I present my VTOL project. It is a VTOL Tricopter Y3. For this proyect I have transformed one Mini Skyhunter because the purpose was to make a cheap and fast project to test the arduplane firmware.
For this I have used several pieces printed in 3D that you can download from the article on my website or from Thingiverse.
I have divided the article into two parts. In the first I explain everything about the construction and in the second I try to explain in a videotutorial all parameters for a correct setup.
Also I leave a link so you can download a PDF file in which I try to explain everything related to the setup.
In the videos description and Thingiverse sumary you have the links of the material used in this project.
Hi aticof thanks for sharing your great project, very well documented . I’ve started this build and everything have been coming together great. i have a few question related to the build to make sure i do things right.
Front motors props/wings overlap: I noticed that there is some overlapping between the wings and the props when motors are in the vertical position. will this affect significantly the stabilization of the plane in copter mode?
Front motors angle installation: maybe a silly question but what angle should i consider as a mid point at the time of installing the motors? i noticed than in your parameters min and max goes from 2120-1010 so that full travel of the servo up/down . im a little confused about this part .
Horizontal Stabilizer distance : in order to clear the back motor prop (9.5x5) i have a distance of 40cm from the leading edge of the Horizontal Stab to the back of each wing. is this close to what you have in your build? with this distance the round tubes does not go all the way into the wing brackets. im concern that this might create a weak point .
Differential Thrust in Plane Mode : will it be possible to set differential thrust in plane mode so i dont have to install Rudder Servos?
Spanish:
Hola aticof gracias por compartir tu gran proyecto, muy bien documentado. Empecé este build y todo ha ido muy bien. Tengo algunas preguntas relacionadas con la construcción para asegurarme de que todo vaya bien a la hora del maiden fligh
Overlap elices frontales : noté que hay un poco de overlap entre las alas y las elices frontales cuando los motores están en posición vertical. ¿Esto afectará significativamente la estabilización del avión en el modo de copter?
Angulo de los motores frontales: tal vez una pregunta tonta, pero ¿qué ángulo debería considerar como un punto medio en el momento de instalar los motores? Noté que en sus parámetros min y max van desde 2120-1010 que es practicamente travel completo del servo. Estoy un poco confundido acerca de esta parte.
Distancia del estabilizador horizontal: para poder despejar el trayecto de la elice tracera (9.5x5) tengo una distancia de 40 cm desde el borde delantero del stabilizador horizontal hasta la parte posterior de cada ala. ¿Está esto cerca de lo que tienes en tu pequeno saltamontes? con esta distancia, los tubos redondos no entran completamente en los soportes de las alas .Me preocupa que esto pueda crear un punto débil.
Empuje diferencial en modo plane: ¿será posible establecer el empuje diferencial en modo plane para que no tenga que instalar los servos de timon?
1- Ese pequeño solape de las helices de los motores frontales no afecta en absoluto. El eje de los motores esta cerca del CG
2- La forma de configurar un angulo perfecto horizontal y vertical es pasando de modo MANUAL a QESTABILZE y regular su posicion con SERVOn_MAX y SERVOn_MIN
3- Yo he aumentado la distancia original del MSH en unos 30-40mm pero siempre con la premisa de que la helice trasera no solape la superficie del estabilizador.
La distancia de losmotores frontales al CG es corta, por esto las helices pueden solapar el extrados del ala. Pero la helice trasera no puede solapar el extrados del estabilizador pues la distancia al CG es mayor y esto desestabilizaria el aeromodelo.
4- Empuje diferencial entiendo que un motor empuje mas que otro para sustituir al timon de direccion.
No se que Arduplane contemple este empuje diferencial. De todas formas ten en cuenta que el extrapeso de los tilt rotor obliga a retrasar muchisimo las baterias, por tanto el peso de los servos de direccion ayudarian a equilibrar el CG.
