3DR Build

[CPK]

Anyone have experience with soldering and building quads? I'm working
on the software side and dont have the time or capabilities to build
the quad....

[Sci fly]

Where are you located?

If you own the quad you may  want to learn how the hardware goes together so you can fix it if and when it needs fixing, or be part of a team.

Cheers,

[Chris Kvamme]

I've been through the process of putting everything together and bought the parts individually, it's the soldering that's been tough...

I work in mountain view and live in Menlo Park. I'd be willing to team up with someone with hardware experience as I'm focusing on software (object tracking/following and gesture based control) if anyone is interested?

[John Smith]

I am pretty knowledgeable on the soldering. I used to be NASA certified in that. I guess the questions are what are you trying to get soldered? How small are the pads or connections in question? Are we talking SMT size stuff or regular point to point soldering?

John M. Smith

Cell 408-832-1195

www.EVUAS.com
Visit our website to see the latest Hobby FPV / UAV plane soon the hit the market.

--

[Mark Harrison]

On 5/31/12 5:30 PM, Chris Kvamme wrote:
> I've been through the process of putting everything together and bought the parts individually, it's the soldering that's been tough...
>
> I work in mountain view and live in Menlo Park. I'd be willing to team up with someone with hardware experience as I'm focusing on software (object tracking/following and gesture based control) if anyone is interested?

Yah, that's the tricky part. It looks like it's only the ESCs and
Power Distribution board that needs to be soldered, is that right?

Here's an alternative PD scheme that doesn't need soldering:

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2011/03/update-wago-connector-for-power.html

It's been working well enough for me that I haven't bothered swapping it
out yet. I can get the parts for you if you need it, I had to buy a
box of them from a guy on ebay. :-)

So you could go that route until you figure out the soldering angle
(at this stage of quad development, still probably a bit of a
necessary skill).

If the ESC and PDU are the only pieces that need soldering, you might
be able to find somebody at the techshop that could help you out,
conveniently in Menlo Park: http://www.techshop.ws

about soldering:

- I was a total soldering n00b when I started, and it doesn't take
a lot of practice to get an acceptable level of skill.

- get a good soldering iron. almost all beginner grief is from an
iron that is too low powered.

battery hint:

If you get wired with an XT-60 battery connector

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__10254__XT60_Male_w_12AWG_Silicon_Wire_10cm_5pcs_bag_.html

you can conveniently use hobbyking batteries without having to resolder connectors.
It's not very interesting to learn your soldering skills on live electrical
circuits!

HTH,
Mark

[Jason Short]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NU2ruzyc4&feature=related

This is in my opinion the best soldering tutorial out there. Watch this once or twice and you'll be a pro in no time with a little practice.

Jason

[Andreas M. Antonopoulos]

Chris,

I'm in SF and working on the Ardupilot software. I also have built
several of the board kits, customized them and build the accessories.
I can help if you like and show you how to get excellent soldering
results (tools + skills).

On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 5:30 PM, Chris Kvamme <cpkv...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Andreas M. Antonopoulos]

By the way, for general information: Soldering quality is at least 80%
dependent on the tool. It takes a lot more skill to get good results
with a bad iron and it is almost trivial to good decent results with
very little skill with a good iron.

[Christopher Kvamme]

Yes it's the SMT stuff that's tough. I'll watch that video and see what I can do. Are there any meet ups or plans to meet up in the near future? If not, I think we should get a HomeBrew robotics club going (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrew_Computer_Club). Meeting up and open sourcing all of our ideas and skills would be very beneficial for all of us.

 

CK

[Gary Stofer]

I'm all up for a home brew robotics club -- Can we do it in the east bay ?

 

G

[Christopher Kvamme]

I think after we have a group of people signed up to come we should choose a centralized location. Or we could have meetings at the Dutch Goose in Menlo 

Park (the original HomeBrew guys met at the Oasis on El Camino, but I prefer deviled eggs, burgers and brews at the Goose). 

 

Chris Kvamme

Sent with Sparrow

[Ari Krupnik]

Remember how people used to have Linux installfests? I want that for
Ardupilot.

Ari.

