Arduplane ZOHD Drift

By cjdavies on Sep 28, 2020

27 2,625 9

The fourth plane I've built in my quest to break into fixed wing after 5-6 years of flying multirotors & the first one that has just clicked with me.

Default Arduplane P gains are way too aggressive for such a small/light plane, I had to half them for it to fly well enough to start the autotune procedure.

Arduplane config - https://gist.github.com/CJ-Davies/1e3e77eba9901284d7e59df52fbf2dbb

Flight time on its first outing with a 2S 3000mAh 18650 was 46 minutes.

Photos

Part List

Frame	ZOHD Drift 877mm Wingspan FPV Glider AIO EPP RC Airplane KIT/PNP/FPV Version Banggood.com	$59.99
Flight Controller	Airbot Omnibus F4 Nano V6.1 Flight Controller (2 builds) Getfpv.com	$29.99
ESCs	4 x ZOHD Drift 877mm Wingspan FPV Glider AIO EPP RC Airplane Spare Part 30A Brushless ESC with 5V 2A BEC Uk.banggood.com	$51.96
Motors	4 x ZOHD Drift 877mm Wingspan FPV Glider AIO EPP RC Airplane Spare Part 1406-2600KV Brushless Motor Uk.banggood.com	$51.96
Propellers	2 Pairs HQProp DP5X5V1S Durable 5050 5x5 5 Inch 2-Blade Propeller for RC Drone FPV Racing (4 builds) Banggood.com	$4.22
FPV Camera	Caddx Ratel 1/1.8'' Starlight HDR OSD 1200TVL NTSC/PAL 16:9/4:3 Switchable 1.66mm/2.1mm Lens FPV camera For RC Drone (114 builds) Banggood.com	$28.18
FPV Transmitter	ImmersionRC Tramp Nano 1-500mW 5.8GHz Micro VTX - U.FL (12 builds) Racedayquads.com	$29.99
Antenna	AeroPOD Antenna 5.8Ghz Omni - Aerodynamic Antenna for FPV Planes and Wings - Menace RC (2 builds) Menacerc.co.uk	See Site
Receiver	FrSky R9MM Long Range 915MHz RC Receiver - Get Yours Today! - RMRC (114 builds) Readymaderc.com	$20.80
Batteries	2 x 1PCS INR18650-30Q 3000mah 20A Flat Top Protected Power 18650 Li-ion Battery for Samsung (2 builds) Banggood.com	$15.38

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Discussion

CamiloJL May 09, 2023

Hello. Nice build! I have something similar just about to test. I saw on your config list that you are using the stock AUTOTUNE_LEVEL (6). I know you are already flying your plane very well but have you try this setting below 6? I´m gonna give it a try on 3 to see what happens. Any suggestions? I just cant copy paste your parameter list since we have some differences.

Thank you!

cjdavies May 10, 2023

I didn't change AUTOTUNE_LEVEL but I did have to halve the default P gains before I could fly in a stabilized mode well enough to initiate an autotune - the defaults are far too aggressive for such a small/light platform & it just oscillated madly until I dropped it into manual.

bryon.gaskin.online@gmail Apr 29, 2021

Where did you put the VTX Antenna?

cjdavies Apr 29, 2021

It's mounted on the outside of the bottom access hatch. The Aeropod antenna is specifically designed to mount flush on the surface of foam wings like that.

drmrdude Oct 03, 2020

Did you make it under 250g?

cjdavies Oct 03, 2020

It's only possible to do under 250g with this plane if you use small LiPo packs. I wanted to use 18650 packs instead, for much longer flight times, so I didn't really bother trying to keep the weight down. Dry weight is 200g then a 2S 18650 pack & some tail weight to balance on the CG properly takes it up to 310-320g.

drmrdude Oct 03, 2020

Thanks, I’m considering the Drift for a build as well. Any chance you weighed the plane before FPV equipment? I got a spreadsheet going with component weight and I’m trying to see how much budget I have left for battery.

Great cover photo by the way!

cjdavies Oct 04, 2020

I didn't weigh it beforehand, but several sources online say it's 162g which sounds realistic.

sfonkter Oct 03, 2020

I loved this plane until I took it to a stupid location and smashed it into some invisible power lines above a RIVER. Swam out and managed to recover everything except the GPS which must have ejected. Haven't gotten around to fixing it up yet, but I really should because it really was such a joy.

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