Multirotors took RC hobby to the new heights. I saw some great videos on internet. People started building big multirotors from the standard size multirotors. But now time has changed. Multirotor lovers moving to smaller size multirotors. Small quadcopters becoming so popular nowadays. They are maneuverable, all most crash resistance, can do FPV and able to fly in tiny spaces. This reason makes them hot favorite FPV platform. I flew my own designed 450 size quad past few years but when i saw some videos of blackout mini H quad i decided to build one for me, however parts to build this mini quad are not easily available and one has to be very careful selecting motor, ESC and battery combo. But i got chance to test and review QK's upcoming small quad "Hunter 260 ARF" kit.
This kit includes all most everything to quickly assemble and fly this mini quad within few hours. When i received package i saw that parts were packed nicely. I was really excited to build and fly this lil bird.
The most important part was frame which is made of indian glass fibre. The frame is sturdy and looks crash resistance. It seems it can withstand crashes easily.
Here are specifications of kit parts.
1. Frame
Center plates are made of 1.5mm fiberglass sheet and arms are made off 2.5mm fiberglass Indian version.
2. Motors
Micro 1804 2400KV Brushless Motor.
This tiny motor comes with prop adapter. They are powerful enough to pull your FPV stuff easily in the air.
3. ESC
10A SimonK ESC
This tiny ESC is simonk preflashed and ready to use for your mini quad. They are light weight and really small to fit in confine space.
4. Battery
QK lipo 1250mAh 25/50C
Battrey is capable to deliver 8-10min no load hover flight time.
5. Props
Props are 3 blades 5x3 inch CW and CCW.
Other things included in the kit are power distribution cable. The power dist. cable has JST to 4 x 2mm bullet connectors. 8 x 2mm bullet connectors set & hardware (screws, nylon standoffs).
Required but not included:
- Tx Rx (6ch recommended)
- Flight control board
- Heat shrink tube, soldering iron and other misc stuff to complete assembly.
Assembly procedure:
Assembly is pretty much straight forward but before you start, gather everything you need at your work place.
First you have to solder everything, where you have to concentrate. Few things you have to always keep in mind while working with RC stuff.
- Always keep your mind cool. Know what you are doing.
- Don't keep doubts in your mind. Be clear with your work.
- When you are dealing with multirotor, there is no second chance to survive so don't keep things for testing and trials. Make every joints firm, make every connection proper and you will have no issues.
So keeping all things in mind first you have to solder 2mm bullet connectors on positive and negative wires of ESCs. To do so put some holes on wooden block and fix bullet connector in it by keeping soldering side(pit) up. Now keep the soldering iron tip touched on the edge of pit and put some drops of soldering flux in it. Now don't move your hand meanwhile keep the tip touched else the flux will dry immediately. Put wire(negative or positive) in the pit and let the flux dry. Ensure proper soldering, repeat process for rest of the ESCs and then use 2mm heat shrink tube for insulation.
Now take 4 motors and fit them on the arms screws to mount motors on the arms are included.
Now it's time to solder esc and motors together. Since both have 20 AWG wires there are less strands so you can directly solder them. First cut same length of shrink tube abd put them in wire one by one and then solder wires carefully. Ensure proper soldering and heat shrinking. Repeat this for rest of the motors.
First test:
Now it's time to run and test ESC and motors. First take two ESCs and connect(Ensure polarity) them to PDC (power distribution cable). Now connect one servo plug to BAT(Ensure polarity) of rx and one plug to channel 3 (throttle). Now power up the setup and check if everything works or not. Check motor rotation. Motors mark with small "R" will move in CCW direction, if not swap 2 of 3 wires of motors to ESC and ensure rotation. Motors mark w/o "R" will move in CW direction if not do the above procedure. Once everything done calibrate your ESC. These 10Amps ESCs are simonk ready, so they have only one function of throttle calibration.
ESC calibration:
1. keep the above setup as it is.
2. move throttle stick to the max.
3. now power up the setup, you will hear beep sound. ESC is in calibration mode.
4. now swiftly move throttle stick to min position. you will hear beep sound confirming that the value is stored.
that's it. do the procedure for rest ESCs.
Now check the hardware. You will see two plastic bags one of them having
6 x 3.5mm nylon standoffs
12 x 6mm long small screws.
Take one center plate as shown in the pic and get 4 x 35mm nylon stanoffs and fit them using given small screws on it
Now it's time to mount FC on the same plate. The plate has standard holes pre drilled for all popular FCs like KK2, Multiwii, OpenPilot etc all you need to do is mount it the way you like. You can use double side tape, nylon standoffs or anything but make sure that mounting is firm there is no play. I am using rubber grommets that i used for all my previous multirotors and it works fine. No issues and no vibrations to FC. I have mounted them using nylon hair rubber, pieces of wires found at local shops. Check below snaps.
Now it's time to mount arms and plates together so this mini bird will take its shape. Check hardware came with the kit. You will see another plastic bag having
12 x 20mm long screws
12 x nuts for screws
12 x nylon washers
now take them start assembling arms to the center plate as shown in the below snaps.
Now take 12 nylon washers and put them on each screws. Route wires as shown in the below snaps and fit the ESCs using cable ties.
Once done connect all four ESCs to the PDC and then put another plate where we mount FC on it and tighten it using given nuts. It should look like this.
You are all most done now take last plate and mount it using screws. Now you will have 4 x 35mm nylon standoffs and 4 x small screw left in the kit which you can mount on the arma as a landing skids. Now plug RX, FC and everything and test it w/o mounting props, calibrate ESCs together with FC by pressing button 1 and 4. It will help motors to spin in sync. If everything works as expected then mount props(ensure props rotation).
Now you are ready for test flight mount battery on the top using battery strap and enjoy flying. You will have lots of fun flying this mini quad "Hunter 260".
Here are some pics of this small quad. I will post detailed review soon.
Here is quick overview video took using stock firmware and stock settings.
To be continued...