Working Personal Hoverboard Test Flight DIY Green Goblin Iron Man Flying Machine

Alright, let's try like 10% power. With 1% thrust capacity. Wow. So for those of you who don't know, I've been building a personal hoverboard, hovercraft, man drone, goes by many names. Basically, it's a giant multi-rotor that's big enough to fly a person. I started this project over a year ago, but the real beginning goes back much further. This just happened to be my latest attempt on a long list of sometimes painful devices that let me fly. I've done several other parts in this series, so if you want to see how we got here, definitely go check those out. I'll leave a playlist of all the flying videos in the description. Alright, so where were we? In the last part we had a flying like Avatar theme. Which honestly isn't like the best description for this thing. But the show was on Netflix and it got pretty popular again. So a ton of you were asking me to make something to fly like Avatar. So I figured I'd take the opportunity to introduce this drone. And I mean the whole idea behind these videos is that I build your ideas. You guys are the reason I get to do what I love. So it only makes sense that you have some say on what I make. With that being said, go drop your ideas for what I should build next down in the description. So thumbs up any cool ideas you see down there so I know what people like the most. And I mean I like going through the comments. Shout out Hasnatt. So here's a few ideas that got a bit of buzz. Let me know what you think. Alright, let's see. We got the electric whip from Iron Man. A lot of bow and arrow stuff like Hawkeye, Guardians of the Galaxy. Riptide version 2. More Air Force 1 builds. Mini scuba tank. Auto COVID now. Spider-Man slash Doctor Octopus tentacle arms. And of course you can't forget the web shooters. A lot of stuff so hopefully you guys can help me decide. If you want to help me out with this list of projects, give them a shot yourself. Send me the project videos and I'll feature them like these inventors right now. First up we got Braden Smith. He makes a ton of cool superhero gadgets. You might already know him from TikTok. So if you like my stuff, definitely check him out. Next we got this Assassin's Creed blade made by SIVA. Looking pretty sweet. Wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of that. And lastly, shout out to the Plasma Channel. Jay is an awesome inventor so if you like electricity, definitely check him out. And he's also been giving me some advice with an upcoming project. But, you know, spoilers. So go make some cool stuff. Send it my way on Instagram. And a little tip. If you're going to shoot video, shoot it horizontally. Actually with TikTok around, maybe vertical is the way to go. Which actually brings us back to this drone project. Because I already posted a lot of the flight footage from this video on TikTok. I guess I saw it first. So go follow JayLazyVideo on there to see stuff like right as it comes out. That is until it gets banned. Which brings us back to YouTube and this video. So last update, we left off with a lifting test. We were able to lift 150 pounds. We couldn't quite get the 200 we were looking for. Luckily, I planned for this. And I built in space for booster motors if we need it. Originally they were going to sit right below the other motors on another leg that would stick out from the center. But then I got an idea. A wonderful, awful idea. To put the extra booster motors in the center. Looks like we just barely have clearance for the props. This way it won't disrupt the airflow from the other props. And if we add two motors in coaxial rotation. One blade spinning one way, one spinning the other. We can actually negate the angular force that each motor would be applying. They'll cancel out. We'll get pure thrust. Hopefully. How many motors are we up to? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 motors. The Deca-copter. Ordered up those two motors. More propellers. Slapped them on the drone. And now because the flight controller I'm using only has input for 8 motors. Thought I was going to have to do some jury rigging. Maybe on a separate remote to control the boosters. Or like an empty channel to flip the boosters on. But as it turns out, they already thought of everything. Like in the settings there's actually an option for booster motors that you would put right in the center. I had no idea this existed before I did it. It even comes with a video. Look at that. Thanks Pixhawk. Really lucked out on that one. So wired up the booster motors and let's go for the old 200 pounds. We also made a helipad. It did it. Albeit not super gracefully. And it did almost catch on fire. But ladies and gentlemen. We got him. Had a little bit of smoke from a bad solder connection. I shorted on the metal from the weights because the weights actually slid. Because I used duct tape to hold them. Basically we're cutting a lot of corners. And that's not what this project's about. So I redid all the solder connections. Upgraded the connectors to some anti-spark XT90s to handle more current. And I also added a proper weight holder to make sure everything stays secure during flight. Also that landing actually bent one of the legs. Because it sort of came in at an angle. We're gonna have to fix that. You know what? This is how we learn though. So I gave the frame a little redesign. Basically I