RE: Broken DF... Swap gyros?
Thanks again for the advice. I went ahead and used Spectrolutions. No problems, and now my board works great! Spectrolutions ROCKS! -- Geoff
Posted on: 10/8/2007 5:37 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6465535

RE: Broken DF... Swap gyros?
Thank you for the tip on Spectrolutions! I will give them a try. -- Geoff
Posted on: 9/27/2007 12:40 AM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6419105

Broken DF... Swap gyros?
After killing the radio board on my old Draganfly, I bought another DF on Ebay. This one has the custom case and heavy-duty motors I was looking for, but it doesn't fly right. [:o] Once it gets into the air, it starts oscillating tipping forward and back, and finally flips, crashing front- or rear-first. If I hold the DF in the air with the motors going, it properly "fights" to stay level when I try tilting it left and right, but it doesn't do so when I try tilting it front-back. I'm guessing one of the gyros is bad. If I cannot resolve this problem with the Ebay seller, I might try swapping gyros with my old DF. But... - Which of the 3 gyros is the culprit? - How do I desolder the old gyro? (I tried experimenting a bit with a soldering iron my old DF, but I couldn't get the pins to budge.) Perhaps I should get professional help. -- Geoff
Posted on: 9/25/2007 1:45 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6412274

Where can I buy heavy duty motors?
I'm thinking of switching to heavy duty motors to increase my (camera) payload. I have a 4.2 oz camera my DF can currently just barely lift. I checked [link=http://www.rctoys.com/rc-toys-and-parts/DF-HDmotor-Set/RC-PARTS-DRAGANFLYER-MOTORS-GEARS.html]http://www.rctoys.com/rc-toys-and-parts/DF-HDmotor-Set/RC-PARTS-DRAGANFLYER-MOTORS-GEARS.html[/link], but they're marked as discontinued. Is there somewhere else I can be looking for these? -- Geoff
Posted on: 8/5/2007 2:07 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6199222

RE: Another Custom Camera Mount
[quote]Are you running the HD motors?[/quote] No. I don't remember reading that they make much of a difference. But I will if they can boost my payload from 4 to 9 oz! -- Geoff
Posted on: 8/5/2007 1:41 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6199141

RE: Another Custom Camera Mount
[quote]ORIGINAL: Old Man Mike I envy your flying with a light payload. The DF is really at the limit with my camera, mount, metal rollcage, altimeter and color tape. I'm up to a total payload weight of 9.4 oz and you really have to be careful during the decent not to come down too fast. [/quote] How do you lift that much weight with your DF? I can [i]barely[/i] lift the 4.2 oz for my little camera. And for that, the DF batteries have to be just recently fully charged up! -- Geoff
Posted on: 8/3/2007 8:14 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6193757

RE: Red LED on top - what is it?
Thanks! That's what I needed to hear. -- Geoff
Posted on: 8/3/2007 2:29 AM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6190689

Red LED on top - what is it?
My Draganfly spazzed out today (went into a crazy oscillation) just above my house, and smacked into my roof upside down. Now it behaves like my transmitter radio is turned off -- after I press the reset button, the rotors turn randomly/sporadically on and off. I found a broken solder joint on one of the IR sensors... fixed. I also noticed that the red LED on top got smashed off, in a way I can't solder it back on. (Amazingly I found the LED on the ground.) Does anyone know what type of LED it is? What part #, or at least voltage, current? I assume it's nothing special. [link=http://www.rctoys.com/rc-toys-and-parts/DF-REDLED/RC-PARTS-DRAGANFLYER-ELECTRONICS.html]rctoys.com is out of stock for this part[/link], and it seems silly for me to order a single LED shipped from Canada. -- Geoff
Posted on: 8/2/2007 9:47 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6189732

RE: Attached a camera to my DF!
This camera does have a continuous shooting mode, and I'll probably give that a try at some point so I can take more photos than the 10 that the self-timer gives me. No, it doesn't have good manual modes like aperture-priority, but it does have various dumbed-down preset modes like "beach" or "indoors", and I should play with those to see if any of them will tend to result in shorter exposures. -- Geoff
Posted on: 6/3/2007 1:50 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5938683

