Starting this thread a little early because the landing gear came together like a miracle

After having an hour and a half conversation with Garrock last night this is finally gonna happen...

Garrocks Wheel Mod... Meets ...1000mw Boost... Meets ...DBS Nexus 7 Heli-Pad Mod

So as the idea was talked out we had discussed a belly mount wheel because it just makes sense to me... A lot of my long range flights need to be at a decent altitude to avoid multipath interference ... So the antenna just makes sense on the bottom to avoid interference from props and motors and ESC's and wiring etc... (I'm always looking up at the drone... The antenna should be looking down at me)

This lead to some brainstorming this morning on my part to come up with some landing gear (lets call it launching gear cuzz I don't land anyway) that would allow me to drop the wheel antenna down below the PC boards and still be able to set the drone down and flat trim and launch... They needed to give me over an inch of clearance and be as lightweight as possible...

I was walking past my stack of indoor and outdoor hulls that never get used anymore and I seen it...

That piece looks like a leg






So some razorblading and some hot glueing and it has been born




------- BRICK GT -------
(the GT stands for Galapagos Tortoise)

Rear view



Side



Front



Stance



From below with clear bottom installed




Total ground clearance : 4centimeters (just over 1.5inches)
Total weight including hot glue : 3.3grams
Flight test : perfect... No problems with aerodynamics or ultrasounds
Total Cost : $0

Looking like a Galapagos Turtle : Priceless



I'll keep this thread going as progress is made in a couple days with the mounting of the wheel (I think I have a rather unique idea for that also)

This should come out pretty cool lookin when it's done...

Mod list for BRICK GT :
*severe weight reduction
*camera relocated
*power plug relocated
*clear bottom plate
*table top mod (no battery tray)
*Garrocks Wheel Antenna Mod..................................................... http://www.ardrone-flyers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4349
*1000mw RF-LINX booster........................................................... http://www.ardrone-flyers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5220
*ZOP Power 3000mAh battery (182grams)............................... http://www.ebay.com/itm/261159220741
*BoggsD UltraFlight Gears and Pinions (orange)..................... http://www.ebay.com/itm/290868960730


See y'all real soon with some updates on this one...
Let's see what happens when three really solid WiFi mods come together in one crazy lookin brick.... Lookin forward to this build

I like that I'd use something like that if it'd fit in my case.

What's the material used for the bottom clear plate?

I used the back of a plastic blister pack that one of my kid's toys came in ...
Went from 7grams to 3grams on that little mod.

That's awesome. Brilliant DBS! I was going to ask about adding Garrock's Wheel to the mix, but thought it may be overkill for your setup. I think not. I'm sure you'll crush any distance records further into the ground. I may have to ditch the iphone now

It's morphing into the Jonny Quest Robot Spider:




Goto YouTube TimeStamp 1:55


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5JSKeUaC28

The wheel antenna will actually be less powerful than the antenna I've been using... Going from 3dBi to 1.5dBi will be a step backwards in range and sensitivity... BUT .... I don't like the dipole mast solution too much either so this is a way of clearing off my top deck and moving the weight down and centering it better...

The question has always been bouncing around in my brain... To go from vertically polarized to horizontal... From over the drone to under the drone... With the power I have available now... What are the possibilities with this kind of setup??

Waiting on some things in the mail (from DaZa and Garrock) to make sure everything is running as clean as possible... And we shall see

Ah gotcha. I guess you will see the possibilities now

How did you make the holes for the ultrasonics as my experience with drills on thin plastic is it tends to chew it up

X-acto bro... And a steady hand for 20 frickin minutes

Scissors for the boarder... Hole punch for the camera... But the ultrasounds are a bitch

Aint that the truth!

Takes me about 15 mins to make up a new bottom plate and all that is cutting out those ultrasonics holes!

Need to make another one soon... so worth it for the weight reduction... and looks AWESOME

Nice landing gears ..it reminds me of robotic mule that military use for transport
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtoV3uZPL14


..btw. what type of gear shaft do you use? ...stock or titanium?
..I saw on ebay titanium gear shafts but don´t see any positive thing why to use except that I can brag about it
(also stainless steel bearings with ceramical balls, but those are very expensive )

I use stock shafts... Although I would also get a set of those titaniums just cuzz I like that word...
I don't see anybody posting the weight of a set... All that stuff adds up

I do a gear mod that saves some weight along with BoggsD UltraFlights being lighter already right out of the box... But I wonder what the total savings would be out at the end of the boom if we added them all up

Gear trim mod
Titanium shafts
Ceramic bearings
Landing gear removal

All that stuff together might be a pretty decent cut in weight out in the corners where it counts

Wouldn't a hole saw work on that? I've drilled tons of stuff with those including plastic, and never had a prob. Never did something as thin but I'd think it would work.

a hole saw like you use on wood wouldnt work

There's still that guy that sells them on ebay.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/111019889519