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Rage 210RS - build log
#1
Hi everyone

This is gonna be a slow (and my first) build log, means i'll take my time and enjoy it, laying out every step in my head before touching things so i (hopefully) won't come to unexpected halts - you know, that kind of moment where the solder iron's hot in your hand but you realize you have to do something else first. Rolleyes

This build log might not follow any logic or structure - it might be chaotic and a pain to read, so do it at your own risk lol. I'll just post a lot of pics (w/ dirty lens as watermark lol) and in doing so, mainly focus on the frame, as there's lots of reviews to be found on the webz for all the rest of the gear i'm using, nothing new. And while i'll try to explain why and how i do what, don't hesitate to ask if i'm being unclear.

Also i might edit my posts back and forth as i see fits, to maybe make it more readable for any new viewer.



So... that's the "plan":

[Image: 3LwPG7Fl.jpg]
(well... it's the "parts", but... you get me Smile  )

Most things should be recognizable when viewing the pic, but still:

Parts list:
  • frame: Rage 210RS ("Rock Solid") from www.smartshapes.de - 4mm baseplate, 30mm collumns, nice cam- and vtx plates and top left corner in the pic the parts that i'm probably not gonna need (additional stack plates, feet, etc)
  • FC: Revo F4 from rtfquads, came with raceflight but betaflight 3.0.0 is already on
  • Escs: Kiss 24a - even though i waited for them quite long and it was the last missing part to arrive, they're still of a v.1.01 batch. I'll flash them first to 1.03 before doing anything with the / to the quad, to prevent any possible problems from start
  • Motors: F40 v2 2500kV - hope they can pull the props without the current shooting up. Got them cheap on sale
  • Props: HQ 5045 BN - they're quite a bit heavier than my all-time-favourite standard HQ 5045, but gotta step it up somehow
  • RX: Lemon diversity sat - only got them recently, tested on a LOS micro scrap build and worked fine so far
  • Cam: Owl Plus in standard case size (28x28mm) - fits the frame cam plates perfectly, might show that later in detail
  • VTX: Hawkeye 32ch w/ pigtail from hobbiesfly.com - already have several of them, never caused trouble
In the pic there are two PDBs, but i already decided for the trusty flyduino micro and against the Matek, even though the Matek would fit the frame very nicely and make for a clean build. But i definitely wanna keep open the 5s option - the flyduino micro is rated up to 26V yet only 80A, but i built 4 quads so far with this PDB and it never caused a problem, in the higher power thingies i just reinforced it with some extra copper strands and it always worked fine.

Further some anti-vib rubber standoffs for the FC, a 1.5W LED for the tail... and other than that nothing special. Some caps. A small LC filter from rtfquads. Aomway antenna. Things not in the pic like lipo straps, assorted cables, shrink wraps, zip ties etc. i got heaps of.

Did i miss something? Ah, maybe the HD cam. Will use a mobius or runcam 2 as i just prefer the shape over yi/gopro.



So... first stop err step: to flash the kiss escs. Won't document that here. From what i've read it's a tedious process... Rolleyes very.

Feel free to ask / comment / guess / suggest / critizise - any sort of conversation is welcome in this thread.

Greetings, ff


Edits:
- changed title. A "slow build log" might suggest the quad is supposed to be slow - which it's not, lol.
- typo's / formatting
- added intro text about what to expect from this reading this thread
[-] The following 2 users Like fftunes's post:
  • Kerni_fpv, Oscar
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#2
KISS ESC with Betaflight? has anyone had good luck with this setup? Last I heard about it it didn't run very well and hard to tune..
and what capacitors are those? going to take up some space lol Big Grin
Don't be a LOS'er, be an FPV'er :)  My Gear - Facebook - Instagram - Twitter
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#3
(24-Sep-2016, 08:34 PM)Oscar Wrote: KISS ESC with Betaflight? has anyone had good luck with this setup? Last I heard about it it didn't run very well and hard to tune..
and what capacitors are those? going to take up some space lol Big Grin

Well personally i can't say anything bad about kiss escs in general, me and a friend built several quads using kiss 18a, i also have a heavy setup with 2208 motors & kiss 30a, and my rush frame has been fine with the 24a RE - we never had a single issue counting at least 28 kiss escs. My mate even managed to reverse polarity on his first build, and when he connected the battery, the simple copper PDB burnt first and the escs survived Big Grin but - regarding the 24a RE i might just have been lucky i never used oneshot42, as that might have caused issues afaik.
That's why i eagerly wanna update them first. Not much point in running the revo gyro @ 8kHz, maybe PID loop too (125us), and then using a slow-ass oneshot125 protocol Wink

