Derek's HK Dart 250 FPV Mini Quad

[Tony]

Thanks D. Does give a tolerance for the part, but there usually +- 5%. its doing the job so no worries.... Good job mate. Should still work ok with 6S too...

[Derek]

It has been a while since I've charged that 4s pack. Maybe that's why the village is lower than you anticipated. Nonetheless, like you said, it's doing its job.

I'm also waiting on a couple new 4s pack to show up.

The next two days, I should be of work and the chance for rain is minimal. I'm fully anxious to get out and fly again.

[Derek]

Here is a classic "Good News, Bad News" scenario.

I took my Dart 250 mini quad out for some FPV flying today. I took my two 3S 1550 packs and I was going to run my 4S 1800 pack. The first flight was going great! I did lift off in Angle Mode. Once I was about 10 feet off the ground, I bypassed Horizon Mode and went straight to Acro Mode. Full throttle climb out and then started swinging around and zooming by. I've done FPV with my planes before but the speed that I was reaching with the quad was awesome...even on the 3S pack. WOW!! Awesome fun!!!

And then.....................

after making a speedy wide pass I was going to come in and land. On my speedy approach, I failed to pull back on the elevator enough and I clipped one of the 12 foot tall tress that border the parking lot and the quad came down HARD. As for the quad, the only damage "really" is 3 of the 4 arms, 2 of the 4 silicone bobbins, and all 4 props. The electronics all seem to still work just fine. The Mobius camera, on the other hand....I can't confirm it right now but the Mobius cam seems to be not working and there is no information on the micro SD card which really sucks because it was one hell of a flight.

I was really having a lot of fun. I did tilt the FPV camera up a bit more to help improve the view while flying. I do believe the camera angle was perfect because for nearly 4 minutes everything was going very very well. Damn near perfect flight until an absolute "pilot error" and I failed to pull up on the elevator. I did see the tree. I saw the tree entirely and clearly....I just failed.

Now...I ordered this frame from HK International. Spare arms are available from the HK International warehouse for 14.28. The blue silicone bobbins are backordered. So....I'm very tempted to simply order a Diatone 250 or ZMR 250 frame from BuddyRC. BuddyRC is not only here in the US, but they are only about 200 miles away. I've ordered parts and batteries from BuddyRC many times before and their shipping times are always 3-4 days or less than 3 days.

So..do I order the arms from HK and wait 9-14 days for them to get here and order the bobbins and wait until whenever they come back in stock? Or do I just order a new, and possibly lighter, frame from BuddyRC? Sounds like a "no brainer' to me. Sounds like the Dart 250 has been a great frame for me and I learned a lot from it, but it sounds like Derek is just gonna get a new frame.

Thanks to everyone at the Hangout for all your help, support, and suggestions!!!

Although I dont seem to have the video, I will post some pictures of the busted quad before I tear it down. I dunno...I do have a lot of fiberglass resin and cloth around here. Perhaps I can just make my own arms. Choices, choices, choices.

[Derek]

Well, I've tried to connect and reconnect my Mobius camera to my laptop and my home PC. A message window comes up and says "USB Not Recognized". Another window also came up and said that the USB Device has malfunctioned. That's a massive bummer. Looks like I need to order a new Mobius cam, too.

....but...it sure was one hell of a fun flight, lol

[Tony]

That's really bad news Derek... You must have hit that tree really hard. I'd buy a better frame I think...

As for the mobius, is it still in one peace? I'd take it to bits and check/remove the lipo, then try plugging into laptop again.

[Stambo]

I guess Derek, as the saying goes, stuff happens.
My flying buddy crashed his QAV250 a couple of weeks ago and broke an arm.
On the QAV250 the arm is part of the bottom plate so he has had to order a new bottom plate at about US$50.
I can buy a whole new quad for that price so I guess I will stick to my cheapies.
I would go for a whole new quad, if you can get it local you could be flying again within a week.
As soon as I can afford it I will buy a whole spare frame so that when the worst happens, note I said when not if, I can be back in the air quite quickly.

When you think about it, the cost of a whole frame is still cheaper than crashing a 450 helicopter.

[Derek]

That's really bad news Derek... You must have hit that tree really hard. I'd buy a better frame I think...

As for the mobius, is it still in one peace? I'd take it to bits and check/remove the lipo, then try plugging into laptop again.

