Making New Canopies for the Quad

  It has only been a few days with the new quadrotor and already I am looking at changing things. First of all let me say, this little machine is a lot of fun and performs very well. I am thinking much less about the actions of my thumbs on the controls, and like Luke Skywalker just feel what should be happening and the quad responds.

Before I destroy the canopy, I want to make a mould of it so I can make copies. This will give me the opportunity to make changes to the copies and keep the original untouched.  The first thing to do was to remove the LEDs from the canopy. They were held in with hot glue and popped out quite easily. I then took about 2/3s of a mini hot glue stick and drilled holes in the ends to accept the LEDs. I pushed the LEDs in and hot glued the glue sticks in place.

Now the canopy can be removed and changed easily and the light is more visible when flying since it is under the canopy. 

Now to make the mould. I took a small pan and filled it with sand. This allows me to position the canopy up side down and fill it without it rolling around on the counter. All of the holes in the canopy  ( from the LEDs and the mounting holes) are covered with tape.

All it takes from there is a mixture of plaster of paris poured to the top.

Once it is dry simply pop it out and fill any small holes. The smoother you can pour it, and the less air you trap, the less filling you will have to do. This is what my finished product looked like.

Now that the mould is done it is time to make copies of the canopy. I did not have any access to clear styrene sheets, but my local Lowes had lots of styrene for making signs. There was green and pink and I also bought some yellow neighborhood watch signs to see how they would turn out. My vacuform "machine" is an old cigar box with holes drilled in the top, and two small wooden frames to hold the plastic. I also used a cheap single electric burner to heat the plastic.

Here is the styrene being heated:

And here is the mould ready to go:

Once the styrene starts to sag in the middle it is time to move it over the mould, press down, and turn on the vacuum. In just a second the work is done. In order to get a good crisp bottom edge, be sure and raise the mould off the box slightly by putting some washers or a few quarters under it.  I used some dimes and it was not quite high enough.

I made a few while I had everything set up, and I even tried the "neighborhood watch" sign too. Since it is styrene it glues easily with most plastic glues, so I tried a adding a tail fin to the yellow canopy.  You can see the lettering from the sign raising through to the outside.

With the lights on it looks like it has been vandalized:

In green:

All 3 canopies nest together nicely and fit in the case with everything else.

MakeOn TomMadeO

Quad rotor Case

Well, my delivery from China arrived, a V222 quad rotor.  I orderd some extra batteries and spare parts while I was at it, so now I have a bunch of stuff that I need to be able to store and transport without tearing things up.  It came in a styrofoam shell wrapped in tape. It looked pretty rough, and I was sure it was in 1000 pieces, but it is a tough little machine and arrived intact.

I had a case in mind. It was an old cosmetics case that I have been using for years to store some old cameras, and other bits of junk. I ripped out everything but the outer shell,of the case then screwed in a little platform for the copter to rest on. I put two screws through the outside, then through a piece of plexiglass and into a little rubber hook. The rubber hook was from the packing of a ceiling fan to hold the motor and shell in place during shipping. It will act as a hanger for the copter while in the case in a vertical position.

This will be the hanger that pulls the coptor on the platform to a horizontal position when  opened.  It also makes a good place to rest it when adjusting and tinkering. Now for some storage of blades, batteries, and spare parts.  There are 4 different blades for a quad front and rear, right and left. The front are a bright color (red and orange in this case) and the back in black (This is not what AC/DC were singing about) .  For these I took some small diet coke cans and carefully removed the top using a can opener. 

 

This gives me a nice storage container for the replacement blades.  Since there are 4 types of blades, I repeated this for 4 cans.  For batteries and spare parts, I have some old dice tins from the days at the workshop that work perfectly. Now to fit them all in place.

Four cans for four rotors, one tin for charged batteries, one for dead batteries, one for spare parts, and one for tools.  And this is what it look like all laid out.

The case folds up nicely and everything slides together like it was precisely measured to fit. When opening and closing the case, the quad rises from vertical to horizontal.

Then the transmitter slides in.

The tins that hold the batteries, also hold the transmitter in place and keep it from sliding from side to side. A small strip of wood on the inside keeps the base of the transmitter from moving back and forth.

Small, light, sturdy, and a perfect fit all around.

Field box........check.

MakeOn TomMadeO

New to the Blogosphere

About two years ago, I was trying to think back and remember all of the things I had made.  It was probably about the same time I moved from a cell phone to a smart phone. With that change, I now had the technology in my pocket to quickly take a picture of whatever it was I had built, and archive it for future reference.  The Flickr account that I set up has served me well for the last few years, although every time I look at it I can think of a project that I just failed to take a picture of. 

Here, I plan to take things a step further and not only document the things that I make, but put down in words some of the trials and tribulations of the build process, to help you, or others that may be working on the same type of projects.  

If you want to look through some of the older projects that I have filed away please have a look around my Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/tommadeo/

If you need information, of would like a detail of the build process, this would be the place to ask.

MakeOn TomMadeO