Extreme Ultralight (136g AUW) Long Range 5” BetaFPV X-Knight

By FPVisioning on Mar 25, 2021

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Testing the limits of having a good 5" quad that still can easily get by with the 250g guideline. Can save a some more weight in certain areas, (e.g. xt30, smaller gauge wire, 16x16fc instead of 20x20) But it is still possible to get one of the lightest 5" quads ever, lighter than most 4" quads and some 3" quads made that still utilizes 2004 motors so you get a lot of power. Going to print the pod from the Gatehunter by Dave_C, should add a couple grams but might make it more aerodynamic. On my test hover/los flight I flew for 3 1/2 minutes and only dropped .15 volts, from 3.85 to 3.7. Freestyling with a 4s 1300mah I get seven minutes. A 850mah lipo would be much more suitable for this light of a build.

Photos

Part List

Frame	BetaFPV X-Knight V2 5" Toothpick Frame Racedayquads.com	$22.99
Flight Controller	Flywoo Goku GNF4 2-6S AIO Whoop/Toothpick Flight Controller w/ 40A 32Bit 4in1 ESC (2 builds) Racedayquads.com	$53.99
Motors	4 x BrotherHobby VY 2004 3150Kv Micro Motor (14 builds) Racedayquads.com	$83.96
Propellers	HQ Prop T5x3 Bi-Blade 5" Prop 4 Pack (1.5mm Shaft) - Grey (8 builds) Racedayquads.com	$2.99
Propellers	HQ Prop T5x3 Bi-Blade 5" Prop 4 Pack (1.5mm Shaft) - Grey (8 builds) Racedayquads.com	$2.99
FPV Camera	Caddx Ant Nano 1200TVL CMOS PAL/NTSC FPV Camera (1.8mm) - Choose Color & Aspect RatioSilver / 16:9 (134 builds) Racedayquads.com	$17.89
FPV Transmitter	Eachine NANO VTX 25-400mW 5.8GHz Micro VTX - U.FL (42 builds) Racedayquads.com	$20.99
Antenna	EMAX Nano 5.8GHz 50mm U.FL Antenna - LHCP (20 builds) Racedayquads.com	$7.99
Receiver	TBS Crossfire Nano Rx - FPV LONG RANGE DRONE RECEIVER (1499 builds) Team-blacksheep.com	$24.95

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Discussion

Sugalime3D FPV Apr 04, 2023

Cool ! So far I believe the lightest 5 inch drone with market standard components that I have seen...
An extremely ultralight 5 inch long range is also one of my projects. I already have a 5 inch ultralight 148 g TCMMRC Concept 195. But I'm thinking about how to push the limits even further. Anyway the X-Knight frame seems to be a bit lighter than the TCMMRC Concept 195 frame. By the way, the 2004 motors are not the lightest with 12mm connection (16,5g). I think that could be optimized as well. Because you don't need such powerful engines for long range, so simply flying straight ahead..? 1606 and 1505 engines are there, for example, an alternative (14,0-15 g). As some have already written, you can certainly still optmize, f. e. 2 screws for motors 2 bladed long range props, aluminum or titanium where possible... FC and ESC as small and light as possible... The antennas still needs to be huge for long range...

makesomemore_ Apr 01, 2021

ya did good mate Don't let anyone tell you likewise. if you do want to shave a little use 3 screws per motor only if you want of course :)

FPVisioning Apr 26, 2021

Thanks! I printed a pod for it, looks a lot better and a little more aerodynamic. Only adds 5g

Joshua_A Mar 27, 2021

NICE JOB!
you could try the following to reduce your weight:

use 2 bolts for the motors, not 4.
try to remove your prop bolts and instead put a piece of floss over the shaft and push on the prop.
use bi blade props.
remove the 4 bolts in the center of the frame, the x knight's arms are milled pretty tight so you shouldn't have any "slop".
add a helium balloon, JK 😁
also I'd say "dry weight" not AUW, as AUW is the weight with the battery...

choppergirl Mar 28, 2021

use 1 bolt for the motors, not 2 or 3 or 4
only use one bi-blade prop on one motor, but break off one of the blades
go hardcore, and break off that last blade. they're all going to break off anyway. eventually.
is that flight controller really necessary; looks like so much dead weight to me. none of this roll pitch yaw mixing mess, use your brain for that, go full manual. you got 4 channels across 2 gimbal sticks, set all 4 to control directly the 4 throttles on 4 motors. be more elite than Le Drib blipping his NES controller fire button.
use the CLI to off gravity or set to negative. then everything flies. i use to do it all the time on my Battlefield 2142 server because... shenanigans. zip tie yourself to a tree first. or daisychain all those free RDQ bat straps you've accumulated by now.

FPVisioning Apr 26, 2021

I'll try using two bolts for the motors, and I have biblades as well, they only drop two grams. Good idea about the center four bolts.

FPVisioning Apr 26, 2021

I'm gonna keep the prop bolts on though, don't want to risk the floss!

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