New Build: iFlight DC3 HD – 3 Inch HD Racing Drone

Written by: Tony Korologos | Date: Friday, April 17th, 2020
Categories: 3D PrintingAerial ImageryBuild LogDJIEquipmentFPVMultirotor AircraftReviews

I think this may have been my first build which I started and completed, and successfully maidened in one day. I’ve wanted to have a DJI HD FPV based quad that was smaller than the two 6S 5″ quads I currently have. Something more portable, and able to fly in smaller areas.

iFlight DC3 HD Frame

The frame is the iFlight DC3 HD.  DC stands for “deadcat,” which is an arm design which results in the camera having no props in view.

Deadcat designs are what many cinematographers choose.

FPV

I’m hooked on DJI’s FPV system because of numerous reasons, including the clarity of the FPV view in the goggles, recording HD 4K video on board, and elegant interfacing. So that’s why I chose the system for this build.

Receiver

For my receiver I’m using TBS Crossfire.  I’ve seen the light with TBS Crossfire and its long range capabilities.  I’ve essentially vowed that from now on I will be using Crossfire for all my builds.  This small quad has Crossfire, as well as the Immortal T antenna.

Motors/Power

I’ve been testing out some EMax motors recently.  I decided to go with the Emax ECO Micro Series 1407 motors at 2800kv.  Based on that one might guess that I decided to run the system on 4S battery power.

Currently my battery of choice is a CNHL 4S 650MAH.

Stack

For the flight controller and 4in1 ESC I went with the Diatone Mamba Stack F405US MK3 Mini F35.  I have a couple of other Mamba ESC’s in quads and I’ve been satisfied with their performance.  The stack is capable of running 6S.

3D Printing

I found some arm bumpers/motor soft mounts online to 3D print.  I also designed a 3D printed set of mounts for the Crossfire Immortal T.

I went with orange TPU filament to go with the orange theme of the quad.

Flying

I’m about to do some real flying with the quad in the next few days and will post some performance comments, and flying videos soon. Overall I’m very happy with the build and the equipment choices.

 


Jumping into the 3D printer game

Written by: Tony Korologos | Date: Thursday, February 27th, 2020
Categories: 3D PrintingBuild LogEquipmentMultirotor Aircraft
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This past Christmas I got a new 3D printer, my first one.  It is a Creality Ender 3 Pro. I’ve been tinkering around with it, learning how it works and printing a bunch of random things I’ve found on the web.

Just recently I started learning Fusion 360, which is a 3d CAD application. I’ve started to create some very basic designs, and have now produced TWO different unique parts for some of my drone fleet.

Immortal T Mount

First I needed a TBS Immortal T antenna mount for one of my DJI HD based quads.  Check it out.

Yeah it is basic, and I’ll probably move the antenna to the middle or back later but these mounts are working great.

Ummagawd Acrobrat Antenna Mount

After breaking a few antenna mounts and a VTX, I ended up zip tying the antenna to the frame.  That was OK, but the antenna wasn’t in a great position and was still very susceptible to damage.

So I whipped up an antenna mount in Fusion 360.  Took a bit of a wild guess on the angle, and got it nailed.  The antenna is just about perfectly vertical when the quad is flying forward.

 


Got My First DJI HD FPV Quadcopter Flying on 6S

Written by: Tony Korologos | Date: Monday, October 21st, 2019
Categories: Build LogDJIEquipmentFPVMultirotor AircraftVideo
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Momentous occasion. Got my first DJI HD rig flying, on 6S. It’s an iFlight DC50 frame, deadcat style. The image quality in the goggles is stunning. I was not able to get the DJI VTX antennas to mount in the included 3D printed mount without them popping out of the MMCX connectors. Super annoying. So just rigged up a temporary zip tie setup which won’t do well in a crash. Yes I know the T antenna in the front isn’t a great locale, but this build is so back heavy I was trying to put anything I could forward.

Just flew around the neighborhood so no real ripping. It feels heavy though, compared to my 6S Chameleon. Flies very smooth though. I plan to do a blog post about this and my DJI impressions soon.

Maiden Flight Video

Here’s the first flight test.  Working!


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