Matt's Massive Droner

By TrueStyle on Mar 17, 2018

31  2,539  9

This is my (TrueStyle) Massive Droner build, 2.5 inches of fury haha, the name was too good to pass up:

Hello everyone, a couple months ago, i was turned on to the hobby of drone racing by watching some youtube videos. I've always wanted to fly one and boy has this hobby peaked my interest. I've now got 2 tiny whoops, got a bnf Lumenier QAV Skitzo Dark Matter, and a KingKong ET115. I picked up a runcam split mini over preorder when it was first announced and then have been looking for a frame to put it in ever since.

That's when I came across UAVFutures review of Catalyst Machine Works new 2.5" Massive Droner frame. From the review it appeared to be everything I've been looking for. And the icing on the cake was that CMW themselves are selling a BNF that come with a split mini, so i knew everything would fit. I basically modelled my build after their bnf with a few changes. With some minor tuning in Betaflight 3.3, this little thing STRAIGHT RIPS BALLS. Seriously i was so surprised, this thing is QUICK.

Build notes:

  • The only way i could get this build to fit, was to the 20mm screws that come with the runcam split and come up from the bottom of the frame, then use two of the plastic nuts from the additional parts m2 kit as the separators between each board.
    • see close up stack picture above as an example: so it goes 20mm screw, frame. 2 m2 nuts, zeus aio fc, 2 m2 nuts, first split mini board, brass washer, second split mini board, 2 m2 nuts, vtx, one m2 nut. (Note, don't forget to put the split mini ribbon retention and sd card retention metal pieces on)
    • Don't forget to put the battery strap in place before putting the FC down!
  • As turning the little m2 nuts all the way down the bolt can be very time consuming/irritating, i used an extended 4mm socket to speed up the process, note i was still doing it by hand, but it made spinning them all the way down much faster!
  • Note that the top board of the split mini and the vtx can be very close, i put thicker electrical tape on top of the split mini under the vtx to prevent any shorts.
    For electronics wiring, on the zeus
    • i used tx3 for s.port (coming from the tiny little inverted port on the r-xsr.
    • i used tx6 for the vtx control cable so that i can change the settings in either the osd or through the lua script
  • This was my first build... yea i realize my soldering needs some work :p

Additional notes:

  • Using my Taranis Qx7s, the betaflight lua script works great adjusting the vtx settings (using tramp, soldered from vtx to tx6 on the FC).
  • SmartPort Telemetry is working over the non inverted s-port on the R-XSR to tx3 on the FC)
  • The runcam split can be connected over the additional ribbon cables for control through the radio link, but i have not done this yet)

Tuning Note:

  • The stock BetaFlight tune for 3.3 (and previous versions) isn't really designed for a quad this small and will have pretty bad throttle oscillations and prop wash. To fix, start by lowering d, as well as turning off both notch filters. It was surprising how much this helped.
  • Another thing you can do, is grab the tune that emax has provided for the babyhawk r from here, I have found it to be a good starting point to begin tuning, and i am still continuing to edit and evolve it with each flight. http://emax-usa.com/emax-babyhawk-race-r-edition-fpv-quadcopter-bnf-frsky/

I wanna say a big thanks to Catalyst Machineworks for making an amazing product as well answering my build questions, as well as Joshua Bardwell and his videos for teaching me most everything i needed for this build. Also thanks to all the lovely people from UAVFutures discord for the tuning help.

Photos

Part List

Frame

Massive Droner 2.5 inch (backorders allowed) (23 builds)
Catalystmachineworks.com
$32.99

Flight Controller

HGLRC F4 Zeus AIO 15A Flight Controller + VTX Stack
Catalystmachineworks.com
$84.99

Motors

4 x EMAX RS1106 (Micro Brushless Motor)
Catalystmachineworks.com
$51.96

Propellers

GEMFAN FLASH 2540 (2.5" PROP) (171 builds)
Catalystmachineworks.com
$3.69

FPV Camera

RunCam Split Mini FPV Camera / HD 1080P 60 FPS Recorder (2 builds)
Catalystmachineworks.com
$69.99

