Penguin v2 build thread

[Tomstoy2]

I doubt he's over the crowd. I only caught it at work. As for cost, To do what he's doing don't come cheap at all.
They're doing more and more with drones now, but this is a major high focus event, first time done. I hope it all comes off without a hitch.
I myself am very pleased to say I flew all last year without a single incident! However, every time I go up I realize and try to evaluate the risks.
Maybe it's just the old training in me, but let's face it, if it fly's it dies.

As a friend of mine from the silent service used to say, the submarine service has a hell of a lot better record than the Air Force. There's a hell of a lot more airplanes in the water than you'll find submarines in the air.

Or maybe it's the potential victim in me that would rather not get messed up by something falling out of the sky on me.
I still remember when a B52 lost its entire vertical stabilizer over Colorado killing some dirt farmers prize winning chicken.
I see my forearms all the time. Those scars will never go away. No matter the cause, shit happens.

It's a hard fence to straddle. In my mind safety is no accident. However, these professional guys are leading the demand for better products. They are on the start of an enterprise of unbelievable proportions.

In the USA we tend to lag behind the rest of the world in some respects, adopting the wait and see approach. Our intro in both world wars is a prime example of that.
This legislation and lolly-gagging here is another example. Let Europe go thru the growing pains, learn from them.

I watch the shows where they use multi-rotors. The big difference between them a live event is everybody in a controlled environment knows the risk.

Guess I'm just a firm believer in Murphy's Law.

[sutty]

lol, think we're not going anywhere Tom?

The astounding athletic power of quadcopters | Raffaello D'Andrea (16 min 9 sec)

Cheers

Sutty

[copterboy]

After watching the womens final today, it seems the Hexa is only covering the top part of the course where you find the odd marshall and medic. It's nowhere near the crowd at the bottom. Funny to hear the commentators getting it wrong. Called it both a helicopter and an octocopter!!

Very happy Jenny Jones managed to get a bronze out of it. I actually hung out with her a few times back in 2000 when I lived in Austria. Go Jenny

That's it Tom, I'll leave your thread alone now Looking forward to seeing footage once complete.

[Tomstoy2]

Not a problem, my friend.

Managed to get some more progress done.

In all the garbage on my work bench, ( aka the coffee table ), I managed to loose a ferrite magnet I wanted to install on the rudder servo cable, it being so long.
Finally found and installed it.

Got the deck painted flat black.
The pan & tilt camera mount is waiting for that damn servo from China. Figure 2 to 3 weeks out on that mistake.
I'm liking this camera mount. both cameras are attached.







Next I laid out some masking tape as an outline and then applied some spackling to the foam surface
After drying I lightly sanded the applied area. This gives a nice contact surface for the Ultracoat.
I was my first time ever using Ultracoat. I must say I prefer Topcoat.
This isn't to snaz it up, but for protection.
From what I gathered most people will use packaging tape. This just seemed too heavy and messy.
Covered the nose to give it some protection also..







Not much left on the hit list. I'm pretty much hung up until I get that servo. Until then I can't work out payload and cog.

Thinking about getting a couple stickers made up.
I need one with pertinent info on it, and I think I'll have one made to run along the boom sides that says EOR Productions.

Tonight I'll complete the last few tasks that I can on it and then clean off the mess to make room to transplant 2 new motors on the Hexa,

Once that is done it's back to cleaning the bench so I can start the ground station project.

Time is starting to run out!

[sutty]

Enjoying the build thread Tom. What did you mean by two cameras. I could only see one. What else will go on there then?

Thanks

Sutty

[Tomstoy2]

Thanks, Andrew!

The GoPro will go in the box underneath the video camera you see.

This system is rather unique in that both cameras follow the pan and tilt.

[sutty]

Ah right, so then we will see what you see, properly. Excellent. Having said that, if the GoPro pans and tilts, and presumably is a good camera, why is that not just used as the video feed to the ground station? Sorry if these are obvious and basic questions.

Cheers

Sutty

[Tomstoy2]

One can use just a GoPro as their fpv camera.
However, I have had more than a handful of times where the GP locked up on me. Don't think I would trust it as my eyes. This ended up being my sd card. Reformatting takes care of it for awhile.

Plus, early on I had tried using the GP as my fpv camera. I found the image was poor.