Un cordial saludo desde BILBAO, la capital del mundo.
vaya pues veré como me va en los primeros vuelos de prueba en modo copter, contemplaba que unos motores de dji p4p que me regalaron le podría ir bien ya que son ligeros y de tamano similar a los que tienes (2312 800kv) pero el unico inconveniente es que no se pueden cambiar el tipo de propelas
eh visto pruebas de empuje estatico y generan 854g por motor a full (3 motores 2.56 kg) para un modelo de 1550g (es mi target) necesitaría en teoria 60% para levantar el avion (la cual no es ideal en realidad)
si no genera suficiente empuje pues me tocara buscar mejor opción para los motores o los mismo que usas
gracias por las respuestas luego subo fotos de como va el build.
Some pictures of how the build is comming together. still need to install the fpv electronics and set the proper tilt angles . AUW 1470g with a li ion 6000 4s . hopefully ill do a test hover this weekend. thanks again for the great documentation .
It’s a nice looking plane Harold. Where did you find those white props? Anyway, I would imagine that hovering on your 4S setup would require a high current that a typical 6000 mah li-ion battery is unable to safely provide?
The motors and props are from Dji phantom 4 pro . I’m also will see if the dji snail motor regular prop adapters will fit this motors in case I have to change props .
I decided to try his combination because this motor are the lowest kv i found in the 22xx size motors (800kv)
Regarding the battery my pack can handle 60a constant . According to my calculations I should be pulling 30 to 35a on copter mode and 6 to 8 a on plane cruise . In theory I should be good .
Harold, I’ve just checked out these cells, and it is said to have a capacity of 3000 mah, and with 4S2P arrangements (i.e. 4S 6000 mah battery), you have maximum constant discharge of 40 A (assuming a max constant discharge of 20A per cell). I may have been looking at the wrong cells? In any case, you may have to be careful over the notorious voltage sag of li-ion too. We’re also looking into building a suitable li-ion battery for a tilt rotor plane with AUW of about 6.5kg.
Well Guys i finally did the maiden . and it was very interesting and nerve wracking to say the least. the weather conditions could not be worse 20mph+ winds (30kt according to windy app). …I know … im crazy lol … but i was itching to see if this thing was going to fly .
the good thing is that i was able to takeoff and make a very short flight to see the transitions and flight behavior . everything went well but i need to do more testing i felt the airplane very underpowered almost to a point that i had to apply full power to gain a little altitude to make the transitions maybe was the crazy winds…
im not sure if the airspeed sensor is reading accurately the wind felt a lot stronger that what it was reading… any advice how to calibrate the speed sensor will be appreciate it.
did a second flight today and confirmed what you guys already told me . this motor do not produce enough thrust i did a 10 min flight and i had barely battery to land safely . i felt the battery diying when i was decending but after looking at the video the battery was not even half discharged
i tryied just to do a quick hover after landing and the plane was not able to sustain hover. im ordering the sunnysky X2212 980kv this week . hopefully i get a little more flight time if im lucky i will be happy with 30 min flight i get bored after that anyways and also have other planes that can flight for 1 hr 30 min.
this plane flies so well that is worth keep trying
here a video of a hover after landing the plane refuse to go up and becomes very unstable due to not enought thrust produced by the motors
Hello. Thank you for the post.
Unfortunately, I can’t follow your documentation in Spanish.
I’m wondering about your FC configuration.
Is there a set profile that you used?
Sorry, I’m new to ardupilot.
It also seems that your rear motor is fixed. It does not tilt. True?
Thanks again.
Hi Guy, I’m glad you like the project.
I would like to record the vdeotutorial in English but unfortunately I do not master it.
In the second article you can download the file.params with all the configuration.
Hi Atico,
I have also built the MINI Skyhunter as a VTOL. It is equipped with a KK 2.1 control board but I’m thinking of changing it to Pixhawk PX4. I have studied your documentation and since I was a beginner in Pixhawk and its programming, I did not understand everything for now. Mini Skyhunter VTOL
video from first attempts with KK 2.1 FW OpenAero … Video My Pixhawk
I’m just getting acquainted with the Pixhawk PX4, I’m trying MisionPlaner and QGroundControl for setup. Which one do you recommend? I was better off in QGroudControl but I noticed that your Skyhunter is programmed in MisionPlaner … If I want to use it as a default setting, do you probably have to program it in it? (Note - the text is made by Google translator, so I apologize if there are any errors but I assume it is understandable.)
thanks again for the great documentation .
