Help me make a flying helicopter!

Zerobricks · December 30, 2012

A quadcopter (not a classic heli) might work better - counter rotating blades etc

But for that i need mirrored rotors.

Carsten Svendsen · December 30, 2012

About the 9396 rotors. They seem very massive to me, and as said before they need a more complex rotor stem.

@#16 Carsten Svendsen You tried 18 volts too?

I have tried 19,2 volts (two 9,6V lithium ion packs), and I can say that the motors smell really bad afterwards - they still work, but I wouldn't recommend it as the carbon/brushes inside of them will degrade not only faster, but super fast!

If you take the 9396 rotors and build a mechanism like the one below (smaller of course) then perhaps you can get it up if it's not too heavy.

The special part in the middle is made of 3:

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2906

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2907

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2908

From youtube:

Lego Part Number 2906 is the rotating swahplate, 2907 is the uniball,

and 2908 is the stationary swashplate. Part 2907 is a splined ball that

is locked within 2906. 2906 is supported by and locked to 2908 but can

rotate freely along a horizontal axis. Because of the spines on 2907,

the entire assy would not slide vertically along the main rotor shaft. I

used a drill bit to remove the splines allowing the ball slide freely.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Carsten Svendsen

allanp · December 30, 2012

Maybe you could try a twin rotor heli with one buggy motor powering both?

efferman · December 30, 2012

If you take the 9396 rotors and build a mechanism like the one below (smaller of course) then perhaps you can get it up if it's not too heavy.

even with my small cyclic and collectiv head this would be to heavy.

Edited December 30, 2012 by efferman

Brickend · December 30, 2012

I'd try it with off the shelf RC copter blades in order to test if the motors can produce a good enough power to weight ratio for any sort of flight.

bluescrn · December 30, 2012

I build+fly small RC quadcopters, and I've got a couple of small RC helis, too. And I can't see any way that a heli or quad will ever fly from pure Lego :(

A helicopter rotor head is way too complicated (and needs to operate at very high speeds), and to control a heli, the minimum you'll need is two motors (main and tail) and two servos to control the rotor head.

Quads are much simpler mechanically, but still need to be light, and have a lot of motor power for their weight, as well as a controller board with accelerometer/gyros to stabilize them. An NXT could probably do that, but they weight rather a lot...

Your best option is probably to build a quad using a Lego frame, and proper RC gear (RX, motors, ESCs, props, control board), but disguised as Lego. Maybe you could even control it with an NXT, and modify the NXT to conceal a LiPo battery? Not sure if an NXT could drive ESCs though. Maybe you could use the shell from a dead NXT, and squeeze in a battery and KK2 flight controller (http://www.hobbyking...trol_Board.html)? Maybe even mount your brushless motors in PF motor casings?...

At least a couple of people have built Lego frames for RC quadcopters, but I've not seen anyone try to make one that looks like an actual 'Lego Quadcopter' though...

Edited December 30, 2012 by bluescrn

roamingstop · December 30, 2012

Or add negatuve bouyancy with a well hidden helium balloon within the enlarged mainframe

Sariel · December 30, 2012

The big rotor blades from the 9396 helicopter you asked about are exactly 14 grams each, 31 studs long and 2.5 studs wide (19 mm to be exact). They seem to have a good profile, very smooth and narrower on the "back" side, just like a real rotor blade. But you would need to mount them at angle, because they are not "twisted" relatively to their connecting part.

Alasdair Ryan · December 30, 2012

You could connect them to a worm gear casing to get a good pitch,you also have the ability to adjust them very easily. :grin:

gotoAndLego · December 30, 2012

I know its not a purist solution, but has anyone tried using blades from an actual RC copter.

Edited December 30, 2012 by gotoAndLego

Saberwing40k · December 31, 2012

I know its not a purist solution, but has anyone tried using blades from an actual RC copter.

As a matter of fact, I do have a set of blades like this, and they are mirrored. However, I do not have any buggy motors. :hmpf_bad:

Also, as a suggestion, something I used in my attempt, is to use a train speed regulator, with a twelve volt transformer hooked up to it. It has build in speed control, and no thermal limiter. (that I've encountered.) That would be a good thing to try.

Carsten Svendsen · December 31, 2012

Also, as a suggestion, something I used in my attempt, is to use a train speed regulator, with a twelve volt transformer hooked up to it. It has build in speed control, and no thermal limiter. (that I've encountered.) That would be a good thing to try.

It's got a thermal limiter - skip to 0:55

1.9k · December 31, 2012

Good luck!

One day Lego will come out with a motor that is extremely light weigth & powerful and a battery box that, while short-lasting, will be extremely lightweight. Add in specialized rotor blades and we'll have flying Lego for real.

No

Boxerlego · December 31, 2012

I believe in the possibility that a LEGO helicopter can fly and be controllable aswell. It probably wont fly like the Apache. But that should be the goal.

1.9k · December 31, 2012

Look, we'we been over this before. Not gonna happen with current parts. LEGO is _NOT_ build for those rpms! And if was, you'd need a shitload of power to get lift off because of the heavy weight

It's really very simple math

Of course TLG could design special motors, gears, RC, battery yadda yadda ... but then it wouldn't be LEGO would it?

It's a pipedream

Lakop · December 31, 2012

Probably the only way would be to use a motor from a current RC copter and wrap it in lego and take it from there. I'm sure it can be done and the lego team are probably monitoring our ideas etc on this site so look out for an official lego RC copter.

H

Zerobricks · January 7, 2013

For all the doubters....

EAT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David, you rock man! Couldnt have done it without you!

Next step is to loose the the beams holding it and add a tail rotor.

Edited January 7, 2013 by Zblj

Ramacco · January 7, 2013

Awesome! Well done!

Alasdair Ryan · January 7, 2013

Awwwww......it fly's ordering my blades now....... :grin:

What blade are you using for the tail?

Edited January 7, 2013 by Alasdair Ryan

Zerobricks · January 7, 2013

None yet.

Here's my next flyable machine:

All i need now is 2 more PF extension cables and more batteries to feed the 2 hougry motors.

DLuders · January 7, 2013

@ Zblj: It's good to see that the 9 ea. 89509 "Propeller 1 Blade 14L with Two Pin Holes and Four Axles" arrived in the mail. :classic: Perhaps a Chinook helicopter setup (with two, counter-rotating sets of 4 blades) would stable and balanced:

Porty · January 7, 2013

CRAZY, ZBLJ! You BARELY beat me to it!

allanp · January 7, 2013

Awesome man awesome! You have proved the concept that Lego parts alone can generate enough lift to lift it's own weight, well done for proving the abominable "no" men wrong! Can't wait to see more.

As for Lego releasing an actual flying set, i'm not so sure. Maybe, in many many years. However I remember seeing a toy rescue helicopter thing that was mounted to an arm that could go up and down and rotate, by changing the speed of the rotors and the angle of the heli you could fly it up and down, round and round and try to pick up a man on a stretcher and drop him off on a landing pad. I could easily see something like that from Lego even next year.