On 6/1/12 11:27 AM, Christopher Kvamme wrote:

> I think after we have a group of people signed up to come we should
> choose a centralized location. Or we could have meetings at the Dutch
> Goose in Menlo
> Park (the original HomeBrew guys met at the Oasis on El Camino, but I
> prefer deviled eggs, burgers and brews at the Goose).
>
>
> Chris Kvamme

> Sent with Sparrow <http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig>

>
> On Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:34 AM, Gary Stofer wrote:
>
>> I'm all up for a home brew robotics club -- Can we do it in the east bay ?
>> G
>>

>> *From:* Christopher Kvamme <mailto:cpkv...@gmail.com>
>> *Sent:* Friday, June 01, 2012 9:04 AM
>> *To:* bay-area-...@googlegroups.com
>> <mailto:bay-area-...@googlegroups.com>
>> *Subject:* Re: 3DR Build

[John Smith]

Especially when there is a Rocket involved somehow...Eh Ari??

John

On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 12:08 PM, Ari Krupnik <ari.k...@hackerdojo.com> wrote:

Remember how people used to have Linux installfests? I want that for Ardupilot.

Ari.

On 6/1/12 11:27 AM, Christopher Kvamme wrote:

I think after we have a group of people signed up to come we should
choose a centralized location. Or we could have meetings at the Dutch
Goose in Menlo
Park (the original HomeBrew guys met at the Oasis on El Camino, but I
prefer deviled eggs, burgers and brews at the Goose).


Chris Kvamme

Sent with Sparrow <http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig>

On Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:34 AM, Gary Stofer wrote:

I'm all up for a home brew robotics club -- Can we do it in the east bay ?
G

*From:* Christopher Kvamme <mailto:cpkv...@gmail.com>
*Sent:* Friday, June 01, 2012 9:04 AM

*To:* bay-area-uav-fliers@googlegroups.com
<mailto:bay-area-uav-fliers@googlegroups.com>

--
John M. Smith
SmArt Semi Inc.

575 Emory St.

San Jose, CA.  95110

www.smartsemiinc.com
Cell 408-832-1195

[Christopher Kvamme]

An installfest like meeting would be great. Anyone already have any modifications, improvements, ideas for APM?

 

CK

[KM6VV]

Hi, Alan from HBRobotics club. I'm working on a RoboMagellan, and I'm
considering using an APM for the navigation. APMRover2. I initially
considered building a quadcopter, but got a real hobby heli for
starters. It might get and APM, after I learn to fly it!

Are you holding any meetings in the area?

If you're going to bring up APM boards, I'd be interested. I already
have a Sparkfun 9DOF IMU and I was thinking about porting the APMRover2
code over to an ArduinoMega board and my IMU and GPS. Anything doing
anything similar?

Alan KM6VV

On 6/1/2012 4:01 PM, Christopher Kvamme wrote:
> An installfest like meeting would be great. Anyone already have any
> modifications, improvements, ideas for APM?
>
>
> CK
>
> On Friday, June 1, 2012 at 12:10 PM, John Smith wrote:
>
>> Especially when there is a Rocket involved somehow...Eh Ari??
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 12:08 PM, Ari Krupnik
>> <ari.k...@hackerdojo.com <mailto:ari.k...@hackerdojo.com>> wrote:
>>> Remember how people used to have Linux installfests? I want that for
>>> Ardupilot.
>>>
>>> Ari.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 6/1/12 11:27 AM, Christopher Kvamme wrote:
>>>
>>>> I think after we have a group of people signed up to come we should
>>>> choose a centralized location. Or we could have meetings at the Dutch
>>>> Goose in Menlo
>>>> Park (the original HomeBrew guys met at the Oasis on El Camino, but I
>>>> prefer deviled eggs, burgers and brews at the Goose).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Chris Kvamme

>>>> Sent with Sparrow <http://www.sparrowmailapp.__com/?sig

>>>> <http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Friday, June 1, 2012 at 9:34 AM, Gary Stofer wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm all up for a home brew robotics club -- Can we do it in the
>>>>> east bay ?
>>>>> G
>>>>>

>>>>> Yes it's the SMT stuff that's tough. I'll watch that video and see
>>>>> what I can do. Are there any meet ups or plans to meet up in the near
>>>>> future? If not, I think we should get a HomeBrew robotics club going

>>>>> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/__Homebrew_Computer_Club
>>>>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrew_Computer_Club>). Meeting up and

>>>>> open sourcing all of our ideas and skills would be very beneficial for
>>>>> all of us.
>>>>>
>>>>> CK
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thursday, May 31, 2012 at 8:31 PM, Andreas M. Antonopoulos wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> By the way, for general information: Soldering quality is at least 80%
>>>>>> dependent on the tool. It takes a lot more skill to get good results
>>>>>> with a bad iron and it is almost trivial to good decent results with
>>>>>> very little skill with a good iron.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>

[Andreas M. Antonopoulos]

BTW, I'm a member of TechShop. I usually work at TechShop SF, where I
did a quad build demo for the open house yesterday. I am planning a
TechShop quad workshop (initially educational, then hands-on build).

