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Hi 3DMON,

Very nice to see you here - I have been following your exploits on the Phlatforum over the last few years with great interest.

This project will start to unfold as I get further along. So far I have only tested with a servo but I have now ordered a replacement outrunner for my Pond Flier - when it arrives (from China) I will perhaps be able to get down to some serious testing.

I have isolation routed a couple of simple circuit boards (always make a spare) and one will be assembled up later on in the week - so far so good.

Tweakie.

It's fibreglass but the actual grade of the material is unknown.

Tweakie.

strange coincidence, I was just thinking about this last week. except I'm thinking Arduino based hardware and was also thinking about monitoring the motor speed 'somehow' and using PID to maintain speed under load. could be just a coil next to the motor to generate a few volts that can be read into the A/D.

a sideways thought is that a 450 size helicopter motor would be just about right for a spindle, light weight, high RPM, not expensive.

Great thinking David - there has to be many different possibilities by which an outrunners speed can be computer controlled.
I certainly like the PID idea of feedback to maintain speed under load.

Tweakie.

For others that follow...

I have linked to it in the build but Robert's excellent Outrunner spindle build is here; http://openbuilds.com/builds/890kv-ox-rc-spindle.411/

Tweakie.

What software do you use to generate the code for your PCBs as that is part of the puzzle I need to complete my Stinger PCB mill
I know eagle has a plug in that generates g-code but have yet tried it

Hi Robert,

Eagle is best for auto layouts but for simple circuits like this I use FrontDesign for the .bmp then Aspire to vector the outline and create the GCode.

Tweakie.

After demonstrating the prototype to a friend, he suggested that a manual override switch (controlling the outrunner’s speed with a potentiometer) would be a nice addition as it would then also allow usage by those without PWM availability from their machine controllers.


As the PIC12f683 incorporates an Analog to Digital module it would be a simple enough task to add a switch (Manual / Automatic) and then use a potentiometer (potential divider between 0V and 5V) to create the necessary 1mS to 2mS output pulses to drive the outrunner’s ESC.

The switch and potentiometer could, of course, be substituted with a single rotary switch and fixed resistors to produce off and 3 or 4 pre-set speeds for the outrunner – there are many possibilities here.


A further suggestion was made (on another forum) to use a GOV / ESC for the outrunner’s control as this could allow for (more or less) constant RPM under varying load conditions. GOV / ESC’s do require a bit of software setting-up but those using them with RC Heli’s tell me it is very easy to do and they work extremely well indeed. I have never used one so I need to do a bit more investigation into this possibility.


Tweakie.

I am still using an extremely old Peter Crowcroft design PIC programmer but there are plenty of newer designs (complete with the prog. software) available on the bay - extremely cheap from China.

Thanks for the info - I will start searching for a cheap GOV / ESC to experiment with.

Tweakie.

Doing some awesome work here bud!

Thanks guys.

I have now updated the build, adding a new circuit diagram to show the potentiometer speed control and PWM / Manual selector switch positions and I have also added a new HEX file (under the files tab) which covers the software changes as mentioned in post #11.

Tweakie.