Galaxy Chameleon Ti

By tldxr_95 on Nov 09, 2018

3  543  0

This is my second build, following my original Chameleon build that I finished back in May. I didn't have to do quite as much research on this one as I did for my first Chameleon since I wanted a lot of the same components, but when I went looking for examples I mainly referenced Airmaxx23's ChameleonTi and Rooster builds:

Parts:

  • Frame: After building the original Chameleon, of course I wanted to try the Chameleon Ti. I liked the idea and the look of the titanium camera braces, and I loved the look of Airmaxx23's purple anodized Rooster cage. I guess you could say I'm stuck on the Chameleon, but I have a Wizard X220S and I can't say that I like the 'bus' shape more than the Chameleon shape. I priced out the difference on the Armattan website between buying the frame + motors + ESCs vs. buying them individually and separately, and I ended up saving about $26 by buying the bundle (including their $5 flat rate shipping). Since I was going to buy the Oomph Velvets and Armattan 30A ESCs anyways, I just bought them all at once. I anodized the titanium cage using Borax dissolved in warm water, with aluminum foil as the negative cathode and a power supply at 19V. That gave it a really nice purple color, because if you can't tell I like things purple. It was a cool little science experiment.

  • FC: I went for the Betaflight F4 again, because I had no problems with the one on my Chameleon, and I wanted to keep things consistent. I did have a problem just as I finished this build, but it might not have been the FC's fault. Motor 1 wouldn't spin, so I tried to do some testing with a multimeter and ended up accidentally shorting something under the board with the positive battery lead... oops. So I had to order a second one and re-solder everything. Fun. But then once I had all the components soldered to the new board, I re-soldered the suspect ESC/motor, and it worked. So it clearly wasn't the ESC, but it might have been either a bad original solder connection or something with the pads on the original FC? Oh well. I wired everything underneath the FC so I wouldn't have to worry about catching wires on a battery strap or anything. It's pretty full under there, but it works like I hoped it would.

  • ESCs: I used the Armattan 30A's because they worked fine on my other build.

  • Motors: Oomph Velvet editions again, because they provide enough power on my Chameleon and I didn't really feel like putting on a set of motors I haven't tried before. They work fine for me, and I don't think they're a low-tier solution, either.

  • Camera: Rotor Riot Runcam Swift 2 (special edition, with the 3-hole mount) because I like the way the image looks and it handles changes in light pretty well. Plus it has a mic, since my VTx didn't have a mic this time around. I have to say that I like the camera mounting a lot better on the Chameleon Ti than on the Chameleon; when I tighten both screws I can tell the camera isn't going anywhere.

  • VTx: I got the Tramp HV in my March Kwad Box, so I saved it for this build since I haven't heard anything bad about it. It was kind of a puzzle to route the mic audio wire from the camera to the VTx connector since the metal end of the camera wire didn't fit in the VTx connector. I had to cut a little bit of it away to make it look like the other wire ends in the VTx. And after plugging the battery in, it doesn't seem like the mic audio actually works. I'll have to test that out some more.

  • Video Antenna: I chose the AXII Stubby again because I haven't had anything happen to the one on my Chameleon and it seems to work really well for video transmission. I might try to switch it out to test other antennas, but this one works just fine for me. I don't usually fly far enough from myself to need anything different. I used Airmaxx23's 3D printed SMA mount so I would have enough room to both mount the antenna and route the XT60 out the rear of the quad.

  • Receiver: I used the FrSky XSR I got for free from the last build (ordered an R-XSR, got an XSR by mistake, then got the R-XSR without having to send the XSR back. Thanks (and RIP) FPVHQ!) I used the Chameleon Rx antenna holder again because I liked having the antennae routed through the plastic tubes and the stock VTx plate didn't allow any room to put the XT60 out the back. Unfortunately, the hole spacing for the rear posts is slightly smaller on the Chameleon Ti than on the Chameleon, so I had to drill the holes out a little more on the antenna holder. It was annoying, but it worked out okay. Then I just had to bend the tubes within the frame square and heatshrink them.

