I realized that I never updated the blog with a picture of my completed long-board.
Well, it has been built nearly a year ago and I have been using it ever since.

Aluminum Long Board Project

I have been riding my longboard for some time around campus but over time i realized that every one had the same plane old wood longboard. I wanted something new, special and hand made. So I started designing my own longboard. I first made a design that looked like a spider web. Everyone knows spider webs are cool Well being an engineering student I couldn't resist doing a stress analysis on my design . It looks like spider webs dont leave enough supporting material to prevent the board from over flexing.

I had to re-design my longboard with more suport material in it. The result was this. I think it is not as cool as spider web but still cool.

 I started machining it last night and so far so good. I have half of it done just need to flip it over and machine the other half. Ill post a time laps of the build when i edit the footage.

I have this 46 inch TV in my dorm. It is the focus point of the whole room however there is one problem: it doesn't have a remote ( got lost when I was moving it from my house to my dorm). I thought about getting my self a universal remote from Wallmart for 10 bucks but that is not the hacker way. I took the more complicated route. I made a IR emitter that works off the audio jack of my iPhone. I am now learning how to write iOS apps to make this work just like a normal remote. I currently change my TV by playing a audio file on iTunes ( which gets annoying fast ).

It has been a long time since my last update. Since then I have gone to Turkey, came back from Turkey, build my Quad, destroyed my quad when one of the ESCs failed, Rebuilt it with a new frame, didn't like the new frame, Made a Y6 frame, built the y6, took the y6 to HouSecCon and used it as eye candy during Zac Hinkel and I's drone presentation and last but not least I just cut my T-6 frame. So over all I have been a busy boy. I have my y6 flying with out any problems but I decided that KK2.0 is just not really what I want. In the near future i will have an APM2 to fully automate the quad for doing topography mapping and 3D mapping.

Other then that I have designed an phone/water bottle holder for my bed at the dorms. I have been having to put my phone under my pillow ever since I built my bed fort to keep the sun out in the morning and the light out when my roommate is studying. The only solution? Design a holder! So I did.... and this is what i came up with:

I was at the Tx/Rx Labs in Houston today to finish my quad today during the open house. I did more then finish working on it..... I maidened  it in front of  about 10 people I am glad it didn't tip over the side crashing.

Here is more details on the quad. 

Bill of materials

4 - NTM Prop Drive Series 35-30 1100kv / 380w

4- TURNIGY Plush 30amp Speed Controller ( Hobbyking doesnt stock the ESC I have used but this is a drop in replacement. )

Flight controller Hobby King KK2

OrangeRx R610 Spektrum DSM2 6Ch 2.4Ghz Receiver (w/ Sat Port)

The booms are from Home Depot. They are towel racks.

The nuts and bolts are also from Home Depot.

The frame is a custom design that I cut on the laser cutter ( if any one wants me to cut them one just leave a message in the comments)

During the maiden I was surprised at the KK2s stability right out of the box. It did have some oscillation but that can be easily tuned out. I am glad I didn't have to bother with pots like I had to when using the older KK boards to get it to the point where it would not tip over.

I just gave it throttle and it took off without any problems.

I am going to finish tuning the PI in the morning and after that I can fly it a bit more aggressively to see what this thing will do before i have to take it apart to take it to Turkey.

I'll post a video when i get a chance.

Gig'em, Aggies !  

  

Well this is my latest project. I have been working on my own quad design for some time. I wanted a cheap fold-able quad that I can take overseas with out a problem. After a few days of designing this is what i came up with.

I used 5mm plywood because it is so easy to cut with a laser cutter and its super cheap. I got enough plywood to make at least a hundred of these things for just 10 bucks from Home Depot. For the booms I used Aluminum towel racks also from Home Depot costing me only about 8 bucks for all 4. With the frame out of the way lets talk about the most expensive part of the quad... The motors and the speed controllers. I lucked out on those and got everything i needed from a guy on RCGroups.com for only 80 bucks shipped to my front door. That also included a HK KK flight controller. 

My current cost is in the low 100s right now. Considering this is a 900mm quad that's not a bad price at all. 

Things I have left to do:

-Add the power distribution board and solder up the ESCs to it

-Add the flight controller and the Rx

-Fly it ! 

My batteries should be here tomorrow or by Friday I will try to trim it out and get it flying by the weekend before I go to Turkey for the summer. ( Contemplating about taking the quad with me or not)

Have a Happy 4th and Gig'em !

   

Update as I promised. I finished up wiring my V1 board on a spare proto board. But as I was soldering everything up I realized that I had no way of telling the arduino that if the fridge door is open or if its closed. 

In order to solve this problem I decided to install a reed switch. I will use a magnet from a hard drive to turn the switch on and off. But adding a new component means new code to write but it shouldn't be that bad.

For the board I'm going to etch the PCB this time to have a nicer looking board. That way I can reduce the chance of a bad solder joint or a loose jumper wire. On top of that it looks cool. Isn't that the reason for this project any way ?

New layout

V1 Board

The wiring doesn't look that purdy..... but it does the job!