The Ov3rQuad

October 8, 20122 Comments

Out of almost nowhere, an opportunity to be one of the first to try a new frame design by Ov3rmind fell into my lap.  Ov3rmind, with help from Johnnycat500, describes the frame as “Open Source FPV Frame for all.  Inspired by numerous DJI arm-based conversion kits.” I’ll agree that it does share some features from a few of the popular frames around today. Similar to the TBS Discovery, the HT-FPV, and the QAV500, the frame is a simple asymmetrical design. It uses DJI flamewheeel 450/550 arms.

One major difference in this design vs. the rest is the addition of two vertical supports that run parallel to each other down the middle of the frame.  The thinking here is rigidity.  When flying it you’ll notice this, combined with the stability due to it’s size.  It’s about 6 inches longer than my HT-FPV, but about the same width (see pic below).  I can’t help but compare it to the HT-FPV since that’s the frame I flew before building this one, and maybe it’s me, but I was never able to tune that frame so that it flew like I wanted.  I was still cursed with the dreaded tail wag that a lot of people have with that one.  But this is not about that one, it’s about the Ov3rQuad!

During my build, and you can see pics of all of it below, everything went together well.  The only thing that was a little weird was that there were things that fit really tight and after assembly I noticed that one arm would hover about 1cm off of the ground.  I loosened up everything and tried again.  Still did it.  Upon further testing, this can be blamed on the DJI and clone DJI arms, seems they aren’t all the same and this could happen.  That’s the bad news… the good news is that it makes no difference when they’re ALL off the ground!

Shortly after my build, I felt great about the maiden so I took it for a road trip.  It flew great in the high altitudes!  I think you can tell by the video that there is still some tuning to do, but wow is this quad a ton of fun to fly!  On our trip, which most of the video is from I accidentally recorded a few flights in 1080, so you’ll see a little jello, but at 720 it’s non-existent, and I’ll get it that way on 1080 too with some tuning and balancing.

So yeah, it flies great, but how’s it crash?  Well, I had a couple of piloting errors and radio foibles where I found out.  The most extreme was a radio cut-out as I had JUST flown over a creek.  Lucky!  When I lost it, I was about a weak failsafe probably cushioned the impact a bit, but I didn’t even break a prop on that one.  Dusted it off and flew some more.  I know that JohnnyCat500 had a break of the G10 near one of the arm on the top plate.  As this is “open source” it’s ever evolving, he’s since strengthened the frame there, but I have the version that might have that problem (or maybe not, who knows?).

My build consisted of:

FC: OpenPilot CC3D
ESC: RCTimer 30 (flashed with SimonK)
Motors: Sunnysky 2212-13 980kv
Batt: 3S 4000Mah nano-tech
Props: I’ve flown with 9″ tri-props from himodel.com and 9″ gemfans — both great!
FPV Stuff: Maineiack 1.3GHz CL/SP/Crosshair, Sony 600TVL Super HAD FPV cam
Video: GoPro 2 on 720p/60

Seems it was common practice to give Ov3rQuad builds a nickname.  Because of the black and blue color scheme, I went with “The Bruiser.”  Seemed appropriate.

To sum it all up this is a great frame!  I highly recommend it.  It’s a great frame that flies like you think it should.  For further reading, there’s a HUGE thread about this frame over on the OpenPilot Forum.  If you’ve heard enough, and you want one for your very own, then order one!

Filed in: Framesreviewsvideo

About the Author ()

Here's spackletoe's biographical information for your reading pleasure. I like copters. Told you it wasn't very long. Oh.. wait, no I didn't. Sorry about that. I'm sure you didn't see the end coming like that. It was untimely, even. Ahh geez, now I feel the need to say more. I haven't mentioned monkeys yet. They're fun. Cya later!

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