Today, I added a 4mm piece of LEXAN at the top of the swing arms.
I attached these pieces with a UV curable "glue" {thanks Lemony}.
My initial impression is that this glue might be even better than the Bondic 
that I have used a lot in the past. After working to get a smooth operational
"swing" movement, attaching the camera wires introduced a bit of binding
so I had to work to get it to swing acceptably. I will just have to see how
it performs in flight. 

I still need to fabricate a mount for the GPS and to hold the VTX antenna
upright since it turns or spins. It will also keep the XT30 connector in the
proper orientation. 

Hooray for progress!

Well, gang, the Surveillance-1 is all together and flies.

Actually, everything came together pretty nicely overall. There were
really NO major issues. 

It did take a little time and effort to get the swing mechanism for the targeting
camera all together and swinging freely; at least as best I can tell on the bench.
We will see how it performs in the air. 

The swing mechanism was fabricated from LEXAN sheets. The main arms are 
.060 inch thick with the swing holes "enhanced" with .118 inch LEXAN "spacers"
which were bonded with UV curable "glue". I have also added some weights on
the columns behind the camera. This sort of prevents the camera from pointing
precisely 90 degrees down, but I think it will be good enough and it helps to 
keep the camera pointed down {and maybe stabilized}.

A custom plate was fabricated from the .060 LEXAN sheet that mounts at the
rear of the quad, holds the GPS and helps to position the VTX antenna and the
XT30 pigtail. I used M2.5 5mm standoff columns as spacers to raise the plate
above the deck of the top plate. 

I wasn't satisfied with the targeting camera just sitting on the surface, so I added
some long "landing gear" which raises the quad off the ground enough that the 
camera hangs down without touching the surface. Ok, assuming a solid surface.
These are not much good in grass of any length, but there they are anyway. 
The central legs are simple extensions from the M2 bolts that were mounted down
through the 20x20 mount holes. The rear legs {necessary to balance the quad} took
a little more finesse; an M2 40mm bolt down from the top which connects to a 20mm
standoff column and M2 25mm bolts on the other end of the column. Yes, those are
brass standoff columns. 

I had considered trying to fabricate some nice landing gear, but...nah...just use bolts
and standoff columns. {a lot less work for me, ha, ha}. Anyway it seems to work.

A note here:  I have used bolts and columns as landing gear in the past with some
interesting results; sometimes a crash will bend one of the bolts.

Yeah, I managed to get all those wires and connectors tucked in there. 

With it all together, I chanced an indoor hover test. Yeah, I am on the boarder for size 
as my lovely Wife   doesn't want large quads tested inside the house. Man, was I lucky 
that the quad was controllable, hovered easily and steady at about 3 feet ( 1 meter). 

Now, that ViFly camera switcher is the BOMB...SWEET     Very Cool  .
The only thing that is required is to wire it into the Rx receiver. The board defaults to SBUS 
so I didn't have to change anything. Just wire it into the SBUS connection and it just works.
This switcher uses transmitter channel 7 which is AUX3...NOT optional and NOT changeable.
However, there is nothing to set in Betaflight except just don't assign AUX3 to Anything. Just
leave it alone. It just works. WOW 

I am so impressed by the switcher that I will use these again. I like it. Now, I will likely just
mount the second camera in a fixed downward position and be done with it. That way, I
won't need a fancy swing mechanism and all that goes with it. 

..  Pretty good view of the target camera swing mechanism and the GPS mount plate.



..  This pic kind of shows the landing gear.


..

Yeah, I use the Velcro cable ties as battery straps. They just work for me. 

That thing looks awesome. Just sitting there, it looks like it’s ready for a mission.

Any idea when the first proper maiden flight and then the first recon flight will be?

Thanks. Yeah, I think it does look a little like a beast.

It rained last night so the grass was super wet this morning. I may try to get out
in a bit and see if the park is "sparse" enough to fly there. Maybe the maiden,
just needs to be a flight, period. Not worry about the DVR just yet.

I need to figure out the on-board DVR before I plan a mission, but if I get enough
time and testing in, the first probable day would be next Sunday morning. I want
to avoid people and this seems to be the best time for where I lost the Unsanctioned-1.

2022-05-16

Well we got the maiden flight in, but it was a little bumpy.

Since I would sometimes see the wires from the targeting camera,
I think the swing mechanism...well...was a swingin'. I would say 
that about half the time the flight was smooth and about half had
some oscillations. I think that the swing are was shifting as the quad
was maneuvered. So now, I will try "locking" the swing arm and see
if that helps. 

Right now the flight camera is 4:3 ratio and the targeting camera is 16:9,
however, I think that I will switch them as the 16:9 seems too wide for 
the targeting camera. 

Also, this thing sucks battery juice like a shop vac. I only got 5:47 minutes
on very easy flying. Basically, little more than hovering. Yeah, the maneuvering
was also very sluggish. 


I also need to dig out my 4S batteries and give them a try as well.

And now, the FUN begins.  

Congratulations on a successful maiden!

Did you try switching to the targeting cam in flight? Any issues with vibration?

Compliments on the maiden! Great to hear it all just worked off the bat.

I bet those hex-blade props suck the power compared to bi or tri blades.

(16-May-2022, 10:51 PM)roteron Wrote: Compliments on the maiden! Great to hear it all just worked off the bat.

I bet those hex-blade props suck the power compared to bi or tri blades.

Hi Roteron,

Thanks. Yeah, I think that overall it was quite a success especially considering
all the extra "stuff" on this one. And...on a totally stock default factory tune.

