Foldable Quad Update

Now Christmas and New Year are over I can get on and finish off the foldable Quad i had started just before Christmas.

The thing i was contemplating and therefore procrastinating about was should i flash the ESC's with SimonK's firmware or not. As i had never done this before it seemed quiet easy as I had flashed Hobbykings Flight controllers, like the KK 2.0 and the older 1.2. So the theory was it uses the same microcontroller so it will be the same right ? Wrong, the new Hobbyking Plush ESC's all use the newer SIL 344 chip, which needs a different method of flashing, as described in this website.
The thing was that 2 of my ESC's were SIL and the other 2 Atmega8 chips, so i had to do both types.!

ATmega8 Chip wired and ready for flashing


The newer SIL 344 chip, notice the golden pads next to it, this is where you need to connect to.

Well now they have been flashed and tested, i can now add them to the frame and start the build.

The wires go through the legs but when bent over hardly move, and this was a relief to see as i though maybe they might chafe and get cut, but not so :-) .

I added the landing gear and motor mounts, which were purchased from E-Bay and fitted very nicely.

Here you can see the frame with all four motor mounts installed, it is a very low Quad.

Here it is with the legs folded, it is not that wide, but i think i would have prefered if the legs were closer, thus making a narrower profile.

I wanted to add some additional smoothing for the power lines, and a low profile SMT Capacitor of 1000uf was used, as they are small and good quality. The only issue was , how to connect it to the power distribution board. so i soldered some wires on and hot glued it to the underside of the frame :-).

Next i had a idea as to how and where i was going to attach the batterie, and what i did was attach the bottom plate with another four clips! This works out well as it stiffens the legs and makes the plate detachable, as seen.