Development
Development of CAD model with all components:
- Frame
- Motors
- ESC/FC
- Receiver
- Ducts
- Propellers (Note: arbitrary propeller model included, see Parts List for exact propellers in final prototype)
- Battery
CAD of fully assembled quadcopter
Exploded view of quadcopter construction
Ducts printed through RPL received - printed in TPU but quality was subpar, lots of extra material. Evaluated options to get them printed:
- Ask RPL to print again
- Print in Maker Space
Decided to try printing temporary ducts in the Maker Space to accelerate development while also requesting new prints from RPL.
Discovered that the ordered motors do not fit the mounting size of Dylan's frame. The ordered motors had a mounting size of 16mm x 16mm while the frame has 12mm x 12mm --> 3D printed motor adapters to transition between the two sizes.
Motor adapters
Received enough parts to develop a second construction of Dylan - herein dubbed Dylan #2.
Nikolai printed two sets of ducts, one in TPU and one in PETG. Quality was sufficient to allow the propellers to rotate without interference.
Soldered Dylan #1 motors to ESC and attached PETG ducts. They seem to have the proper ratio of flexibility to rigidity to sustain crashes.
Completed construction of Dylan, attached motors, ducts, receiver. Configured Dylan with the controller.
See hardware section for specifics.
First flight test with Dylan #1
- Ducts broke after one crash, so they are definitely too brittle. Want to go back to using TPU (contacted RPL to get them reprinted)
- Successfully flies, but slightly unstable
Received TPU ducts from RPL, quality is great.
Started construction on Dylan #2, but motor adapters leave motor wires misaligned with frame arm. Solution: wrapped wires under arm and zip tied to keep them in place
Wires ziptied to the frame arm
Finished soldering Dylan #2 motors to ESC, attached ESC/FC stack to frame.
Completed construction of Dylan #2
- Bind flight controller to transmitter
- Corrected rotation direction of each motor
- Attached propellers to each motor
- Secured all components to the frame
- Tested flight successfully
_Completed Dylan 2_
Updated various BetaFlight parameters on Dylan 1 (with white ducts) to make the flight experience better, such as setting the max throttle threshold to 50%, and adjusting various rates to the ones shown in the screenshot below:
