QAV250 360 Selfie Stick

by RotoRex | April 6, 2016 | (6) Posted in Projects

 

The Idea

Ever since I saw the video of an rc plane flying with two keychain cameras revolving around it as it flew, I have always wanted to do something similar. A few weeks ago my friends and I were chatting about this and we came up with the crazy idea to put it onto one of our Lumenier QAV250s. So I designed a 3D printed mount that fit onto the QAV250 and allowed two RunCam 2s to spin freely around the copter. 

 

Flying and Modification

After the first test flights we noticed that it didn’t spin very much. So I took a Ping-Pong ball and split it in half and mounted the halves to the ends of the arms. Then the mount spun way to fast! It was crazy looking in the air and the video made everyone who watched it sick to their stomachs. So we moved the Ping-Pong balls in toward the center gradually and got it to spin at a more acceptable speed. 

 

The Mount

The 3D printed mount is based around two bearings and a shaft that fits inside the bearings. The bearings and the shaft were obtained from servocity.com (links below). On the shaft mounted a simple piece that holds two carbon fiber arms out at 20 degrees. Overall the system is silky smooth and spins even better than I first imagined it would. 

Ball Bearings: https://www.servocity.com/html/flanged_ball_bearings.html#.VwUGhU995hE

Standoffs: https://www.servocity.com/html/6-32_aluminum_standoffs__round.html

 

Conclusion

The project was a lot of fun and we had lots of laughs trying new things with it. Hopefully soon we will take some more footage with it and do some exciting proximity and stunts with it. After that, we will put together another awesome video reel. 

Special thanks to FalconViz for letting us use some of your resources and to Luca Passone for letting me use your QAV250 as a test bed for my crazy contraption. If you guys want to find some more awesome material by me and my friends, check us out below.

 

YouTube

Ryan: https://www.youtube.com/user/1Ryan2010

Luca/Wizard OfPropz: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPCLDSdoVGUxhTdAmBua0JA

 

Instagram

Ryan: https://www.instagram.com/rboekeloo/

Luca/Wizard OfPropz: https://www.instagram.com/wizardofpropz/

Mohamad: https://www.instagram.com/mnkarkadan/

- Find this article & others like it at www.FliteTest.com -

COMMENTS

jimmyp39 on April 10, 2016
Super cool. How did it fly with the arms swinging around?
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RotoRex on April 10, 2016
Thanks. It flew pretty well with arms swinging around. I though it would have effected it more but it handled it pretty well. The extra weight is very noticeable though. =)
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The-One-Who-Never-Crashes on April 11, 2016
Ha ha! Absolutely amazing. Kind of reminds me of David W.'s Viggen swivel mount :)
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RotoRex on April 12, 2016
Thanks. I think David got inspiration from the same video I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgGsPaCVdjY&list=LLKbRhfVajDvPmXvItZAZJLg&index=3
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gilcd85 on April 20, 2016
Very cool! I uploaded an article with similar concept to FliteTest just this week!
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RotoRex on April 21, 2016
Thanks. I just checked out your article. A little tip, if you want it to spin take a ping pong ball and cut it in half. Stick each on the arms facing the opposite way. It will cause it to spin, this is similar to how wind speed measurement devices work. I have a picture of it in my article.
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Ryan2010

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QAV250 360 Selfie Stick