I’m getting a little ahead of myself.  I’m not done setting up the electronics (previous post) for the Tarot T960 hexacopter drone, but once I got to the point of being able to, I HAD to mount this awesome dome to see what it looked like.

Tarot T960/T810 Dome

The dome (see badgerfly.com) is made of highly impact resistant plastic. They even included a test piece of the plastic with the unit for a demonstration. I bent the hell out of it and could never break it. Many multirotor helicopters like this are flown with no dome to protect the top of the craft. GPS’s are often mounted on flimsy poles. Often during testing or some bad flying, the unit will flip and break all the stuff on the top. The dome will protect that from happening.

Badgerfly.com Tarot T960 Dome

Now that I’ve got the power distribution board wired for the most part, the next task is getting the primary electronics mounted and wired on the bird.  This would be the XAircraft flight controller (with gps, compass, LED, I/O board), 2nd GPS for telemetry, radio receiver (Taranis X8R), voltage regulator and monitor, battery hook-up leads.  In the photo below all but the voltage regulator, voltage monitor, and battery leads are roughly in place.

Platform for the Tarot T960 with XAircraft Flight Controller

I had to find a way of getting my primary GPS up high via platforms.  The dome I purchased (next post) has a GPS mount, but it is not big enough for this one.

I found a couple of USA companies who sold parts I needed to build up my platforms, one in Texas and one in Florida.  This is great because ordering from China sucks. It can take weeks for stuff to arrive.  One time a set of parts took six weeks.  I’m on a schedule now and do not want to wait more than a few days for parts.

I ordered two extra Tarot small battery mounts from the Florida firm, and standoffs from the texas firm.  I was able to get the two existing battery mounts on either side of the top mounted a little higher.  And with the other parts built the center platform.  Looking good.  I broke one of the screws tightening it down, so I need to get some shorter screws.

Today I’m hanging out with my 1.5 year old boy having a lot of fun. During his noon nap I was able to get the motor power leads soldered to the power distribution board! That’s great use of time.

A trick I learned through much reading is to put liquid electrical tape on the connections when done. This helps prevent shorts. The liquid electrical tape can be found at Home Depot.

Power Distribution Board – Liquid Electrical Tape

Next up is figuring out the mounting of the flight controller and onboard electronics.