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JR-Spektrum . E-flite . Fast Lad Performance

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Aerial Photography and Video > My E-Franken-Observer
 
 
Makiedog
Senior Heliman
Location: Minneapolis

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Thought I'd share this little project of mine: converting a 10 yr old Observer to e-power and modify the front mount to hopefully function better using a twin boom system. Now I have tilt and roll instead of pan and tilt.

The Bergen ePower conversion is not available for the older belt drive Observer, only for the newer EB. Therefore I had to make my own, using aluminum plates, angles and a bunch of spare parts. Motor is Scorpion 400kv, ESC is CC HV85, blades are Vario 725mm. Dummy wt is used on the nose, all up flight weight is 17.5 lbs.

Had my first hover test today, it flew very well. In my excitement, I forgot to record the power consumption from the Watts Up meter. Will try again later.

Edited:
I've had a second 5-min continuous flight, here's the data:
Power consumption: 30 A, or 500 mah/min, 8 min safe duration for 5000mah lipo packs at 10s.
Scorpion motor temp: 138°, ESC: 110°, Zippy Lipo 10s 5000mah 25c: 98°
Efficiency is about 62 watts/lb, probably not the most efficient. Maybe there's not much I can do with the heavy existing Bergen airframe, it is also the less efficient shorter boom Observer. Maybe I should look at converting it to the long boom with 800mm blades?




Pat L
10-04-2009 09:35 PM
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kookboy
Key Veteran
Location: Vancouver, BC -up north and Seattle, WA down south

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Looks very clean.

How do you like the 400kv motor ?

I just picked up a Xera 400kv to try out.

... But honey it was only $$$
10-04-2009 10:00 PM
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Makiedog
Senior Heliman
Location: Minneapolis

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Kookboy,
I had wanted to try the Xera but they were not available when I needed it several months ago.

The Scorpion seems powerful enough, remains not too hot after 5 min flight: 138°. I've added more flight data to the original post.

Pat L
10-04-2009 10:28 PM
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fionn
Senior Heliman
Location: Ireland

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Looks great, thats some seriously thick plate you've used there, have you got your own CNC mill?
Landing gear looks great too, is it CopterWorks?
10-04-2009 10:43 PM
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electro212
Veteran
Location: Lancaster Pa

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Nice work
10-04-2009 11:09 PM
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Makiedog
Senior Heliman
Location: Minneapolis

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Fionn,
The thick G10 plates are originally part of the Observer kit, which I had modified by flipping it over.

CF landing gear came from an airplane vendor, don't recall the name at this time.

Pat L
10-04-2009 11:09 PM
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fionn
Senior Heliman
Location: Ireland

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Nice adaptation in that case!
I've put together a few mounts like that with the roll axis supporting the whole gimbal horizontally, it seems to work fine but I haven't tried it with a heavy camera yet.
I'm sure others would be interested in the origins of that gear, it looks really sweet!

Is this ship destined for stills / video or both?
10-04-2009 11:18 PM
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Makiedog
Senior Heliman
Location: Minneapolis

My Posts This: Topic  Forum
Quote 
Is this ship destined for stills / video or both?

It can probably do both, but I'm only interested in video for this ship. I have a Joker platform for stills and VR applications.

Quote 
I'm sure others would be interested in the origins of that gear, it looks really sweet!

No big secret, it's based on the original Bergen Observer. I never liked the way its front mount is attached, induces side-to-side wagging, so I modified it. I hope it improves it, will shoot some video over the next week or so.

To be honest, a Trex 700 would be a better candidate since it is a lot lighter. The Observer is heavier than most platforms- lot's of mechanical mixing, metal parts, G10 plates, etc. But it is built like a tank!

In this case, I just wanted to see what can be done with an old platform that's been collecting dust.

Pat L
10-05-2009 12:50 AM
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borneobear
Veteran
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Very nice.
The Tach on the tail boom is a simple nice idea too - makes you wanna say, 'now why didn't I think of that?'.

Thanks for sharing.
10-05-2009 01:51 AM
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fionn
Senior Heliman
Location: Ireland

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Sorry, I meant that others with front mounts might be interested in the landing gear which you're using.
It does look bombproof though, looking forward to seeing your video from it.
10-05-2009 10:33 AM
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Makiedog
Senior Heliman
Location: Minneapolis

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		You can find lot's of airplane CF landing gear here: http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/ns/a...trccarbonfiber/

Borneobear,
Quote 
The Tach on the tail boom is a simple nice idea too - makes you wanna say, 'now why didn't I think of that?'.

