Hi Roteron,

You know, I actually have a digital microscope; guess I should have got it out 

Since you mentioned the "young'uns", I guess you are older; like me (70). 

(30-Apr-2022, 12:36 PM)iFly4rotors Wrote: Hi Roteron,

You know, I actually have a digital microscope; guess I should have got it out 

Since you mentioned the "young'uns", I guess you are older; like me (70). 

I'm not there yet, you have a couple decades on me   

But alas, close enough for the eyes not being what they used to be, which is a major PITA against ever shrinking electronics.

EXACTLY     

Well, I have finally gotten a model together on the transmitter for the dual cameras.
Actually, I went ahead and set up switches for AUX1-AUX10 and moved the Buzzer from
Channel 7 (AUX3) to Channel 8 (AUX4), set up the 6 position buttons for Channel 9
(AUX5) for the VTX power, and Channel 10 (AUX6) to a 3-position switch (SA) for
future use. I expect these will be my default switch settings going forward.

With the model together, bind an FrSky XM+ receiver. Everything fires up just fine.

The FC is mounted on 10mm nylon standoff columns to allow space below it for
some of the extra wiring and things. The cam switcher fits nicely under there. The
DVR is mounted on the rear 20x20 mount holes with the 20x20 VTX mounted 
above the DVR. Yep, that VTX antenna got the hot glue and heat shrink tape
method. I sort of went old school with receiver antennas; zip ties and heat shrink
tubing, but...I used clear heat shrink tubing and did NOT heat shrink it. The fit is
tight enough without being shrunk...sort of like antenna tubes. Yep, I mounted
the XM+ on one of the rear arms and the antennas are out by the motor. 

Anyway, here is a picture of the build as it is now. Yeah, I know, it looks a bit "messy" 

Nice!

I'm looking forward to hearing about how that vifly camera switcher works, as well as how the actual surveillance flight goes and if you can spot the poor lost Unsanctioned-1 in the tree!

I'm seeing two camera plugs, have you decided how you're going to mount the downward facing cam?

Well, she sure ain't pretty like your builds, but if she gets the job done that will work for me.

At this point, I am contemplating how to mount the targeting camera "swing". I think that I
have some of those male/female FC mount things, I might be able to use them. I could
just use long bolts to mount the camera with a round tube as a bushing and a washer at
the head to keep the arm from slipping off. Then I need to fabricate the arms before I
finish the fuselage assembly. The landing gear will depend on what I need to protect the
targeting camera.    We will see how it goes. 

Stay tuned...

Eh, my builds only stay pretty until the first few crashes.
I am definitely staying tuned.if it comes down to it, there’s always hot glue…

Almost there! I'm also looking forward to catching a glimpse of Unsactioned-1 in the tree !

Are you going to show us the video of the rescue, iFly4rotors? I always find those sort of videos interesting. Just the analogue/digital feed would suffice.

(11-May-2022, 11:19 PM)Pathfinder075 Wrote: Are you going to show us the video of the rescue, iFly4rotors?  I always find those sort of videos interesting.  Just the analogue/digital feed would suffice.

Hi Pathfinder,

Yes, I will produce a video. I pretty much record all of my flights anyway, but the Surveillance-1 
and the Rescue-1 will both have an on-board DVR to record the targeting camera without the OSD 
info. At this point, my plan is to collect up all of the videos and create sort of a composite video
for each quad. That way I can take the interesting stuff and leave out the dull stuff. Plus I will
be able to splice the video with the OSD info and the clean video.


Also, an update:

I have just completed fabricating the "swing" arms for the targeting camera and added
pivot tubes to the flight camera. 

I still have to get some type of landing gear that will raise the quad so that the targeting
camera is not sitting on the ground...especially for landing as it will definitely be hanging
in the down position. 

Gonna need some pictures of those swing arms and whatnot.

Please.

Here are some pictures of the targeting camera's "swing" mount hot
off the press. I just finished assembling them. This arrangement works
as expected and is very smooth. I held the quad and tilted it from a
hover position to a forward angle of about 45 degrees and the targeting
camera maintained a vertical (downward) position. Since it is NOT a
solid mount, I don't know how much vibration it will pick up, but I will
cross that bridge when we get there.

This picture is with the quad sitting level on the central landing legs and
the swing arms forward and resting on the bench. This is a pretty good
view and shows the details of the construction and assembly.



Here, the quad is sitting on a roll of Kester .5mm solder showing the camera hanging down from
gravity as it would be in a hover position.



Here, the quad is sitting on the bench with the swing tucked under and also
sitting on the bench. The design of the swing arms actually provides a decent
amount of protection for the camera as well.  The arms were cut from a sheet
of 2mm thick clear LEXAN "Plastic".  I used a utility knife to make the initial cuts
then a bench grinder to smooth and shape the arms which were bolted together
to ensure they were the same. We will start here and see how it goes.

Awesome! I’m a little concerned about vibration as well, but as you said, you can cross that bridge when you come to it if you do. You could always put some heat shrink on those mounting bars to tighten up the clearance, or, just do a non swinging 90 degree mount since ideally you’d be hovering with minimal movement while trying to spot it in the tree.

This is coming together nicely. Good job.

Edit- if vibration becomes an issue, I think it might be better if you added some rubber as a “bushing” between the lexan and the camera mount rather than adding heat shrink to the mounting bars.

I sort of "over" drilled the top "swing" holes. If I need to reduce vibration, then I might
use thicker LEXAN and smaller swing holes. Tighten it up a bit. I do like how it all came
together. Even though that was the plan, things don't always go as planned.

My projects rarely go as planned. The important thing is that it works as intended. 

Scott_m hasn't been around too much lately, but he's a master fabricator and could probably offer some ideal solutions to any problems you may have with it once you've tried it.

Regardless, it seems to be coming together quite nicely.