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Comment by fit2rule | Hacker News Reader

I build and fly RC .. and I love the Kline-Fogleman device.

Its so simple, you can teach anyone to build one, and it will fly. Its so simple, one wonders if it could be the basis of a self-assembly/auto-assembly art project, whereby raw material is fed into the box, a crank is turned, and out flies a new airplane. This is a mind-experiment I've been toying with for a while .. automated assembly of KF-based airplanes.

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Do you have any links? I have a quad and figured I'd build a plane out of the spare parts, and ordered a Pixhawk, but none of the connectors seem to actually fit anything else. Am I doing something wrong or are they actually not consistent? Is there some website that helps you connect the components and configure the Pixhawk?

Thanks!

It doesn't look like he is using a Pixhawk? It's hard to be sure but it appears to be a commodity quad FC, presumably with wing/plane firmware flashed. Not sure which flight control firmware varieties still support planes and wings since the ones I've used haven't had support for that in years.

That's not a flight controller, it's a simple power distribution board, most likely [1]. Flying wings generally don't need flight controllers, they just need two servos and an electronic speed controller for the motor. A flight controller is nice because it can stabilize the plane, and it can also provide autonomous flying it it has a gps. If you just want to fly around like that, no need.

[1] https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61k-Sva2oYL...

This makes sense. Thanks!

True, he just uses a power board. I went full hog and got the ArduPilot board plus the telemetry transceiver so I can have the plane fly from the computer with waypoints. Now if only I knew how to connect everything!

You'd be far better off scaling things back a bit and just learning traditional RC electronics - how an ESC gets wired up to the motors, where the servo's get their signals, and all that. ArduPilot definitely has sex appeal - but learn the basics of RC electronics first, is my advice ..

Try this one - very easy to build, and extremely fun to fly:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?1395335-Begin...

EDIT: BTW, if you want to get into the hobby, rcgroups.com is basically Mecca for the DIY builders in the crowd.

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