Building a DIY REAPER Drone... Ended Badly
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 เม.ย. 2023
- This video is sponsored by PCBWay:
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Thanks for watching! Let me know if I should rebuild this thing. Any suggestions on more durable ways to build RC planes?
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You did a stellar job building that reaper. Beef up your landing gear and get the one 6 cell in just the right spot and you’ll have an amazing plane. It looked like it had very well performing flying characteristics for a maiden. If you decide to start over, go bigger! Bigger planes are easier to fly.
i agree with the bigger statement, not only does a bigger size mean one or even two 6 cells bat. you could have bigger landing gears to the increased size, more avionics, 3d print the parts out of the rugged light PLA, and maybe some memory to have a time laps of the flight.
I was thinking the same thing. Make it bigger.
yes It would also help to generate more lift and also enhancing controls of the aircraft👌👌
You need a launchpad, urgently. Try and make one using a rail made of wood and rubber, some kind of slingshot, to eliminate the risk of a wigly throw, like the one that killed this plane.
Agreed, CG should be addressed before any launch. We never took off before I did the CG worksheet before takeoff in the Navy.
Instead of trowing the plane make a drone launcher like zipline.
Yes!
And the catcher
@@EnderRobber101 ⚠️ God has said in the Quran:
🔵 { O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous - ( 2:21 )
🔴 [He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him]. ( 2:22 )
🔵 And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful. ( 2:23 )
🔴 But if you do not - and you will never be able to - then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.( 2:24 )
🔵 And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit therefrom, they will say, "This is what we were provided with before." And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally. ( 2:25 )
⚠️ Quran
Thats such a good idea. He should also make an universal adapter so he can easily reuse it for upcoming projects.
Slingshot on a switch?
Oh Michael, the fact that your design flew so well in most of your video was inspiring! The reason why we (used to) build out of balsa wood is because of it's "strength to weight" ratio, nothing beats it in the flying arena. However, and bottom line here Michael (because everyone gave you such wonderful advice within their comments) is that #1-check your C/G (center of gravity). To start with your maiden, go with 25% of the forward wing in front of your C/G; this will cause your bird to be a bit "nose heavy" but better nose heavy that tail heavy Michael! #2 Once you have the C/G where you want it, be absolutely sure that your plane balance laterally (I noticed that you had a camera on the starboard wing) the weight and drag of that camera will cause the aircraft to yaw to the "right," be sure that you suspend the craft from the nose and the tail down the centerline to check balance. I would bet that if you built the craft balanced, right to left, that you had to trim in a lot of left aileron/rudder to get it to fly level. I could be wrong; you very well may not have built it equally balanced on both right and left sides! Me personally; I would leave the camera off, too much weight and drag for the benefit! #3 A heavy plane made from epoxy, hot glue, lite-ply & paint will need a bit of a roll-out before you rotate into the air; but have faith Michael, (given, the forgoing guidelines are followed) rotate it will!
Now here's the kicker Michael; the heavier you build it, the less "acrobatics" it's going to want to do, lighter is a good thing. However, you can go too light, so use your head and think your way through this and you'll be fine. Oh also; batteries are (usually) Lipos, but not all batteries of the same "described/advertised" value are the same size and weight, you've probably discovered that by now. Do some research and find batteries that are of the "voltage/4S-6S" value that your and use as light as you can get! Also, that plane is what, about 2 meters wingspan? A Raptor is basically a glider design; if you're motor is designed to run on 14.8v then use 4S batteries, if it is designed to run on 22.2v then use 6S batteries. Also, please be sure that your ESC can handle whatever battery you decide to use; otherwise you will burn it out and your plane will crater in like you've never seen before! Finally, and this is a bit of a reach if you don't have one already; get yourself a "watt-meter" Michael, charge your battery up to maximum and place the watt-meter between your ESC and your battery and see what Watts/Amps you're drawing at full power. Oh, I almost forgot... since you're powering a prop motor, the "C value" on your batteries don't have to be more than 45-50C, any more than that and you'll have enough go juice to power up an EDF, which you're not using!
