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74 And you can hold by opposing prop hubs to check vertical CG (with all cameras and battery installed).
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45 I ordered a QAV-XS frame which little protrusions which makes testing COG easier. This was how I justified to you know who spending that $. But yes, this topic can be made as simple or complicated as you want. For instance, we're talking COG, but there's also COT (centre of thrust or thrust vector) to consider
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2 I check mine on a pencil on my desk. I set the quad on it and see how it balances. I typically just build with zero consideration (everything is pretty symmetrical) and let the battery take up the slack where it's needed.
That being said (I might be a little controversial here), I haven't found CG to be critical on any of my quads. As long as it's close enough, it will fly fine. The software is so advanced, it can almost account for the differences. My last flight out, my camera fell off in flight. It easily shifted the CG back an inch from centre. The quad got a little sloppy on flips, but that was it. For a drastic change in CG, it wasn't a drastic change in flight.
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72 I don't think that's controversial at all!
As long as the COG is close enough, the flight controller will deal with any weight distribution issues. As a multirotor craft knows nothing about aerodynamics, having the COG at a specific point is largely irrelevant. As long as it's not taken to extremes, it's not that important.
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2 I don't find it has to be crucially central and I often mount my batteries slightly closer to the front of the quad, feels a little better for fast forward flight imo