After hours of trying to reduce vibrations in the Alien H4 680mm quadcopter drone, I’ve decided to order two new motors.  I’ll be replacing the two motors on the rear of the craft.  Despite all the attempts to balance the motors, especially motor #3 (left rear), I’m taking a guess that one or both of the motors are damaged from the crash, or even perhaps the first flip.  The vibration is practically visible on motor #3.  I can see the landing gear visibly moving.  Touching or even getting close to touching arm #3 “tickles.”  It is obnoxious and no wonder I can’t capture any decent video.

Two new motors are on the way on the slow boat from China.  I will balance them before installation, which I should have done before.  Once the new motors are installed I’ll tear apart the old ones and check to see if the bearings or the prop posts are broken or bent.  That would cause the vibration problems.  If I can fax them, then I’ll have a couple of extra motors.

H4 Alien 680 Quadcopter during initial build…

I’m getting so discouraged on this rebuild that I took a break from it. The Alien H4 680 quadcopter is built and flying, but the vibrations are so bad I can’t get any decent video. I’ve spent DAYS, not kidding, balancing motors and props. Motor #3 vibrates so bad that it almost tickles your hand when close enough. I can see the landing leg under motor #3 shaking badly.

I’m now thinking that this motor is damaged. Perhaps the post is bent, or the bearings are compromised, or both. Now I’m faced with whether to pull it apart and try to replace the parts, or just buy another motor and see how that works.

I’m also not totally in love with this frame. The “K” shape of the bird makes great sense in getting the camera forward and the props out of the field of vision, but it doesn’t handle as well as I want it to. Maybe I’m too used to flying my bigger hexacopter, or perhaps the MiniX flight controller just isn’t as good as the SuperX.

Next steps?

I will either pull apart the motor and try to see if there’s obvious damage, and or buy a new motor. The problem is this stuff comes on the slow boat from China, so it will be another month before I can get to testing if I can’t find a USA dealer.

Here’s a fun glam shot of my recently rebuilt, post-crash Alien H4 680mm quadcopter drone.

Alien 680 Quadcopter

The post-crash rebuilt is 98% done. I’m back to tweaking the GoPro and gimbal setup. The remaining 2% is confirming that the landing gear actually works, since it failed once in a recent flight. Also some of the tube mounts are not the exact right one so waiting for replacements on those on the slow boat from China.