Can we have a followup video testing the 130 mile range, or optimizing it? I would like to see the limits this could push
Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone
131–140 of 154 posts
Re: Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes and there is foaming ASA as well which is almost as light as foaming PLA. But I can't print ASA well on my A1 and the weight penalty was still enough that I didn't try, given the mission profile of flight time.
Did I dream or is there even foaming TPU? TPU in general seems almost indestructible to me so should be good :)
Colorfabb Varioshore, among others. It's extremely neat stuff.
Re: Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone
#133Pretty impressive! what's the BOM here. That battery seems expensive (most expensive part?)
> That battery seems expensive (most expensive part?) At first, I was like "Nah, just looks like my RC car battery", but then I Googled it...and it's a whopping $1,305 [0]. I looked closer at the specs and they're insane for a battery as small as it is. They have double the energy density as measured by both volume and mass compared to my RC car batteries [1]. [0] https://www.upgradeenergytech.com/product-page/gold-v…
440.64 Wh, 21600 mAh/20.4V, 1250W/60A constant discharge, 170A burst for 10s, total pack weight 1332g-1335g depending on connectors which gets you to 360 Wh/kg cell density or 330 Wh/kg pack density.
Impressive, but not that far off from much cheaper mass-produced cells.
Re: Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone
#134I have ~200 acres of land I fly a drone survey mission to map. Today, that piloting is done by dronelink and a DJI drone. The challenge is that it's about 3 hours of flight time, give or take, to cover the space, and a given battery is good for about 35 minutes of flight time. I have 4 batteries, which means I basically need to be refilling my batteries as quickly as I consume them in order to keep flying continuousl…
Instead of one drone, buy 10, and send them out in parallel, and charge them all simultaneously.
The FAA does not permit this, by default. You are allowed to remote pilot in command one drone at a time. I could apply for an FAA waiver (I have one to fly beyond VLOS). I've genuinely considered doing so, but I don't know how I could convince the FAA that I could safely monitor multiple drones simultaneously.
Re: Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
200 acres should not take 4 hours. It should be coverable within 20-25 minutes with 75-65 overlap, flying height 120m with something like Mavic 3 getting a GSD of 3.5cm/px. Look at optimizing your flight overlaps and height.
It depends a lot on the terrain type - highly repetitive terrain requires higher overlap. It does sound like they have some broken setting somewhere though.
It's heavily pine forested mountain areas. With a 65-75% overlap, the SFM algorithms struggle to produce sufficient details. Additionally, because of the verticality of the terrain and very tall pine trees there's a need to have multiple angles to generate a good orthophoto. So the grid is denser than other environments for a reason. I'm continuously updating my flight plan based on the results generated -- squeezing density up/down based on observed results.
The 4 hours is an overestimate, it's probably genuinely closer to 3 hours flight time.
Re: Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone
#136Re: Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone
#137I have ~200 acres of land I fly a drone survey mission to map. Today, that piloting is done by dronelink and a DJI drone. The challenge is that it's about 3 hours of flight time, give or take, to cover the space, and a given battery is good for about 35 minutes of flight time. I have 4 batteries, which means I basically need to be refilling my batteries as quickly as I consume them in order to keep flying continuousl…
You could look into paying a satellite imagery company to take the photos: https://skyfi.com/en/pricing
The thing this doesn't do well, as far as I'm aware, is provide SFM data that can generate heightmaps or point clouds. Maybe I'm wrong!
Re: Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone
#138I have ~200 acres of land I fly a drone survey mission to map. Today, that piloting is done by dronelink and a DJI drone. The challenge is that it's about 3 hours of flight time, give or take, to cover the space, and a given battery is good for about 35 minutes of flight time. I have 4 batteries, which means I basically need to be refilling my batteries as quickly as I consume them in order to keep flying continuousl…
Better camera on the drone to fly faster and higher.
I am limited in height I can fly by the FAA (400 feet AGL).
Re: Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone
#139I have ~200 acres of land I fly a drone survey mission to map. Today, that piloting is done by dronelink and a DJI drone. The challenge is that it's about 3 hours of flight time, give or take, to cover the space, and a given battery is good for about 35 minutes of flight time. I have 4 batteries, which means I basically need to be refilling my batteries as quickly as I consume them in order to keep flying continuousl…
How often do you need to do this mapping? if it’s every day it would definitely be worth it to look for another solution, if it’s every 6 months or so this seems tedious but doable.
I map quarterly! I just deal with it for now. :D
Re: Show HN: I made a 3D printed VTOL drone
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
It depends a lot on the terrain type - highly repetitive terrain requires higher overlap. It does sound like they have some broken setting somewhere though.
It's heavily pine forested mountain areas. With a 65-75% overlap, the SFM algorithms struggle to produce sufficient details. Additionally, because of the verticality of the terrain and very tall pine trees there's a need to have multiple angles to generate a good orthophoto. So the grid is denser than other environments for a reason. I'm continuously updating my flight plan based on the results generated -- squeezing…
I have a similar situation with a smaller plot of timberland. Sometimes even with 90% overlap it can’t stitch. I get your pain.