Great project Michael! With your attitude, spirit for adventure and obvious intelligence; you'll go far! Remember, a good pilot learns from his mistakes; he then utilizes this knowledge to become a better pilot!
Has he implemented the flight control equations in software and loaded the executable file on the ardupilot controller or how it works. Can someone tell me.
This guy knows model planes
You did a FANTASTIC job with this build! I bet if you had an asphalt runway you would still be flying. This was a great video, keep up the great work!
I still fail to see how it will be able to rotate with that huge prop at the back. Maybe a much taller landing gear
more then likely,,, minus that last one... be a lot more damage hitting pavement .... and you need to reinforce the gear.. pavement tends to drive them through the plane... mmmm I only did nitro methanol running planes.. 60 inch span, 3+ pounds... those electric ones might be light enough... but mine could land in the grass... 2" wheels.. ;-)
I'm actually calling tail heavy on this one. As it left your hand the attitude changed quite quickly, rather than the stable dart like behavior that nose heavy would cause. All your control inputs were correct, the fact that it couldn't pitch up in time was just due to low airspeed (pusher prop giving no flow over the elevator). To check the CG of a scratch build, balance the plane on two fingers so that it's level, then shove it quickly directly upward, it should nose up just a little. You can also let it drop downward if that's easier - in either case you want the nose to lead slightly, and the tail to follow. Regarding the damage, it seems like the only connection between adjacent segments of the fuselage was the flimsy plywood frame? At least run some packing tape length-wise all the way down, would help a lot. Adding a vertical fin under the tail would save the prop, although perhaps spoil the look you're going for. Anyway it does look great!
Also the camera on the wing probably did not help
@@RCP-1136 Agreed. 1. That camera on the wing would need the same amount of weight on the opposite wing. 2. A lot of arc in that throw and didn't throw it wings level so basically threw it into a stall with the extra battery weight as well. 3. Threw it at full throttle with a 3 blade prop means a lot of motor torque roll from the heavier prop and motor speed. In my experience with wings and mini talons I run about 70% throttle on just a slightly elevated launch (not far from level) and then by the time both hands are on the transmitter I can pin the throttle and things are stable.
AWESOME! Iforce2d makes a good point consistent with the documentation I recently studied to obtain a private pilots license. The prop being behind the Ruddervators doesn’t supply “forced” airflow across them so they aren’t as effective at low airspeeds. Also when a plane loses power, the first thing a pilot is taught to do is bring the nose down, but it appeared that your unit, due to too much aft weight, pitched up at low speed. The FAA has some very helpful information about the necessary correct balance of a plane and it’s free www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/media/12_phak_ch10.pdf
@@user-oe8vv8cb1t the link is dead, can you upload the pdf somewhere? Thanks
Amazing content, my friend, please don't be dismayed by this setback, it just forces your hand to built something better sooner.
What is amazing is he was kind enough to share the CAD drawing of the parts. Most making stuff like this do not do that.
It's nice to see videos like this still posted even when the end result isn't a success. There was still a lot of work that went into this, a lot of successes along the way and a large potential for success in the future. It would be a waste just to throw it away, as I'm sure other creators have
it was a partial success, the flight with the single lower capacity battery did go well.
Very informative video showing a very clean and impressive build. However, two things stood out to me (as a RC flyer with two decades of flying experience).
1. The linkage setup on V-tail is the worst possible combination. With link on outermost hole on servo horn and almost inner most hole on control horn, this gives the servo the worst mechanical advantage. Making the servo prone to failure and ruddervators prone to flutter.
2. Hand launching a pusher prop plane with prop at lowest point and a heavy setup is a very bad combo that can result in severe hand injury. A crashed plane is the least of your worries.
Otherwise, keep up the great work!
