Difference between revisions of "X-UAV Mini Talon VTOL Project"
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== First Flight! == | == First Flight! == | ||
| − | 19 October, 2019<br><br> | + | 19 October, 2019<br> |
| + | So, in a word AWESOME!! Going from a hover to forward flight was a little nerve racking but when I finally threw the switch it blew my mind how fast and stable the plane was. The video below does not do the acceleration justice! I threw the switch when the plane was at about 20ft altitude and then stood there in complete shock watching it effortlessly rocket away. In forward flight it is a little harder to turn sharply and this may be due to the position of the forward props and also I have the max-roll setting quite low in Arduplane. It flew very much like my last twin did so very stable and extremely quiet. It would cruise easily at ~4-4.2A although the plane speed was a bit low. I'll have to try some different props going forward. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Unfortunately I never got to switch it back to hover mode because I wasn't paying attention to forward speed when I turned into the wind for a landing, I got impatient and cranked the rudder to turn more sharply and she snap rolled/tip stalled without enough altitude to recover. This would be unusual in any of my standard Mini Talons and I'll have to check the rudder settings to see if I have them over saturated (likely). | ||
| + | |||
| + | Anyway, even though I stuffed it, I'm extremely happy with how it performed and will get it back together very soon.<br><br> | ||
'''Video'''<br> | '''Video'''<br> | ||
Revision as of 21:57, 20 October 2019
© Mark Qvale - October, 2019
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| Ready! |
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Introduction
First, some acknowledgements-
Many thanks to ATX_Heli from RCGroups and the APM dev team, Tridge, also from RCG and the APM dev team and Greg Covey who did a really great write-up of his E-Flite Convergence conversion to APM. Their combined help and write-ups were invaluable to this project!
So, I have been resisting doing a VTOL version of the Mini Talon because I knew it would be an all consuming project that would take some time. It has been!. It has also been a really fun challenging project and hopefully the results will speak for themselves.
To begin, when I first started on this project I set up some simple design parameters to aim for:
- Relatively light weight - <1750g with a 5200/4S Lipo pack
- Minimum Carbon Fiber components - To keep any RF interference low
- Three-motor tilt rotor configuration - This should help with the weight
- Bolt-on rear motor mount - Keeps stock motor mount
- No additional booms or struts added to the fuselage (modified wings only)
- The ability to use a Matek F405-wing flight controller with Chibios/Arduplane Q-Plane firmware
So far nearly all of this has been achieved with only one small support bracket in the fuse and a little extra weight above my initial parameter (+42g)
Below are my build notes, print files and a flight review of this new Mini Talon configuration.
General Specifications
Initial Build
Seller - ReadyMadeRC, USA
Aircraft - X_UAV Mini Talon
Modification Date - October, 2019
| Airframe Type - | Top Wing V-Tail FPV Specialist | All-Up Weight - | 63oz (1792g) w/ 4S/5200 Lipo Pack | |
| Wingspan - | 51 inches (1300mm) | Length - | 38 inches (965mm) | |
| Wing Area - | 3.23 ft^2 (30dm^2) | Wing Load w/5.2-4S - | 19.5 oz/ft^2 (59g/dm^2) | |
| Front Motors - | BrotherHobby 2806.5-1300kv | Rear Motor - | Cobra CPL2207-1800kv | |
| Front Propellers - | Graupner 8x5 E-Prop (4S) | Rear Propeller - | HQProp 6x4.5 Bull Nose | |
| *Lifting Static Thrust - | 3365g | *Forward Static Thrust - | 2744g | |
| Lifting Static Thrust:Weight - | 1.9 | Forward Static Thrust:Weight - | 1.5 | |
| Max Continuous Power (4S) - | 1175 watts continuous (4S) | Max Forward Flight Power - | 874 watts continuous (4S) | |
| Battery Type - | 4S1P 5.2Ah Multistar Lipo | In-Flight Battery Capacity - | 4400mah/10C (85%) | |
| In flight efficiency - | TBA | Flight Time - | TBA | |
| COG - | 60mm @ Wing root (Stock) | *Static Test Conditions | @ 2550ft ASL |
Components/Flight Gear
Power Set-up
To determine front and rear motor sizes I first looked at how the weight of the plane would be distributed with respect to the three lift points and a CG of 60mm from the leading edge. The image below shows the weight mapping for the current 1792g AUW:
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From this picture I determined the front motors need to lift 709 grams each and the rear motor, 374 grams for a theoretical stable hover. What I then did was look for motors as light as possible that could produce near these thrust numbers at 60% or less throttle.
With this information, I started with Racestar 2508-1275 motors on the front and a Cobra CPL2207-1800 motor on the rear. The Racestar motors worked well enough for my initial hover tests but I felt I needed a little more power and so they were replaced with Brotherhobby 2806.5-1300 units to get a bit more lift power and more headroom on the motor current.
