The Rattler

By le_vinsky on Jun 12, 2018

9  358  5

This was supposed to be a build that I would be able to fly both inside my tiny appartment and outdoors.
I wanted it to be really small so I got Crazepony 70mm frame. Stack is 16mm from Fullspeed RC. With 1735 props clearances are minimal.

16mm builds are so much fun!

This was basically my first build that I tried to finish. Knowing what I know now I do not reccomend starting with a 16x16mm micro stack and a frame that has no space for RX or VTX so you have to figure everything out on your own (or look for inspiration and solutions on interwebs). Of course it's part of the fun but when you are a total noob frustration can be just ovewhelming. Soldering was a nightmare. I lifted and ripped out two solder pads on my first FC. So I had to wait for a new one. After soldering everything properly the ESC burst into flames. Fast forward two months and two burned ESCs later. I suspected that one of the motors was defective and fried my ESC. I had to buy another ESC but this time I also replaced the motor. And it FINALLY worked!

How do I put VTX on 16mm stack with no 3D printer?

I absolutely had to have OSD and 200mW VTX. Because range. AIO cams were out of the question. So I made a canopy that would hold and protect VTX and camera. I don't have 3D printer but I had a plastic box. So I cut the canopy out of it and folded plastic using hot knife solder iron attachment. It also houses the buzzer.

Racerstar 1103 - you get what you pay for.

Motor wires are quite bad. They were not as difficult to solder as I feared but I guess I'm spoiled by silicone wires. With 1735 four blade props they seem surprisingly weak. That additional blade of DYS five blade 1735 propellers really makes a difference. But I think this build would be a lot better with DYS BE1102 motors (I own DYS ELF which has this motors and it flies better even though it's heavier). I'm just not sure if 6A ESC could handle the current.

It's not a beast. It's The Rattler

It flies quite ok. I guess my assessment may be a bit skewed because I maidened it right after flying my 3 inch, which IS a beast. 450mAh 2S gives about 3 - 4 minutes of flight time. I have yet to try it with 600mAh 2s LiPos I used for DYS ELF. I saved some weight by using just two screws per motor and I screwed the stack to the frame using nylon screws. I guess I could also use nylon screws to fix propellers to save additional gram or two. Or dump my custom canopy and use hotglue/rubber bands/double sided tape combo to fix VTX and cam on top of the stack... Nah. I guess I like that piece of plastic too much to get rid of it.

Updates

24.06.2018

Rattler had a crash and smashed his skull to pieces. I guess there is a reason carbon fiber is used in quads and not some leftover plastic. Oh well. I had to make a new head for my quad. This time I ordered a sheet of high impact polistyrene that is thicker than plastic I previously used. I also designed it to have less cutouts which made the structure weak. And I also did not use hot knife to fold the plastic. It turns out that hot air blower attachment for my Portasol gas soldering iron is perfect not just for heat shrink. It's also great for heating plastic you can then easily fold. Take that, electric soldering irons! But still, problem is that it's very hard to be precise using this technique. So I guess I will have to be very good this year and ask Santa to bring me a 3D printer.
Anyway. Rattler now carries VTX03 at the top of it's head. We'll see how well it will handle the abuse.Alt Tag
Alt TagAlt Tag

Photos

Discussion

Sign in to comment

daich   Oct 25, 2018  
1

I love your polistyrene work!

Quadlite   Jun 16, 2018  
1

Very cooll setup. I might have to build something similar for my appartment. I have longhaired cats so I cant really fly brushed micros without the motors getting bogged down with hair every 30 seconds. This micro brushless might just be the perfect solution! The motors should be strong enough to tear through the thin hairs. Great job with the build btw, It couldn't have been easy fitting everything in that frame.

le_vinsky   Jun 16, 2018 
1

Thanks! If you'd want to try something even smaller and lighter for indoors (Crazepony frame is 2mm thick, which is overkill imo) you may have a look at T4Bee Design frames at Armattan Productions. They have quite a portfolio of various micro frames for 16mm stack and even smaller 07xx and 08xx motors. I wonder if those tiny motors would rip cat hair.

Booda3000   Jun 14, 2018  
1

Impressive!

le_vinsky   Jun 14, 2018 
1

Thanks! I'm kinda impressed too - that I managed to build it at all;)

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