Landing Gear Compared

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This is the first landing gear I tried:

http://phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6557

49,95 of worthless stuff.

I use to fly with some self fabricated foamish "extensions", a man gotta do something to keep the Arris CM3000 gimbal from touching the ground.

Ok, search for landing gear continues, ordered some stuff.

Next to arrive were the 4 3D printed landing gear extension that go between the original legs and the Phantom body, costs USD 10, weight 16 grams (see attached picture). Original landing gear weighs 43 grams, making the total of this combi 59 grams.

This worked quite well, but I had the left leg in view sometimes when tilted down, flying slowish AP was not really a problem, with little wind.

High hopes for the simensays v3 landing gear, USD 39,15 + USD 18 for the carbon rods, total USD 57,15. I started out with long legs, and of course this didn't work, left leg in view when tilted down, so I shortened them so I had just 1 cm clearance, but still the left leg popped in view now and then while tilted down. Fast yaws surely gave a view of the left leg. But just 34 grams, with screws. (glued the end caps, saves 4 screws.)

Here the wide legs come, sort of the same as the original landing gear, but wider. Just USD 9,50 and weight 50 grams.

Not in view when fast yawing, but very present when tilted down unfortunately. Not usable therefore.

So I spend about USD 126 (excl shipping, incl about 160) and haven't found the right gear yet..

Next will be to cut the wide gear, so I just have 1 cm clearance (it has now about 3cm) losing the horizontal rod between the legs and maybe strengthen the gear with some of the 6 mm carbon rods I have. This *should* work.

Extensions: http://www.ebay.com/itm/251373132470

Wide Gear: http://www.ebay.com/itm/281247586818

Simensays: http://www.shapeways.com/model/1066...ear-kit-v3.html?li=user-profile&materialId=62
 

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Thanks for that. Been wondering how to increase clearance. One thing that would concern me about the Simon Says gear is durability on a fall. Phantoms are know to be able to survive some pretty high free falls on the stock gear. Not sure that: a) the simonsays gear would hold up and b) even if they did, would they penetrate the ground or give enough to put your GoPro at risk for a direct strike against the ground.

Mike
 
mikeydaddio said:
Thanks for that. Been wondering how to increase clearance. One thing that would concern me about the Simon Says gear is durability on a fall. Phantoms are know to be able to survive some pretty high free falls on the stock gear. Not sure that: a) the simonsays gear would hold up and b) even if they did, would they penetrate the ground or give enough to put your GoPro at risk for a direct strike against the ground.

Mike
i've crashed with the simensays gear, it actually came down full speed upright, bounced off the ground on the legs, into the air and hit a wall before landing upside down. It split one of the cf legs but absolutely no damage to the 3d printed parts. For 26g that's pretty impressive. I just threw on a spare rod and was back in business (well after repairing the gimbal and getting new props).

I didn't glue or screw on any of the rods, friction tight was way more than enough for mine.
 
ElGuano said:
mikeydaddio said:
Thanks for that. Been wondering how to increase clearance. One thing that would concern me about the Simon Says gear is durability on a fall. Phantoms are know to be able to survive some pretty high free falls on the stock gear. Not sure that: a) the simonsays gear would hold up and b) even if they did, would they penetrate the ground or give enough to put your GoPro at risk for a direct strike against the ground.

Mike
i've crashed with the simensays gear, it actually came down full speed upright, bounced off the ground on the legs, into the air and hit a wall before landing upside down. It split one of the cf legs but absolutely no damage to the 3d printed parts. For 26g that's pretty impressive. I just threw on a spare rod and was back in business (well after repairing the gimbal and getting new props).

I didn't glue or screw on any of the rods, friction tight was way more than enough for mine.

Hmm. Based on that I may have to get a set!

Thanks,
Mike
 
As an illustration to my simensays landing gear problems two pictures

Please note, this is with the Arris CM3000, in follow yaw mode, and this gimbal has the GoPro lens positioned a little to port side.

If the lens was in the middle, no problems I guess.
 

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Ok, meet Frankengear.

Cut down the wide gear, hot glued carbon rods between them.

It saves about 7 grams too :)

Did a walk around tilting and yawing, even in this situation sometimes the port leg comes in view now and then, but I guess for slow AP flights it will remain hidden.
 

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Ton, you have a very particular set of requirements, namely absolute intolerance to visible landing gear in shots, and the use of a 3-axis gimbal with a yaw follow mode. That makes it a tall order for any set of legs. Hopefully your cut-down wide legs work out well, but in case they don't, here's a suggestion that worked well for me:

1a: Consider Dewey's P2 bottom shell mod, which puts the battery compartment facing back. That will let you do step 2. Or...
1b: Consider my reversed NAZA mod, which does the same for the P1 shell. The battery door faces the back, and the LED becomes the front. That lets you...

2. Mount the gimbal further forward. With the COG now balanced to the rear, you can really push the gimbal over the edge. My back standoffs are as far forward as possible, and the front actually uses a homemade mount that juts well over the front edge. More than half of my gimbal is over the leading edge of the Phantom, and my COG is still finely balanced. You can't do this with the standard config because it would block the battery door. But more importantly, what this does is pushes the GoPro's objective lens further up, and even past the edge of the landing gear, and doing so allows you to use virtually any landing gear you want. I don't know if it solves the problem completely with a 3-axis, depending on your flying style and follow mode settings, but it's going to be way better, and IMO it approaches the problem more elegantly than finding some super-splayed landing gear that you wouldn't otherwise use. If you get the gimbal far forward enough, the issue will simply be moot.

Kq1zTEW.jpg


uSeXxfY.jpg
 
Thank for your advise, EL.

There are surely more possibilities to get it right.

But I am considering the F550 with extended arms, big props and motors, huge battery , 20 minutes flight time with gimbal mod now. (Or similar)

And now I am going to fly a bit with the Frankengear, I guess if I take it easy on the sticks, AP style, things will work out.
 
Ton4 said:
Thank for your advise, EL.

There are surely more possibilities to get it right.

But I am considering the F550 with extended arms, big props and motors, huge battery , 20 minutes flight time with gimbal mod now. (Or similar)

And now I am going to fly a bit with the Frankengear, I guess if I take it easy on the sticks, AP style, things will work out.

Sounds like a fun rig! Take care.
 
you have a very particular set of requirements, namely absolute intolerance to visible landing gear in shots

You make it sound like I have a disease or something :)
 
Any of these work well with the vision? Looking for a bit more clearance of my vision camera without the gear getting in the way of photos/videos.
 
First test flight completed with Frankengear.

Only when swinging rather hard from left to right when tilted down the gear shows up.

I guess that in windy conditions when wind is coming from the port side it may be more a problem, but otherwise for AP flight it seems to fulfill my requirements.
 
BTW, I can with "my" frankengear fly with two batteries (one mounted under my y tail vtx mount) without a monstrosity like your eBay item, weighing a ton, that would give me the same problems as with the original gear in combination with my gimbal.

You are not the seller, are you?
 
Ok, a conclusion to draw from using "my frankengear", I think.

Its wide, hangs in the prop downwash and therefore creates extra vibes.

Sigh.
 

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