Problems Encountered

One important aspect to note is that the spring rate of the Mark III & IV springs are noticeably softer than the ones originally used in the Mark II suspension. This was due to the required increase in height to accommodate for the gimbal & camera beneath the drone. The springs were included in a Shock & Damper Tamiya set and were of a fixed length. Due to the fact that time was a constraint & Tamiya does not provide spring rates for some of their products, it was hard to determine whether the springs were suitable for the new drone. After purchase and assembly however, it was noted that although these ‘stiff’ springs (as labelled by Tamiya) could support the weight of the drone, it compressed by a bit when at rest. This is not of major importance, but will affect the overall bounce rate of the drone as the springs can now only compress by the remaining length left. This problem was later fixed by replacing the stock shock oil with a more viscous, thick damper oil, and also by purchasing a spring with a stiffer spring rate.

Several hobby shops were visited around Singapore, such as Stargek & Singapore Hobby, and even some hardware stores like Sun Hee Hardware. Unfortunately, none of these stores carried the same dimensions of the springs but with higher spring rates. It was also relatively hard to source for online, & would require long shipping times. This was not a big problem that the suspensions compressed with base weight, but it would be ideal to not compress at all when at rest.

The final solution came about when springs were purchased from Singapore Spring Pte Ltd, which were of a similar diameter, but with stiffer spring rates, as these springs were originally meant for machining uses, and not for recreational projects or hobbies.

Sincerely,

Ryan

Invictus Mechanical Engineer