RE: Attached a camera to my DF!
The styrofoam pieces are circular so I can rotate the camera to any angle. They're just held in place by those blue rubber bands. I'm interested in wide angle landscape images, not close-ups. I'm thinking if I can get good at holding the DF steady and then rotating in place (though for now I still have to always fly with the tail facing me), I could take a series of overlapping photos and use software (Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10 works well) to stitch them into a larger image -- without needing a wide-angle lens. The photos I posted were scaled down to 640 x 480, but the originals from the camera are 7.1 megapixels. I've had pretty good luck keeping the images sharp by cranking the ISO up to 200 so my exposures can be very short (to avoid camera shake issues). With more than ISO 200, the dark areas in the photos start looking noisy. I have a 2GB xD card in the camera right now, so I can take 500 photos at full resolution, or 13 minutes of video at 640 x 480. -- Geoff
Posted on: 6/2/2007 9:33 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5936214

RE: Attached a camera to my DF!
You can also see that just about every one of the plastic pieces on my DF is patched with glue!
Posted on: 6/2/2007 2:46 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5934777

Attached a camera to my DF!
After some practice with a 4 oz weight attached to my DF, I decide I was ready to risk attaching a camera and sending it aloft! My camera is a Canon PowerShot SD40 "Elph", which weighs just over 4 oz. It has a custom self timer mode that can wait up to 30 seconds before taking a series of 10 photos. I played with some over-engineered camera-mount ideas, but finally decided on this simple styrofoam mount for now. It allows for easy camera angle changes. [link=http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/draganfly/m/P20070601-Draganfly-Helicopter--Camera-Mount-2.jpg][image]http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/draganfly/t/P20070601-Draganfly-Helicopter--Camera-Mount-2.jpg[/image][/link] [link=http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/draganfly/m/P20070601-Draganfly-Helicopter-First-Camera-Flight--Backyard-01.jpg][image]http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/draganfly/t/P20070601-Draganfly-Helicopter-First-Camera-Flight--Backyard-01.jpg[/image][/link] [link=http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/draganfly/m/P20070601-Draganfly-Helicopter-First-Camera-Flight--Backyard-17.jpg][image]http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/draganfly/t/P20070601-Draganfly-Helicopter-First-Camera-Flight--Backyard-17.jpg[/image][/link] Here are a couple of flight videos:[ul] [*][link=http://www.oz.net/~geoffsi/common/showimage.htm?url=http%3A//boojum.dreamhosters.com/draganfly/m/P20070601-Draganfly-Helicopter-First-Camera-Flight--Backyard-32.flv&caption=Draganfly_Helicopter_First_Camera_Flight_-_Backyard_32&back=file%3A///C%3A/Geoff/web/oz.net/draganfly.htm&backname=draganfly]P20070601-Draganfly-Helicopter-First-Camera-Flight--Backyard-32.flv[/link] [*][link=http://www.oz.net/~geoffsi/common/showimage.htm?url=http%3A//boojum.dreamhosters.com/draganfly/m/P20070601-Draganfly-Helicopter-First-Camera-Flight--Backyard-33.flv&caption=Draganfly_Helicopter_First_Camera_Flight_-_Backyard_33&back=file%3A///C%3A/Geoff/web/oz.net/draganfly.htm&backname=draganfly]P20070601-Draganfly-Helicopter-First-Camera-Flight--Backyard-33.flv[/link] [/ul] As you can see, since I live in the city I don't have too much room in my backyard, so practicing involves a tight area between dodging trees and buildings... and lots of accidents! I'm learning that I need to either try to hack a wide-angle lens, or fly much higher if I'm going to get some good aerial photos. (But flying higher is scary when the DF can easily drift out of my line of sight.) -- Geoff
Posted on: 6/2/2007 2:39 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5934758

