The Walkera RC Magic Cube MTC-01 V2. Can be plugged into trainer port, and also has an iphone android app. On sale at Hobby One. Review and binding instructions here. Notes on the app here.
You can use the mtc-01 on your 9x and I have flown my ladybird using it with stock 9x firmware. but you have to reverse some channels. I recommend you upgrade the stock 9x firmware to er9x, because on the stock 9x firmware the elev and aile channel is swapped and there is no way you can change it with stock firmware. With er9x you can easily change it.
I recently attended a conference where one of the conferees had a makerbot and was offering to 3d-print items for people. I was pretty excited about this -- in addition to being my first real-life experience with a 3d-printer, I had just seen the ladybird prop guards that had been uploaded to thingiverse and really wanted a set.
So, just as has been described, we downloaded the STL file and brought it into the CAD package. We flipped the blade guard over so the arm attachment part would be on the bottom, and duplicated it so that we would print 4 in one go. All of that would pretty straightforward. We then fiddled with some parameters regarding plastic thickness, print speed, etc.
You can drive the makerbot directly from USB, or you can generate and download (via memory card) the "tool paths" which are in "G code" (not sure about the details here, we were going pretty quickly). The advantage of downloading (as it was explained to me) is that you're free to use the software to continue working, and that sometimes the printer will stall waiting for data. Here you can see the print started by laying down a lattice that will make it easy to remove the pieces from the tape.
I'm not sure why we had the pieces of tape. I'm assuming it made it easier to pop completed items off cleanly.
Here you can see the prop guards starting to take shape. As you can see in the video below, the unit runs quietly, and it's rather hypnotic watching it work.
This is a couple of minutes into the printing. The entire print took about 22 minutes. Always put your product logo in a prominent spot!
Here's what came out, after trimming off the substrate.
But there was a problem... one of the parameters was a bit off (I didn't hear which one), so the rings printed with a hollow void between the two sides. I think if you glued the rings together with thin CA it would be strong enough to work pretty well.
But not necessary... because we have a 3D printer! We bumped up whatever parameter and printed a new set with fully formed rings.
The ladybird is sadly waiting for a new motherboard, but as soon as I get it I'll put the rings on and follow up as to how well it works.
But for now, I have to say my first sip of the 3D printer koolade was pretty tasty and I'm looking forward to trying some more!
Finally received my replacement motor. I was going to take a few pics of the Ladybird disassembled, but was so concentrating on not loosing the screws I got distracted. Anyways: pop the body off and unscrew the leg with the bad motor. Undo the power and swap the leg. You might have to undo some of the other screws to route the wire. The screws go through rubber standoffs -- don't let them fall out!
If you're like me, you vaguely knew in the back of your mind Walkera was popular in the heli world. They came to the forefront of my brainspace with the Ladybird... a real gem in the nano-quad world.
Here's a breakdown of their various DEVO transmitters. Thanks to vendor Walkera Helicopter Supply for that. It's nice, since the model numbering is a bit random. I'm interested in getting a model that supports expo for my Ladybird. The DEVO 10 looks tempting... ARM processor, upgradable firmware, telemetry.
The Hoten-X looks like a nice mini-quad... brushless, 200 size, telemetry, 2S 1000 mAh. If it flies anything like the Ladybird it will be a winner.
I've had a chance to try out a couple of these microquads, and the Ladybird is definitely the best. If you're a beginner, you'll be able to get it flying with no problem.
If you're in the USA, get the model with the Mode 2 Tx and it will have everything you need to take off!
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