Ah, wow! That looks cool Ross. Would love to see some vids posted of it in action.

Are you using heavy metal hex bolts for that ?

Get bits like these, they are designed for PCB's which is similar to what you are cutting

link

Fox - A combination of M3 cap heads and isolation dampers that stop vibration going from the motors to the electronics and camera.
At M3 size the fixings are very light

Danilo- thanks very much appreciated.
Just to confirm the bits are carbide and a burr pattern like the attached.

Attachment 14930

Thanks again.

Ross

Hi Ros,

I did not have enough time to add to my previous message: great to see you back !

- I see... I wrote it because every gram counts in such devices ( more flight time ).
(I also see some possibilities in the cut parts to save weight with equal strength)
Lighter nylon, alu or ( even titanium) nuts and bolts can be bought in modelshops/online, but I guess you already know that.

Thanks Fox

Did not about know that so I will pass it on the the fellow I am prototyping the parts for.
For me normally an 8.8 grade bolt is my minimum spec :)

He has a big focus on weight of the parts and is considering using carbon fibre/ thinner plates next.
At present the prototype frame less fixings weighs 150 grams.

Ross

Also check Dx.com for load of parts.

Quadcopter
 

So it has been built and test flown.
I must say this is one angry swarm of bees :)

Attachment 14945

The performance is quite stunning and I am thinking my ageing reflexes are probably not up to the task.

The friend I am making the parts for has pushed through a lot of revisions in the plans.
The latest version is more crash worthy and has more modularity for fitting of cameras and flight controller boards.

When newer version (V9) is built up I will post a new pic, assuming it lives long enough for a photo session.
I say this as the quadcopter pictured above now lives in our Moreton Bay somewhere.
It is a great place for fish but not for quadcopters ;)

Regards
Ross

Ouch, what happened ? Flown out of reach of the controller ? Or the good old up and down mxied round ? Post a vid if you can next time.

So the quadcopter has joined the debris of floods from a few years ago.
A pity on both accounts.

It flew so high we lost sight of it, after that the wind took over.
Fortunately I was a spectator (who quickly tuned into search party member).

Regards
Ross

bummer

Made the replacement and updated plates today, it is easy work for the Mechmate.

Attachment 14946

It will be sometime until the 3mm carbide burr type cutters come from China.
For the time being the 3mm two flute upcuts do a neat enough job.

Regards
Ross

That's awesome.
I've been looking for some open source plans to give this a go.
Just what I need.....another hobby....:rolleyes:

Hi All

It took some time to get the new Quadcopter built and then a video produced.
This is none of my own work except for the design of the parts and the machining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I48h...ature=youtu.be

The design is already being simplified but the objective was to take the video shake or "Jello" out of the footage.
Using a 1080 Mobius camera the images are nice and sharp except for some aberrations on the fringes.
Not too shabby for an $80 camera.

Regards
Ross

nice

Very Cool!!

Hi All

When I prototyped a new hexacopter, the guy I was doing it for video taped it.
Not that it is anything new given the number of videos I have posted in the past, however I realised that it was done using the 3mm carbide burr that Danilo told me about.

Thought some of you might enjoy this as it produces a near perfect no sanding finish in MDF.
The machine is running nice and fast on the rapids, notice it beats me a few times as I madly vacuum up the dust.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd6...on8plmg2emvomA

Here is a close up of the bit.
It has two sharp tips for plunging as well as the rasp type barrel.
This is a 3mm bit in the pic.

Short story is this type of bit can save you some work over a standard upcut spiral in the finer work.

Attachment 14991

Cheers
Ross

Very cool.
Was that MDF it was cutting?
It looks like a plywood in the video...
Will the production parts be a composite material?

Hi Darren

Yes it is 3mm MDF, the lighting does funny things.
The final parts are 3.0mm and 1.5mm G10 epoxy fiberglass composite.

Regards
Ross

MDF Sign
 

Hi All

Was buying some food for the beast and came across this sign at a "big box" store.

Attachment 15016

My Mechmate is of course not scared of MDF dust as it never gets a chance to escape using my very high tech vacuum as you go technique :).

Attachment 15014

This is the off the machine finish at 30mm/second at 3.1mm DOC.
The bit used was the 3mm carbide burr mentioned in my previous posts.
Nice, no finishing required.
By way of an explanation these are prototyped parts to be sent off to be laser cut in metal or alloy later on.

Attachment 15015

Regards
Ross

Hexacopter
 

Hi All

Forgot that I never posted the hexacopter that I designed and prototyped for my flying friend.

Attachment 15017

Attachment 15018

Enjoy
Ross

Very Cool.

I will definitely look into the burrs.

Nicely done as always.

Hi Ross,

I remember you have used PU airlines for your coolant ?
Did you use PU lines and automotive coolant ?
Somebody warned me that these are incompatible and the chemicals inside the coolant will eat the PU lines. Reason I am asking is I already have the PU lines installed on my machine and was planning on using the automative coolant and hope to be firing it up soon but I don't want the MM to become incontinent and piss all over itself on it's first start up and clog up the spindle with a layer of PU.

Backup plan is using distilled water for now while I look for better chemical resistant air lines, but since you have been runiing for some time now you might be able to take away my worries.

Hi Fox

The lines that were used on my machine were just big box food grade clear lines.
The chemical incompatibility issues appear to be overstated esp for our application.
I have had a very high concentration of ethylene glycol running through the same lines for years now.
What does happen though is the the transparency of the lines is compromised over time.

These days pneumatic tube that fits all the push fit type fittings both of which are available cheaply on Ebay might be the way to go.
The reason to use this is primarily so that you can replace the input and output ports on the water cooled spindle with a push fit fitting.
The push fits have a bigger internal diameter than the hose compression type fittings supplied.
If you want to make the internal gallery on the threaded push fit larger you also can drill out the fitting a little to even further reduce restriction to the water flow.

The lines are easy to thread through the cable chains so either way a swap out later on is a quick job.
A pump that has strong flow at a 1.5 - 2m head with a bit of restriction is probably the most important part of the cooling solution.

Regards
Ross

Hi Ross,

I got all that sorted and mpounted on the machine already, but thanks for the tips anyway, very helpful as always !

The internal holes are all small in these chinese spindle, I have seen that elsewhere when somebody took it apart, so not much help in enlarging the connectors that way.
Must be a reason why the chinese built it like that, although the reason probably is that it's good enough, and the CHEAPEST :D. Everybody who buys it wonders about them holes being so tiny.

I was just wondering about the compatibility of PU ãirlines with the chemicals. Guess I will run a test for a while.

Hey Ross,

Good to see you back at it, great work on the little quad :D love your work !!

Cheers
Tony.

Quick PU research
 

It appears PU and PUR lines are good for almost everthing per this web site: http://www.newageindustries.com/polyurethane_hose.asp. There are two types of PU tubing, an ester based and an ether based. Ether based PU evidently works better (doesn't change properties as quickly) in mainly water environments and is more fungus resistant than its ester baed cousin.

No, I don't even play a chemist or chem engineer on TV. I just know it does make a difference depending on the application.

Fox,

PU tubing will degrade, swell and rupture with various chemicals. Even oil in air lines has its toll on it. In this pdf is a guideline list on what PU is affected by. http://www.camozzi-usa.com/sites/def...ane-tubing.pdf. I found various tables before. I do work with PU a lot and chemicals will degrade it rapidly. The charts are for conveying a pure form of the substance. I hope this helps.