I’m useless at flying mini quads. Project “Get good at flying mini quads” is my way of try to improve my skills whilst helping others to learn along the way.
Part 3 – Frame Selection
Frame selection is a very personal subject. With so much choice out there at the moment almost every requirement is catered for. In this video I will try to explain why I fly the frames I do and some of the common features that make them perfect for racing and close proximity flying.
Keep It Simple Stupid!
The most important thing for me with my frames is simplicity. I am very good at crashing them into things and whilst the carbon rarely gets damaged it is not uncommon for me to shred an antenna and break a prop. All these things can be easily replaced or repaired but when a frame get complicated – say with a build in PDB or complex folding arm structure – repairs become both time-consuming and costly.
All of the frames I am currently flying have this same principle in mind and share the same common features:
- fixed plate arms that can be easily removed and replaced
- ESCs mounted out on the arms for easy access and exposure to airflow
- simple mini PDB stacked under the flight controller, with or without BEC built in
Whilst I am keen to try things like the micro Minim OSD and other cool new components I don’t really see the necessity of these things on a racing quad that will be airborne for 3 or 4 minutes (hopefully) and never more than a couple of hundred meters away. As I said in the video, I have been experimenting with the Naze32 softserial telemetry ports so I can have battery voltage relayed to my Taranis.
Useful Resources
I mention MultiGP in the video as my source of information for racing classes. You can learn more about that HERE.
Red20RC Frames
The following Red20RC frames are mentioned in the video. You can learn more about them using the links below:
- SWH170 “Kermit” Micro Quad by Skunkworx Hobbies
- SWH250 Low Pro Racing Quad by Skunkworx Hobbies
- BDX240 FPV Racer by steadly1
- R220 EVO FPV Racing Frame by RedTwenty*
*at the time of writing the R220 Evo has not been released. It should be available by the end of September 2015.
Conclusion
As I said at the start, frame selection is a matter of personal taste and requirement. I’m not about to tell you to go out and buy a Red20RC frame, just think about what you want to achieve with your flying and what features are important to you and what is only going to add extra layers of complexity and cost when the inevitable crashes occur.
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In fact if you look through Thingiverse there are a number of components available for download that were created by Red20RC designers for our frames. The ULTri tricopter tilt mechanism is particularly good!
I've also got a number of 3D printed items on Red20RC such as the skirts and landing skids for the SWH170 that are available for download if you have your own printer.
3D printing is a really important part of frame design these days. I actually spent twice as much on a printer as I did on my CNC!
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For sure! Good tuning seems to be the holy grail of mini quad flying. It will be the subject of my next article in the series but is proving very hard to write. Hopefully I can work it out soon!
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At present there is no plans to release the EVO in G10 or with 6 inch arms.
I didn't want to use G10 as I wanted to build the lightest/strongest frame I could and I think G10 would fall short on both counts with this one.
The 6 inch arms is something I will look at in the future. Because this frame is a lot tighter on space than the original R220 it is difficult to include 6 inch arms. Simply lengthening them is not an option (I tried) as it drastically changes the geometry and would also put the front props well into the field of view.
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