Hovership

Hovership in the Wall Street Journal

admin — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:06:29 +0000

Yesterday the WSJ contacted me about using a photo of a mini quad I built. I ended up getting them to use a photo that is more recent and has a CC board.

Here is my photo on the bottom front of the “Review” section.

The article itself is just about the recent U Penn video of the quads playing the James Bond theme.

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The full TED video (great watch)

Nano-Tech vs. Thunder Power

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:30:05 +0000

Here is an interesting new episode of Flite Test that compares Nano-Tech lipos with Thunder Power. I have flown both and have yet to have either battery go bad on me.

Let me know what you think of either brand of battery or comments on this test.

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Spektre – Stable Tuning

admin — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:27:45 +0000

Today I went out and did some tuning on my heavy lift quad powered by the OpenPilot CopterControl flight board. I was using a bluetooth module to tune the settings from a netbook computer. Much better than constantly plugging in USB to tweak settings!

I got it even more stable after shooting this video. I am running Cobra 2814/20 850kV motors, Proton 30A ESCs, 11×5 Graupner props and 4S batteries.

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Spektre Goes Heavy Lift

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:13:58 +0000

Until now, I have been flying Spektre with low-cost motors and a 3-cell lipo. Now I am ready for some serious camera lifting and FPV flying.

Spektre has been rebuilt with Cobra 2814/20 850kV motors, Proton 30A ESCs, 11×5 Graupner props and 4S batteries.

The quadcopter will be powered with the OpenPilot CopterControl board using Spektrum satellite connection only. Not pictured is a top secret camera mount designed for SLR sized cameras.

Lifting a RED Epic

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:31:54 +0000

This is not my octocopter or my video. I saw this post on Engadget and thought it was worth re-posting here.

I have been building my heavy lift hexa Leviathan, which I plan to fly a high end video camera on. It won’t be the $43,000 RED Epic but perhaps it’s little brother the RED Scarlet when it is released next month!

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Article on Engadget.com

GoPro Lens Replacement – Part II

admin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 03:59:14 +0000

A friend has made some adapters for extending the lens on the waterproof cases. This allows you to use the original GoPro cases with a camera that has been modified with the Sunex lens. I personally like to use the cases even if not going near water as it protects the real lens on the camera and offers lots of mounting options.

One problem with GoPro waterproof cases is that the round lens on the case causes underwater pictures to be blurry. As a fix for those with the case extender, a flat lens has been created from high quality plastic. This allows for crystal clear pictures/video in the air as well as under water. It is also scratch resistent!

If you want to make camera fully waterproof, you have two choices:

1. purchase a 2nd O-ring. The official lens kit from GoPro includes 2 lenses & 2 O-rings for $20
2. But better solution is to purchase flat lens with o-ring for $15

The following options for purchase:

USA Customers

Product #	Description	Price [$]	Shipping [$]	Total [$]
1.	1 adapter + 6 screws	35	5	40
2.	1 flat lens + 1 O-ring seal	15	4	19
3.	1 Sunex lens	55	5	60
4.	Installation service to install adapter on the case (with waterproof testing)	20	8	28
5.	Installation service to install Sunex lens into camera	25	8	33
6.	1. + 2. (above)	50	5	55
7.	1. + 2. + 4. (above)	70	8	78
8.	3. + 5. (above)	80	8	93
9.	1. + 2. + 3. (above)	105	5	110
10.	1. + 2. + 3. + 4. + 5. (above)	150	8	158

Canada or Mexico

Product #	Description	Price [$]	Shipping [$]	Total [$]
1.	1 adapter + 6 screws	35	12	47
2.	1 flat lens + 1 O-ring seal	15	10	25
3.	1 Sunex lens	55	12	67
4.	Installation service to install adapter on the case (with waterproof testing)	20	14	34
5.	Installation service to install Sunex lens into camera	25	14	39
6.	1. + 2. (above)	50	12	62
7.	1. + 2. + 4. (above)	70	14	84
8.	3. + 5. (above)	80	14	94
9.	1. + 2. + 3. (above)	105	12	117
10.	1. + 2. + 3. + 4. + 5. (above)	150	14	164

International Customers

Product #	Description	Price [$]	Shipping [$]	Total [$]
1.	1 adapter + 6 screws	35	14	49
2.	1 flat lens + 1 O-ring seal	15	12	27
3.	1 Sunex lens	55	14	69
4.	Installation service to install adapter on the case (with waterproof testing)	20	16	36
5.	Installation service to install Sunex lens into camera	25	16	41
6.	1. + 2. (above)	50	14	64
7.	1. + 2. + 4. (above)	70	16	86
8.	3. + 5. (above)	80	16	96
9.	1. + 2. + 3. (above)	105	14	119
10.	1. + 2. + 3. + 4. + 5. (above)	150	16	166

Send paypal payment to fzmrzli@yahoo.com

Installation service works like this:

Ship your camera and case (and Sunex lens if you have it) to:

Fred Zmrzli
661 Encore Way
San Jose CA 95134

You will receive the camera with Sunex lens installed, case modified with selected options (1 or 1+2)
If you are not purchasing an option that includes all parts needed for install, please send the part being installed with your camera.

Mantra – Openpilot Coptercontrol

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 01:19:58 +0000

Here is Mantra flying some aerobatics using the Openpilot Coptercontrol flight board. Love it!

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SK!TR – Openpilot Coptercontrol

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:23:00 +0000

I tried the Kapteinkuk & Multiwii flight controllers on my micro quad “SK!TR”, I never could get either to fly as well as I had hoped.

Since then I have put an Openpilot Coptercontrol on it and have it flying amazing. The small flight board is perfect for such a small multi-rotor.

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Leviathan Rises – Heavy Lift Hexacopter

admin — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 05:19:20 +0000

I have been planning and sourcing the parts for a heavy lift hexacopter for some time now. Finally, it is becoming a reality. This hexacopter will be used exclusively for aerial photography and video. A high end camera mount is currently being developed by a friend that will soon be mounted to the Droidworx AD-6 Heavy Lift frame.

A list of parts being used:

Droidworx AD-6 Heavy Lift Frame
Openpilot Coptercontrol Flight Board
Cobra 2826-12 760kv Motors
APC 13×6.5 E Props
40A Exceed-RC Volcano Series ESCs
4 Cell Nano-Tech Lipos

OpenPilot CopterControl Flight Controller

admin — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:59:10 +0000

It has been awhile since my last post but I am working on many exciting things and you will see lots more posted soon. One thing I wanted to mention is that I will be testing the CopterControl flight board by OpenPilot on several of my quads very soon. The OpenPilot project is something I am very excited about.

As of this posting, all CopterControl boards are sold out but the next batch will be available soon.

If you don’t know anything about OpenPilot or the CopterControl board, here are some videos to get you started. Also check out the official site www.openpilot.org

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