New Project? Gimbal Motors?

Above: Recently acquired RCTimer GBM2804 Gimbal Motor

So recently Blackout released its new 330 Quad. If you haven't seen it, you can check it out at minihquad.com. It's a 330mm quad which is intended to carry a GoPro camera.

Turns out the Blackout 330 pretty much does what I wanted a small quad to do when I set out to design my own mini-quad. I admit, I was actually aware this was being worked on when I started my own project. I was just too impatient to wait for it to come to market. I also really wanted to make something that I could call my own! As a bonus, my quad also ended up being slightly smaller than the Blackout 330 since it measures 290mm motor to motor.

Recently, several of the beta testers have been flying the Blackout 330 with a HobbyKing brushless gimbal! That's something my mini-quad is not capable of doing.

So, my next project is to create my own mini gimbal quad! Hence the picture of the gimbal motor above. I have already started to acquire parts so that I can begin design of the frame. Currently I have the following parts ordered and/or on hand for this build:

• 2x RCTimer GBM2804 Gimbal Motors
• 1x HobbyKing Micro Alexmos 2-axis Gimbal Controller

As far as electronics go, I plan to use the same setup recommended for the Blackout 330:

• Cobra 2208 2000kv motors
• 20A ESCs (thinking about trying the Multirotor Superstore ones)
• 4s Battery (thinking Lumenier 2250mAh should do it)
• Naze32

FPV equipment:

• GoPro Hero 3+ (mounted in gimbal)
• FatShark 600tvl or similar board cam (fixed mount)
• RC 3-input video switcher
• Lumenier GoPro Hero connector
• Immersion RC 600mW VTX
• Immersion RC Spironet antenna

Yes, I could buy the Blackout 330, but this will be more fun and I think I can make a few improvements to the frame layout by designing it with the gimbal in mind. More design specifics/goals to come in followup posts!