Armattan Chameleon (last build of 2017)

By Nenzis on Dec 31, 2017

8  1,846  0

This one is my second build from scratch. First one was based on a Realacc X210 frame. Due to many crashes and repairs it looks ugly. The new build had to be clean for sure.
I chose the Chameleon because of the top battery. I lost and broke a couple of batteries because of bad landings.
At some point I had to replace the FC on my X210 build, and I replaced it with the Kakute F4 AIO. Really happy with all of its features. Particulary the soft mounted gyro performs really well in my opinion. It's also easily connected with the TBS VTX and Frsky's R-XSR. Setting up telemetry and smartaudio was easy.

Some issues and remarks :

  • Almost smoked a motor. During first hover (20 sec.) I found the right front motor to be really hot, while the others were not. I had to use longer screws to mount the Rotor Riot Kwad Skitz. Although they came out only 1 mm or even less, one of the screws had entered the motor windings and shorted the motor. Using a slightly shorter screw fixed this. Still the motor was a little warmer than the others, but I guess I will have to take for a flight to be sure.
  • Not sure the XT60 battery connector is in the right place. I 3D printed a small L-shape protector to be able to protect the battery leads while bending them upward. Maybe I should place the XT60 connector on the right side.
  • The placement of the R-XSR receiver. My initial plan was to have everything (FC, receiver, VTX) in one stack. I knew it was going to be hard with the extra height required for the soft mounted gyro on the FC. And I managed thanks to the WhitnoiseFPV mounting board. It's a neat little board which provides cooling for the VTX. So using 10 mm standoffs and a regular nut under the FC there was just enough room for the VTX and receiver. The receiver however pops a little out the top plate opening.
  • My previous build thought me that adding a 1000uF cap on the battery leads drastically decreases video noise. So I added one.
  • I found the skid plate underneath the camera on Thingiverse. It reinforces the camera cages and will keep out dirt.
  • The ESC protectors were 3D printed. They can be taken off without desoldering because they're open at the bottom. Probably overkill though.

Feel free to leave some comments or questions!

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