Project Hexacopter

Everybody wants more - I have been doing 360 spherical panoramas for two years now, and it's time to discover new horizons. It's time to fly!

I am looking into aerial photography (mast photography wasn't enough). And I am an novice when it comes to flying RC helicopters. But look at Jakubs site at www.kkmulticopter.com. I might reach my goal yet.

There lie challenges ahead! In order to do some decent spherical panoramas I need to convince Jakub to produce a frame that will handle a payload of appr. 2 kilograms. Not to mention a 2- or 3-axes gimbal.

For now you can enjoy some aerial excellence in my video section (look under the menu"inspiration") or you can download my plans. Just right-click of the link Construction plans in pdf format and choose save.

    KKMulticopterKKMulticopter

Current status, February 2011

Beside the Jakub SexyCopter v2 airframe, I have invested in most parts, including 7 Turnigy 2217 20 turn 860 kV motors (one spare motor - just in case) and a KKMultiController board made by Ivan Lau. I need some expertise on the electronics, so I asked Ivan to make a controller for me. 140 US$ is an Ok price, when it come tested with the newest firmware of my choice.

The biggest problem right now is to select the right control, but with a bit of help from the danish specialists Holte Modelhobby most problems can be solved. The safe bet seems to be a Spectrum DX8.

    KKMulticopter ControllerTurnigy 217 20 turn 860kv motor
Posted on: Thursday 10th February, 2011 by admin

6 Responses

  1. ahmet says:
    2011/03/04 at 21:24

    Hello Mr. Eilertsen,
    great info..thanks for all..
    I am also a vr photographer…
    How did you decide hexacopter? comparing with quadro and okto.. I have been watching lots of videos..to me best seen is quadro….
    thanks for information in advance..
    P.s. i couldnt decide want to buy/ hd vvideo and 360)..help appreciated..
    thanks,
    ahmet
    check these links why this friend is selling his hexa..and hes having quadro at the same time..
    watch and see pls..
    http://www.aplanding.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4946
    http://extremeaerial.com/

    • admin says:
      2011/03/05 at 07:37

      Hi Ahmet,
      Call me Leif.

      The decision to build a hexacopter was a balance between complexity and safety. I am not an expert in R/C flying and wanted a copter with some redundancy. All multicopters have very poor flying times (10-15 minutes). But it’s not an easy choice – actually I am considering to build a octocopter from carbon fiber.
      You are asking about HD/360. Since I want safefy (I am not a billionaire) I will begin with a small HD camera like FlyCamOne (www.acme-online.de), a german built camera. I am not choosing the GoPro – in my taste they are too bulky and need a better quality lens.
      I know the DroidWorx copter (looking into them for a RTF alternative), could do worse :-) . Actually I have looked at the ad. Wish I had the money. The aerial from the surf is very fascinating – thanks for the hint.

  2. Rory Lyken says:
    2011/03/21 at 19:03

    Hi there, I found your site via Google while looking for a related topic, your site came up, it looks great. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.

  3. interesting facts says:
    2011/04/22 at 21:06

    Really creative blog here! Did you think of all of this content yourself or did you have some help? be honest.. lol

    • admin says:
      2011/04/23 at 14:50

      No – I collected the info from various sources. I am an amateur and would not be able to gather this much technical info myself.

  4. Ozell Snide says:
    2011/04/29 at 00:47

    Thanks a lot for sharing!