Hi Michael, my 82yr old machinist dad and I have been building and flying (and crashing. Lots of crashing.) foamboard planes for about 3 years now. Our passion project is the Bugatti 100P and we're on the third iteration with counter rotating props. So far our fuselage designs have, well, sucked, and I really appreciate your frame and foamboard skin approach. The Reaper turned out amazing and it hurt my heart to see it crash. What would it take to entice you to do a video of your design process, particularly how you land on the correct size/shape foamboard skin components? Any other advice or direction you could provide would be vastly appreciated!
I bet that's a great way to bond with your dad! Kudos to you both.
That's an awesome project! The last flight was definitely too heavy. Adding a higher cell count probably isn't necessary for something like that. Depending on what your amp draw is you might want to consider using something like a 3S 18650 pack, you can get a huge amount of flight time so long as you're not really pushing the amp draw to more than the cells can handle. You might also want to consider doing more with the LW-PLA. I bet you could save some overall weight by using LW-PLA panels instead of foam board.
This might be a good design for a launch rail or even a high start bungee launch. Hand launching is always hit or miss, and I really hate having to hand launch something with a pusher prop.
Hope you build a second version - that first one turned out fantastic other than being a bit too heavy with a big pack.
I love how you took the failure because it wasn't really a failure it's an incredible learning experience, I subscribe excited to see more of your videos. Thank you for sharing
Nice project!
And it seems no one uses wood anymore in the hobby.
As you pointed out, balsa is the go-to wood for many projects, but cedar wood is a good too, stronger, heavier than balsa but relatively light at 0.32gm/cc.
And easy to get hold of too.
Good use of modern materials too.
might be cool to have the esc under that top vent in the back it gets some airflow and can pull back the center of gravity plus that vent would actually be functional which would be cool. awesome build.
Please add a FPV camera that can output the Loitering view as if you were using it for ISR. You can use a small FPV monitor and would beable to get some cool shots.
Oh man reading ISR gave me ptsd 😅I was a submarine sonar tech and ISR missions were always the worst 😅
That was my first thought when I saw the thumbnail. I haven't even started watching the video yet....
Looking forward to the re-worked version! Very cool machine!
This is so cool. I was a big model aircraft fan in my school days. That was the 80's. The closest I got to this was a programmable glider that used a shift-register to turn the tail left or right. I was too heavy to fly, though.
If I was kid today, I think I would have so much fun. The new tech has endless possibilities.
Looks awesome. Do version 2, please :)
Nice concept regardless of the outcome. I've been building and flying Betaflight drones for a few years now and am just now getting my feet wet with some INAV fixed wing builds using a MatekF411-WTE. I'm running INAV on Hexacopter but it was premanufactured and configured and only bought it for position hold and to be able to record myself flying freesyle. The fact so many people use Ardupilot and the entire mission planning and true autonomy part has me really intrigued and thinking once I get INAV functioning on one maybe I should do a backup and flash Ardupilot on one and give it a whirl...
This definitiely needs a follow-up!
Especially the GPS automated flight patterns.
Enjoyed it.
Really amazing how you can just make a drone from scratch! Seems complicated but made it work (for the most part haha)
I just realized how crazy it is there aren't really any reaper drones from rc companies after seeing yours I would buy one instantly.
Especially if it is set up as fpv like bona-fide pirates channel.
I think there would be a big problem if they were
@@doomdjyo5997 there are numerous other military planes and the drones we use for fun are already dropping bombs there isn’t really a line
There have been a few over the years but they just aren't very popular. I have been wanting to build and RQ-2 Pioneer or MQ-1 Predator for years but have never been able to find a kit. You might even be able to pull off a full scale RQ-2 and still fall within the weight limits as it only had a 16 foot wingspan.
Hey all i've got an MQ-9 i bought off of hobby king yeaaaaars ago i just never got around to flying it. I'm willing to sell it at the right price
This is so neat! Sucks that it ended in pieces, but I don't think anything short of it being just a block of EPP would've survive at all. I often think about 3d printing a giant mold and vacuum bagging composites to it for quick and detailed fuselages. I think that would benefit from the laser cut plywood frame, similar to how some of the EDF jet guys are doing it.
