Maiden Flight
FPV time
Got it all wired up for FPV. My next post will have all the ingredients that went into the build.
This is my ground station video receiver. It mounts onto a simple, cheap tripod. It's great setup, especially with the Magic Mushroom antenna by Blue Beam.
Assemble to fly
Getting the AfroESCs to fit was a crazy mess at first. Mainly because I tried soldering little shorty stubs of power cables to the power distribution board. Once I gave that up, I soldered some lines to the board with bullet connectors at the ends instead. I put mating bullet connectors on the ESCs and everything became much easier. Below you can see the ESC connectors sort of wrapped around and everything packed in. There is no danger of a loose connection or short because everything is wrapped and given how sandwiched its all gonna be, I can't imagine the bullet connectors shaking loose.
Notice the zip ties. Those were a huge help in keeping the arms on while I threaded cables or mounted screws. Thanks to Sinewavez at Open Pilot for the tip.
Next Up, I realized that I needed to remove the cross standoffs that are at the ends of the ESC motor connectors because they interfered with the installation of the motor cables to the ESCs.
Mounting the motors came next but since the M3 screws that came with the ADS were too long, I used the ADS screws at the rear and the screws that came with the motors in the proximal end. I didn't want to use only the motor screws because they are flat head screws and it seems awkward to use them in material that wasn't countersinked. Notice that I also don't have the cross standoff that would normally be right smack in the center of the motor as it would interfere with the motor shaft.
Following the motor mounting, I mounted the standoffs that go inside the arms as shown below. I should have done this before putting the arms on and the ESCs.
Then, I mounted the nylon standoffs and the CC3D flight controller to the bottom plate of the top plates pair. I will eventually use a Shapeways case for the CC3D but for now, I have it mounted as shown, which is 90 degrees CCW from default. I had to input -90 into the yaw axis bias in the CC3D GCS. This make it easier for me to connect my usb cable to the CC3D for tuning or whatevs.
I fed the braided ESC signal cables through the included holes in the plates and under the CC3D.
Finally, I mounted the top plate, Rx, and the props to the frame so that I could do some flying and tuning while I await my FPV components. I will likely practice some flying in Rate mode with this config until I can purchase all those other components. The Rx is also a temporary receiver until I purchase my Dragonlink or ezUHF receiver.
Motor mount arms assembly
Everything went together well, although the motor mount plate was a stiff fit into the side panels. I had to sand out the mating slits on the side panels and then use a small hammer to tap the motor mount plate in.
I also did not use the lowest cross brace standoff because it interferes with my motor shafts. More on that later.
