Son of FrankenSolo

mike_kelly · Apr 2, 2019

A DIY Solo hybrid conversion using a Solo motherboard and a custom alien style frame. Using a STorM32NT based gimbal with Ricoh GR camera and full Solo Smartshots.
Controlled with the Solo controller and Solex on a 10" Asus tablet.

CANbus Quadcopter using UC4H : Son of FrankenSolo

All good things come to and end and so it is with the Son of FrankenSolo. What a fun project. I built a gimbal for this project using OlliW’s STorM32NT gimbal controller. OlliW has provided excellent compatibility with Ardupilot and your choice of connection methods. You can use PWM, Sbus...

discuss.ardupilot.org

jimloss · Apr 2, 2019

WOW!
Thanks for sharing Mike. Great write-up.
Once airborne, please share pictures of it in flight and a few picture from the camera.
Also wondering what the flight time will be - similar to FrankenSolo?

mike_kelly · Apr 2, 2019

jimloss said:
WOW!
Thanks for sharing Mike. Great write-up.
Once airborne, please share pictures of it in flight and a few picture from the camera.
Also wondering what the flight time will be - similar to FrankenSolo?

I was hoping for 30 minutes but like my waistline over christmas things got heavier as I went along. The gimbal was heavier than the carbon one I started with and the legs are heavier because they turned out to be fiberglass with carbon paint. But I like them so what can I do. IF I am lucky I will get 20 minutes according to eCalc.

makatanav · Apr 4, 2019

Great project ?, I`m also using Ricoh GR on 3DR - thats was my mine concern, to get better areal imageing quality.
Whats your overal flight time with one battery?
Also interested on your shutter speed for 3DR to get steady shot.

mike_kelly · Apr 4, 2019

I'll have to wait until some snow melts to find out.

mike_kelly · Apr 8, 2019

UC4H: Son of FrankenSolo Maiden
I got a chance to maiden the Son of FrankenSolo in between rain storms this afternoon. Yes OlliW I removed the gimbal

All I can say is WOW. It was so smooth with no tuning at all. Very precise control. No jumping around. Unfortunately I had a "Bad Loggin" problem which looks like an on-going problem with Arducopter. I turned down the logging and the log buffer on the IO heartbeat and BAD logging errors are gone. But I will have to do my basic test again to get logs to check the vibs and battery usage trends. I can't wait to take it up with the gimbal.