The whistle edit almost had me in the hospital choking on my popcorn that was beautiful
i feel sad how it ended but you should be proud of yourself great job and the design is amazing
Good project.
In your next iteration try adding another carbon fibre tube along the body of the plane. Rear motor should be mounted to the to that tube, all the ply cross sections have to be attached to it as well. Probably the chassis should be mounted to it. Just use it a a spine bone...
Good luck in what you are doing and don't get discouraged.
Impressive! Your frame would be like 1/3 of the weight if you used balsa wood instead of plywood though - which might have helped with your last hand launch...
You can't even get good balsa wood anymore. It all got used up long ago.
@@1pcfred :o where did it go?
a much better, lighter, more uniform solution is to use foamboard for the ribs and balsa/carbon(alternatives: barbecue sticks, ice cream sticks, paint sticks) for spars
@@ra3or it got cut down and used up. Most model aircraft crash so where do wood splinters go? Someplace I think I still have some vintage balsa wood around. I haven't seen it in years though. It has to be over 50 years old now. But it's the good stuff.
@@1pcfred google it. buy it. build. I honestly dont knw what youre talking about, but clearly Crist meant the bolsa available today.
Good humour in adversity is the mark of a good guy. Very enjoyable piece, thanks.
Phenomenal job, I’d be curious to know more about your background I’m very impressed by how successful this drone was.
This is sick! Can you do a video going over the whole flight controller system for fixed wing?
AWESOME!
I'm not kidding but this seems to be the longest series of coincidences... I've been working on almost the exact same projects as you are working on! XD
Generative design, drone
cycloidal drives
this drone is sth I'm planning to work on now
edit: motor as well!
lol same here
Last Part Reminds Me Of My First Rc Plane Build. It Taught Me A Lesson That How Important Weight And Balance On An Aircraft Is
For the next one I would try and make it to where the wings could slip in better to the mold along with the nose cone to try and reduce drag. You could also implement the battery near the middle of the plane to try and help keep the center of gravity near the middle to help avoid a crash. I love the entirety of it and think you did an amazing job keep it up c:
This is awesome! Next step is to make some mini R9X hellfire missles that have spring loaded “blades”. And have it autonomously drop them on a mini foam core target house
I advise you to balance your propeller with a balancer tool. That footage is wobbly as.
I still don't have robot maid that brings me beer. there's not one on the market, all the drones and robots and ai and I still get up off the couch and walk to the fridge for a beer like it's the stone age. it's 2023, are reaper drones really the best use of your time?
Good job including the crash. Most people show only when things work, but you've shown when they worked and when they didn't. :)
I probably wouldn't change much, just use carbon rods to hold the bulkheads together, that will give you some added strength down the fuselage. Also, make sure you do a balance check every time you change something, it looked like you were so nose heavy the full up elevator wasn't enough.
If carbon rods are good then a whole carbon fiber plane would be gooder.
@@1pcfred and much more expensiver 😁
@@brandonb417 sure. But you get what you pay for.
@@1pcfred I suppose, but at what point is it diminishing returns?
@@brandonb417 diminishing returns is nothing I worry about myself when I'm seeking the penultimate in performance.
I developed a method for doing bevels with the laser on wood. You need a nearly perfect feed/speed setting to cut the wood at thickness (so that it isn't over or under penetrating). In the case of an interface that uses a pdf document, the area of the bevel needs to be covered by the line weight and the line needs to have a 0-100 gradient stroke effect. This means that a Lazer driven by black opacity will start at 0 and then slowly get hotter as it approaches 100 opacity. Speed must be set to allow for cooling depending on material
Well done mate, you can always rebuild another project. Keepup the awesome work. 👍
Amazing build young man!! You certainly have what it takes to make this work! I loved doing stuff like this in my younger years! Carry on!
You have to make sure it is in balance both forward and back as well as left to right. This is essential before ever trying to fly any airplane whether it is an RC model or a full size airplane. Great job on that Reaper drone. Hope you get it going again.
