Final Setups Before First Flight

Ok, we are almost ready to fly!!!   But first, we need to perform a number of setup activities to make sure our first flight is as successful as possible.

Assuming you have bound your receiver to your transmitter and have all the Quad components mounted and wired (in previous posts), it is time to do the initial configuration and setup of the KK2 board and it communication with your transmitter (via your receiver).

Here is a simple checklist of the various actions that need to be accomplished.  The order given is the order I used, yours may vary.

All of the following MUST BE DONE WITH PROPS OFF MOTORS

• Turn on receiver (make sure throttle is at zero) and then plug in battery leads to Quad
• Check that KK2 Board lights up and says "SAFE" at top
• Go to "Load Motor Layout" and load Quadcopter X (for X configuration)
• Go to "Receiver Test" and make sure all sticks are moving in correct direction (reverse if not)
• Use Sub-Trims in transmitter to set stick values to zero, as represented on Receiver Test screen
• Unplug battery and turn off transmitter
• Now we need to calibrate the ESCs - there is no longer a menu item on the KK2 Board for this
• It is easier if you get someone to help with this - BE SURE PROPS ARE OFF Motors
• Turn on transmitter then move throttle to max
• While holding down buttons 1 and 4 of KK2 have helper plug in battery
• After you hear beeps, reduce throttle to zero and listen for additional beeps
• Release buttons 1 and 4 and unplug battery and turn off transmitter
• Turn on transmitter (throttle at zero) and plug in battery
• KK2 should be in SAFE mode
• Move throttle/rudder stick on transmitter to bottom right and hold until KK2 beeps "ARMED"
• Slowly increase throttles (PROPS MUST BE OFF) and make sure each motor is turning in correct direction (refer to View Motor Layout screen in KK2 Menu if unsure of correct direction). Swap any two of the three motor leads if motor is turning in the wrong direction
• Make sure each motor starts turning at the same time as the others - if not see video
• Move throttle/rudder to bottom left and hold until KK2 beeps SAFE
• Place Quad on flat, level surface (use bubble level to confirm) and perform ACC Calibration in KK2
• Disconnect Battery and turn off transmitter.
• If all these steps were successful your KK2 board should be OK and is ready to be flashed with upgraded firmware - you should flash first because if board is defective return will be difficult if board has been flashed.

He is a great video from Frank that shows the above steps.  Frank used a slightly older version of the KK2 firmware so some of the menu text will be slightly different than yours.

Once you are sure you have a good KK2 board you will need to upgrade the firmware of the board, this is sometimes called "Flashing" the firmware.  The KK2 boards are delivered with version 1.2 firmware which does not have a functioning Self Level feature.  You don't want to fly with this version.  So you will need to Flash the new version (v1.6).

You will need the USBasp AVR Programmer for Atmel from Hobby King.  I ordered this when I placed my original parts order.

Once you have successfully updated the firmware you need to redo the previous setup, as the firmware upgrade wipes out all previous setting THIS  IS IMPORTANT - IF YOU DON'T GO THRU THE SETUP STEPS AFTER FLASHING, YOU WILL CRASH

Here is another great video from eluminerRC on flashing the KK2 board.  He is upgrading to version 1.5, which was the most current when he created his video, but version 1.6 is now available and should be used instead.

Before you perform the upgrade you must remove all the connections to the KK2 from the receiver and the ESCs (leave the beeper connected) - be sure to label them with a little piece of tape to make reconnection easier.  Failure to do this could damage the KK2 Board.

When the upgrade is successful and you have reattached all the connections from the KK2 to the receiver and the ESCs, you will need to redo the steps at the top of this post.  The upgrade has wiped out all previous entries to the KK2 so you will likely crash, since you will have an incorrect motor layout and other incorrect values. if you don't reset them.

Once you have completed all the above steps you will be ready to fly.

Next Post: Gonna Fly Now... 

Almost Done - Mounting the Remaining Stuff

Just a bit of recap. 

I have tested all the equipment as it arrived and reordered a few items.

I built a static thrust test bench to use in the testing process, which is what prompted me to order new, higher capacity ESCs.

I had to chop off the shafts on the NTM 28-26 1200KV motors because I somehow managed to order the "normal" shaft version, rather than the "short shaft" version from Hobby King.

I mounted the motors on the frame arms and connected the arms to the body and mounted the ESCs to the arms and wired them by soldering on connectors to the motor side and direct soldering the power leads to the power distribution board.

So, we have motors and ESCs and wires and all that good stuff...   now we need a brain.  Well, I could probably use a new one too, but I meant for the Quad.  So it is time to mount the KK2 board.

The KK2 Flight Control Board, from Hobby King can be mounted a number of different ways. I chose to mount it on standoff because I just like the way it looks.  It is important that when you mount the board on standoffs that all the hardware be non-conductive.  So that is why I ordered nylon standoffs and screws when I ordered the other components.