I think you are correct about the hex-blade props. It seemed like this thing 
really did suck the battery juice. I have some AVAN Scimitar 4-blade props
that I will try. However, I think the hex-blades deserve one more flight before
being swapped out. 

One thing that I was looking for in props is something that would be the most
stable. This is the first time that I have flown anything with a hex-blade prop.

I am also "locking" down the targeting camera in a vertical position. I believe
that the "swinging" is what introduced the occasional  "wobble", so maybe it only 
needs to look down when the quad is in a pretty level position. I am working on 
that as we speak.  

(16-May-2022, 10:18 PM)Lemonyleprosy Wrote: Congratulations on a successful maiden!

Did you try switching to the targeting cam in flight? Any issues with vibration?

Hi Lemony,

Yes, I did switch the camera in flight. WOW, just WOW. The switching
was flawless. I actually didn't see any vibrations in the targeting camera,
but I didn't use it much. Where I was at, there was not much to see and
I didn't want to get too disoriented. My altitude was about 100 feet most
of the time. Also, I am not sure that I like the 16:9 camera as a targeting 
camera so I will be swapping it out for a 4:3.

2022-05-17

First, I have "anchored" the targeting camera's swing mechanism. Since it is now solid,
it functions as landing gear, so I removed the center landing gear columns and bolts,
but have retained the rear set in order maintain a level attitude for take off. Not sure it
will make a difference with the way I land 

I have also calibrated the Amp section of the Battery Tab. Since this is just the first go
at it, I will likely need to do this a few more times before it settles into something that
I consider reasonable.

I have also made some change in the OSD...just moving some stuff around. I tried 
putting some info at the top of the screen, but don't like it up there. I like all of the
important information at the bottom of the screen and then up the left side. 

The battery that I used yesterday, was an old GNB 3S 1100 mAh. Although I did "top off"
the charge, it had been sitting for months with a "normal" charge...that is NOT dropped
down to storage charge. So now, I have charged up a newer GNB 3S 1100 mAh battery.

I also need to look for my 4S 650 mAh battery. I probably need to order a few more
4S batteries. GNB now makes a 4S 1000 mAh battery that only weighs 105 grams. 
Now, we are talking; a decent size 4S battery within my 100 gram (more or less) allowance.


 

Oh man this is crazy lol. When I first got into this whole FPV thing, I started with a off-the-shelf, used DJI Phantom 1. I hacked that thing so badly lol. I added a switch to toggle between (a very old) GoPro and the FPV cam proper. Dunno about you, but I found it kinda tricky flying and switching back and forth. Also, at least for me, there was a split second delay when switching which was always nerve racking.

Can't wait to see videos of this guy!!

Hi Ronin,

Well, I don't have any problems switching the cameras during flight. I have assigned the switch
feature to transmitter switch SG which is on the right top corner. This switch is between the
SD "Fly Mode" switch and the momentary contact SH switch that I use for the "Buzzer".
Since I am already comfortable with the fly mode and buzzer switches, this is a logical
location for me. So from top down, I have Fly Mode, Camera Switcher, and Buzzer; all
easy to reach with my right index finger. 

There is no delay in the switching process; it is instantaneous. It is a little... well...freaky,
almost disorienting as I am not used to looking straight down while flying. Also, I had a
16:9 aspect ratio camera as the bottom targeting camera which might have contributed
to the freaky feeling. I have now swapped that out for a 4:3 aspect ratio camera. I have
also "locked" the targeting camera in a solid down position so that it doesn't swing.

I will put out a video, however, I think that I will make a composite so that there is just
a single video showing some flight footage and the "recon" mission. 

This is my first experience with the hex-blade, turbine style, props. Overall, the flight was
pretty smooth except for the occasional "wobble" which I attribute to the movement of the
"swing" mechanism. I could tell that it was moving as I could see it "bounce" in and out
of view from the piloting camera. It did feel a little "sluggish", but it weighs more than
I wanted, but that just is what it is. So, I may try it on a 4S battery. I do have a couple
plus I have just ordered the new GNB 1100 mAh battery is both 4S (97 grams) and 
6S (143 grams) <-- this one for the Rescue Quad. These are the lightest batteries for
the size. The 4S just fits into my 100 gram battery allowance for a sub-250 gram build.

I like how you lay out the frames with that second mount area behind the front FC
location; just perfect for extra 20x20 mount format components. Thanks for that.
There is room to "stuff" all of the wires and such into the frame. 

Yesterday, 2022-05-19.

With the targeting camera "locked" down, we went for another FLY hoping
that the "wobble" was fixed. I am paying more attention to how the quad
behaves and under what circumstances. So...here is what I have discovered:

The quad is stable at anything over about 25 percent throttle. 
The wobble is introduced only when the throttle is pulled back and
seems to get worse at the lower end of the throttle. So, overall the
flight wasn't too bad except for descending. Yeah, getting the quad
down without lowering the throttle is interesting to say the least.
Yeah, you could cut the throttle and drop it, but I didn't want to do that.
I did manage to "nurse" it down and the "landing", if you will, wasn't too
bad. 

Now, I think that I will try my 4S 650 mAh battery to see how it performs. 
I am looking for flight characteristics and not worry about how long it flies.

I am still running those hex-blade, turbine style, props. I will say that they
appear to be decently quiet. I am not yet sure whether I like them or not, 
but they deserve a flight with the 4S battery.

I wonder what’s causing the wobble.

Maybe it would help if you could move the targeting camera more towards the middle of the frame so it’s more balanced?

I like floaty feel and stability of 5 to 8 blade props sometimes. Not so much for freestyle of course.

Looking forward to hearing how it flies on 4s.