Finishing up some things on the Penguin before the servo arrives.
Speaking of fpv, that's what I was working on.
Got my cf back plate made and permanently mounted and the vtx mounted to the cf plate.
Had to order some cables to make the long run from the vtx to the osd. Those will be here by Wednesday, my next off-work time mode.

Also got a few other odd and ends completed, like the prop balanced.
Won't be long now before flight testing!

[Heli Yea!]

Pretty sweet there. Where do you plan on flying that thing? What with all the dense tree cover. Lucky man to live out in those parts. Is the Colorado National Speedway still out there? I used to go there all the time as a kid.

[Tomstoy2]

Still there, along with a bazillion houses now.

I intend to fly everywhere!
She gets stuck in a tree I'll just send my Hexa up there to do a little fishing, (see 'Sex Appeal' thread ). She gets stuck too, then with 10k in a tree it's chainsaw time, baby!

The guys from Colorado, over at fpvlab, always get together a few times each year and do a group fly up at Hartsel, in Southpark.
This year plan is to meet some time in May up there. I want to have everything done and tested before then.
I've done a ton of work to the Hexa, plus the new Penguin and soon a kick-ass fully auto tracking ground station.
You ought to plan on coming up and check it all out! Nice drive, good fun and great fishing if you just get too bored.

[Heli Yea!]

I love that area got a buddy in Hartzel. The fishing is surely awsome there. I think there must be twice trees there/ all jokes aside it can be a windy beast in Hartzel. It would be fun to fly there.

[pinguin]

It's really nice to have a FPV plane or multi. But in my case, I don't think I'm able to have one. It cost a lot and have no idea where I would fly them.

But, anyway, it's really nice to see a build thread like this. I am really enjoying and will follow your build. Hopefully the maiden flight too.

[Tomstoy2]

Thanks, Pinguin! Always good to see you drop by.

Maiden will be happening before I know it. Got the wiring completed, will be using all 8 channels on my uhf rx.
All I got left, wire wise is the main power cable. This I can't measure until I set the cog. Can't set the cog until I get than damn servo.

The whole deal with the cog is that I'm going to maximum battery size. If I can shove 10k mah's of 4s in there plus my 3s fpv battery without exceeding auw then I'm planning on ordering a couple MaxAmp's 4s 10000mah or more battery's.
I need new battery's for the Hexa, also.
This will turn into another major expense.

[Tomstoy2]

Phew!!! That was too much work. Think I need a beer!

[Tomstoy2]

My servo showed up today!

Exciting stuff.
So what was the big deal about this servo, It's a sail/winch servo, geared to do one full revolution. Not so easy to come by.

Pan and tilt is now complete, ( power on has not been done yet on anything.
Here's a shot with the GoPro attached.





Inside the battery compartment is a maze of cables, all properly labeled.

Controls are;

aileron
elevator
throttle
rudder
remote gain adjustment for Guardian stabilizer, ( nap mode ).
mode select for Guardian stabilizer
camera pan
camera tilt





Cog configured out exactly as I planed, perfectly.
Excellent news as I can share battery's between the Hexa and the Penguin.





Looks pretty much done, huh?








Almost. About all that is left is powering on and do a systems check/de-bug.

By morning she ought to be declared air worthy!
Perfect timing. Goose season ends Tuesday, so all I need now is a period of good weather.
Oh, and battery's, got to order battery's. I'm down to just one set.

[Tomstoy2]

Added the final piece to the Penguin, a red led that flashes every second.

Finished up the last of the wiring and the programming of the radio.
Power on to the fpv, channel selected, all operational.
OSD configuration set.
All flight controls set to neutral, direction checked.
Uhf system check, signal strength 0 on channel 1 and -1 on channel 2, rssi signal strength 100%.
Power on to motor, direction checked one last time.

Trashed the prop that they came with and put on a APC 9x6 pusher electric prop balanced to a tee.

Last bit, attached the hatch for elevator servo access.





Guys, I now pronounce Penguin 1 flight ready!

[sutty]

[Tomstoy2]

I am proud to announce that the Penguin is all set up and is now air worthy!

The Guardian stabilizer set up is very easy.
All that remains now is an opportunity to fly her. The next few days are expected to be windy. I go back to work finally Saturday, so my window of free time is rapidly closing.
Parts for completing the ground station start to arrive today. All will be here by Friday.
Good thing too, as I really need that long distance antenna.
A quick update on my tracker issue. I have a rma# from rcmc now, so I am just going to return it for credit.