Those 35V 470uf caps on the left side of pic are a bit thicker than some i had before (like the one on the red PDB). You're right they're pretty fat, but 2 of those right at the PDB should fit in. Just need to make sure they clear the FC above. Other than that, there's not much in the way. The smaller caps in the lower left side are 35V 220uf - i thought of going overkill and using those too, one on each escs, but well... that might REALLY get a bit thight then, and i don't like cutting the motor cables so very short.

EDIT: Hmmm though... this X-shaped Rage has arms relatively a bit longer than the H Rush. Maybe caps would fit... Big Grin
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#4
...on with it:


Figuring out details
: Video
(lat. for "I see")

I like the idea of these cam side plates a lot - increasing the cam angle would push the camera further to the front.
But the frame will be pretty strong using 8 collumns, so any reinforcement by these plates is not needed:

[Image: HOYBgZwl.jpg]


Plus, the U-piece that came with the owl offers a bit more variety in exact placement. Aaaaand,
using the U-piece leaves one more gram to be wasted on unnecessary bling. Decision made.

[Image: C6xatOWl.jpg]


In my recent builds i managed to mount everything fpv-related to top plate only, for easier maintenance.
I hope the vtx fits above FC. Aiming for a bit front-heavy, that will be about it:

[Image: bfg5mMkl.jpg]



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#5
...damn i'll need an anti-spark xt60  Tongue  or make one myself.


Figuring out details: Driving things

The X arms are really a pretty bit longer than the H arms. I figured out the 220uf caps should fit easily.
So in order to make sure it will hold up - yeah, going overkill with the caps:

[Image: PH3Zpizl.jpg]


[Image: yOBAQo9l.jpg]

I cut the PDB a bit to make it fit between the antivib standoffs. Also will raise the FC as high as possible.
But the caps' legs are almost too short, might change that to 1 front, 1 rear, not sure yet.

Flashing escs: The only addition to Oscar's great tutorial (thanks a lot) is a post by Felix with an attached app.
It allows flashing 1.03 by FTDI instead of kiss FC. A tip for BL pads - i used a tiny clamp to hold a piece of wire:

[Image: XCYkYkyl.jpg]

So... all prepared on this side. Now basically the big solder job can start.


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#6


Figuring out details: tx, rx, fc

DX6, lemon diversity sat, cc3d revo f4. Not much to figure out. I'll use a comfy workaround for the spektrum 22ms throttle bug, to get 11ms signal on all channels. Might show that later when i get to it, or maybe even make a short video about, idk. But basically it's this:

  In tx:
  • set up heli model
  • for throttle, use pitch curve instead of throttle curve

  In configurator:
  • set receiver mapping to 2AER1T34
  • set failsafe for aux2 to "set" and your min throttle value

Firmware will be betaflight. Only special thing: i'll use reversed motor direction for the first time. Betaflight supports this by a cli var for yaw motor direction. It's been said to result in more even motor load at FFF, and when hitting grass, stuff gets thrown away from camera, not into it.


Soldering motors reverse & mounting props the wrong way INTENTIONALLY could prove difficult ROFL
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#7


Building: Part groups

VTX, filter, antenna

All on top deck. Only 2.5mm zip-ties for the antenna might be too weak. Else nothing to explain:

[Image: 1uSvLztl.jpg]


Escs & motors

Everything soldered up, calibrated 1 by 1, and tested. Didn't use the reverse jumper, instead crossed wires.
One esc was stuttering at a specific low throttle value, but luckily i had another one spare and prepared.
I don't know, maybe flashing went wrong at some point. I only tried re-flashing 1.03h but that didn't help.

[Image: wgmwDrkl.jpg]

Before shrinking the escs i put on some hot glue to support the caps / prevent shorts in case anything rips out.


Main plate & pdb

This flyduino pdb usually fits in between normal standoffs, but the rubbered standoffs are quite a bit thicker.
It gets taped in & ziptied when soldering is done. I also didn't loctite the standoffs yet in case i burn one.

