(16-Sep-2018, 01:32 PM)Krohsis Wrote: My other builds have been so small and crowded, I don't know what to do with all the room I'm going to have in the Nasty.

While HD camera weight plays a big role in selection on the smaller quads, I would guess that it is not going to be a big thing with the 10".  Have you considered a gimbled 4K camera?  You could comfortably lift a full DSLR and a nice lens I would suppose

I got a little more done on the Nasty.  ESCs, 50v 1000uF caps are done, and the heat sinks ready to install.  I had to cut one fin off the heat sink to get them to fit and not contact things they shouldn't.  I still will put a cap on the power input leads, but I will do a remote cap and I'm not sure where I want the VTX and RX so I don't want the cap getting in my way.  My soldering skills have improved immensely.  Getting enough heat for the bigger connections is key.  I have decided to go with purple secondary colors, because Kaity has assured me that purple quads are faster.

Purple power!!!

Still more to do, but most of the install is in place.  Still trying to decide if I will do the heatsinks on the ESCs.  And I have to put legs on it as it will be bottom battery for sure as the picture shows why.  Not the specific battery I will use as it is for one of my helicopters I fly F3C with.  But the dimensions are very close, and a 10inch prop won't clear the battery on top.  

It looks like a 6" with 10mm standoffs if you were to not know what you were looking at!

For the battery, any way to set of a standoff or "rack" to produce the clearance you require?

I'm going hillbilly on legs.  I will ziptie some pvc piping in the correct length.  I contacted a guy about printing some legs, but his price was way outta my range.  Given the amount of time he would have to spend and probably not sell many or any others like it, his price was fair.  But it was more than I wanted to spend.  I did a trial fit of the pvc legs and they seem secure.  Once I decide on the heatsink dilemma, I will put the legs on and post a pic.  No snickering allowed! 

Oh, the GPS booted up and I got 11 sats the first time from inside the shop.  So very happy with that.  I spent an hour trouble shooting the VTX though.  It turned out that somehow I got it into Pit Mode.  But once I gave up trying to wing it and read the manual it was obvious what the problem was....

LOL...PITMODE, like WTF!!!!?  Been there  Was happy to figure it out and baffelled at how it caused so much discord and cray while figuring it out...only happens once though, that issue will never cause you stress again

These little GPS's are quick to lock on, even indoors.  Mine locked into a number of satelites while sitting on the bed in the middle of our room.  I was amazed and thought it was just some demo mode, but it was really locked in.  Not bad at all.

Can you bottom mount the battery?  It would give you better COG for long range level flying I would think while leaving the GPS with an unimpeded view of the sky and would be the simplest solution for now.  It is not difficult to land softly and in a crash, the rolling quad is going to hit a top mounted pack into the ground just as much.  More in my experience actually.  I have 3 destroyed 1300mah packs that were top mounted on The 5" and only one 700mah pack slung low that was on The Japalura.  Maybe just my messy luck  

It looks like an incredible build Kroh and it is coming together nicely!  

One idea for legs is if you have an archery range somewhere close there will usually be a trash can with discarded carbon fiber arrows...cut them to the length you need.

So how would you attach the arrow shafts to the quad arms for the legs?

I would probably use a compression rubber/nylon nut insert, drill a hole in the frame arms and use a nylon pan head screw to attach them. Or even a properly sized(meaning tight) plastic drywall anchor would do the trick as well. Doesn't need to be very strong, and easy to fix in case of a hard landing. A nylon screw would take the hit and not wreck the carbon fiber arm.

Here is some gear I made for an old 450 a while back.  PVC rain gutter strap and carbon fiber arrow shafts.  Maybe more weight than you want...

Both great ideas guys.  I appreciate the suggestions.  

Drilling into the arm freaks me out a bit, Sugs....but your idea to use a nylon hardware to protect the arm is a good one. 

I have something in mind similar to your design, Sloscotty.  But I had some pvc laying around and came up with what I will post in a bit.  Not sure I will stay with it, but it does seem to be fairly stout and doesn't look horrible.  I did some dynamic testing with it and it seems like it will take an angle hit and not frag apart.   Your's definitely looks more professional though.

I still need to decide what to use as a skid plate.  I made one a few months back when I tried bottom mounts.  I think one of you or maybe both of you helped me with that as well.  The first generation may be pretty basic.  Or I might have that printed as there are lots of choices out there that likely can be adapted.  Size is the problem with printed stuff.  Not many people out there are using big 6s batts yet in the quad world.

So here are some pics of the completed build.  Although I still need to get the OSD set up, and some other minor programming things done, the quad is finished.  I decided not to put the heatsinks on for now.  I cut the shrink tubing away from the FETs only.  I'm not sure I will have a problem, but I have read that if you really push these ESCs they will over heat and blow.  Attaching the heatsinks became problematic, only because I didn't have the materials I needed.  I had planned to use heat tape between the sinks and the FETs and then safety wire the sinks in place.  But my safety wire was too large of gauge, particularly when I put shrink tubing on it.  I'm not going to be running this quad that hard for long periods, so I don't think the sinks are necessary.

The pvc legs seem like they will work for now, but I still have some ideas for a better system.  And Sugs and Sloscotty gave me some additional ideas.  So legs will be a work in progress.  I have to get the battery off the ground and with a skid plate as I land in rocks almost exclusively.  

I will use flanged nyloc nuts for the Graupner props, not the coned jobs in the pics.  The coned nuts that came with the motors are all right hand thread and nothing to retain them.  Seems like a bad idea to me.

I have one intermittent issue that has shown up on the bench a few times.  Maybe it's nothing, but I have never seen this before.  When I spin the motors in the BL Heli configuator, they spool up perfect in a group or individually.  And MOST of the time using the TX to check them out they work fine.  But a few times, motor #4 will rotate at a slow speed while 3 other three motors work as they should.  It's always motor #4, and it has done this 2-3 times now out of about 10 tests.  It only does this when operating the quad on the bench with the Taranis.  Anything to worry about?  Or is this a oddity that can happen?

If I get some time to work on the quad today, I may do a LOS maiden tomorrow morning.  It's still warm enough here, I need to do my flying in the morning.  I will have my wife video the maiden. 

Hmm, the #4 motor issue is a little puzzling, but as you say, it's only on the bench and may not be a problem. The only thing that comes to mind is that I'm assuming you're using DShot protocol, maybe bump up your idle speed a bit, say from 4.5 to 4.75 and see if that helps. Good luck on your first flight!