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| Racestar 2508 and Brotherhobby 2806.5 |
For motor control I have chosen HGLRC Trex 60A, BLHeli_32 Opto ESC's with Active Freewheeling enabled. On all three motors I am using MR30, 3 pin connectors so they can easily be changed or reversed. Props were determined from bench testing with a 4S pack. The 8x5 Graupner front props are one of my favorite 8" Multirotor props and they also work extremely well on fixed wing.
Power Parts
- Front Motors - Brotherhobby Avenger 2806.5-1300kv
- Rear Motors - Cobra CPL2207-1800kv
- ESC - HGLRC T-Rex 60A BLHeli_32 ESC
- Left Front Prop - HQProp 6 x 4.5 Bull Nose-CW
- Right Front Prop - HQProp 6 x 4.5 Bull Nose-CCW
- Battery - Multistar 4S/5200, 10C, 438g
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| Brotherhobby specification |
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| Cobra specification |
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Front Motor Mounts
This design has had many revisions to date and likely will have a few more. Again my goal was to make it light, simple and strong.
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While I won't show all the versions and revisions of the front mounts, here are a few:
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| Version 1/2 |
Version 3 was very similar with a stretched out mount. It looked nice but I felt it still blocked too much of the prop thrust.
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| Version 3 |
For a short time I considered an offset mount so that I could use a larger prop and not have the forward flight position too far forward. The problem with this idea is, I would need a much larger, more powerfull servo.
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| Version 4 |
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| Version 4 parts |
The current version (6) uses the main mount piece from V4 and a straight motor mount together with an 8mm x 175mm CF tube to get the moment forces spread accross more of the wing.
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| Current Set-up |
Front Motor Mounts Assembly
Here is a map/image of one motor arm assembly:
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| Groove tool detail |
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| Current |
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| Current |
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| Current |
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| Current |
Rear Motor Mount
For the rear mount I wanted to keep it simple, light weight and easy to install using the stock rear motor mount.
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| Rear mount assembly |
Rear Motor Mount Assembly
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| Rear VTOL Assembly |
Rear mount assembly parts:
| DESCRIPTION | QTY |
| Motor/Prop Assembly | 1 |
| SHCS M3 x 6mm | 4 |
| M3 Flat Washer | 4 |
| 12mm Tube Clamps w/screws | 2 |
| Motor Mount Plate | 1 |
| Rear Support Bracket | 1 |
| CF Tube Front Support Bracket | 1 |
| CF Tube, 12mm x 10mm x 175mm | 1 |
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| Support plate inside view |
Flight Control
For flight control I stayed with the Matek F405-wing with Chibios/Arduplane running with Q_Plane parameters enabled. For the initial vertical flight test I ran it with all default parameters needed only the motor tilt angles needing parameter adjustment. For the first flight shown in the video, I changed the parameter which controls pitch trim between vertical and forward flight and added a little expo to my transmitter.
More TBA
First Flight!
19 October, 2019
So, in a word AWESOME!! Going from a hover to forward flight was a little nerve racking but when I finally threw the switch it blew my mind how fast and stable the plane was. The video below does not do the acceleration justice! I threw the switch when the plane was at about 20ft altitude and then stood there in complete shock watching it effortlessly rocket away. In forward flight it is a little harder to turn sharply and this may be due to the position of the forward props and also I have the max-roll setting quite low in Arduplane. It flew very much like my last twin did so very stable and extremely quiet. It would cruise easily at ~4-4.2A although the plane speed was a bit low. I'll have to try some different props going forward.
Unfortunately I never got to switch it back to hover mode because I wasn't paying attention to forward speed when I turned into the wind for a landing, I got impatient and cranked the rudder to turn more sharply and she snap rolled/tip stalled without enough altitude to recover. This would be unusual in any of my standard Mini Talons and I'll have to check the rudder settings to see if I have them over saturated (likely).
Anyway, even though I stuffed it, I'm extremely happy with how it performed and will get it back together very soon.
Video
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First Flight! - 1 February, 2019 |
Parting Shot
Project 3D Print Files
All prints were were setup with 50%-90% infill and a 1mm shell thickness. Weights are shown as printed in Hatchbox ABS.
| Image | Part Number | Part Description | Weight/Infill | Print File | Compatibility Notes |
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52220 | MT VTOL Front Arm 80mm | 16.4g/90% | 52220.STL | 80mm Front Motor Arm |
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52221 | MT VTOL Motor Mount Bracket | 10.6g/90% | 52221.STL | Fits motors with 16-19mm mount holes |
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52222 | MT VTOL Front Lower Assembly Cover | 4.2g/50% | 52222.STL | Wiring cover for the front wing mount |
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52223 | MT VTOL Front Upper Assembly Cover | 2.6g/50% | 52223.STL | Clamping cover for the front wing mount |
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52224 | MT VTOL Rear Motor mount Forward Support Bracket | 4.2g/80% | 52224.STL | Front support for the 12mm CF tube |
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52225 | MT VTOL Rear Motor Mount Support | 5.3g/70% | 52225.STL | Rear support for the 12mm CF tube |
See Also
Some of the Vendors I used for this project
Comments? Questions?