I mounted the KK2 board on the top body board of the SK 450 frame.  That board is mounted to the board below it (the power distribution board) with standoffs also.  Unfortunately I followed what I thought was the obvious mounting sequence.  First mount the top body board, then the standoffs for the KK2 board and then mount the KK2 board on the standoff with the nylon screws.

Unfortunately that doesn't work very well since once you mount the top body board you can't easily attach the bottom standoff screws and even more critical - if you could you wouldn't be able to position the standoffs to match up with the KK2 holes.

So, the modified process was: remove the top body board.  Then mount the KK2 board to the nylon standoffs.  Then, and only then, mount the nylon standoff to the top board. Then it is easy to remount the top body board to the rest of the frame.  Easy Peasy, as our British friends say.

All that is left to do is run the servo wires from the ESC up to the KK2 board and plug them in.  Be sure, when you plug them in use the following order: Front Left motor to plug #1, Right Front to #2, Right Rear motor to #3 and Left Rear Motor to #4.  When plugging the servos leads to the KK2 Board the Ground/Negative/Black or Dark Brown wire should be toward the edge of the board. The Signal wire should be nearest the Display.

You next need to wire up the receiver. I am using an OrangeRX 610 receiver from Hobby King.  I used five 10cm male-to-male servo extensions to connect the receiver to the KK2 Board.  The same orientation applies here - Ground wire toward the nearest outside edge of the KK2 Board and the Signal wire closest to the Display.

When you get all that done, it should look something like this:

Here are a few more photos of the completed Quadcopter:

You will notice I added a battery strap and the battery, attached to the bottom body board.  I had hoped that one battery strap would be sufficient.  It turns our I actually needed two, on going the length of the battery and a second going across the middle.  With both of them, the battery is very secure.

So the Quadcopter construction is complete. There are still a number of setup and configuration steps needed but everything is pretty much together.  When I started the project I had estimated that the entire Quadcopter would have a flying weight (called AUW or All Up Weight) of 1,000 grams.
So, it is time for a weigh-in to see how close my estimate actually was.
Drum roll.......

Ta Da.....

And yes, the box was removed from the weight using the "Tare" function of the scale.

Next Post: Setup and Configuration

"Arming" the Quadcopter

Now that the motors are mounted on the SK450 Quad Frame arms it is time to connect the arms to the body and also mount the ESCs in their final resting place.

As mentioned in a previous post, I purchased an optional Power Distribution Board (PDB) from Hobby King that replaces the middle support board in the body of the quad.  The Distribution Board provides an easy to connect mounting point for the main power lead (which connects to the battery) and the positive (red) and negative (black) power leads from each of the ESCs.  The battery lead is soldered on the bottom of the Power Distribution Board and the ESC leads solder on to the top.
Each of the four arms attach to the Power Distribution Board with four screws.

Once the four arms are attached to the top Power Distribution Board (PDB), I then mounted 4 nylon spacers to the top of the PDB which will be used to mount the top SK450 body board. 

With the basic structure of the Quad set, it is time to mount the ESCs to each of the four arms.  I decided to mount the ESCs on the top of the arms.  They could also have been mounted on the bottom of the arm, but I assumed they would be better protected on the top.

 

 With the ESC safely "zip tied" to the arm the power wires then need to be soldered to the + and - pads on the PDB. Because I chose to mount the ESCs on the top of the arms, the wires need to be reversed to connect to the appropriate pad.

I used a Kester Flux Pen to put some liquid flux on each of the pads before I tinned the pad, prior to solder the ESC wires.

Once the ESC connections were made I then mounted the bottom body board below the PDB.  Each of the arms has a built in spacer to provide the spacing between the PDB and the bottom board. The bottom board is where the battery gets attached.  I mounted bottom board with two screws (with the ever popular threadlock) on the bottom of each arm.

Once again I am including two fantastic videos from eluminerRC - he mounts his ESC with connectors on the power leads, but the process is similar:

Now we are making some progress and this mass of parts is starting to finally look like a Quadcopter. All that is left to do is mount the KK2 board and wire it to the ESCs and receiver.


Next Post: Mounting the KK2 Board

Let the Games Begin... Starting Actual Contruction of the Quadcopter

The moment has arrived.  All the ordering and waiting, and testing and ordering and waiting and more testing is finally behind me.  Now is the time to start the actual construction of the Quad.

First step: Mounting the motors

The for NTM 28-26 1200kv motors had been tested (previous post).  I also needed to cut the existing prop shaft that protrudes from the bottom of each motor (another previous post) so that the motor would fit onto the frame.  With these preparation tasks completed I am now ready to perform the final preparation step.  Each motor requires a prop adaptor be permanently mounted onto the top of the motor.  You can see the machine prop adapters sitting below the 3 motor in the photo (above).  These adaptors are mounted using three tiny metric screws.  A 2.0mm allen head driver is required to turn these tiny screws.

