Third Time a Charm - Craycle Orca V2 Failures and Success

[@themightymacboy]

You’ve had that drone almost as fast as I have had our Model 3! Nuts.

[@mihavuk]

I totally feel 100% everything you went through in this journey. Succes at the end is sweet. 👍😉🙂

[@vagabond6442]

after 3 crashes i got things right now it takes off without any problems, i use a 6x4 apc propeller, don't use drone propellers cause more yaw, battery 3 cells 1800mh,motor 2300 kv, i drilled two holes under the plane to pick it up with my fingers and launch it comfortably, aileron control parts a few degrees to up, now it flies beautifully.

[@XYZFPV]

Nice one!

[@ebikefe]

Been there, done that!! 😅

[@JamesDowningFPV]

Looks like you're still twisting your plane in the yaw direction on some of your throws. I find it hard not to, but that yaw often causes the asymmetric lift and roll.

[@brubakerjm]

Yeah, especially that second one. It was baaaad. Generally for a pusher, I prefer the reverse, overhead toss, but for some reason I'm just not super confident using that on this one. Maybe because so much of my hand is gripping the top hatch, which doesn't feel secure enough for an aggressive grip-and-throw.

[@ebikefe]

I am still to get a handle on manual launches; I have always used auto launch, even with mixed results..😅. For these 3 attempts, did you just put it in stabilized mode, raise throttle and then throw?

[@brubakerjm]

Yeah, I think that was basically my plan. I *might* have used this FC's "autolaunch" on the second attempt (which is just stabilized plus some kind of fence mode). If this had been INAV I probably would have just put the radio down and chucked it hard, but this was my first experience with this Sparrow 3 OSD flight controller, so I wasn't completely sure what to expect.

[@Prevettspecialdesign]

I need to fix mine too! I had the same issues, 3s and it kept crashing after launch, so maybe I should with to 4s..

[@brubakerjm]

Yeah, launching on 3S was rough. I never gave it 100% throttle on launch, fearing adverse torque roll, but even then I'm not sure it would have been enough. 4S made enough of a difference to get the job done. I think my wing loading is too high. I had to use a 4S 2200 to make CG; it's pushed all the way forward against the FPV cam, and I think it's just too heavy. I'm not sure why it needs so much weight to balance, as my other electronics and motor are not wildly out of position. An extended wing version might be excellent for easier launches.

[@Prevettspecialdesign]

@@brubakerjm I find it too heavy as well, I had a 3s 3000 in the front to balance and still needed 40 extra grams of weight in the nose.. I love the looks of it and the ease of printing, but out of over 30+ 3d printed models I have, this one has almost beaten me….

[@timoklein6732]

The same thing happened to me attempting my first launch 😂

[@brubakerjm]

Did it survive enough for another attempt?!

[@sashgorokhov]

Did they reduce the number of carbon required since v1?

[@brubakerjm]

I think V1 and V2 are the same for carbon. V3, which was just released a few weeks ago, claims to use less carbon, but I think he just is no longer using carbon for the pushrods, which I didn't use anyway. V3 also seems to assemble more easily as the pieces now interlock when gluing.