Definitely bad news, Tony, lol. I didn't hit anything solid on the tree. I clipped the tree top and the quad rolled forward and kissed the pavement very hard. I've got some fiberglass pieces that are left over from a project from last year. These fiberglass pieces are 12mm thick. I'm actually thinking about taking these pieces to my Dads house and running them through his mill...taking them down to 5-6mm. I do have 1 quad arm still unbroken. I can trace out that shape and use it as a template for the bolt holes. As for the silicone bobbins, I ordered a set of 4 black bobbins for my new quad project. So, perhaps I can make my new arms and use the new bobbins and perhaps have the quad repaired today.

As for the Mobius....I'll see what I can do to get to the inner bits and check it out.

I guess Derek, as the saying goes, stuff happens.
My flying buddy crashed his QAV250 a couple of weeks ago and broke an arm.
On the QAV250 the arm is part of the bottom plate so he has had to order a new bottom plate at about US$50.
I can buy a whole new quad for that price so I guess I will stick to my cheapies.
I would go for a whole new quad, if you can get it local you could be flying again within a week.
As soon as I can afford it I will buy a whole spare frame so that when the worst happens, note I said when not if, I can be back in the air quite quickly.

When you think about it, the cost of a whole frame is still cheaper than crashing a 450 helicopter.

Yeah...stuff happens. It's disappointing but it was an awesome flight up to the crash. My fpv camera position was perfect. This Dart 250 frame was $51 with shipping from HK International. I think I can get a ZMR frame from BuddyRC for $36 or a Diatone frame for less than that. But you are absolutely right, Stambo....this crash is still cheaper than crashing a 450 heli.

[Derek]

I just hooked up my video system and double checked that all that works....and it does. It may be a bit before I get a new quad up and going, unless I decide to make my own arms for the Dart 250. If I decide to hold off a bit, I may just put the video system on a plane.

It's all in good fun and I was having a great time!!! Life goes on!

[danhampson]

sounds like a good crash Derek. The only way to learn with these little things is to push them hard and like Stambo said a full frame can be cheaper than a 450 crash. i think in 5 months of flying porket ive spent about £50/75$ on crash parts (props not included) if that had have been a 450 heli you could add another couple of hundred,

[cml001]

Maybe... It's all relative to the said crash.. Last time I put my 450 in I just needed a DFC link.. Didn't even bust the blades.. Amazing really.. Anyhow.. Sorry to hear bout the quad Derek... Try the one I got that Lee suggested.. RCX250 from myrcmart.com, $100 for everything except the packs & Rx..

[Derek]

sounds like a good crash Derek. The only way to learn with these little things is to push them hard and like Stambo said a full frame can be cheaper than a 450 crash. i think in 5 months of flying porket ive spent about £50/75$ on crash parts (props not included) if that had have been a 450 heli you could add another couple of hundred,

Yeah man...it was an impressive crash. 100% pilot error. As for the cost, like I mentioned above, I can get the replacement arms from HK International for less than $15 and then just wait about 2 weeks for delivery. I found suitable replacements for the silicone bobbins and I have many extra sets of props.

Maybe... It's all relative to the said crash.. Last time I put my 450 in I just needed a DFC link.. Didn't even bust the blades.. Amazing really.. Anyhow.. Sorry to hear bout the quad Derek... Try the one I got that Lee suggested.. RCX250 from myrcmart.com, $100 for everything except the packs & Rx..

Last time I put my 450 heli in, i replaced blades, DFC links, and a servo. I'll look into the RCX250. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Lee]

Sorry to hear you crashed so bad.
The quad damage is oar for the course, but breaking the mobius is a real bummer

[Derek]

Yeah...it's a bummer about the crash. This particular flight was flight number 10. It was FPV flight number 3 and I was really really pushing it and flying really hard. Had I decided to land 10 seconds sooner, the crash wouldn't have happened, lol.....but noooooooo, I just had to do one more speed pass and that silly tree top grabbed my Dart 250 and slammed it to the pavement.

Although the crash is disappointing, the damage to the Mobius and the loss of the flight/crash video is what hurts the most.

But....I'm going to order a new frame, build a new quad, and I'll get back at it. I'm going to order a new Mobius. I spoke with Tony and I'm going to send my Mobius to him and he's going to look it over for me. Maybe he can fix it.

[Graham Lawrie]

Unlucky Derek:( my Orca is dead also:( The Emax nighthawk crashes well:)

[Derek]

I just ran into another bit of a snag. As I was just going over my busted up quad, checking to see if anything else is broken or missing.....it turns out that I am missing one of the prop nuts. My SunnySky motors came with these black/coned prop nuts and I'm missing one. I was certain that I collected them all when I picked up the pieces. Now I can't find one of them. I suppose it wouldn't be a big deal but it was one of the CCW prop nuts.