It is a little hard to see in the photo above, but this screw has a small drop of medium strength (blue colored) threadlock liquid.  Each screw, in the entire Quad, that screws into metal must have a drop of threadlock before screwing it in.  The threadlock (one brand is called "LockTite") keeps the screw from loosening due to vibration but will allow the screw to be removed if needed later.  Don't forget to do this important step.  Do not use the threadlock on any screws that screw into plastic.

Above are three of the motors with the prop adapters attached and ready to mount on the Quad arms.

The motors mount with small screws, that came with the prop adaptor kit for the motor, to a motor mounting ring, which is supplied with the frame.  The ring then mounts onto the actual frame arm.

While it is difficult to see in the photo above, the inner set of four holes are not exactly the same.  Two of the center mounting holes are slightly further away from the larger center hole, than the other two mounting holes.  The motors have a similar arrangement, so it is important to rotate the ring until the holes match the holes in the motor exactly.

Put in the four screw (with a drop of threadlock on each) and tighten in a crossing pattern.

Below is a picture of of a motor with the ring attached.

Next step is to mount the motor and ring onto the actual Quad arm.  The motor needs to be positioned so the holes line up and the wires are pointed in the direction of the center of the Quad.  Again each screw needs a drop of threadlock.

The final step in the motor mounting is to screw the landing gear leg onto the arm, below the motor.  The landing gear is mounted with two screws with a drop of threadlock on each screw.

Here is the green one.  I am not sure if I mentioned earlier that my Quad will have two white arms and two green arms.  This is to help determining orientation in the air.  The green are will be the front of the Quadcopter.  I order the green arms separately, they didn't come with the frame kit.

I had to repeat the motor mounting steps four times, one for each arm.  I took me longer to type all of this than it actually took to perform the steps.

Here is a short Youtube video from eluminerRC showing the steps:

Next Post: Mounting the arms to the body and mounting the ESCs to the arms.

Whoo Hooo !!! The Parts are Finally All Here

The mailman finally delivered the last of the parts (the replacement Plush 30 ESCs) I was waiting for.  It took the expected 2 weeks to arrive, although it always seems a lot longer.

Before I began the contruction of the Quad I wanted to be sure the new ESCs were all functioning properly.  The best way to do that was to use the Thrust Test Bench (see previous posts).
I mounted each of the ESCs and ran up the throttle to make sure each ESC would work and give me the full speed control range.  I also checked to make sure that the ESC didn't get warm.
One thing I confirmed was that my decision to use a terminal strip on the Thrust Bench was a great idea.  I was able to connect up each of the ESCs in seconds and didn't have to solder on any connectors to do the test. Just takes a small screwdriver.  Great time saver.  I purchased the terminal strips at Radio Shack.

Here is a picture of the terminal strip with an ESC mounted:

After I determined the ESC was functioning properly, while still connected to the Test Bench, I disconnected the servo lead from the Throttle control (servo tester) and plugged it into the Turnigy ESC programmer.  I then configured the ESC to the appropriate settings for multicopter use.

For use in a multicopter you want to change the battery type to Ni-XX.  This may seem strange, since you will be using a LiPo, but by changing the battery type to NI-XX you turn off the Low Voltage Cutoff (LVC) function.  If you were using the ESC in an airplane you would want the LVC on to protect you from over discharging your battery - but in a multicopter, if the LVC kicks in your Quad will crash.  So it is a trade off between killing your battery or your Quad.

In the case of the Plush series of ESC, for multicopter use, you also want to set the Timing Mode setting to High (the default is low).  This setting allows the ESC to respond faster to speed change requests from the flight control board.  Makes for a more responsive flight.

Here is a shot of the ESC programmer with the final settings:

Once I had all the ESCs tested and configured it was time to solder on some connectors.
The Plush ESCs come with no 3.5mm bullet connectors so you need to order those, which I did.
Since I will be connecting the "power side" red and black wires directly to the power distribution board by soldering, I didn't don't need connectors for that end.  But I do need 3 female 3.5mm bullet connectors for the "motor side" wires.  You also need some small heat shrink tube to cover the connector once the connector is soldered on.

Here are a few photos of that process - I used my new Weller WES51 Soldering Station:

First you cut the wires to the appropriate length and strip off some of the insulation (I use wirestrippers for that).

 

 

Then tin the exposed wire with solder

 

solder on the bullet connectors (tin the connectors first)

 

Put on the heat shrink tubing and heat it to shrink (I used a heat gun)

The four Plush 30 ESCs ready for installation.

Next post:  Mounting the motors.