I've had inconsistent results from the airplane tach (mounted on boom). It would shut down on certain vibration frequencies. Kind of a crap shoot. But when it works, it's very convenient, since it allows you to read headspeed without needing a second person.

Pat L
10-05-2009 01:49 PM
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Makiedog
Senior Heliman
Location: Minneapolis

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		More flight test results

Mounted a Sony HC3 to check out the video quality:

1st flight
Lot's of vibration, video is unwatchable. But the mount stability is much better than the original Observer- the side-to-side wagging is gone. My gravity-based roll seems to work well, horizon is generally level.

2nd flight:
I braced the rear battery tray (originally unsupported in one end) and made some blade tracking adjustment. Video is vastly improved. However, it still has some very, minor blurring.

3rd flight:
I suspect the small vibe is caused by the tall CF landing gear. I tied a guy wire across each strut to stiffen it. Video got better, to a point where the very slight image blurring can only be noticed on a 42" HD TV.

Any suggestions to make it even better? I'm planning to try the following:
1) Brace the front of the twin boom supports with a plate, similar to Copterworks.
2) Add more weight to the front mount (video transmitter, battery, etc)

Pat L
10-13-2009 05:36 PM
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iflybyu77
Key Veteran
Location: Fort Wayne, IN

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Pat - just because you braced the LG with guy wires doesn't mean that aren't still vibrating. I considered the use of LG like yours but built semi-boxed aluminum gear to fix the problem. Anything with a long moment like the LG needs to be STIFF otherwise the other resonant frequencies are gonna catch up with you. Just my thoughts.
10-14-2009 04:22 AM
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Makiedog
Senior Heliman
Location: Minneapolis

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		I believe the guy wires do have an effect, they're always in tension, meaning the struts will have to overcome a small force (granted, only in one direction) in order to vibrate.

Of course, a better solution is a solid brace (tension & compression), such as CF tubes. Might try it as the last resort, or go back to the short LG.

I'm really liking this conversion now:

- No longer have to mess with a gas engine, constantly wondering if I had attained the optimal setting.
- Having the Barry mounts in compression (instead of the shear axis) makes a more solid and stable mount.
- The roll axis with shock/pendulum produces mostly level horizon

Will post video once I solve the last remaining vibration issue.

Pat L
10-14-2009 03:59 PM
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borneobear
Veteran
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Pat, I used to use wires to tension the frame as well. The obvious advantage was its almost weightless and it does work.
But following Seismic's advise here:
http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/t542917p1/
I made some CF tube braces and its night and day (!). Do try it. Like me, I'm pretty sure you'll never look back.

BB
10-15-2009 01:26 AM
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Makiedog
Senior Heliman
Location: Minneapolis

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		flight test in tight quarter

I think I'm getting close:


Also testing a Mercalli video stabilization plug-in. Much easier to use than Deshaker...

Pat L
10-18-2009 05:19 PM
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Makiedog
Senior Heliman
Location: Minneapolis

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Success!

The wet fall weather finally let up, allowing me to test out several adjustments I've made to reduce vibration. Here's the result:

The Vimeo playback seems jerky (when viewed in HD), like its skipping frames when compared to the original, which is much smoother. Anyone know how to fix that?

Here's a higher quality WMV version: hosted by Microsoft Silverlight

Pat L
10-25-2009 01:43 AM
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i-fly-aerials
Heliman
Location: Arizona, USA

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		So what were the main adjustment you made between the two videos...? Right now, my observer videos look similar to that of your first video. The second video is what I am looking for. What camera are you using?
10-25-2009 02:08 AM
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Makiedog
Senior Heliman
Location: Minneapolis

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Camera is HC3. I had spent one day making various adjustments such as:

1)Bracing the front tips of my horizontal twin booms with a CF rod so they don't flex. The gimble is hung on these supports.
2)Bracing the vertical stem of the gimble against the butterfly plates.

Both 1)&2) made the front end of the heli very stiff, resulting in little or no horizontal wagging, which is very typical of Observer videos.

3) More careful blade tracking (simple, but easy to overlook)
4) Bracing the tall CF struts with tension wires
5) I also converted the belt-driven camera pitch axis to gear drive, although I'm not sure if that changed anything. Always suspected the belt system generates backlash-type oscilation...

I would like to try out Gearge's IMU, but have not seen any flight reports...

Pat L
10-25-2009 02:27 AM
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jeffscholl
Key Veteran
Location: Whitefish, MT

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		"like its skipping frames when compared to the original, which is much smoother"

I think Vimeo is still re-encoding at 25fps.
In turn you get that 24frame cinematic look :-)

Cheers,
Jeff
10-25-2009 02:41 AM
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