The Build Report of Why I Haven't Built Pedals Lately

[mcallisterra]

I went on a total spree (for me) last year and built a load of pedals while I was a stay-at-home dad for our first kiddo. He's 18 months now, and I recently went back to work as a helicopter pilot/instructor. The company was interested in branching out intro drones, for aerial photography/video to start with, and since I used to fly RC helicopters from when I was about 12 to 19 years old, I was interested in heading it up. So here's my latest build!



It took a good few months to research, source, and then assemble all the various components, because this is about as far from a Best Buy drone as you could get. It's about 3.5 ft diameter and about 2 feet tall, weighing in around 20lbs.

We are currently waiting on our FAA approval to operate it commercially, so we're limited to test flying it right now, but it's flown about 5 drama-free hours so far and is doing well!

My friend actually designs and builds the camera gimbal mounted underneath, and this is serial # 0001 of this model gimbal, so we're acting as kind of a guinea pig for him to see if any design changes are needed, but it does a remarkable job of keeping the camera steady and level regardless of what the drone is doing above.

Anyway I just wanted to thank everyone here for everything I've learned from you all. There's no way I would have been able to put this thing together without the primer into electronics that guitar pedals gave me, and you all helped in that even if you didn't know it!

Any other drone operators on the board?

[galaxiex]

Not a drone operator as such...

But I did spend a couple years as an FPV pilot of model airplanes back in 2007 when the FPV thing just started taking off... so to speak. 

I have not flown since about 2010 but still have all my airplanes and one Tricopter.

Do you fly the drone FPV?

[playpunk]

Well that is pretty freaking sweet. Looks pro as all get out too.

[stringsthings]

Awesome 

[mcallisterra]

Not a drone operator as such...

But I did spend a couple years as an FPV pilot of model airplanes back in 2007 when the FPV thing just started taking off... so to speak. 

I have not flown since about 2010 but still have all my airplanes and one Tricopter.

Do you fly the drone FPV?

Well, not currently, no. It's basically a two-man operation, intentionally. The gimbal can move 360 degrees round underneath (the landing gear retract flat under the arms, so one person is flying and the other person is controlling the camera. The problem with this though, is that as soon as the nose of the drone and the camera aren't aligned, it's next to impossible to use the monitor on the ground to tell where the drone is pointing. For shooting static stuff like buildings I think it will be fine, but for moving targets or more intricate stuff, I'm thinking I'll need to mount a fixed cam on the frame so I always can see where the nose is.

The FAA requires you to operate them via line-of-sight only right now (meaning you can use an FPV cam as an aid but not as the only means of flying it).

[287m]

where build docs for the drone?
just kidding.

awesome man. im just mini rc(car) guy. Mini-Z racer and sometimes 1:10 adventure
ohh, i miss home.

[midwayfair]

That's pretty amazing!

[gül]

This is so awesome!

[Ash]

where build docs for the drone?
just kidding.

Love it

[wgc]

Whoa!  So cool, not at all like the micro things you see at toysrus

I think jok3rx is doing some drone racing, looks lik hella fun