Soma’s WarpQuad

Just gonna share photos of the acro quad I am building. Thanks to Soma for coming up with the WarpQuad. Looks the best out of all the acrobatic quads out there.

Here’s the center frames. It sandwiches the 4mm carbon fiber legs.

I switched out some of the hardware. Such as the aluminum washer below. And used power cables that comes attached together. For a neater run of the brushless motor wires to the center of the WarpQuad.

Another change from the standard build out. I added 1.72mm washers so I can run the 22guage motor wire underneath the top plate.

Then I modified the XT60 lipo connector so that it can be sandwiched between the frames. Filed down the connector so it can conform to the curve of the top plate.

You can see where the power distribution harness will solder to and subsequently run to each of the ESC.

Those were the early photos. These upcoming photos are where the WarpQuad build out is at now. It took forever to source red aluminum washers with the same bevel as the blue ones I had on hand. Still not perfect but very close. The aluminum TeeNut that the frame is resting on is just to temporary hold the arms in place. And make it easy to disassemble without tools. This frees up my hand to ensure the cable runs are neat and nothing is pinched.

I switch to button head screws. Red aluminum 5mm. The hex size will take the same allen wrench to be consistent with the rest of the screw head used on this quad. The four button head should be strong enough to secure the motor.

Here is a closer shot of the red washers and where I intend on placing the ESC. In the center of the quad instead of on the arms like the reference build out by Soma.

A look at the cable run and how it meets up with the brushless motor. I created a stagger cut because I didn’t want to seperate the wires to fit heatshrinks. The stagger will keep the wires from shorting. As extra precaution, I applied Liquid Electrical tape to insulate. Then follow by a larger heatshrink to cover up the area. To dress up the heatshrink…I used chrome tape and nail art tape. This brings some blink down to this end of the arms.

Additionally, I hope the chrome take will help reflect some of the LED lights up to the props once I place one there.

Here is a look at the stagger cut I mentioned before. Some folks have asked why I choose to use four motor wires when brushless motors only require three. The simple answer is for symmetry once it gets to the center of the frame and have to go to the left and right of the screw.

The quad is ready for the ESC to be soldered on. Easy to do. However, I need to figure out how I want to route the power wires and still have room to fit the Flight Controller between the frame. There’s really no room for both. :)

added August 13, 2014: Check out the complete rev1 build here… http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2176239#post28508149