This was the first quad i bought. Frame only, its a Usmile AlphaGenie and I bought it off Amazon for like 14 bucks. Max prop 2.4 inch. Shown here with 2.3 inch Avan props. Third rebuuild. First had 1202 diatone 3s with flywoo 16mm stack. Next verion went 2s with flywoo 1202.5 and tiny talon f7. This is 3rd redo and the GepRC motors are super smooth. I was worried that having this basically smashed together would effect gyro. Flies amazingly.
12 hour build. I would not recommend building this as it was too tight. Most agree an aio with a caddx vista needs 23mm of height to do it right. Hit me at hour ten to take shutterbugs tip of using a velcro wire tie as battery strap and I just sandwiched it in there presing the vista to the quads top plate with strap pretty much affixed in place. Jhemcu 16mm aio is really too tightly jammed in there. Nothing but the happymodel ep24 elrs ceramic antenna could work, Its held in via wire friction. It just barely fit. Had to route wires outside through a piece of heat shrink..
Using the motors that went on geprc rocket the gr1204. The ads for these motors lie. They are not 3.8 grams without wires. With short wires they are still over 6 grams. No regrets though, amazingly smooth and agile motors. Custom 3d print for the single rear standoff thanks to the carnage stl files and the folks that donated. 20mm standoff height made this very very tight build.
Flight controller being a 16mm mount and vista being 20mm was the hardest part. I used nylon (glass filled) for fasteners on flight controller and vista so that if a nut backed off and a fastener fell it would not short anything. 16-20mm a small delta and nuts were getting skewed by the head of the nearby fastener until I used velcro for battery strap giving vista no spacing off top plate. Playing with the direction on these fasteners might yeild a mm of slack. Something I did not do. Oh my word this flies well. Be careful soldering the board. Get the new tips before approaching as smallest drag tip and narrowest flat tip needed if soldering with standoffs in place.
Crash video: https://mega.nz/file/0J4GXSaY#3rCFIFaTxWNYWUVpHRaaokmSVCo3d7K-L0Di9AimpFY
Photos
Part List
Frame |
Usmile ALFA-Genie110 110mm 2.4 inch FPV Frame Stretch X Micro Carbon Fiber Quadcopter Frame Kit Mini Quad FPV Racing Drone with
Amazon.com
|
$13.49 |
Flight Controller |
JHEMCU GHF13 AIO F4 OSD Flight Controller w/ Built-in 13A Blheli_S 2-4S 4 In 1 Brushless ESC - 16x16mm
(35 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
|
$59.99 |
Motors |
4 x GEPRC GR1204 Motor 5000kv (1 Pc.)
Pyrodrone.com
|
$47.60 |
Propellers |
Emax Avan Babyhawk 2.3x2.7x3 Propeller (Set of 12 - Red)
Pyrodrone.com
|
$3.99 |
FPV Camera |
Caddx Polar Micro Digital FPV Vista Camera Kit - Coffee
(14 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
|
$139.00 |
Receiver |
Happymodel 2.4g ExpressLRS EP2 RX Receiver module
(69 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
|
$13.49 |
Hardware |
50 x Glass Filled Reinforced Super Nylon Pan Head, Crosshead Machine Screws, M2 x 16mm, Plastic Nuts and Bolts, Washers, 5/64 x
Amazon.com
|
$26.99 |
You're my hero!
Great build, very impressed you managed to put everything in that tiny frame.
I'm planning to build something very similar. I was looking for a similar frame (weight/size) than the one you used. Unfortunately I could not find any small frame with standoffs higher than 20mm. And as you also described, 20mm is too less for a "clean" build with a caddx vista.
To workaround this issue I'm now going for a Diatone Roma F1 with custom standoffs. I'm replacing the 20mm back-standoff with a 23mm standoff and add two other 3mm standoffs to the front. Hope that works ;-)
Stay tuned, I will post my build when it's finished. Just ordered all the parts and I'm now waiting for arrival.
Thank you for your nice words. This one had carbon fiber vertical camera mounts that I probably could have removed and went with tpu. That said the stock mounts fit a 19mm camera.
Usmile makes another frame called the Buzzbee. I have one that I am working on but am not happy with yet. Not posted here, yet.
https://www.amazon.com/Buzzbee-Carbon-Quadcopter-Support-Sparrow/dp/B08242QFHV/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=usmile+buzzbee+quad&qid=1637587113&sr=8-6
That has 23mm stand offs stock and is fairly light compared to say Geprc rocket frame. In this one I use jhemcu 420aio as its 20mm mount.
Aaaah that's why you choose this frame. The Roma F1 only takes a 14mm camera so I've deciced to try out the Polar Nano cam.
A lot of frames are using carbon fiber camera mounts and I prever that to a tpu mount. I have not 3D printer yet and I assume that a tpu will break more often than a carbon fiber mount. Sometimes it's possible use a carbon fiber mount from another frame of the same brand that has higher standoffs. I've asked Amax-Frames to provide me a higher carbon fiber mount for the F1.6Nano. I'm currently waiting for an answer. Maybe that could also be an option for you.
I'm curious how the aluminium mount of the Roma F1 will resist to crashes ;-)
I know the pain of building these :) 8/10 build time spent to planning where to put this and that to avoid something hanging out and allow FC to be at least a bit softmounted.
That is fine. My last "planning" moment was about 6 hours spent, looking on disassembled Diatone GT-349 on table with new Caddx Vista kit nearby and thinking about how long wires I will need now, where to put them, where to mount that damned Vista brick, where to mount stock canopy then, are I have long enough M2 spacers and screws at all and how big idiot I was when started this idea fix :D Succeeded by the way... at 3 AM.
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What lipos are you using for this build? 3s or 4s?
Do you have some flight video footage?
Put my crash video from this past weekend in the description.
For btteries, good question. I try not to go more than 60% craft weight on power so I have 4s 380mah gnb arriving today. I use Tattu 75c 450mah 4s and AUline 450mah HV but both exceed this rule. I use these batteries on both Alpha-genie and Buzzbee. Killed a motor in the crash video I shared. Hopefully I will have by Wednesday. Want to make a better video.
Oh no :-( the crash doesn't not look like that bad, I did not expect a motor to be killed after that.. But some motors are very fragile..
Thanks for your detailed answer. It's seems that the quad is already very agile with the Tattu 4s 450mah, but of course It would perform even better with a 4s 380mah.
It wouldnt have been bad if my dumb self remembered to tighten motor screws after first flight. I had a loose rear motor that bent the mount on this impact. I hit kill switch just before. Hoping to have the replacement for the holiday. If I do I will use new batteries to make new video.