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Time & determination !!

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I’ve just re-edited my 2 videos & added some extra footage “borrowed” from Toad Hall Productions, thanks Kermit.

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Another quality video from Toad Hall Productions.

Sure was a busy day in the air above the Field today.

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Just to set the record straight, I was only on the hard twice, once by accident & once by design, but it was a nice day for a sail & BBQ none the less.

Nice it see IanH & DavidP joining in the BBQ & chat session also.

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No need for fancy names, just need to improve my flying !!

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After our “crashingly good day” on the Almost Queens Birthday Fly-In the 3Dprinter has been working overtime today.

Started out with a new canopy for Hoppy’s S800 Reptile flying wing (lost during flight)

then a new camera plate for the “almost” indestructible Pan/Tilt gimbal for my Raptor

and then a new engine mount & wing joiner for the Raptor as well

All the minor foam repair work is now completed so just need to repair the battery tray & reassemble it all before fixing the PIFF settings in the iNav Flight Controller.

By the time all this rainy weather goes the Raptor FPV should be ready for another iNav maiden test.

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Thanks David, would do the same for a white man !!

Just to let you know your Razor is setup & ready to go along with its very own Buddy Box system.

Just need to make sure you bring the wings & the Prop assembly along if we don’t catch up before we fly again.

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PID (the old AutoPilot Control Loop)

P = Proportional

I = Integral

D = Derivative

PIFF ( the NEW iNav AutoPilot Control Loop)

P = Proportional

I = Integral

FF = Feed Forward

Now to understand how it all works Google it in YouTube

Enough to say I forgot to set it up correctly. Oh well lessons learnt by mistakes stay in the brain a little longer.

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Not a good day at all !!

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Nice one Hoppy, reminds me of the Cloud Surfing days we often had down @ Calverts Lagoon.

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New Slimline Gimbal installed & tested, hopefully all ready to fly.

 

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Seeing as we are now not flying today it will give me time to double check all the alterations to the Raptor before her refit maiden flight.

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I’ve spent the last day or so completely redesigning the 3D printed Pan/Tilt gimbal to significantly reduce its size. The original was over 75mm high from the fuselage of the plane to the top of the camera, my new design is closer to 45mm so a significant reduction.

Still uses 2 x 9gm Turnigy servos (TGY-50090M for tilt and a TGY-RS180MG for Pan) and still gives a bit over 180 deg pan cover and 90 deg tilt so the camera can still look straight ahead or straight down over the side of the fuselage.

This was the original design, works fine but wobbles at speed and strips servos on heavy landings

 

This is the new design which should be a lot more stable

    

 

   

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Tried that, NTSC, PAL & Auto.

Anyway its not a problem, the GroundStation DVR screens were always a bit flakey with 16:9 feeds, I think they were designed in the 4:3 days.

The new recorders that BA & I got for the headsets handle 4:3 & 16:9 without any problems.

I’m clear Monday & Tuesday at this stage if weather is OK but I’m NOT available on Wednesday.

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All the iNav gear is installed & set up in the Raptor. I’ve programmed the Flight Modes to the 6 buttons on the front of the Jumper T16 and all seems to be working OK. Also used the switchable OSD function on one of the radio’s 3 position switches. Think I’ve now used up around 12 of the 16 radio channels available on the SBus connection.

There are a couple of dozen items that can be displayed on the OSD but it will take a few flights to see what is actually needed.

Here is a test video, it’s a bit dark as it was filmed inside and it’s rather wet and miserable again today so not a lot of light.

The OSD, in conjunction with the Mobius Mini works fine when the signal is received on the HawkEye FPV headset but the bottom of the pic gets cut off when recording on the Ground Station.

The RunCam 2 camera is even worse, doesn’t like the OSD overlay much at all.

If I use the SurveilZone FPV camera this does not happen but then I lose the onboard record facility

I may end up running 2 onboard cameras (as I have on the ASW28), one for FPV and the other just for in air record.

For the time being the Mini Mobius will do just fine.

Just designing & printing a new low profile Pan/Tilt gimbal to hopefully fit much lower onto the plane nose but still be able to tilt over the side and look straight down as well as forward etc.

Something else to keep me occupied till all this crap weather blows over!!

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