Go to www.multiwii.com to have some info on Copter.
That is the best OpenSource Arduino project you can use… And cheap… A controller for a quad with Gyro and Acc can be as low as 20$ and in stock in US… 
As for adapting it to a HEX… Might be a way to have some kind of folding copter…
Thanks for the help guys! :mrgreen:
Hm … I am beginning to think that this idea might not work, but I will keep going with designs until I’m all out. 
Hi guys. :mrgreen:
I have another quick question - have any of you had the chance to play around with Turnigy servos?
I’ve been thinking that although Hitec have pretty great servos, the whole pricing thing for larger projects can become a bit excessive so I’m trying to find cheaper yet fairly decent servos instead.
If anyone knows any other servo brands that are pretty decent, feel free to post them (since I’ve only ever used Hitec). 
Thanks in advance! :mrgreen:
AKdaBAOUS
Turnigy is a re-badging china compagny.
You can find the same hardware in many other brand and the quality is not the same for every product
Hm, I see. Looks like I might have to stick with Hitec but make a super-mega-hyper light and small body for the robot so I can use servo with less torque. :mrgreen:
There are China servo out there.
But the thing is they don’t react like the Hitec. I have InoLab servo that are very powerfull.
Made for 600 size Helicopter and digital.
But when you connect them to a ssc-32 they don’t have the same range… etc
Ah right.
Hm … well since I don’t really want to go around testing to see if different servos will work or not, I might as well stick to some that I know will work. 
Yes…
That is the main reason why i don’t have a full Hexa… .
Damn, that can’t be too great.
I mean… i don’t have the money to buy 18 nice servo… HaHa…
Once the CNC is paid maybe… lol
Hahaha, I totally know what you mean.
I’m planning on making my newer projects as small as possible so I can save money on servos - £350+ per robot isn’t really something I can afford to spend anymore. :mrgreen:
I will do my mini one day…
Just no time… i have everything …
Well as the saying goes - “Slow and steady wins the race!” :mrgreen:
Hi guys, just another question. :mrgreen:
I was thinking of using Carbon Fiber for the material this time around because if I have my facts straight, I should be able to get a very strong structure with a pretty small thickness - my question is, would it be better to choose some carbon fiber from a RC hobby store or from a more industrial type store? (All hypothetically speaking - I’m just trying to think of everything I can and get opinions from the pros before I start my designs :mrgreen: ).
So would something like this be suitable for building the frame - I was thinking perhaps 1.5-2mm?
Thanks in advance!
AKdaBAOUS
I have cut HK plate before.
Look like a good material.
I buy my carbon tube and sheet there now
flycarbon.com/
The guy is real nice…
Light weight… 3D printing,
Strong… 3D printing,
Design options… endless.
If you dont decide to build your hex as first set out…
Rotors built into the legs, then I may have to design one myself.
Very intrigued by the idea.
Of caurse 'if its something you do end up pursuing then I wont. :mrgreen:
Coolio - 3D printing it is! :mrgreen:
That would save me so much effort on the whole line bending too - as well as the weight of the objects as you pointed out.
I haven’t given up just yet - this is one idea that I’m pretty sure no-one has done yet so I won’t give up without a fight but by all means feel free to design one too.
It’ll make things interesting and fun! :mrgreen:
AKdaBAOUS
P.S. I’ll upload my sketches for the design later on this evening.
Hi everyone! :mrgreen:
So here are my original ideas for what I had planned - just bear with me since I know this won’t work. I’ll work on fixing the problems later on today and tomorrow.
Ok then … some of the following might be a repetition of what I said in the first post. :mrgreen:
The idea was to have a basic 12 D.O.F hexapod (with a fancy leg design so that it didn’t look too simple ) with the “rotor system” in the front and back two legs with the middle two legs remaining normal. The front and back two legs (I’ll call them 1, 3, 4 and 6 (going clockwise)) will then raise up so that the rotors are horizontal and then they’ll start up, etc. and hopefully we’ll have lift off.
Now as you guys have already mentioned, there are a few problems, such as having powerful servos on the leg to counter-balance the torque from the motors, etc. so I’m going to try finding a way to lock in the legs when raised so the servos can be “turned off”. ^___^
Below is a picture of what I’m planning on using as a containment frame for the stepper motors. The outer holes will allow the frame to attach to the foot bracket so the motor can spin without worries. The two pieces of the frame will be held together using spacers (through those same holes) so that the top half of the frame can be changed to incorporate different motors (as DiaLFonZo mentioned).
Now we have the foot bracket idea - my reason for having it quite thick was because I didn’t like the idea of a protruding rotor so I would have liked to keep it all “bottled up” so to speak but then you have the airflow problems so that probably won’t work either.
Onto the picture of everything put together. I have a quick question - do the number of blades on the rotors effect the performace (i.e. increase torque but lower speed or something like that)?
Finally, here’s a rough idea for the leg design. I idea is to keep legs on the opposite sides as close together as possible so following the T-Hex idea. Hopefully with a newer idea for circuit boards*, I can save some space.
So yes, as mentioned above, once (2) rotates 90 degrees anti-clockwise, the foot/rotor bracket should be in an ok position to start the flying process. (1) is just the body servo used during walking and (3) is the stepper motor. The base of the stepper motor holding frame will have some kind of hole pattern so that it can attach to the leg bracket (which in this case will be an extra long “C” style bracket).
AKdaBAOUS
*Just a random idea that I had - since all my circuit boards are just copper tracks on a piece of fiberglass board, wouldn’t it be possible to have a piece of adhesive backed copper sheet (like copper tape - just wider) and then use a some sort of vinyl/sticker cutting machine to cut the track image out on it? You could then just peel off the tracks and place them onto any surface you wanted - the only issue that I can think of would be soldering. The material might melt unless it’s a high temperature plastic or something like that. It probably won’t work but I’m planning on giving it a try at some point (i.e. when I can get my hands on a vinyl cutter or something similar). ^___^
Hi guys.
Just another modification on the foot-rotor idea. :mrgreen:
The newer idea is that most of the stepper motor is stored within the foot bracket with the top 1/5 of the motor along with the shaft sticking out so it can be connected to a propeller. This way, there should hopefully be a decent amount of air flow (due to the height extension along with all the gaps in the motor holding frame) and everything is kept as small as possible. Your thoughts?
I’m still thinking of a way to keep the leg pinned in place during flight to avoid servo strain.
I also did some reading on quadcopters and that was pretty useful in terms of providing explanations on propeller sizes, types, etc.
Um … oh yes. So looking into 3D printing, I contacted a few companies for quotes, etc. using the foot bracket model as my prototyping model (since that’s probably going to be the largest 3D printed piece) and damn - 3D printing is quite expensive!
There was one company that said it would cost £26! That’s insane for just one simple piece! 
Anyway, I found a company called Magic Model who said they’d do it for £10 (P&P included) which sounded pretty good so when I come around to getting the parts printed, I shall be going to them … unless anyone happens to know a cheaper company?
AKdaBAOUS
Since most printing company’s price their prints by the amount of material used its always best to slim the designs down as much as possible. Also it may be better to design the whole thing first before printing. You wouldn’t want to waist money on one part, only to then realise it needs redesigning. Or even worse, you don’t end up using that part at all. Id concentrate on getting the design functional first, then stylise it after.
