthetics of a otherwise great looking quad.

I might replace it with 3M black tape at some point — but right now, red’s the only high quality (ie. not leaving sticky residues) tape I’ve got.