  • Buzzer: I got a Hellgate buzzer in the June Kwad Box, so I figured I would put it in this build. It fit pretty nicely in the frame behind the camera with some mounting tape and a couple zip ties. I'll have to get used to needing to 'disarm' the buzzer when I change batteries, but that shouldn't be a problem.

  • Skin: I wanted to use another Stikitskin because I liked the way it looked on the Chameleon, and the Galaxy pattern is still my favorite.

  • Battery Pad: I bought another Ummagrip pad because it worked really well on my first one, and it's still really sticky if you wipe it off now and then. I also forgot how sticky it is when it's new. It's actually a little hard to get the battery off.

  • Session Case: Airmaxx23 was kind enough to print me one of his Session cases with slots for a battery strap, which I can now use on both my Chameleon and my Chameleon Ti. It's a nicer solution than the screw-on version I ended up putting on the Chameleon, and I can switch quads/take it off entirely in a minute if I want to.

  • With only a basic postal scale to measure, the weight (just battery straps; no battery no GoPro) is around 411g.

Photos

Part List

Frame

Chameleon Ti 5 inch (54 builds)
Armattanquads.com
$105.00

Flight Controller

Betaflight F4 Flight Controller (62 builds)
Getfpv.com
See Site

ESCs

Armattan DShot 30 amps BLHeli_S ESC/BB2 (4 pieces) (13 builds)
Armattanquads.com
$57.00

Motors

4 x Armattan Oomph Velvet Edition 2206/2300 KV Motor (29 builds)
Armattanquads.com
$84.00

Propellers

DALProp T5046C Cyclone Propellers (391 builds)
Fpvheadquarters.com
$2.99

FPV Camera

RunCam Swift Rotor Riot 2 Special Edition - Silver (93 builds)
Getfpv.com
See Site

FPV Transmitter

ImmersionRC Tramp HV 5.8GHz Video Tx - (International Version) (141 builds)
Getfpv.com
$29.99

Antenna

Lumenier AXII Stubby 5.8GHz Antenna (RHCP) (232 builds)
Getfpv.com
$14.99

Receiver

FrSky XSR 2.4GHz 16CH ACCST Receiver w/ S-Bus & CPPM (481 builds)
Getfpv.com
See Site

Radio

FrSky Taranis X9D Plus 2.4ghz Radio Transmitter with Mode2 for FPV (62 builds)
Amazon.com
$269.00

Goggles

Fat Shark Dominator HD3 FPV Goggles + Free OLED 5.8GHz Rx Module (87 builds)
Getfpv.com
$449.99

HD Camera

GoPro HERO5 Session - Waterproof Digital Action Camera for Travel with 4K HD Video 10MP Photos (3 builds)
Amazon.com
$239.99

Misc Parts

Universal FC mounting hardware kit (3 builds)
Armattanquads.com
$7.00

Misc Parts

Chameleon Ti Hardware Set
Armattanquads.com
$4.00

Misc Parts

HellGate FPV Buzzer w/ Built-in Lipo (15 builds)
Getfpv.com
$24.99

Misc Parts

Chameleon RX Antenna Holder (3 builds)
Armattanquads.com
$2.00

Misc Parts

Rubber Motor Dampeners (4 pieces) (2 builds)
Armattanquads.com
$2.00

Misc Parts

NewBeeDrone Large Battery Strap (4 builds)
Newbeedrone.com
$1.49

Misc Parts

Panasonic 1000uF 35V Capacitor (2 builds)
Fpvheadquarters.com
$1.49

Misc Parts

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

Video Receiver

LaForge V4 Fatshark Module with Diversity Option - RMRC (6 builds)
Readymaderc.com
$69.99

Radio Module

TBS Crossfire Micro TX V2 (154 builds)
Team-blacksheep.com
$69.95

Battery Charger

ISDT Battery Chargers & Checkers for - RaceDayQuads
Racedayquads.com
$68.99

Soldering Iron

Aoyue 469 Variable Power 60 Watt Soldering Station with Removable Tip Design- ESD Safe (10 builds)
Amazon.com
$24.00

Backpack

Betaflight Hive Backpack
Fpvmodel.com
$199.99
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