Octo-H / QuadPlane Unconventional Configuration

ArduPlane VTOL Plane
1

Hello all:

I am building an 8 propeller VTOL aircraft (configuration in the figure below). I am using an Orange Cube FC (Quadplane mode, ArduPlane 4.2.3) and powering the system with 2 packs of 6S batteries. It has a wingspan of 1.8 m and weighs around 7 kg. All front propellers tilt forward for fixed wing flight.

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There is no exact match to this frame in the ArduCopter website (Connect ESCs and Motors — Copter documentation). My current idea is to use a quad-H configuration and duplicate the signal wires for the outboard propellers ESCs. Effectively, this would mean that propellers would be controlled in pairs (see below).

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I had a conversation with Ben from 3DXR (who has been very helpful), where he suggested I post the question on the forum. Can anyone think of a better way to get this done? For example, the Octo-H configuration looks somewhat similar to ours, there may be a way to match both concepts by tweaking certain parameters.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance. :raised_hands:

2

Hi Dani,

Did you get to figuring this out?

I need the exact same setup for an Octo VTOL, but am hesitant to try it on an expensive model.

Instead I plan on building a cheap Octo H quad, with the same wingspan as the plane to test mixer combinations.

One solution I see is configuring as an X4 (outer four motors), then setting inner four as Tilt motors (front/rear & left/right).

With this config, only the inboard 4 would run for forward flight, but it’s a start.

Looking at the Wingcopter 198 for inspiration.

Regards,

Philippe

3

There is an Octo Q_FRAME_CLASS and set the Q_TILT_MASK for the front motors? Guess the FRAME_TYPE is a mystery.