Tricopter v2.6(no HV)

by Hunter Staples | December 9, 2013 | (6) Posted in Projects

I based my first Tricopter off of David's 2.6HV except I will not be using the HV part of it which just means I will not use a 4s battery, I will just be using the good old 2200 3 cell. I also will not be using the carbon fiber booms as this is my first tricopter. Enough talk, Lets get started! 

 I am using 1/2" wooden booms for the arms. I will be using 35 cm for the front two arms, and a 37 cm piece for the back arm.

The rest of my components for the body of the tricopter. I bought the camera tray from the Flitetest store, but when I got it, I put the camera tray together before I realized I wanted to paint everything black and cover the wires with orange mesh. I also bought the tricopter body from Flitest's store.

Unfortunatly I didn't know that the camera tray came with six longer screws to use. I already went out to my local Lowes and bought 3m screws. So the longer screws holding the tray have the button style top where the screws that I bought are regular flathead screwdriver top.

Here are all the booms cut out and painted.

Since I am using 1/2" inch booms, and the tricopter body is made for 10mm booms. So I had to file out some of the wood to make it fit.

I put the back boom and camera tray together on the body.

Another shot focusing on the camera tray and body.

Here it is with all the booms on. Unfortunatly, the paint that I used for the arms stick pretty well to the frame so when I try to fold the arms back, they struggle and when they finally fold back, it makes a loud crack sound that makes it sound like the frame or the arms broke. So here is my solution below.

I took the arms out and sanded a portion down. Now they fold Very smoothly.

Here are just a couple for pictures of the completed frame.

I will be using my Spektrum DX8 so I will be using the AR610 receiver. It has two antennas and one of them has a pretty long cable. Im not looking for miles of range but I am looking to do FPV with it later so I do want some range.

For this build I am using NTM 28-26 1200kv motors and right off the bat I knew that I had a problem. The plate that you usually bolt down onto a plane wouldn't line up with the wood properly. So my final solution is that I would drill two holes where the holes on the plate would line up at on the wood and then I took two zip-ties for each hole. I wasn't sure how strong this would be but it is SUPER strong. It is strong when flying but when it gets in a crash, the zip-ties just break right off.

Next up is the yaw control. I am using the front steering mount that David uses on his tricopter. I am also using a digital, metal gear servo. As you maybe can see from the picture, the motor mount only covers over two holes of the yaw controller so I just tryed my best to bend and tighten down a couple of zip-ties. Again, I didn't think this would be strong but it is!

I put orange mesh on all the ESCs. I really like the color orange and when you put black and orange together, It makes an awesome color combination.

At first I had put the orange mesh over the servo wire but I had shoved all of the wire in the mesh leaving some of it crimped up. This disable the servo from working. So all I did was make the decision to make it look a bit more sloppy but hey, at least it works.

Here are all of my wires in either orange or black mesh. My whole goal with this was to make it look the least sloppy as I could. I think I did a pretty good job on it.

Heres what it looks like all all folded up.

Here it is completed. I think it came out pretty nicely. If people want it, I will put up a video of it in the air and my setup for the KK2.1 board. Thanks for reading.

COMMENTS

turbootter on January 5, 2014
The tricopter looks really good. I am using the same motors you are using. The yaw mount looks not bad. How does it perform in the air. I would be quite interested in your KK2.1 setup being essential other than the battery and gopro holder I am doing the exact same build. What propellers did you use and where any of them CW and CCW.
Thanks, Tom
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Hunter Staples on January 6, 2014
It fly's really nicely. I will get started on the flight video and KK2.1 setup . I am also using Clockwise props on the front left motor and the Counter-Clockwise on the front right and back motors.
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AndyPants on January 6, 2014
Hi, your tri turned out really well. I can vouch for that yaw mechanism working very well and it's elegant in its simplicity! I had a similar problem with the motor mount on the yaw mechanism. I ended up taking a small piece of fibre glass board (PC board that I had etched the copper off) and making my own motor mount instead of using the motor's metal cross mount.
Could you please share your 'all-up' weight and flight times on this setup?
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Hunter Staples on January 6, 2014
Nice I like the custom motor mount! The all up weight without the fpv gear is around 850 grams. The flight time is anywhere from 10-15 with the FPV gear and around 13-18 without it.
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Sirglider on January 6, 2014
Pretty nice work. I have the same colour scheme except that I painted the rear boom in orange and it helps a lot to orient it in the air.
One comment, pay attention to the sticking effect of the boom. It is a wanted effect needed for the arms to stay in place in flight. I had a issue with this system once in flights. Front arms folded back in the air... No need of a drawing for the results... I've added toothpicks to hold the arms in position. Works pretty well!
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Hunter Staples on January 6, 2014
Yes I did notice that the arms are easier to move but when I put all of the electronics on it, for some reason, the arms were staying in place. Thanks for the advice though!
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NoUsername on January 6, 2014
The orange and black colors are a good combinaton. My flying experiance has been mostly fixed wing and have been kickin around the thought of a tricopter with a go pro, no FPV. Your build has been a good bit of insight into my wanting to build a tricopter. Thanx.
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darth paul on January 6, 2014
great idea with the mesh, looks much cleaner than most setups I've seen. where did you find the mesh?
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Hunter Staples on January 6, 2014
I bought the mesh from hobbyking. I think it is just the 10mm size.
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Cyberdactyl on January 6, 2014
Happy you got it together and flying!

My only concern is your rear motor looks a bit precarious sitting on the yaw mechanism.

Is that fixed, or is it still like that?
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Hunter Staples on January 6, 2014
Yes I took one of the other comments advise and made a custom plate for it.
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Tricopter v2.6(no HV)