Own Design Octa Frame

[Fettler]

Hi all.
My first post here but I have been fairly active on the diydrones forum and already have 2 own design quads flying nicely.

I have been working on a heavy lift octa for a few weeks now and its almost ready to go. Just waiting for the APM 2.6 and bits to arrive on a slow boat.
All of my designs have made extensive use of motor isolation systems to reduce vibration on controller and camera. The new octa has a kind of 2 frame system. The outer frame has the motors and the inner one has everything else, all supported by silicone damper rings. The layout is conventional circular 8.



folded frame


3D printed motor mount


Will mostly be using 2 x 4s 5Ah but it can take 4


Inner frame isolation using silicone O rings





Getting power neatly to 8 ESCs is quite a challenge.  I didnt want to solder them all together so used 3.5mm gold bullet connectors and made a box for each side with XT60 input






The main battery connector contains an attopilot 180A volt/current gizmo and outputs for opto9 SPC connector and 5A UBEC



Im using MT4008-12 motors on 14x4.7 apc props with 30A t-motor optp pro ESCs  Will swap out the AMP when the pixhawk is available.

[Gav]

Hi Fettler

Good to see another DIY build. Can see you';ve put a helluva lot of hours into it. Interesting concept of 2 separate frames.  Should be nice n smooth.

Cheers
Gav

[flybywire]

Superb work! 

[XH558]

Now that I like - that';s fettlin'; as it should be :)

I like ideas that solve problems and then have elegant solutions ... that bullet connector block is topping   

3D printing is just incredible - would that we all had access to one you lucky bast thing you 

[Biffa]

I concur - lovely stuff

Wish I had both the time and more importantly the talent to make something like that.

[crazyhorse21]

excellent design ...   

i guess its time i started using my cnc and my 3d printer to work on cool stuff rather then the mandane work i do

anybody needs cnc milling and 3d printing services pls give me a shout ... special pricing for forum members 

chX

[XamaX]

What is this bastardized aberration? It';s not as though you have not caused enough trouble with your automated beverage delivery system ?? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2-e3-aEsjo

In all seriousness, this new design of yours looks out of this world. What sort of flight times you looking at achieving?
I would imagine that you could probably give my paltry Quad a "piggyback"?
Hmmm, how about you let me try an airborne take of and landing from it?  ::)

Looking forward to seeing it in action.

[Fettler]

Well ive tested a motor on some scales and it gives 2KG of lift so with 16KG I should be able to lift my road bike.
ecalc suggests with 4 batteries it will lift itself for 22mins but less if loaded up obviously. Full power on one motor was using 25A so thats 200A going through main power bus. Hence the 10AWG wire. My quad gave longer flight times than ecalc suggested to Im hoping for the same. Anyway I just want to get a sony nex on it - not too heavy.

[Gaza07]

Very nice project Fettler 

[Fettler]

When I get a moment I will blog my H quad build but for now here is a taster. Motor arms are ';floating'; on the same silicone O rings used on the octa.

[Gearymeister]

I';m pretty new to all this and I';m building an octo V-frame at the moment. Have been wanting a 3D printer for a while now but I think you';ve just given me a reason to do it. Was just unsure about the strength of the frame brackets you made. I';m defensively going to take inspiration from some of your ideas. (That';s the nice way to say "nick your ideas" lol)
Thanks for sharing

[Fettler]

My son kept nagging me that it would be a ';valuable addition to our workshop equipment'; and I kept saying NO, so he ordered one anyway. Disobedient little tyke (he is 23).
Now I dont know how I ever made things without it.
Apparently its a reprap mendelmax 1.5. A box of bits and wires arrived with no instructions. We made a few ABS birds nests before we figured it out.

[Fettler]

Well its been flying for a few days now and is exceeding what I had hoped for. It still needs tidying up with a cover and camera equipment installing but these tests were done with a dummy camera of 1Kg. The Sony NEX and gimbal will probably less than half that.
Vibration tests indicate its almost zero.



http://youtu.be/t5Azez7zIps
http://youtu.be/_RUNn6t7Fv8
http://youtu.be/MEUMNZtShZU

[Gearymeister]

thats really impressive!!

where do you order your parts from? i dont seem to be able to find carbon fiber anywhere local (uk based)

thanks

[Fettler]

Thanks.
I get most of it here.
http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/

[dockman]

That is some super smooth video and a very good design.  Once you get a gimbal on there you will be getting some damn fine footage

Thanks for the link also, I love finding new places to buy stuff.