Incredible Heavy Lift Quadcopter (HLQ) - Engine rebuild, Aggressive Flight Controls, and Pull Tests

In this video, we test the engines after the rebuild from the blown piston. We did a minimal engine run test to ensure the rebuild went as well as we thought (which it seems to have), then moved on to a flight controls test. This time, though, we brought in a veteran quad copter designer and pilot to give his thoughts on HLQ's controllability. He gave it a bit more of an aggressive input than we probably would have (simply due to our inexperience with actually flying) and ultimately gave us a thumbs up with regard to control reaction and overall controllability.
We also took the opportunity to do a static pull test and go full throttle/pith to help determine what kind of lift capacity we have. HLQ weighs in at about 70 pounds, and we say a max pull of about 90 pounds. But, when HLQ came back to idle, the scale was at 7 pounds with no pull on it. So, total, we are looking at about 150 pounds of lift. That exceeds our expected lift of 130 pounds, but this is likely due to us being in ground effect. Higher above ground, our actual lift capacity will probably come in right near what is expected. With these tests successfully completed, we moved on to a tethered flight test, which will be the subject of a the next video.

[@RADIOACTIVEman1233]

This is awesome! Keep up the awesome work guys

[@scenicdepictionsofchicagolife]

I'd imagine a quad like this could benefit significantly from using a single LiquidPiston rotary engine as opposed to these two strokes. Lighter and more power dense. No need to tether two motors together. I wonder if they'll do it!

[@sergioorjuela7896]

Wow great progress. Can't wait to see this baby flying!!!!

[@jseed-le6uz]

Why not get high quality engines? From the problems you have had these seem poorly made. A Honda GX series would be great, or a well-tested 2-stroke if you need to keep that power-to-weight up. They are abundant and bulletproof because of lawn care equipment. I'd be worried about it falling out of the sky with these engines.

[@MSINJED]

Has this thing ever flown? Like without strings attached and stuff?

[@peppi0304]

no they are still testing it.. Remember this thing is build with real motors!! :O

[@CullenCraft]

so let me get this straight. It has 150 lbs of lift. this exceeded you expectations by 130 lbs. so you expected 20 lbs of lift.... on your 70 lb craft. seems legit.

[@Incrediblehlq]

It exceeded our expectation OF 130 pounds. Sorry for the confusion.

[@CullenCraft]

Lol I see it know. My mistake. Keep up the great work! Can't wait to see it fly!

[@thesherm44]

No, they expected 130lbs of lift. They got 150.

[@VooteleAer]

Why 2 engines? I would take just one and throw away those "mufflers". 2-stroke engine needs expansion chamber exhausts to function properly. You can easily get much more power from one engine and save the weight of other.

[@varkokonyi]

Maybe balancing the whole thing would be more difficult

[@ajsmith4101]

it appears you have 4 tanks on this. It also appears that it draining from one tank, and then the next, and so on until its out. This is actually a horrible idea because then when one tank if empty it is off balance and will greatly change flight characteristics.

[@Incrediblehlq]

We have two tanks paired up in such a way that opposite arms drain first. Balance is maintained as long as both engines are under similar loads, which they should be in nominal operation. And in off-nominal conditions we are either landing or crashing, so it shouldn't be a problem.

[@ferik.-aerodron1854]

very nice video

[@joshua7586]

How long until the flight video?

[@Incrediblehlq]

Not long :) It is uploading now, and should become available soon at this link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWemqKylqsp6f8k

[@Incrediblehlq]

Although, I don't want to give hopes up. Depending on what you are expecting to see, it may or may not be impressive.

[@dextersxxxxlab]

it is an impressive machine. you have two engines working on 4 props. how do you distribute more or less power to one of them. And a second question, what is the purpose of this thing? just for fun? win hobbyking's beer lift contest? commercial? beside the fact it is a very cool machine it is also a money pit i guess and pretty dangerous too. it will chop your head off if it will crash on yourself. so what is the idea behind this quad?

[@bullproductions]

I think it uses collective pitch to adjust the blades, adjusting thrust from each blade. Like a helicopter x 4