I am building another 3" quad

[theGreenOrange]

I am going on vacation but I ordered some stuff from China to build a new 3". This time I will be stepping up to 1306 4000kv motors, 18A 4in1 20mm ESC, Raceflight millivolt FC.

For the frame, I am still deciding between the two new tomoquads frames. The Predator X SE (Stretched X!) and the XBL2. Both look awesome, I may just order both. I love the Predator and want to try a stretched X, but the XBL2 probably would help me stop breaking so many Cam/VTXs.

 

[VirtueViolater]

I REALLY like the stretch. They make some awesome frames

 

[theGreenOrange]

Well, I went with the Predator X SE. I got some Emax 1306 4000kv motors. Probably will use a micro swift on it. This one's gonna be a red, white and blue theme.

 

[Jtrjr]

Can't wait to see the thing fly!

Jerry

 

[theGreenOrange]

The Tomoquads Predator X SE frame is in. Much thicker than my Predator X v1. Looks awesome, now where are my other parts I ordered more than 2 weeks ago? Supposed to be 5-8 business days shipping from Banggood.

 

[theGreenOrange]

I did a quick wet sanding and sealed the edges with CA glue. Also did a mock-up of the heat shrink, which will do 3 things for me. Look cool, soft mount the motors a bit, and let me route motor wires under the arms safely. The two outer pieces of heat shrink will be red to resemble stripes on the flag, while the inner longer section will be blue.

Some other stuff came in the mail, Runcam Swift Micro and Pulse 650mAh 4S 75C batteries.

 

[theGreenOrange]

Expecting the motors and ESC today, finally! Got the receiver de-pinned and made up a little wire harness for it in an American Flag theme.

 

[theGreenOrange]

Well I can't wire them under the arms. The motor wires are too short and fat to go that route. I guess I will sleeve them on top of the arms kinda like this picture, but in some combo of red, white and blue.

 

[theGreenOrange]

Can't do anything else until Sunday really. My shrink wrap and sleeving is coming in, along with some M2 nylon hardware and O-rings. Turns out my 4in1 ESC has M2 mounting holes and I didn't have any nylon M2 stuff. Praise the quad gods for Amazon Sunday delivery. I just ordered the last batch about an hour ago.

 

[theGreenOrange]

The sleeving I ordered on amazon isn't so great. I got new stuff on the way from wirecare.com but now won't be able to do much of anything until Wednesday or Thursday. I have everything planned now though. Also got the receiver finished up except shrinking the antenna to a zip tie once installed.

 

[Jtrjr]

Green,

Boy, you go all out, don't you? Should be one clean looking quad!

Jerry

 

[theGreenOrange]

It's a but nerve racking waiting on parts, but I want to do a concours level build on this one. I think I have the sleeving planned out now, just waiting on the delivery of the right colors. These are some of the off color prototypes I did, along with some of the power wiring.

 

[theGreenOrange]

Also went ahead and started on the ESC signal wires. They solder to the uderside of the FC and plug into the ESC with a connector, which works out nicely together.

 

[Speeder]

Hi Green,

Boy you sure are a great builder. You understand everything that goes into it and you throw color combo's and cool wiring protection in as well. Just wondering why you choose birds that are so small? Must be flight time...yes? I really appreciate all the photos and descriptions,thought processes and strategies that you post. I am waiting on all the parts for my FIRST build.YES MY FIRST BUILD! The frame is the ANOMALLY STRYDER for connex. If you see a large puff of smoke to the north don't worry its just me smoking electronics

Great stuff green
Keith​

 

[theGreenOrange]

Hi Green,

Boy you sure are a great builder. You understand everything that goes into it and you throw color combo's and cool wiring protection in as well. Just wondering why you choose birds that are so small? Must be flight time...yes? I really appreciate all the photos and descriptions,thought processes and strategies that you post. I am waiting on all the parts for my FIRST build.YES MY FIRST BUILD! The frame is the ANOMALLY STRYDER for connex. If you see a large puff of smoke to the north don't worry its just me smoking electronics

Great stuff green
Keith​

Hey, thanks Keith. I am surprised that I like these little guys so much too. Basically, I am building another 3" because I have barely touched my 230mm 5" since I built my first 3" Predatior X. I didn't think it would go that way, but here I am. So how did this happen to me?

1. The power to weight ratio is incredible. My first 3" came in at 6:1 power to weight on 3S. Hoping to beat that with the new build on 4S.

2. The batteries are cheaper. The Pulse ones I get can charge at 5C. I can charge 5 packs in 20 min.

3. It's easier to find a place to fly. This is a biggie. Means I can just walk out back and fly.

4. It is much quieter to fly. Nobody will even know, much less complain about backyard flying.

5. It is less intimidating and nerve racking to fly. I'm not worried about damaging property or injuring someone.

I'm sure there are more benefits but those are the main ones for me. Although you probably could get long flight times with a bigger battery, I am going for ultra fast performance on this one. My old 3S predator gets 3-5 minutes flight time depending on how hard you fly it.

 

[Speeder]

HI Green,
Do those little birds have video vibration problems due to the small frame size and the lack of vibration disapation?

Keith

 

[theGreenOrange]

HI Green,
Do those little birds have video vibration problems due to the small frame size and the lack of vibration disapation?

Keith

They can if you don't accomodate for it. My first 3" has some video noise issues (not jello) probably because of this. On this new one I will be soft mounting the motors, FC and ESC. Not sure if I can soft mount the camera like I did on my v1 since it mounts completely different. Will have runcam swift micro in the new one, old one is an eachine micro AIO cam/vtx.

 

[Speeder]

Thanks Green,
Keep me in the loop...I would love to see some footage.

Keith

 

[theGreenOrange]

My wire management came in. Basically a waste of time. I didn't like the color of the new red sleeving at all. And I didn't want to do only blue sleeving. So basically I have ditched the sleeving idea altogether and have rewired the motors in hopes of achieving a very minimalist but colorful build. First motor came out pretty good.

 

[theGreenOrange]

Got a little more done today.