LiquidSky

Everyone has an opinion, set of rules, or lofty ideal for this one – please share what  you’ve got!

Kyle Uncategorized

After a bit of a hiatus, the team has started work on the other half of our goals – the aquatic variety.  These goals are laid out in more incremental steps, as electronics and water do not mix favorably!

We will be combining Arduino and Android to have an autonomous “ROV” that will travel to a dive site, submerge, take photographs of wildlife, surface and return. Given the rather substantial undertaking, our rather humble proof of concept is a frame mounted waterproof camera, lights, and bait.  Behold, the madness begins!

Kyle Android, Arduino, Gear, Photography, Robotics & Programming, ROV, Underwater

Aquaether has been so far my main grounds for UAV related matters, including such hardware considerations as FTDI boards, and vehicle stories about the various forms of the Medicine Man glider. As it seems to be for us tinkering folks, these are just the tip of the iceberg of the various hobbies and activities that are related.

On this note, look for the addition of the “Photography” category, and the refinement of the “Robotics” category.

Thanks!
-Kyle

Kyle Uncategorized

Today Canon sold their 40 millionth EOS SLR body. Did you catch that? 40 million – wow!

What that means for us is that it is now safe to assume that photography is one of the most popular hobbies out there. More popularity means more consumer interest, translating to more competition resulting in better products. This is good for any UAV enthusiast, photographically inclined or not. Think about your cellphones these days – my Motorola Droid is a better still camera, video camera, and even a more powerful computer than dedicated devices where not all that many years ago!

Kyle Gear, Photography

If you are applying monokote to a structure with a complicated surface, chances are you will have an uneven application sooner or later. When this happens and one area is not as taught as the others, or even has a bit of “puffyness” in extreme cases, you can tighten it up with an application of heated air. Word to the wise though, if your heat is concentrated in a small area, you are at risk of a spot burning though very quickly. I had a test wing segment that had a bit of sag around the leading edge, so I applied some heat from a butane lighter with excellent results – right up to the point where it melted a dime-sized hole!

Monokote + butane lighter you ask? Surely I should have known better? But ofcourse! That is what experimentation and improvisation is all about.

Kyle Humor, Remote Control Airplanes Balsa Construction, Medicine Man Glider, Monokote

If you are making a balsa wood wing, notice how many wing spars there are. Want to make them all a uniform size and shape? Cut them all out slightly oversized and use a small piece of what will be the wing spar to line them all up together and shape them all at the same time. Or…. search ebay for a CO2 laser CNC machine!

Rough Cut

Smoother Finish

Before & After

Kyle Remote Control Airplanes Balsa Construction, Medicine Man Glider

I installed arduino on a new computer and once again got this error:

avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0×00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0×14, resp=0×51

If you have the old style (1.0) of ardupilot, make sure you are using the board settings for Arduino Diecimilia (Atmega168)

Kyle UAV, Uncategorized ArduPilot, FTDI, SparkFun

My second design decision was to use a foam wing from  a Piper Cub trainer kit. The idea was that foam would absorb more impact force generated from the guaranteed-to-ensue carnage. This wing, however, was designed for powered flight, not gliding.

Aerospace Law 1:
Short Wings = High Speed
That’s why fighters have short wings and Cessna’s have long safe ones

Combine this with previously mentioned factors – more weight and more speed = bigger crashes! Let the fun begin.

Kyle Aerospace, Humor, Remote Control Airplanes, Uncategorized Balsa Construction, Medicine Man Glider, Sailplane

There is a fundamental rule taught in every middle school science class: only change one variable at a time.  I wasn’t in class that day! The Medicine Man is a great glider, but if you are like me – your curiosities sometimes get the better of you.

First off: I built mine at about 150% scale. This does not a negative thing outright, but it does mean that you are dealing with more mass. This brings us to:

Physics Law 1:
Force = Mass * Acceleration
In practice, the ground will bring your plane to a stop in a hurry, and the more plane you have, the more there is to break!

Don’t worry, this is only important in a crash, and I don’t plan on crashing! ….yeaaaaah

Kyle Aerospace, Remote Control Airplanes, UAV, Uncategorized Add new tag, Balsa Construction, Make Magazine, Medicine Man Glider, Monokote, Sailplane

It’s been a bit since I last played with the Arduino board, and when I tried to compile and upload a new sketch, I got this error:

avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0×00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0×14, resp=0×51

If  you too are getting this error, make sure the data connection is good, and that the board is powered on, as the ArduPilot setup does not provide power across the FTDI breakout  / USB connection.

Kyle UAV ArduPilot, FTDI