Best camera for aerial still photos?
I've been practicing lately flying my Draganfly with a 4oz weight strapped to the bottom so I can get enough flying confidence to finally take some aerial photos with a small digital camera. This is [i]the[/i] main reason I bought my Draganfly in the first place! (Thank you [url=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5548373/tm.htm]Clement7[/url] for the payload information.) I scraped the excellent [url=http://www.dpreview.com/]www.dpreview.com[/url] site's database to find out what are the lightest cameras of all time: [code] Mega Empty with Resolution pixels weight batt. Camera ---------------------------------------------------------- 1280x960 1.2 85 ? Casio Exilim EX-S1 1280x960 1.2 85 ? Casio Exilim EX-M1 1600x1200 1.9 79 100 Casio Exilim EX-S20 1600x1200 1.9 80 ? Casio Exilim EX-M20 1600x1200 1.9 88 106 Casio Exilim EX-S2 1600x1200 1.9 90 108 Casio Exilim EX-M2 2048x1536 3.1 72 110 Casio Exilim EX-S3 2048x1536 3.1 98 115 Pentax Optio S 2304x1728 4.0 98 115 Pentax Optio S4 2592x1944 5.0 98 114 Samsung Digimax A503 2816x2112 5.9 100 120 Pentax Optio S6 3072x2304 7.1 100 120 Pentax Optio S7 2816x2112 5.9 110 ? Olympus FE-190 3072x2304 7.1 103 118 Olympus Stylus 710 2592x1944 5.0 105 120 Canon PowerShot SD30 ELPH 3072x2304 7.1 105 120 Canon PowerShot SD40 ELPH [/code] (4 oz is 113.4 grams.) The old Casio Exilim cameras, while light, seem to take crappy fuzzy camcordery photos from what I've seen. I think [url=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5243615/tm.htm]cre8web uses an Olympus FE-190[/url] and [url=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4400659/tm.htm]Clement7 uses the Pentax Optio S7[/url]. The Canon PowerShot ELPH cameras have a fabulous custom timer-shot feature that will avoid my having to wire up my own circuit to repeatedly trigger the shutter. From what I've read, the Canon's custom timer feature instructs the camera to wait up to 10 seconds, then take up to 10 photos at 2 second intervals. Perfect for getting the Draganfly up into the air and taking a bunch of shots. -- Geoff
Posted on: 5/11/2007 3:38 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5841406

RE: Frankenstein Draganfly
[quote]ORIGINAL: geoffff The epoxy has been holding well. I'm using "J B Weld" brand, even though it's ugly grey. -- Geoff [/quote] Actually, I'm now finding that gooey glues work better. Epoxy is strong, but tends to shatter where the gooey glues will bend and give a bit. I'm using "shoe goo" because it's what I happen to have lying around. I'm
Posted on: 5/11/2007 2:56 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5841256

RE: Interferrence or lost FM radio signal?
Just to chime in with one more data point, my DF V Ti Pro also occasionally does the total power loss thing while flying. Usually for less than a second, but it's pretty spooky. -- Geoff
Posted on: 5/7/2007 12:26 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5822578

RE: Frankenstein Draganfly
The epoxy has been holding well. I'm using "J B Weld" brand, even though it's ugly grey. -- Geoff
Posted on: 5/5/2007 9:47 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5815816

RE: Frankenstein Draganfly
Thanks, Bruce! I never did work with the simulator; perhaps I should have. I'm at the point where I feel I *can* fly -- I can keep it hovering and basically staying in place or in small controlled movements for maybe 10-20 seconds, but then something always seems to happen: a gust of wind, or maybe I just start overcompensating with the controls, and then -- I'm down. I don't count it as a crash unless I have to repair something :) I think I need to practice in a bigger area, and then stick to some drills for a while. Maybe lapping figure 8s around a pair of tree trunks as markers. My backyard isn't very good for that. -- Geoff
Posted on: 5/5/2007 9:45 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5815812

RE: Frankenstein Draganfly
You can also see that I've added red/green/white LEDs (so I can tell the orientation when it's up high) and glued on stubby legs (plastic spray-can tubes) to protect the exposed capacitors on the motors. [center] [image]http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/misc/postings/Red-LED.jpg[/image] [image]http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/misc/postings/protective-legs.jpg[/image] [/center] The LEDs are powered by 5v I found for the video-camera connection. You can also see the green jumper wire I added for the 12v trace I accidentally shorted out by playing with it while powered up (stupid). I bought the LEDs from [link=http://www.superbrightleds.com/leds.htm]superbrightleds.com[/link] [center] [image]http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/misc/postings/5v-connection.jpg[/image] [/center] -- Geoff
Posted on: 5/5/2007 3:49 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5814455

