Smooth Operator 6" HV

By haplm on Jan 01, 2019

8  662  4

Generally speaking, I'm really impressed by the frame. It is such a clever and nice looking design... I also believe that it will be quite tough and vibration-free, but I need better weather to find out for sure :-). The intention is to run this on 5 or even 6s, but short hover inside on 4s showed that this thing might have tons of power even on 4s (and eat the battery for breakfast).

Putting it together was a bit tricky. I knew that I need very specific components to make them fit, yet I was caught by two things:

  1. The CL Racing F7 controller has ESC connector and USB connector positioned in a way that you need to choose which one will be on the side, and which one will face front/rear. Since USB obviously should be on side, the ESC connector has to face either front or rear. Then you have quite a dillema. If it faces front, then you will have to route camera wires through the whole board, through space which is already crowded because of the VTx and its antenna - or you will have to face the fact that the pigtail hits the connector when positioned towards the read of the quad, pressing on the FC, transferring frame vibrations. I chose the rear facing position, and to mitigate the pigtail issue, I have mounted the pigtail outside of the frame (see pictures below). This makes most of the stiff part of the pigtail move out of the inside of the frame, more or less clearing the space needed for the ESC connector. Looking back, I would rotate the FC so the ESC connector faces front of the quad, which means I could skip the crazyness with the pigtail mounting (camera wires routed through the board would be definitely less of a pain).
  2. Size of the Unify HV VTx. The official build video must be showing one of the smaller unify modules, because I've had really hard time to make the HV one fit so it doesn't touch the frame. I've had to remove the u.fl brace and its screws, and find a position where the white connector is not hitting the frame. It is literally millimetr on each side even after you find the right position. It would be much easier if there would be version without the connector, in which case the fitment would be much easier. Perhaps removing the connector is the best way to fit this VTx, or rotating it 90º (in which case it may start hiting pigtail, so I'm not really sure about this).

It is also worth mentioning that this FC + VTx combo is so tall that there's literally no space for nuts on top of it. Those would be pressing on the grommets too hard (should they be reasonably tightened), rendering the grommets inefficient, and even worse, transferring additional vibrations from the frame, as they would be touching the top plate. So using M3 o-rings seems to be much better solution. The o-rings are held in place by the top plate, so they are not going anywhere.

This is the thing used to mount the GPS. It is attached using custom-made short strap with a shoe-nail (having wife with a sewing machine comes handy :-)), combined with double sided tape. Double sided tape also holds the Hellgate buzzer in place.

Initially I've had some issues with the Immortal-T mount, as I haven't realized that the wires should be routed through the opening on top of it. Once I have figured that out, it worked beautifully.

My only reservation about this build is the XT60/cap holder. The connector slides out when disconnecting the battery a bit, so i will most likely glue it with CA (or replace it with another holder, or even mount the capacitor differently).

Photos

Part List

Frame

Smooth Operator 6 Inch - (CAMERA MOUNT SOLD SEPARATE) (4 builds)
Catalystmachineworks.com
$109.99

Flight Controller

CLRacing F7 30x30 Flight Controller - CLF7 (15 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$39.99

ESCs

T-Motor F55A Pro 55A 3-6s BLHeli32 4-in-1 ESC (19 builds)
Getfpv.com
$74.99

Motors

4 x PyroDrone HyperLite 2307-1722 HV Edition
Pirofliprc.com
$91.96

Propellers

2 Pairs Emax AVAN Long Range 6 Inch 6038 6X3.8X2 Propeller Black Color CW CCW for RC Drone (10 builds)
Banggood.com
$4.31

Propellers

Gemfan Flash 6042 Bi-Blade 6" Prop 4 Pack - Choose Your Color (17 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$3.24

FPV Camera

RunCam Micro Eagle (323 builds)
Shop.runcam.com
$44.99

FPV Transmitter

Team BlackSheep 5.8GHz Video Transmitter TBS UNIFY PRO 5G8 HV RP-SMA - Heli-Nation (596 builds)
Heli-nation.com
$49.95

Antenna

VAS 5.8GHz ION Antenna (RHCP) (8 builds)
Getfpv.com
$16.99

Receiver

TBS CROSSFIRE NANO RX (SE) - FPV LONG RANGE DRONE RECEIVER (412 builds)
Team-blacksheep.com
$29.95

Batteries

Tattu R-Line 1300mAh 95C 6S1P lipo battery pack with XT60 Plug (10 builds)
Gensace.de
See Site

Batteries

CNHL MiniStar 1500mAh 18.5V 5S 120C Lipo Battery (4 builds)
Chinahobbyline.com
$33.99

Batteries

CNHL G+PLUS 1300mAh 22.2V 6S 100C Lipo Battery (2 builds)
Chinahobbyline.com
$29.99

Radio

FrSky ACCST Taranis Q X7 Transmitter 2.4G 16CH Mode 2 White Black International Version for RC Drone (263 builds)
Banggood.com
$154.04

Goggles

Fat Shark Dominator HD3 Core FPV Goggles (87 builds)
Getfpv.com
$399.99

HD Camera

GoPro Hero5 Session, 1080p (303 builds)
Amazon.com
$230.41

Misc Parts

Arm Bumper - Shocker Tank, SlamNasty, Merica, Smooth Operator, Raging Droner, BangGOD (SET OF 4) (8 builds)
Catalystmachineworks.com
$6.99

Misc Parts

Battery Pad - Smooth Operator (4 builds)
Catalystmachineworks.com
$5.99

Misc Parts

TBS Immortal T Antenna Mount - Type 2 (3 builds)
Catalystmachineworks.com
$3.99

Misc Parts

HellGate FPV Buzzer (10 builds)
Store.rotorriot.com
$29.95

Misc Parts

Dual BN-220 NEO-M8N GPS GLONASS Antenna Module Ublox M8030 TTL Level RC Drone Airplane (17 builds)
Banggood.com
$10.99

Misc Parts

Panasonic 1000uF 35V (FC-Series) Low-ESR Capacitor for ESC Noise Reduction (121 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$1.55

Misc Parts

1m Paracord Wire Sleeving - Titanium Grey (5 builds)
Hobbyrc.co.uk
See Site

Video Receiver

Eachine PRO58 RX Diversity 40CH 5.8G OLED SCAN VRX FPV Receiver for FatShark Goggles (37 builds)
Banggood.com
$31.50

Radio Module

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

Battery Charger

ISDT Q6 Pro BattGo 300W 14A Battery Balance Charger (47 builds)
Getfpv.com
See Site

Backpack

Lowepro Quad Guard BP X2 Drone Backpack, Black/Grey (14 builds)
Amazon.com
See Site
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Discussion

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nelsont5   Jan 09, 2019  

I am currently building this and decided to get one of these for the Cap/XT60 issue you are having. You may be able to find it on thingiverse if you cant easily get it from the link as its UK based....http://multirotorspares.co.uk/xt-60-capacitor-pigtail-adaptor-printed-in-tpu-sam-napolitano/

haplm   Jan 10, 2019 

This looks definitely better compared to the one I have right now. I guess I'm going to get couple of them... Thanks!

nelsont5   Jan 11, 2019 

No probs at all. Its much more secure and the way in which it goes together is very very solid.

  Jan 01, 2019  

nice

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