F450 Flamewheel . . . all things F450

[whitelens]

Ok,
So I'm about to be a F450 owner, and thought it would be cool to post pics, advice, horror stories, and build advice to the Flamewheel F450.

Who's first?

 

[Pull_Up]

Sorry to be late to the party, looks like it's going to be me... Yes, I know! What a shock.

So, my son and I are going to man up and learn some hairy-chested skills like soldering and build an F450 - we're going to video the stages and blog a bit about it so we can give more details to those interested (like any reviews of kit we need to buy and where we got them, parts listing, etc). We're going to build it just to operate as a standalone aircraft - no camera or FPV initially - as a way of learning a bit more about how these quad things actually work when you get one without a white plastic shell covering up the good bits...

We've never done anything like this before, coming from the cosseted RTF world of the Vision, so this will be very much a "learning as we go" exercise with the aim of sharing with others who have come along the same path and are thinking about their own first self-build.

Apologies if you're an old hand, look away now, etc, but the first episode in the series is up on the channel and we'll be doing a couple more introductory ones soon showing in detail what comes in the F450 ARTF kit, and what you get when you buy a standalone Naza V2. If you've seen my other videos you know I'm not that technical, nor do I own a workshop, so like the other vids we'll be building this one... on the kitchen table.

Wish us luck - happy not only to share our coming mishaps but to put 'em on film for your amusement too. Eep!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIODyGigLBI[/youtube]

 

[ladykate]

Pull-up! Nice seeing you here.

I got an RTF 550 (remember when I was considering getting a Vision? - got a 550 instead) and then decided to go whole hog and make a Tarot 810. Lots to learn and fiddle with - that is for sure. It should be a nice family team adventure, though. The wife actually helped me calibrate ESCs the other day. Got her involved despite her reluctance to come into the shop. ;-}

There are several really good people over here. No trolls (yet) and lots of friendly help. You should get some great flight times with the 450 in bare configuration. The P2(x) will still have more legs (maybe) but making your own machine from parts is a ball.

I ordered all the parts I thought I would need for the 810 (over a period of a few weeks) and then it took a couple weeks to get it put together - the real world got in the way a couple of times. It is no where near finished (I don't think these projects ever end - which is a feature). Heck, I'm still modifying the 550!

I'm interested in the OP and your adventures. I've put the 450 on one of my distant project lists - want to make a frankencopter out of it.

I look forward to future installments of the coffee-cup/water glass crew!

 

[OI Photography]

:lol: I just about fell out of my chair laughing when you introduced Tom, he clearly has his dad's stage presence!

Is that an Aoyue soldering station? I got the 2930 when I started building my 550 and I love it. I'd highly suggest using their brass wire cleaning sponge rather than a regular wet one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005C7 ... UTF8&psc=1

It'll mount right on the iron holder where the flat sponge tray is now, even when used on "non-KT" surfaces:

 

[Pull_Up]

Good spot on the soldering station, yes it is. Noted the tip about brass, too - thank you!

 

[gunslinger]

Simon:

If you don't mind my asking, where did you pick up the F450? I'm looking at this package which seems to be very close to yours, but is missing the smaller props...

http://www.atlantahobby.com/store/pc/vi ... category=0

Thanks...
-slinger

 

[Pull_Up]

Lots of people have different stocks of different ages and lots of people bundle them with extra bits. These guys offer just the basic ARTF kit which has the two sets of props as you'll see from the parts list... http://www.buzzflyer.co.uk/DJI-Innovati ... -182-2165/

 

[whitelens]

So, I've been waiting and waiting for the new Zenmuse hd-3D standalone to come out. I have now sold my Phantom and have been with out a drone for a few weeks. Decided to bite the bullet and I cancelled my HD-3D and ordered a Arris CM3000 . .. told the guys at Helipal to test fly my F450 and put it in the mail.

Two days later, my CM3000 has shown up, and I have a tracking order for my F450 . .. I am really nervous about this thing. . . I hope it is going to be way better than the phantom and worth the weight. I'll post on here how it goes.

 

[OI Photography]

So, I've been waiting and waiting for the new Zenmuse hd-3D standalone to come out. I have now sold my Phantom and have been with out a drone for a few weeks. Decided to bite the bullet and I cancelled my HD-3D and ordered a Arris CM3000 . .. told the guys at Helipal to test fly my F450 and put it in the mail.

Two days later, my CM3000 has shown up, and I have a tracking order for my F450 . .. I am really nervous about this thing. . . I hope it is going to be way better than the phantom and worth the weight. I'll post on here how it goes.