dropped everything down so it would be flush with the ground. This will eliminate the shakiness of the takeoffs. And also makes the drone less prone to bending. Because when it lands all the force is going through the entire drone. And not just four pieces of thin aluminum. So I took it out again. Loaded up the 200 pounds. And let it rip. Much better. After a bit of practice I was able to keep it in the air for almost a minute. And that's 200 pounds on there. That's more than me. So in theory I could just climb on and fly right then and there. But that's not really the plan. See I want to be able to stand on this thing and control the drone with my movements. I think it'll be much more intuitive than just pressing a joystick. But I mean still good to have both options. Like we got me stabilizing the thing. We also got the flight controller keeping everything stable as well. It's all about redundancy. So I took off the weight mounts and attached some bindings. Then I figured we'd need a rig to help me learn to fly. Like I need something to hold on to while I'm learning to control this thing with my body. So I settled on a wooden structure twice as wide as the drone. So I'd have a little bit of room to move. It's like a swing set. Structure goes up and over my head so I can hold on while I'm learning to fly. Then I can take one hand off and eventually let go completely. Now the issue is the controller. Like how am I going to be able to control a joystick while holding on to this beam. So I hijacked two potentiometers from the remote and came up with a trigger design. We've got one trigger right here and then we've got left and right over here. So these can be mounted to the beam so we can control the drone and hold on at the same time. Even connect via USB. Thought of everything. But unfortunately these controls don't have a large enough range. See I'm only moving this thing a tiny bit. And the computer doesn't like that. It wants the whole range of motion. So the baseline was too high and the max value was too low. So I was like whatever. So then I took the actual joysticks from the remote and moved them to where the joysticks were. So once again this lets us hold on but also control the drone the same way we would have before. Look at that. Still for some reason the drone didn't respond well to these. Like I pushed this throttle halfway up. Nothing would happen. Then all of a sudden it'd spring up and shoot into the air. Then when I drop it down nothing would happen. It wouldn't turn off. Sometimes it would. Sometimes it wouldn't. Not at all responsive. And that's not what we want. And yes before you ask I did calibrate each different design with the software. So I don't think that's the issue. So I scrapped all new remote ideas. Figured I'd just attach the standard remote we have to the beam. And with my thumb I could control the throttle. So this should work until we find a better method. And just in case anything goes horribly wrong. Like prop cage fails. Something kicks up from the ground. I invested in a Kevlar jacket and a motorcycle helmet. But this also means we can customize them. Talking heads up displaying the helmet. I don't know. Comment any ideas you want to see me put in the flight suit. So we got the drone in position and it was time to fly. 10% power. Just going to start off with 1% thrust capacity. Jarvis. Drop my needle. I have to say this is probably the scariest most special moment I've ever put in a video. After literally years of work. It finally came down to me stepping onto this thing. Pressing a lever. And feeling myself rise up off the ground. Been the hardest thing I've ever built. But in that moment it seemed so easy. I was definitely a bit shaky at first. I was being pretty cautious with the throttle. But I was flying nonetheless. Woohoo! So I made some minor adjustments and came back the next day to try it again. I was able to get a bit higher. It definitely felt more steady. Still some adjustments do need to be made. But I did let go for a second. So in that moment I was truly flying. I believe I can fly. But it also occurred to me that by letting go I'd also let go of the controller. So I had no way of controlling this thing. So I do think for the next test we're going to need a tether. Just maybe like a rope to attach me to the board. Just so I don't fly away. So obviously the next step is just more practice. Like I gotta learn how to take off, fly, and land all without the support. Then we'll finally have a working hovercraft. Like we're so close guys. Also once I do get it flying, this opens up just a whole new world for customization. I'm talking Green Goblin, Back to the Future. We could mount like a turret on this thing. So let me know what you want to see. Like I said, I couldn't have built this without you guys. And I know not everyone has the resources to make one of these. So for those of you who don't, this can be your opportunity to customize this thing any way you want. So a big shout out to Greepow for helping sponsor this project. They're a great battery company. They've got lots of cool different shaped ones. So if you have any batteries for your project, definitely check them out. So that's where we're going to leave it for this one. We're on the home stretch now. You gotta make sure to subscribe for when the final part comes out. Thank you guys very much for watching. We'll catch you in the next one. Peace.