Can do one at TechShop Menlo Park too, at some point

Any other TechShop members here?

[Jason Short]

I am considering joining. Worth it?
Jason

[Andreas M. Antonopoulos]

I think so. Chris is a big fan too. The SF one is much better (sorry
Menlo and SJ), but you get access to all of them.

You can get a comprehensive tour, which will show you all the tools
(about 30-45 min). Worth doing.

I use the space as a workshop, use the laser cutters a lot, plan on
using the vacuum former and other tools too. Here's a list of the
tools I used to build my quad (this is from the open house poster):

Construction Materials:

- Aluminum (arms)
- Wood, 1/8 crafts plywood
- Nylon screws, standoffs and ties
- Open source hardware (electronics based on Arduino)
- Open source software (multi-vehicle autopilot - ArduPilotMega)

TechShop equipment used:
- Design and conception in AutoCAD Inventor
- Sheet metal prototyping using:
- Shears, to cut metal sheets
- Turret Punch for hole punching
- Finger Break for bending/folding
- Hydraulic Shears for precision cuts
- Corner notcher
- Drill Press for precision holes (copter arms, legs, body)
- TIG welder for aluminum and steel precision welds
- Precision digital calipers for parts replication
- Wood prototyping and fabrication:
- Table Saw with assistance of DreamCoach
- Epilog Laser 45W for prototyping single pieces on cardboard and acrylic
- Epilog 60W for precision cuts on dense particleboard
- Epilog 45W for finished production of parts in large sheets
- Electronics Lab
- Board assembly, soldering
- Weber precision soldering stations w temp control
- Electronics testing and validation:
- Multimeter
- Wave generator
- Oscilloscope
- Heat gun for shrink tubing insulation
- Tools: Wire Cutter, Wire Stripper, Crimper, third hand, vise,
magnifier-light.
- Hand Tools
- All of: Drills, Saws, Clamps, Tape Measure, Rulers, Hammers,
Metal files, Level, Wrenches, Screwdrivers, Pliers etc.
- Workshop Area
Table top fabrication, assembly and planning. Table-top testing
and tethered flight test.
- TechShop Members/Staff
Most important: Endless inspiration, motivation, ideas,
encouragement and a fascinating non-stop learning environment because
of all the other members and their projects.

Further Plans and TechShop tools:
- Vacuum Former for canopy/camera turret
- ShopBot for propeller guard
- ShopBot for glass fiber parts
- FlowJet for aluminum cut parts
- Electronics Lab - Re-flowing/Solder stencils for SMU electronics
- Thing-o-matic for small additional parts and prototyping
- Sewing machine for nylon recovery parachute
- Lots more AutoCAD
- Lots more classes

[Jason Short]

I'm actually a trained model maker (wood and metal shop) from my industrial design days. Will I need to retrain on all the machines or can I get checked out and skip it?
Jason

[Andreas M. Antonopoulos]

The insurance company requires anyone using a machine to have taken
the "Safety and Basic Use" (SBU) class, no way around that.

But you also learn the particulars of their machines (not just
particulars of the model/brand, but also the quirks of the specific
unit in the specific shop), so it is worth doing. I took 3 classes to
use the list of tools above (Sheetmetal SBU, Laser SBU and TIG Welding
SBU). Two of those were free as part of my initial sign up, a deal
they offer if you do a tour ;-)

Make an instructible with TechShop tools and you get a free class too.

Teach a class, you get a free class.

So, if you are skilled and want to be part of the community, you can
do find ways to save on classroom fees and once you pass 3-4 classes
you can use most of the stuff.

[Al Jigong Billings]

 I'd suggest that people could meet at Ace Monster Toys (http://www.acemonstertoys.org), which is the hackerspace in north Oakland. We have 1,600 sq feet of space and half of that is our main room upstairs, where we meet, do electronics.

Al

[Christopher Kvamme]

I'll be hacking a parrot drone sometime next week. Also want to customize a body and maybe frame, Andreas / Jason- would either of you want to put together some designs and hit the SF tech shop? I used to be a member at the Menlo TechShop so I can probably skip doing the classes again…

CK

[Lucas Hundley]

I'm a techshop member here in San Francisco and do design work for a
living. I might be interested. Keep in touch/send out some pics of
what you're thinking of. The techshop in Menlo Park has a 3D printing
service that's cheaper than most, and delivers some nice material.
It's acrylic, but not the typical method, it's cintered with a laser,
and the layers are quite fine.


Lucas