I’ve been quite irritated with my carbon fiber landing legs I came up with for my Alien H4 680mm quadcopter.  The legs are on servo-less electric retracts which I have assigned to a channel on my transmitter.  I can put the gear up or down during flight.  That’s cool, especially with a 3-axis gimbal for the camera.  It keeps the legs out of the photos or video.

The problem I’ve had is with the 6 millimeter carbon fiber tubing I’ve used for the legs.  Those tubes wrap around the 4mm “trunnion” which comes out of the retract.  When taking off, landing, or working on my quad the legs take a beating and over time crack.  Just two days ago two legs snapped in grass as the copter shifted laterally during takeoff.

Lucky for me I have a cousin who has a machine shop.  I had him make me up some aluminum landing legs.  They have a 4mm section which replaces the trunnion, then expand to 6mm.  The “shoulder” between the 6mm and 4mm supports most of the weight, and the aluminum is MUCH stronger.

Yes what about the weight difference?  Each leg of the carbon fiber landing legs with trunnion and rubber cap was 7 grams.  The new aluminum legs with rubber cap are 15 grams.  I’m adding 28 grams to the whole bird with this upgrade.  Not terrible.

Below is a video of the old CF retracts in action.

I’ve now started a new build, the new Arris X-Speed 250 racing quadcopter which was kindly provided for review here by myrcmodel.com.  The basic frame is put together as seen below.

Arris X-Speed 250 Quadcopter Frame

I shot a five minute video of the unboxing and examination of the parts for the basic unassembled kit below.

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.