[Image: mfNEHq7l.jpg]


Flightcontroller, RX and buzzer

One of the buzzers was  broken on arrival. Replaced the buzzer, and cut the board a bit. Was too big anyway.
The mini 4-cell nimh pack is very handy when setting up stuff, or testing anything.

[Image: heVQ9gul.jpg]



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#8


Setup: Transmitter

Spektrum 11ms throttle fix

When i got the lemon sats hooked up the first time i noticed that throttle channel would still put out 22ms steps.
Found an easy workaround. Using a heli model in my DX6 came in handy for this, but it imho offers other advantages too.
I like the simple setup of 2 switches to correspond to 1 channel, with hold mode (i.e. disarm) overriding the other flightmodes.

I'll explain my whole setup for a new model. Probably works the same for most spektrum transmitters, and also should for CF.
Key points for the heli-type 11ms workaround in bold letters:


    In System Setup:
  • select Model Type -> Helicopter
  • select Swash type -> next -> next -> select quadcopter picture
  • change Model Name
  • select F-Mode setup and add a switch for "Hold Switch" (as mode 3 pilot i use "A" on the DX6)
  • select Channel Assign -> next -> change input for channel 5 to "FMode"
  • select Trim Setup -> adjust step size to 0 (or 1 if you wish to keep it)
  • select Warnings -> reverse warning for "Hold"
  • select Frame Rate -> 11ms
    In Function List:
  • Servo Setup -> Travel: adjust PIT as if it was throttle. Subtrim as needed, and reverse AIL & RUD.
  • Throttle Curve -> Could be used as another aux. Beware, will go low in case of rx failsafe.
  • Pitch Curve -> this is your throttle curve now. Use as you wish.
  • Timer -> adjust start to "Flight Mode".
    In betaflight configurator:
  • in receiver tab, change mapping order from spektrum's TAER1234 to 2AER1T34
  • in modes tab, adjust stuff for aux 1 (Hold mode = disarm etc., added pic as example)
  • in failsafe tab, adjust aux2 to "set" and "1000"

The 11ms throttle fix would also work with airplane model of course, by mixing throttle to another channel.

EDIT: latest spektrum transmitter firmware allows 11ms on TAER channels, somewhere hidden in the menues when using quad model, so this workaround is not needed then.




Attached Files Thumbnail(s)
   
[-] The following 1 user Likes fftunes's post:
  • Oscar
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#9


Setup: Flight controller

Basics:

Doing the basic setup here to verify that everything works safely, before i connect escs at all.
Looking at motor tab i figure everything is ok - motor graphs react to sticks as expected.
Also failsafe, modes and logging works. And being cautious, i lower default PID a bit.
Acc sensor will be turned off later as it's no use to me. Hm except maybe for logs lol.
  *Note to self: temporarily disabled rc interpolation to verify 11ms steps in the logs.

Specifics:

As mentioned, i'll use reversed motor direction because it's said to have advantages in fast forward flight.
Aside from hardware soldering, all i need to do is changing the CLI variable for yaw_motor_direction to -1.

Then i wanted to mount a beeper, but for the Revo F4, beeper on motor pin was not yet implemented in 3.0.0.
I remembered some discussion on rcg though and found "AndWho" already has it in his version of code (link).
Means, a reflash is required. Super easy - flashing takes less than a minute, and to set up again takes seconds.
The "diff" command in CLI shows all variables that i changed from defaults, it's simple copy paste after that:

Code:
Entering CLI Mode, type 'exit' to return, or 'help'

# diff

# version
# BetaFlight/REVO 3.0.0 Sep 11 2016 / 00:38:45 (a21694b)

# name
name Rage210RS

# mixer

# servo

# servo mix


# feature

# beeper

# map
map 2AER1T34

# serial
serial 2 64 115200 57600 0 115200

# aux
aux 0 0 0 1175 1875
aux 1 27 0 1375 1875
aux 2 12 1 1500 1875
aux 3 25 0 1575 1875

# adjrange

# rxrange

# rxfail
rxfail 5 s 1000

# master
set min_check = 1020
set rc_interpolation = OFF
set max_aux_channels = 2
set min_throttle = 1000
set 3d_deadband_low = 1470
set 3d_deadband_high = 1530
set 3d_neutral = 1500
set 3d_deadband_throttle = 20
set serialrx_provider = SPEK2048
set yaw_motor_direction = -1
set blackbox_device = SPIFLASH