I have a 550 rather than a 450, but I'm in the same quandary right now...I really need to get a 3-axis that will work on my 550 and preferably the Phantom as well (with the right landing gear), but I can't really keep waiting on the H3-3D with its own GCU to get released. I see the CM3000 is down to $329 now so that makes it even more tempting. I'm anxious to hear your results with it on even a 450.

Also, I assume the one you received has the plates with 4 rubber isolators instead of 8?

 

[whitelens]

Yes, this is the one. . . 4 pads, also has the rod holder mounts if your drone has that type of setup. I did get mine . . . although I cant power it up, the build seems very solid however, it does seem a bit heavy. I look forward to putting this thing on the F450 and getting some great shots.

 

[whitelens]

SO . . . I went to test fly my brand new F450 . . . then a FLYAWAY occurred. . . I couldnt get the stupid thing to stop! It just kept flying. I lost sight of it, and lost signal to my FPV . . . so my loaded RTF with a Gopro 3 F450 is gone! I dont understand why it didnt RTH . . . My only hope is somehow Helipal, will help me out as I wonder if mine was faulty somehow. But I doubt this will happen. SOOOO I think I'm going to cool my heals on drones for a bit, and try to make this money up somehow . . . I'm really bummed by this!
Anyone have this sort of thing happen to them in the past?

 

[ladykate]

Oh, my. That is terrible!

I have not had one flyaway although I have heard of it - especially in the earlier days. Did you do the compass alignment and all that stuff before you launched?

Bad luck, dude.

 

[whitelens]

Yeah I did . . . I have no idea what happened. . . very strange. I've been flying my PV2 for a while and "thought" I was a pretty good/average pilot.

 

[FangsCPO]

Yeah I did . . . I have no idea what happened. . . very strange. I've been flying my PV2 for a while and "thought" I was a pretty good/average pilot.

Did you have your phone number on it at least so hopefully if someone finds it they can call you? **** that really sucks. I had somewhat of a flyaway a few weeks ago and my F550 end up in a golf course pond.....but luckily I was able to salvage most of it and I upgraded to the E300 system.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dTA5ySzF60[/youtube]

 

[Nada1]

Was your fpv running on 5.8 ?

 

[Gizmo3000]

Two days later, my CM3000 has shown up, and I have a tracking order for my F450 . .. I am really nervous about this thing. . . I hope it is going to be way better than the phantom and worth the weight. I'll post on here how it goes.

Once you go 3-axis, there's no going back!

I've been relatively pleased with my CM3000 mounted to my F450.
i didn't use the rod holders, but mounted it directly to a plate that was mounted to my rods, . saved me a little bit of space underneath, so that i could then use the DJI legs instead of the long legs that came with the ebay-landing skid.
it's only 250g, which isn't too heavy (the earlier CM3000's were 290g)

 

[Gizmo3000]

SO . . . I went to test fly my brand new F450 . . . then a FLYAWAY occurred. . . I couldnt get the stupid thing to stop! It just kept flying. I lost sight of it, and lost signal to my FPV . . . so my loaded RTF with a Gopro 3 F450 is gone! I dont understand why it didnt RTH . . . My only hope is somehow Helipal, will help me out as I wonder if mine was faulty somehow. But I doubt this will happen. SOOOO I think I'm going to cool my heals on drones for a bit, and try to make this money up somehow . . . I'm really bummed by this!
Anyone have this sort of thing happen to them in the past?

Sadly, yes,. I had a similar experience with my FULLY loaded F450

I took off with double-green bunks, but moments after takeoff it flew like it wasn't in GPS mode and I didn't have much control (a mere 20ft in the air), so i took off my goggles and attempted to land it. - but all of a sudden it was as if a switch flipped inside, I completely lost control, and it flew off on me at full speed, never to be seen again
it had my number on it (affixed very well), so it's either up on top of a building, up in a tree, or someone found it and kept it

I found the only way to get over it was to just consider it a learning experience, write it off as "sh#$ happens", and built a new replacement within a few weeks - but this time including a GPS tracker (tagg) , . which really helps counteract the fear of it happening again.

 

[FangsCPO]

Was your fpv running on 5.8 ?

Yes.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[FangsCPO]

Was your fpv running on 5.8 ?

Yes

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[whitelens]

So a posted a thing around my local neighborhood. . . and while I was out of town, someone found it . . . got back in town, retrieved the video from my gopro and made a very quick video . so quick I misspelled words. . but oh well . . . Drone should fly again. I would like to know how to "tagg" my GPS . .as I really dont ever want to loose this again.

in the meantime, enjoy the video . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL_e-VFXSnU
[youtube]FL_e-VFXSnU[/youtube]