Wow, was thinking about next Long Range frame that is really worth building and here is a video for you. Thank you!
Is it possible to edit the file and save it with modifications?
Onshape is really intuitive.
Still, freaking amazing. Thank you for showing this.
Hello there! I’m actually flying a V-Type Haxacopter made up entirely with carbon fiber. I think that CF will be the ideal material for that heavy 2kg LiPo battery, so the drone can have some more weight for balance and avoid the crash. What you did there is an excellent job, a huge thanks for that!
You did absolutely well ,the fact that it did fly for so long is a win already. This is beautiful to watch
Try 3D printing the smaller parts out of nylon or abs. Those materials are impact resistant and are less likely to break in impact. Abs is also really light
8:24 your reaction make me cry bro
carry on love you from Bangladesh .DIY Drone lover
Build to fly, not to crash; focus on light and strong not robust. Get rid of the landing gear, make it like a bush lanes or make it retractable for belly landings. Use a folding prop and your belly landings will be buttery smooth. Great work!
I guess you can call it ... The RIPPER 💀
Excellent job. I was wondering what the weight differences was between the 3d printed section vs the wood/foam board section. If the 3d printed section is lighter you might want to design the whole thing Tobe 3d printed in sections and ca glued with small wire supports. There are a few companies selling the print files. If you designed it that way you might be able to sell it to them or online so others can build it.
Echo on the first question
I need to learn how to handle failure and disappointment like this guy. Well done my man!
I would love to see this one go further. Cool project man
5:43 Is that an a320 in the back?
8:00
wait but doesnt it have a landing gear?
why not just take off from the ground
Man thanks for sharing this content with us. I also fly drones and this has been very informative.
Link to the laser-safe foam board you're using please.
Obama needs this😂😂
Do you know that it’s his administration that allowed reaper drone to be used daily to kill. You’re late.
Awesome project. Good to see it did fly in the beginning with the lighter battery.
I really enjoyed this video and really felt at the end for you!! I learned alot from this video and hope to learn so much more from you!! thanks this is a great video i cant wait to see more of your videos thanks so much
Wow good job hope you don't get discouraged that drone looked awesome. Hope you do more with it.
Thank you for also showing the fail. It makes it more authentic
Hi great build! Love the video!! 😃
Question: what is the cost roughly that you spent too make this drone?!
Your landing gear def needs help. Go look at the planes that land at that range, and see what they do. My guess Is to tune up the suspension (use flexible metal straps) for the suspension, which will absorb a landing instead of bouncing around. I love projects like this. This project is so much easier to control and program than a drone because it is more stable in the air given a velocity, and this has more energy capacity as it isnt' using all its energy to push down 100% of the time. You need to put on lights, a couple fireworks, a trailing advertisement, or do some cropdusting. Some farmers have switched to drones for crop dusting which is amazing.
Build, fly, crash, repeat, that's the mantra of this hobby 😀
You did great! And i can already see it soon! ‘I finally built it’s💪🏾❤️👊🏾good job buddy
Reaper looks great as model-size ! love it !
Great plane and a great video. I wish I had your design & building skills; that was a really cool plane. Sorry about the crash - it hurts.
Covering it in fiberglass might help strengthen it, if you're willing to accept the added weight. I was also surprised that you didn't include a camera, as the prototype has a flir pod under the nose. I have to say that you inspire me to build my own designs. I definitely want to graduate to laser cutting and 3d printing. I'd have a much larger fleet of aircraft. Thank you for sharing.
Awesome job, thank you for sharing!
I remember my dad launching RC planes with a really long piece of surgical tubing that worked like a giant slingshot. Would that work for this?
I'm imaging the absolute havoc this could cause when flown over certain events at an altitude high enough that it's difficult to judge scale. Hope you can fix it!
7:58 I felt that! It hurt to watch it….
This is amazing dude! I subscribed, I never thought that I would get into printing or anything like that, but I love aviation, the rest is just a bonus!!
