Update this problem should now resolved.
We’re currently experiencing some problems with the support system. We’re working on a solution. This might cause delays replying to your ticket.
The rest of the website should be unaffected.
Thank you for your understanding.
/David
Kevin_eric on the forums is on a mission; To increase performance and efficiency of his Mini Tricopter. He’s doing this by adding 3D printed ducts around the propellers.
His method goes a little like this; 1. Design/modify ducts 2. Test results 3. Evaluate results 4. Go back to 1.
After making 7 revisions of the 5 inch version, the design generates at least the same amount of extra thrust as the ducts weigh. Which is a very promising results.
To achieve better efficiency and more thrust he’s now moving to a 6 inch propeller setup.
But why on earth does ducts generate more thrust from the same power setup? Mainly 2 reasons. When a propeller spins around the airfoil on the propeller creates lift by generating low pressure on the top of the blade. Nature hating differentials the high pressure air on the bottom wants to flow to the top of the blade and equalise the system. This results in a spiral vortex forming at the tip of the blade which induces drag and ruining lift. By adding a shroud/duct with a very small clearance between the propeller and the duct wall the high pressure on the bottom can’t flow to the top which almost completely kills the vortex at the tip of the blade. The second reason for the additional lift is the lip of the duct. This is designed to have a soft edge that rolls over the and down the outside of the duct. In fact it’s shaped like an airfoil! The air being sucked into the propeller rushes past this aerofoil lip, which generates a low pressure zone just like a wing, which we know generates lift! Pretty clever stuff.
Be sure to check out his work in this thread for the 5″ version and this thread for the 6″ version.
Keep up the great work Eric!
Well that didn’t quite go to plan… Should have put a parachute on it…
It’s not going great so far. But the car keeps coming back for more. I’ve already fixed it and will probably make another attempt during the spring. Thanks Johanna for joining me in the fun.
It’s pretty chocking (haha pun) what a small 4s 1300mah battery can do when it gets shorted out on a piece of metal. Especially bad when that piece of metal is round and is on your finger. Here is a video showing what could happen.
2016 I got to join the Rotor Riot on a trip to Ukraine. The trip was truly amazing. The guys from UADR (Team Ukraine) were the best hosts you could wish for.
We got to go in to the exclusion zone in Chernobyl and visit the ghost town Pripyat that was evacuated during the nuclear melt down.
We had permission to fly wherever we wanted within the town and we all got great footage. It was amazing to explore this place and drink in the history and scale of this disaster.
The UADR also hooked us up with a once in a life time opportunity. To fly around the Antonov 225 and AN 22! The worlds largest jet airplane and the largest propeller aircraft in the world!
Being an airplane nerd this really was crazy. Why the heck would they allow us to fly around this uniq aircrafts? There is literally only 1 in existence! Well it’s built like a tank for sure. They even allowed us to climb on top of of both the 225 and AN 22! And I don’t mean like be careful only step here one at a time thing. Noooo they let everyone that felt like being up there be there at the same time! Probably had 30 people walking around on the top of that plane at one time. Mind blowing.
Easily the best trip I’ve ever been on!
When I got back home it turns out that I lost all footage from inside Pripyat :(. Took me quite a while to get over this (hence why I’m posting now)
Huge thank you to Chad Nowak (FinalGlideAUS) for allowing me to use your follow footage. You should definitely check out his channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/FinalGlideAus
Also big thanks to Chad Kapper for inviting me and being a good friend.
Check out Rotor Riots episodes from the trip:
The fantastic youtuber Andy RC just released this very detailed build and setup video of the baby tricopter running Triflight 0.7 beta 2. As always he puts a crazy amount of effort into his videos. You can follow along step by step and have a great flying copter at the end.
Keep up the great work Andy!
After having to swim after my water plane every other flight I decided to find a solution to the problem. Waterproofing the electronics and using a multirotor ESC configured to work in bi-directional 3D mode. I’m very happy with the way this turned out.
I built this MiniMag waaaay back in 2009. The build log is still on this site. Here is a link.
More to come. Stay tuned.
First day at FliteFest was a blast!
I brought the Bi-copter with me and anyone that wanted to fly it got the controller. It really is great meeting people and flying together.
More pictures and video:
If you’re at FF tellt me down and say hello!
Not sure why I haven’t posted these files before… Thanks to Kevin on the forums for reminding me!
Updated/fixed plans are now avalible
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Tired of your locked in copter that obeys your every wish? Then, boy, do I have something for you! This is the RCExplorer Bicopter. A carbon fiber monster that you have to fly the way it wants to fly. Are you ready for the challange? Read more about this badass looking crazy contraption here.
While visiting FliteFest a couple of weeks back I met up with the Rotor Riot guys and shot an episode on the new Bicopter and good old Baby Tricopter. I wish I had more time to tune the Tricopter before the episode, but I think the episode turned out pretty good. What do you think?
Here is a step by step build/setup video of the RCExplorer Bicopter. I hope you’ll find it useful. Post a comment if you have any questions or if there is something I missed in there.
The Bicopter parts have arrived and the kits will ship out soon!
I made an error with the Bicopter schematic in the build video. Please use this schematic instead to get proper function:
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Seems like the looks of the site is a bit off. We’re working to fix it. The rest of the site works as it should.
We’ve been looking for a more powerful flight controller for a while now. Something with good features like a built-in OSD, soft-mounted gyro, faster processor, good amount of UART’s, enough ADC inputs and enough available pins capable of driving servos.
It’s a pretty tall order, but we did manage to find one; The Kakute F4 V2. It can do both Tricopter and Bicopter with some remapping of pins in betaflight and Jhilin on the forums has already made the first test target for dRonin, an awesome firmware that is showing a lot of potential for both the Tricopter and Bicopter. More info regarding this will be posted soon. So keep an eye out!
Excuse the audio. The stupid lav mic recorder flipped out. It’s really fun to fly.
dRonin has a bunch of cool features like autotune and super simple radio setup. This version of dRonin has Triflight integrated, meaning that we can get a super locked in tail! Check it out in this thread for more info.
A big thanks to the users jihlein and Lauka. The latter is the creator of triflight for betaflight and jihlein the man that integrated it into dRonin + a bunch of other fixes and tricks. Also thanks to Kevin_Eric for the amazing amount of testing and feedback you have given in order to improve the firmware.
