miniMax Hex - It Lives!

[Hands0n]

More on this to come in time, but suffice to say, the miniMax Hex is alive and breathing.  Not that I had any doubts that it would fly. Its larger siblings do so very well indeed. As does its smaller brother, the miniMax Quad.  I hope you';ll be seeing much more about these soon.

The miniMax Hex is based on a unique all-aluminium frame upon which are mounted a set of plates to carry all of the paraphernalia typically associated with multi-rotor. The concepts of dirty and clean plates are maintained, and being of 500mm size there is plenty of room to mount stuff such as ESCs on the legs or motor arms.   

Weight has been a consideration and this build weighs in at 1297g without any camera, VTX or gimbal equipment.   My own equivalent build of a DJI 550 clone weighs in at 1471 which is 174g heavier. Now this may not sound much, but what you do get with the miniMax Hex is a totally rigid air frame, zero flex (to all intents and purposes) compared to the DJI 550 that wobbles around like a fat bird at the disco.    

That translates into a multi-rotor that is very lock in to the flight controller, ESCs and motors to deliver great stability and control.  For AP and/or FPV use this kind of air frame makes for a near-perfect camera ship.

I am completely new to Hex multi-rotors, so some aspects of flying these are new to me. I';m having to learn orientation all over again! ::)  But these are nice to fly, and I really cannot wait to get the miniMax Hex out into the field for a proper fly.

Meanwhile, following some PID adjusting I think we have it where we want it to be.  The video below is the result of today';s efforts. I hope you enjoy.

Here it is, the miniMax Hex on a mini-maiden in the back garden having had its PID given a thorough work through.  I need to get it out into an open field to go through everything. But here you can see Stabilize, Loiter, Position Hold and Land in operation.

http://youtu.be/SiNQongKTuk