Antenna

Lumenier AXII U.FL 5.8GHz Antenna (RHCP) (148 builds)
Getfpv.com
$14.99

Receiver

FrSky R-XSR 2.4GHz 16CH ACCST Micro Receiver (937 builds)
Catalystmachineworks.com
$19.99

Batteries

3S Tattu 850mah 75C (2 builds)
Catalystmachineworks.com
$11.99

Radio

FrSky Taranis X-Lite Pro ACCESS 2.4GHz Radio Controller (Deep Sea Blue) (26 builds)
Getfpv.com
$199.99

Goggles

Fat Shark Dominator HDO 2 FPV Goggles (71 builds)
Getfpv.com
$499.99

HD Camera

GoPro HERO7 Black Action Camera (102 builds)
Getfpv.com
$399.99

Misc Parts

SummitLink 415 Pcs Black Assorted Heat Shrink Tube 10 Sizes Tubing Wrap Sleeve Set Combo (6 builds)
Amazon.com
$7.99

Misc Parts

XT30 Lipo Pigtail 16AWG (5pcs) (2 builds)
Getfpv.com
$6.99

Misc Parts

Rotor Riot Kwad Toolset
Amazon.com
$19.99

Misc Parts

Ummagrip Universal Sticky Battery Pad (175 builds)
Getfpv.com
See Site

Video Receiver

ImmersionRC rapidFIRE w/ Analog PLUS Goggle Receiver Module (178 builds)
Getfpv.com
$159.99

Battery Charger

EV-Peak CQ3 Multi Charger 4x 100W NiMH / LiPO with Built-in Balance (3 builds)
Getfpv.com
See Site

Soldering Iron

TS100 Digital OLED Programmable Interface Mini Soldering Iron (Orange Combo Pack)
Getfpv.com
$80.99

Tools

iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit (6 builds)
Getfpv.com
$69.99

Tools

Hakko FX888D-23BY Digital Soldering Station FX-888D FX-888 (blue & yellow) (34 builds)
Amazon.com
$115.00

Backpack

Betaflight Hive Backpack (6 builds)
Getfpv.com
$199.99

Accessories

Samsung 30Q 18650 3000mAh 15A Li-ion Flat Top Battery (2pcs)
Getfpv.com
$12.99

Misc Supplies

Lumenier AXII DUO Patch Antenna 5.8GHz (LHCP) (2 builds)
Getfpv.com
$44.99

Misc Supplies

Lumenier Helping Hands w/ 6 Arms, LED Light, Magnifying Glass, and Fan
Getfpv.com
$42.99

Misc Supplies

Lumenier AXII 2 Long Range Right-Angle 5.8GHz Antenna (LHCP)
Getfpv.com
$19.99

Misc Supplies

Lumenier AXII 2 5.8GHz Antenna (LHCP) (2 Pcs)
Getfpv.com
See Site
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Discussion

Sign in to comment

Yinka_Brasil   May 28, 2020  

Hi there, I know this post is old, but just wanted to ask how your motors are holding up?...I just got mine
and I'm just curious about their durability?

TrueStyle   Jun 02, 2020 

funny enough it still flies alright, i cant update betaflight cause i broke off the usb port, but other than that its all good!

Yinka_Brasil   Jun 02, 2020 

Wow! Nice to hear....Thanks!

Mello-cello   Mar 24, 2018  

Hey i pretty much did the same exact build having some groubles when i arm mine though. Would you mind sending me some pics of your betaflight settings? Honestly without your pics on your build i would have died teying to figure out how to fit the stack lol.

TrueStyle   Mar 27, 2018 

:) thats exactly why i made this post! Glad it helped! I will post up what settings im using later.

Zzyzx   Mar 20, 2018  

What kV did you go for on the Emax motors -- 6000 or 7500?

TrueStyle   Mar 27, 2018 

Went with the 6000 :) rips good.

AcidFPV   Mar 18, 2018  

Impressive! You really crammed a lot in there.

TrueStyle   Mar 18, 2018 
2

Thanks man, was maybe a little harder than I should have chosen for my first build but hey I learned a lot doing other for sure. Did probably 4 different stack fitting tests with different hardware before I found one that fit. Thanks why I wanted to share, so if anyone else tried this build, it'll help them.

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