# profile
profile 0

set gps_pos_p = 0
set gps_posr_p = 0
set gps_posr_i = 0
set gps_posr_d = 0
set gps_nav_p = 0
set gps_nav_i = 0
set gps_nav_d = 0
set p_pitch = 55
set d_pitch = 20
set p_roll = 40
set d_roll = 18
set p_alt = 0
set p_level = 0
set i_level = 0
set d_level = 0
set p_vel = 0
set i_vel = 0
set d_vel = 0
rateprofile 0

# rateprofile
rateprofile 0

set rc_rate = 140
set rc_rate_yaw = 114
set roll_srate = 69
set pitch_srate = 69
set yaw_srate = 62

#


Now i can use the beeper connected to motor pin 6:

Code:
set enable_buzzer_p6 = on


At this stage the flight controller is functional. I'll get into more details when/if they become important.


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#10
A short totally-off-topic foto excursion Smile


As i noticed just a day before that i was out of clean servo wires, i had an excuse to go shop at the RC show.
We've been to this show in "Hausen am Albis" the last 2 years too, it is a nice, well-organized family event:

[Image: 11hqSwFl.jpg]


This event always features great pilots and gorgeous scale models. Also some real planes were open to look at:

[Image: Lyi5OeIl.jpg]


Hugo was there (he's a well known heli guy), some really tall models (in the background), and jet sailers:

[Image: lQywoejl.jpg]


And i got my wires. It's good to take your mind off things every now and then. Back to building now. Big Grin


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  • Drone0fPrey
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#11
cool show Smile was there any mini quad ? I always wonder how the traditional plane/heli guys look at mini quad Smile
Don't be a LOS'er, be an FPV'er :)  My Gear - Facebook - Instagram - Twitter
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#12
(02-Oct-2016, 07:07 PM)Oscar Wrote: cool show Smile was there any mini quad ? I always wonder how the traditional plane/heli guys look at mini quad Smile

That meeting is very scale-oriented, so sadly no - the only quad in the air was a dji of the organizers that flew a small corridor between crowd and airstrip for some footage. And i think mini quads would be difficult to present... maybe they should have a small area for ppl to try micro fpv.

Lol you should hear the traditional plane guys during the 3D heli presentation - they don't understand what's going on. Wink 
About heli people, many of them are very interested in fpv quads. Was surprised how many "old guys" on another forum got one.

But of course the shops had a lot of stuff, but i only took a closer look at the new graupner tri which i read a good review about, but tbh, it's a pile of... plastic. Smile
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  • Oscar
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#13
...got held up by xcom2 for a bit...Big Grin


Marriage

Part 1: Main plate and drive train



Which basically means soldering the pdb. Caps first:

[Image: 0qMCDqSl.jpg]


And while i really have to say i love my Rush210 H-frame (here a pic of it taken apart for fixing the rx), ...

[Image: 3WfYJD0l.jpg]


...wires in an x-shape get less in the way of other stuff. Still a mess with this specific pdb, but it works. Smile

[Image: 7ushGRKl.jpg]


[-] The following 1 user Likes fftunes's post:
  • Oscar
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#14


Part 2: Body and Mind


[Image: 5WhABAYl.jpg]


[Image: q4RojWzl.jpg]


[Image: PRyMTYbl.jpg]


Nothing special to mention, except that i drilled 2 holes in the rear for the LED ziptie, which scared him: Big Grin

[Image: fW5l0zol.jpg]


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#15
...finished and flying Big Grin



Part 3: Lower and upper deck

A bit like Tetris every time. Went well. Was in a rush to finish it, as friends went flying in the afternoon.
Quickly improvised a cam mount, and did the finishing details like antenna mount etc., then went out.

[Image: 4FIF3W9l.jpg]


[Image: yAryyFTl.jpg]


[Image: JiLxVNxl.jpg]


[Image: S3Jazfdl.jpg]


[Image: j5aKRmhl.jpg]


[Image: biyc4Jol.jpg]


[Image: BnCu59sl.jpg]


The owl plus had a bit of trouble against the sun though, at times i couldn't see the ground at all, totally blacked out.
PID felt a bit loose on roll, but that was my fault for not really testing before going FPV. Otherwise felt great!
Pretty much default betaflight 3.0.0, except dterm setpoint 0.80, 8k/8k/4k, oneshot42 unsynced, and reverse motors.




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