Carnage 3.5" HD - 1404 Motor - Caddx Nebula Pro

By wrong17 on Oct 15, 2021

24  1,067  16

I might have jumped the gun with this frame and overlooked a lot of stuff with the Carnage frame. The front standoff spacing is super narrow....18mm. The caddx vista camera is 20mm and the nebula pro is 19mm. From the looks of the pictures, it is designed ONLY of the Nebula Pro. Because the base of the Vista camera is too big to fit in the 3D printed camera mount. But, I end up using a different camera mount and I know you can fit a Caddx camera too.

Initially I was planning to use this quad as a dual-purpose setup. Freestyle flying when using 3.5” props and a cinewhoop with prop guards and 3” props. But I overlooked another major detail. This quad is NOT a deadcat layout, so the FPV camera sits behind the motors. This is a problem when I am using prop guards because I will reduce my field of view. This is a similar problem I had when I built the TomoQuads Chopstick CS3 ( https://rotorbuilds.com/build/27271 ) and the only way around this problem is 3D print a mount that moved the camera forward. However, this will NOT work for this frame if I ever plan to use 3.5” props because it sits too close together. The space left is about the same size of the micro size camera ( about 19mm). I mocked up a mount that moved the camera 26mm past the front standoff but the 3.5" will contact the mount and the only option left is only use 3" props. So, why bother moving everything from the existing 3” cinewhoop setup I have now to another 3” frame.

I still want to build out this quad and see how it flies. But I will use my secondary stash of parts to build this quad instead. That means I will use electronics that are older or not suited for this frame without modifications. First up is the iFlight 30x30 AIO board. Since the Carnage frame do not have 30x30 holes, I had to drill some new ones.

With the 3D printed parts that my friend created for this frame (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4933209) it made the build come together very smoothly. I especially like the rear xt30 mount that included antenna can cap holder.

Tragedy Stuck

I guess I should have seen it coming because I noticed the front right motors cogging when I was doing the motor direction test in betaflight. When I did the hover test, the quad just flipped over on my first attempt to lift off. I double checked to make sure it was not the props. And I tried it again, but this time the front right motor was barely spinning when I armed the quad. The motor was hot, and you can smell the wonder burnt electronics odder. So, the question is…. Was the motor bad, or the ESC? I soldered a 1404 motor to the ESC, and it spun up fine. Maybe I had a bad motor, or my RPM filtering settings in Betaflight were off and smoked the motor?

I am kind of bummed about this setback because now I do not have a set of motors that match the red theme. The only spare set of 1404 motors I have are the XING2 that is green and black. I guess I could buy another 1207 motor and hope it was really a bad motor.

Updated - Oct 20, 2021 (New Motors and FC)

I am going to switch the motors to a GEPRC 1404 3850KV motors, because I just found a good deal on a used set. The condition of the used motors is okay. Some of the bearings sounds dry, but after added a little bit of oil it seems to be better. I ordered some new bearing just incase I need to replace them.

After installing the motors, I ran across another problem. The Caddx Vista is notr powering up through the wiring harness that plug directly into the aio board. I test the positive and negative wires with voltmeter, and it only shows 2 volts. So, now I wired the power wires directly to the battery and now it works. But the OSD is not working. Seems like everything in that plug just went dead.

I guess, I will need to switch to a different AIO board. This time around I will use an iFlight 20a AIO whoop board. One of the best things about the Carnage frame is that it has cut outs on the frame that allows you to use AIO boards that have bottom facing USB ports. Plus I think a 20 amp AIO should be more than enough for this build.

I have tried 3 different 3.5" props and so far the Gemfan Hurricane 3520 feels the beeter than the HQ T3.5x2x3 and EMAX Scimitar 3.5x2.8x3. It has been a few weeks since I tried the different props, so I forgot when I did not like the EMAX props. As for the HQ props, I was getting a lot more propwash.


Test Flight (GNB 720mah 4s)

Photos

Discussion

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adv.andrei   Feb 21, 2023  

interesting that it's heavier than a tadpole hd 3"

wrong17   Feb 21, 2023 

What size motors are you using on the the Tadpole? According to Armattan the Tadpole HD uses 1204 size motors. That can make a big difference.

adv.andrei   Feb 22, 2023 

i m using 1404 motors and comes up to 118 without lipo. aio board & walksnail full size

wrong17   Feb 22, 2023 

That is pretty good, especially if we are using the same size motor too. Too bad I did not weight the carnage frame to see how it compares to the Tadpole.

JTR1   Apr 26, 2022  

How is the frame in 3mm ? I'm hard on frame so I normally order 2 but I feel this one will be hard to break.

wrong17   Apr 27, 2022 

Its feels solid with the 3mm frame. I just looked, and there is an option to get a 4mm version too. But I think the 4mm is an overkill.

LynxFPV   Nov 02, 2021  
1

Beautiful work of art! If looks could kill this build would be dangerous 😜. goodjob.

MamaJOE   Oct 31, 2021  
1

Really a nice build and color theme! A black XT30 and strictly black-red wiring would be perfect?

techguy1623   Oct 29, 2021  
1

Looks like that would be fun to fly with that caddx on board. -Like

Jayembee67   Oct 15, 2021  

Yet another gloriously tidy build, I hope you sort your motor issues! And I have to ask as you are the absolute master of multi-colour printing - do you have a printer with a multi-filament print head, or are you doing all of this with manual filament swaps? Having done the latter myself, I can confirm it's a pain, and can kill prints, so I have to assume you have the right hardware - but you might just be made of sterner stuff than I am, and are doing all this by hand. I am intrigued to know...!

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wrong17   Oct 15, 2021 

Side note about 3d printing for the Carnage TPU parts. For this build I was able to save some time by printing all the items in one job. I actually printed the arm guards, camera mount and antenna mount all at the same time. If you look carefully, the first 14 layers for all items have the same exact pattern. The camera mount is at an angle and upside down so it may look like a different pattern, but it is not.

Jayembee67   Oct 17, 2021 
1

Yes, as I say, I have done exactly what you have done, counting layers in Cura, adding GCODE stops and such, hovering over the printer for hours - and found it so tedious, and stressful, that given all the beautiful printing you are doing I couldn't really believe you were doing all of that manually! I tip my hat, your dedication is impressive, but then again, so are the end results! :-)

wrong17   Oct 20, 2021 

I'm waiting for a sale so I can pick up a 2 color 3D printer.... come on black friday sales.... give me a good sale!!! LOL

Sub 250g FPV   Oct 20, 2021  
1

Great Build of my 3.5" Carnage Frame 😁👍 I love the way you've customised the frame to take the 30.5x30.5 AIO Board 🤩

wrong17   Oct 20, 2021 

That is part of the hobby.... making things fit.

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