Retired from NJ

[Doc Pete]

HI guys, my name is Pete from New Jersey. I've been in the Hobby over 60 years, starting at age 5. I've been through controline, rc planes, gliders and copters. I'm all electric now, which IMO is the way to go. I just got a phantom 3 drone. Flying is no problem with my Heli experience. NOW, what I want to do is make my drone into a droneball. I''m wondering how small a prop can I use and still get good lifting power. After watching the droneball video, I though it would be great to use it in "Tree cutting" work.

Here's the deal..........Tree companies use a small sand bag attached to a light string to throw over the branch they want to climb from. Then they use the smaller string to pull the main rope over the branch. At times they can spend 1/2 hour just trying to through the bag over the right branch. So, what if a use the drone to do the work, and have a cage around it so I don't need to worry about hitting branch.

My friend has a 3D printer, so a can design a cage, but I'd like make the unit as small as possible by using the smallest blade possible.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Pete

 

[BigAl07]

Welcome to the forum and Pete. Impressive history coming from a "newbie" who only has 44 (4 year old started in 1974) years under his belt.

The problem with "modifying" the Phantom series (or many sUAS that use a closed loop flight controller/FC) is that the FC is programmed to maintain certain very limited "flight/performance" parameters. Unlike our R/C planes running off Nitro/Gas where we could change props to change the performance of the aircraft these closed loop FC aircraft do not handle modification well at all.

It's not impossible to modify a Phantom aircraft (to some degree) but it's a lot of work to get it to perform outside of the programmed parameters. IMHO you'd be much better off getting an aircraft that has an open source FC that you can easily program/modify the parameters as well as use a kit solution so you can build the frame etc to your needs/standards from the ground up.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Allen

 

[Doc Pete]

Ah........ It's nice to get an accurate and informative answer. FWIW, my friend in the Tree business, has already mentioned for me to just go buy the droneball when it comes available. Also, my other friend with a 3D printer has offered to design a cage for me.
Again, thanks for the response.....I'm sure I will get more ideas from forum.
Doc Pete

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to the forum .
I hope you will find our site helpful and look forward to any input , photo's/video's you might post .
Don't be shy and ask anything if you can't find it by searching .

 

[Doc Pete]

OK................I still don't quite get what course lock and home lock are/do. They seem to be the same thing, except home lock brings it home without input.

I believe I could use a good explanation on "Atti"stuff. too.
Thanks,
Doc Pete

 

[Ed Hahn]

Pete I am in the tree business too.I have 25 years experience and been thinking
about the same.How can we use a drone to help. I have try a few different drones
but your ball is a great idea.There are some small drones that come in a cage.
I have one that I play with my cat, But its to small for outside use.Look on amazon
you might find something there.

 

[WV. Rootman]

Of course precision flying is a necessity. I would think getting a release device would be beneficial. Carry a small weight on the end of a string and release it at the right moment. It would also be beneficial if the string got caught. You would just release the string to free the drone.

 

[Doc Pete]

Oh yeah...................The old days

 

[Doc Pete]

Pete I am in the tree business too.I have 25 years experience and been thinking
about the same.How can we use a drone to help. I have try a few different drones
but your ball is a great idea.There are some small drones that come in a cage.
I have one that I play with my cat, But its to small for outside use.Look on amazon
you might find something there.

The drone ball by Grapnuer (?), is already to go. I don't know if it has the lifting power needed, but I can't see it not having enough take up a lightweight string attached to the main line. Also, I don't see a need for a disconnect. I'd just have a long enough string to let the drone go over the limb and back down to the ground. I just bought a bunch of blade guards for my P D 3. I'm going to play around and try to design a workable cage.
Doc Pete

 

[ryantrax]

Welcome to Phantom Pilots from Dayton Ohio! Enjoy your new Phantom 3, Fly safe and have fun!

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Hello,
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Phantom Pilots forum.
I hope that you will be able to use the forum to further your safety knowledge and for the exchange of innovative ideas and as a resource for current developments in DJI quadcopter’s.
Enjoy the forum!

 

[Pete Bourne]

HI guys, my name is Pete from New Jersey. I've been in the Hobby over 60 years, starting at age 5. I've been through controline, rc planes, gliders and copters. I'm all electric now, which IMO is the way to go. I just got a phantom 3 drone. Flying is no problem with my Heli experience. NOW, what I want to do is make my drone into a droneball. I''m wondering how small a prop can I use and still get good lifting power. After watching the droneball video, I though it would be great to use it in "Tree cutting" work.

Here's the deal..........Tree companies use a small sand bag attached to a light string to throw over the branch they want to climb from. Then they use the smaller string to pull the main rope over the branch. At times they can spend 1/2 hour just trying to through the bag over the right branch. So, what if a use the drone to do the work, and have a cage around it so I don't need to worry about hitting branch.

My friend has a 3D printer, so a can design a cage, but I'd like make the unit as small as possible by using the smallest blade possible.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Pete

 

[Kenny1]

Or you could just order a fly fly airdrop and use it for that application. Works great on my trees [emoji268]