Frankenstein Draganfly
I don't know about anyone else here learning to fly the Draganfly, but mine's starting to look pretty Frankenstein with all the epoxy and glued-thread stitches holding it together with all my crash repairs. Yes, I have bought spare parts, but I try to nurse some (like motor mounts) along for a few more flights with epoxy. Most days end with some kind of crash. I'm glad I'm comfortable with a soldering iron! [center] [image]http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/misc/postings/Epoxy-repair-2.jpg[/image] [image]http://boojum.dreamhosters.com/misc/postings/Epoxy-repair.jpg[/image] [/center] I have about 20 battery-charges worth of flights under my belt, and the DF is my first RC flying device. Also, my backyard is pretty small, surrounded by trees, and is prone to gusts of breeze. -- Geoff
Posted on: 5/5/2007 3:43 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5814435

RE: My first experience!
I did paint the front rotor (metallic bronze). The others are black. But at a distance in the bright sky, it turned out to still be difficult to tell which rotor is which.
Posted on: 4/3/2007 2:54 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5659530

RE: My first experience!
Today I went out to a school baseball field, and sure enough the TI does work! I had some fun trying flying with and without TI. Flying high and fast is fun, but I eventually got overconfident and after flying really high I lost track of which end was front during the descent. Oh, and there was a bit of a breeze. I kind of freaked out, and when I should have just let off the directionaly control and let the TI take over, I instead tried to level it myself without knowing which way was the front. My flight ended with a spectactular high-speed cartwheel rolling crash landing. Though the Draganfly looked a mess, tonight's assessment shows it's not too bad. Broken were two diagonal carbon fiber strengthening rods splintered, two plastic motor/gear holders, one leg, and the center cross plastic piece. I have spare parts for all of these except the cracked center plastic cross, which I think I can just patch for now with some tight thread and glue. To replace the plastic motor/gear holder pieces, I assume I have to unsolder and resolder the motor wires, right? To do: - Install red/green LEDs so I can see which end is which. - Practice INCREMENTALLY with some sane drills until I master those.
Posted on: 4/2/2007 11:13 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5656788

RE: My first experience!
Oh, and since the nylon blades were all black, and those stickers on my old used foam blades always seem to be peeling off, I just spraypainted the front nylon rotor blade.
Posted on: 4/2/2007 12:26 AM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5651937

My first experience!
I've never flown anything before, but have always wanted something to let me take aerial photos. After much research, I decided to buy a TI 5 Pro off Ebay. My first test flight involved a bunch of scooting around on the ground to get the feel of the controls, and then I got too brave -- a 5 second flight that ended with a sheared nylon rotor screw and a chipped rotor. Time to order spare parts! I ordered rotor thumbscrews (for convenience), a set of nylon rotors, and a power tether. When my parts arrived yesterday, I spent all afternoon getting the hang of my Draganflyer (powered by the tether). I spent a full hour carefully learning how to scoot around and hop briefly into the air. Once airborne, the TI didn't seem to be making much of a difference for me. Both green eyes were lit after calibration, but I suspect the Draganflyer couldn't see much horizon in my small backyard with neighboring houses. I ended up leaving TI off for consistency. I'll have to try it in a more open area someday. I got pretty good at flights of up to 20 seconds, with mustly successful crash landings -- lots of lift power right before impact, then cut the throttle quick! I'm still occasionally shearing nylon rotor screws, and I blew the fuse. Today was my second flight day, and I'm now able to hover almost indefintely (using batteries), without veering off into anything. I've found that the left/right and forward/back controls need very fine inputs to keep level, but with lots of constant twitching adjustments -- like wiggling the steering wheel of a big old American car with loose steering.
Posted on: 4/2/2007 12:16 AM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5651894

RE: Payload for Draganflyer V Ti?
Thanks! (Makes me think I should consider motor abuse when looking at used Draganflys for sale ebay.) -- Geoff
Posted on: 3/12/2007 12:22 PM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5549537

Payload for Draganflyer V Ti?
Anyone know the payload capabilities of a base level Draganflyer V Ti? I'm thinking of carrying a stripped down ultra-compact digital (still) camera. Thanks! -- Geoff
Posted on: 3/12/2007 3:28 AM by Author "geoffff" in the forum "Draganfly Innovations Products"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5548373