This is just a stepping stone to a better version. You learned a lot and a new version will be definitely better than this one. A few suggestions from me: make it bigger. The size is too small for a start on grass, double the size and you can fly anywhere. Using plywood this thin might be light, but laminated aluminium or carbon will be much better. It’s more expensive, but it provides a much better and sturdier frame. Lastly, if you make changes in the weight, take out the guesswork of balancing. Make sure your plane is balanced properly before you fly this thing. Keep on going with this great idea, I am looking forward for the next version.
لا تتوقف استمر هذه التجربة تجعلك اكثر صلابه . استمر بالتوفيق صديقي .. 😊
Nice video shot, well done, thank you for sharing it with us :)
This video was awesome. I really want to see v2!!!
I set up auto take off in Ardupilot, makes hand launching so much easier - no having to worry about getting your hands back on the sticks quickly. Can make a big difference in those first few yards having the plane controlling itself. Neat looking model though, would be great to see another version of it flying again.
Awesome dude. I have many videos of launches with results like this from 1990 when we started flying electric. The rear prop makes for a tricky hand launch where you are always thinking about that prop slicing up your hand. Runway or rail launch for that drone next time.
Enjoyed the video! Thanks for showing the build up to launch
Hey, I guess one idea for your landing gear in grass is to make it interchangeable with skis. Maybe you can make them in a light and resistant material (like carbon fiber) and it might be better on grass.
Thank you for sharing on TH-cam even though you obviously know what you're doing. You have my subscription.
Great Job Michael. I was thinking maybe you can replace some of stressed members with carbon fiber sheets that be laser cut such as the fuselage spars. That should give your plane much more strength so it doesn't break like it did above. And you can use balsa wood for the non stressed members where there are small loads to save weight.
Her reaction was priceless 🤣🤣
I really appreciate your work. It was great. Never loose your hope. I really liked it...❤
Find the CG location before throw. It is usually 30-40 % from the leading edge of the wing. Also don't throw up. Stall is caused by slow speed. Throw horizontally while human naturally throw up. From my 30 years of RC glider flying experience.
It didn't ended badly, you learned some new things.
Now waiting for version 2.
Also if possible, add some IR camera on front to give it full reaper look hehe. 😄
So cool! Looks exactly like the real thing!
The first flight was really impressive, you are talented in ways that differ from each other. I could not have even got the paint right much less build that if I had a thousand years. You may not be getting job offers from the CIA now though, it didn't blow itself up after it crashed. ;-)
I know its a bit more expensive but maybe building the internal frame out of carbon fiber will help keep it more rigid and possibly changing from a 3 blade to 4 blade prop to give it a little more thrust to help with the added weight of the batteries. Might also help to figure out where to position the batteries for a good point of balance
The design was pretty good I think. the motor needs to be raised higher the design of the MQ-9 reaper has more of a curved upwards towards the tails and the battery spread out through the fuselage. look forward to seeing reaper 2 Good video cheers
A good lesson in craftsmanship! Good-old balsa-plywood construction with film covering builds you better planes. Hard to beat that with foam, hot-glue tape and tie-wraps.
Hats off to you bro nice creation🙌
The first part of the video uses Taikutsuwo Saienshinaide by Eve as the background music. Pretty cool Michael is a man of culture
Since the fuselage is basically a long tube. Make the wing adjustable along the length. This will allow CG changes.. Liked the video... good job.
Nice job regardless. If you are not taking off and landing on concrete, there's no need for wheels at all; just add a prop guard.
That was an awesome build man. Just found yr channel love the content.
This was a great video. Thanks for making it, you earned a new sub.
I've always watched these kinds of videos and wondered "what if he actually breaks it? how would the video be?"
Well I got my answer
I was not ready for that😮
To put the servos inside the body of the craft you could mould the surfaces around a geared rod (Gears to act as grips) thus allowing the servo to control the rod from inside the body and keep the outer surface completely clear for aerodynamics and drag reduction.
I think you will be surprised how much drag those arms are causing.
Really nice work