FPVCycle Glide 5"

By CarbonTrain on Aug 18, 2022

5  154  2

Rig has one flight on it (hence the dust, sorry!) This is only my second build, so be easy on me!

Photos

Part List

Frame

FPVCycle Glide - 5" Frame (61 builds)
Fpvcycle.com
$21.00

Flight Controller

T-Motor F7 Flight Controller - 30x30mm (7 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$62.90

ESCs

T-Motor Velox V45A 6S BLheli-32 4IN1 ESC V2 - 30*30 (6 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$55.90

Motors

4 x FPVCycle 25mm Motor - The Extra Smooth One (22 builds)
Fpvcycle.com
$43.96

Propellers

HQ Prop ETHIX S3 5x3.1x3 Tri-Blade 5" Prop 4 Pack - WatermelonDefault Title (49 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$3.49

FPV Camera

Runcam Phoenix 2 1000TVL 2.1mm FPV Camera - Joshua Bardwell Edition - Blue (40 builds)
Getfpv.com
$32.99

FPV Transmitter

TBS Crossfire SIXTY9 - RX+VTX (16 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$49.95

Antenna

TBS Crossfire Immortal T V2 Antenna (149 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$5.95

Receiver

TBS Crossfire SIXTY9 - RX+VTX (16 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$49.95

Batteries

CNHL Black Series 22.2V 6S 1300mAh 100C LiPo Battery - XT60 (43 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$29.99

Power Distribution

Panasonic FM/FR Low ESR Electrolytic Capacitors w/Cap Cap option (2 builds)
Fpvcycle.com
$1.25

Radio

FrSky X-Lite Pro RC Transmitter (3 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$194.99

Goggles

Orqa FPV.One Pilot FPV Goggles (6 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$568.99

3D Printed

FPV Cycle Glide lite arm guards by ErikWTN
Thingiverse.com
See Site

HD Camera

RunCam 5 Orange 12MP 4:3 145°FOV 56g Ultra-light 4K HD FPV Camera for RC Drone (20 builds)
Banggood.com
$102.49

Misc Parts

Ummagrip Universal Sticky Battery Pad (175 builds)
Getfpv.com
See Site

Video Receiver

TBS Fusion Goggle VRx Video Receiver Module (9 builds)
Pyrodrone.com
$129.95

Radio Module

TBS Crossfire Nano TX (3 builds)
Team-blacksheep.com
$69.95

Battery Charger

Venom Power - Pro Duo LiPo Battery Charger with LCD Screen - 80W X2 AC DC 7A NiMH LiHV LiPo Balance Charger Discharger with Char (2 builds)
Amazon.com
$119.97

Soldering Iron

TOAUTO DS90 Soldering Station-°F & °C Dual Digital Display Soldering Iron Station Kit,90W Soldering Iron,302℉- 842℉ Temper
Amazon.com
$12.00

Tools

RDQ 9 Piece Drone Tool Kit V2 (8 builds)
Racedayquads.com
$19.99

Backpack

Think Tank Photo FPV Airport Helipak Backpack (6 builds)
Getfpv.com
See Site

Accessories

VIFLY ShortSaver V2 Smart Smoke Stopper Electronic Fuse to Detect and Prevent Short-Circuit and Overload, Power Switch for Recei (13 builds)
Amazon.com
$12.99
Show stores (8)

Discussion

Sign in to comment

Jodie Froster   Aug 31, 2022  

2nd build, you knocked it out tha PARK!
The color coordination with the white prints, motor bells, and motor wires looks good. The motor wires run under the 4 n 1 is a nice touch. I like the xt60 holder print (how does it perform plugging and unplugging? I have tried a number of these prints, the ones that have a groove to accommodate the ridge in the middle seem to be the only ones I can really pull on). The TBS 69, and the prints you have holding your antennas seem great, super slick setup. I like the prints so much in white, that I want your goPro mount to be white too, and I can imagine it would get dirty too easily, but I still think it would look great till you crashed it a few times. I do have a little point i'd like to share with you: your battery leads are heavy wires, and will be acted on by inertia MUCH more strongy than the lil ol 24awg signal wires. Unfortunately they both run DIRECTLY over the top of your gyro, and WILL slap up against it during aggressive maneuvers and cause "weird erratic behaviors", that you will want to fix, but will be mysterious. A lil hot glue, some foam, or a zip tie (or ideally a color coordinated 3d print), to strap it down will get it in check.
Final note: the heat shrink on the end of your capacitor is tidy, and looks great. Very few builds have such a nice solution.

CarbonTrain   Sep 11, 2022 

Thank you so much, Jodie!

Motor wires - I actually wish I had soldered them onto the bottom of the ESC. The only reason I wrapped them up and around is because I had already tinned the top pads and, honestly, I was too lazy to dig out my wick. lol

The prints - The XT-60 holder is amazing. Plugging/unplugging can be a pain, but only because it's right beside the Runcam 5 mount. I decided to move it after a few flights due to this to the standoff just behind it. This will not only make it easier to plug/unplug, but it will drastically shorten the leads and prevent any impact with the gyro. As for the color, I had initially ordered that from my print guy in white, but thought it would be too much white if I had. Now that I've seen it all built (I ordered all the parts before building), I agree. I'll be ordering a white mount over the winter. :-)

The capacitor is a product of my OCD. It needed to be clean, centered and just right for me. As a matter of fact; the build isn't as clean as I want it to be and will be torn down and rebuilt over the winter.

  • The motor wires will go underneath (I don't like that where they loop up and over, they don't have equal spacing between them).
  • I despise the black electrical tape holding the wires to the arms. I need to find a better solution there. I'm thinking about using hollowed paracord with heatshrink on either end.
  • The Sixty9 is mounted with double sided tape. I hate using double sided tape, lol. It has a 20x20 mounting option, but I didn't have the correct hardware to mount it without the plastic casing, which is too small for an M2 screw. I'll be removing the casing, using standoffs and mounting it directly to the 20x20 holes in the frame.

I appreciate you posting here, and thank you for your comments! This hobby is SO addicting. I have a whoop frame arriving in the mail tomorrow...something I can fly around in my home during those damned snowy months! Can't wait to build it!

Guides & Reviews

Jun 21, 2021

AirbladeUAV has done it again and this time they've brought long range to the 5" class! Based on the popular Transformer Mini, the new Transformer 5" Ultralight adopts a lot of the same design philosophies with larger props and more payload capacity. It can fly upwards of 20 minutes on a 4 cell Li-Ion battery pack and in ideal conditions it's got a range of over 4 to 5 miles. In this guide I'll walk..

Read more
Mar 04, 2021

With the release of the DJI FPV Drone cinematic FPV has become a lot more accessible, but you certainly don't want to crash a $750 drone! The QAV-CINE Freybott is a compact, lightweight cinematic FPV drone that can take a hit and keep going. It's a lot safer to fly indoors and around people. With a naked GoPro or the SMO 4k you can capture some great stabilized footage. In this guide I'll show you..

Read more