Mudskipper 250 Frame provides no vertical clearance for FC

[fpvguam]

I just recently purchased the Mudskipper 250 frame during the recent Black Friday sale. This is a very beautiful frame. I was very excited to start the build of this frame; however, I notice 2 problems. The dirty section of the frame does not allow enough vertical clearance to mount a CC3D FC even with horizontal placement of the pins of the output ports. The PDB solder pads for the ESC's come too close to the pins which will most likely cause a short in the circuit. I decided to go with the CC3D FC mainly due to the fact that there was some issues with Cleanflight with the DoDo FC as per recent bulletin from RMRC. Secondly, it is very difficult to mount a full size receiver on the area of the frame meant to house the receiver without the M3 standoff getting in the way. The area for the receiver only seems to allow enough room to house a satellite rx. I hope that the staff of RMRC can address these issues.

[fpvguam]

As you can see the difficulty mounting a CC3D FC which is considered as one of the industry standard FC's for a quad racer. The output ports for the ESC's extension actually touch the bottom of the carbon fiber cover. In the event of a hard landing, the bottom cover can possibly dislodge the horizontal pins of the cc3d and cause a short in the circuit. Additionally, the only way to mount the CC3D FC is to invert the FC and turn it 90 degrees clockwise as compared to mounting the FC right side up because the pins hit the PDB solder pads. The standard nylon standoffs that come with the CC3D will not allow the CC3D FC to clear the bottom of the carbon fiber cover plate. I had to improvised using 4 mm cut outs of silicone fuel tubing to allow for proper clearance to accommodate the bottom CF plate. Furthermore, the RX PWM cables that run from the RX port of the CC3D to the RX can not reach the RX if the RX is mounted towards the rear as per recommendation in the manual. The cables are too short. The frame also does not allow clearance to plug in a micro usb cable. I had to use a dremel to router out a bigger opening to allow a micro USB cable to be plugged in properly. Additional photos shows a standard size Futaba receiver protruding out over a 1/2 an inch beyond the end of the frame. I had to take out the rear stand off of the frame to accommodate the receiver leaving no room to even mount the antennas. An additional custom CF plate has to be made in order to properly seat the RX and antenna mount. Attached are photos of my partial build of the Mudskipper frame kit. The PNP Version less the Rx may have better outcomes. I decided to stop the build of this quad and find a more suitable frame because I already blew a 20 amp Lumenier esc and 2206 Cobra motor in the process of testing them on the frame despite having good success bench testing the motor and esc out of the frame. RMRC requested photos of my build which is attached to my post. I have bought many excellent products from RMRC, and I will continue to buy from their reputable company; however, the numerous problems that I have encountered on this build of the Mudskipper stand alone frame kit IMHO has a poor design despite the great look and durability of the quad. Sure you maybe saying that I should have gone with the RMRC DoDo FC; however, this FC as per RMRC bulletin also has issues with setting up with Cleanflight.

[ReadyMadeRC]

Hi!

The Mudskipper is definitely not designed to work with other flight controllers that are taller like the CC3D you mention. The Dodo and Naze boards are single sided and can be mounted flush, which allows the flight controller to use s significantly less amount of space. The issue you mention regarding cleanflight was an issue with all flight controllers on cleanflight for a short amount of time, but that has been remedied with an update to cleanflight. It wasn't specific to the Dodo. I do apologize, as I don't think our listing as clear as it should have been that the frame was designed with the Dodo and Naze in mind and may not work with other flight controllers. These things are always a tradeoff, and honestly the original design would have come with a dodo pre-installed and with no other choices, but we decided that people may want to have at least some flexibility in how they installed their equipment. Regardless of how we build a frame, there will be tradeoffs with different flight controllers and RC setups. The vast majority of our customers are using either FrSky receivers or Spektrum satellite receivers, and those fit great in the space available. We definitely hear you, though, and if you want to return your frame you can do so even though you've modified it. You can open up a support ticket and point them to this forum thread and they'll get you set up with an RMA form.

Regarding blowing the motor/esc...these carbon fiber frames (all of them) can bring out other issues in products. Motors that have shorts to the body may not show an issue on a G10 frame, but one you add the conductive carbon fiber the issue becomes apparent. We've also seen a lot of people accidentally put screws into the windings of their motors on lots of various frames and that can cause all sorts of bad things to happen.

Anyway, I'd love for you to have good success with the frame, but if you don't want to try any more just set up an RMA and we'll get you taken care of.

Tim

As you can see the difficulty mounting a CC3D FC which is considered as one of the industry standard FC's for a quad racer. The output ports for the ESC's extension actually touch the bottom of the carbon fiber cover. In the event of a hard landing, the bottom cover can possibly dislodge the horizontal pins of the cc3d and cause a short in the circuit. Additionally, the only way to mount the CC3D FC is to invert the FC and turn it 90 degrees clockwise as compared to mounting the FC right side up because the pins hit the PDB solder pads. The standard nylon standoffs that come with the CC3D will not allow the CC3D FC to clear the bottom of the carbon fiber cover plate. I had to improvised using 4 mm cut outs of silicone fuel tubing to allow for proper clearance to accommodate the bottom CF plate. Furthermore, the RX PWM cables that run from the RX port of the CC3D to the RX can not reach the RX if the RX is mounted towards the rear as per recommendation in the manual. The cables are too short. The frame also does not allow clearance to plug in a micro usb cable. I had to use a dremel to router out a bigger opening to allow a micro USB cable to be plugged in properly. Additional photos shows a standard size Futaba receiver protruding out over a 1/2 an inch beyond the end of the frame. I had to take out the rear stand off of the frame to accommodate the receiver leaving no room to even mount the antennas. An additional custom CF plate has to be made in order to properly seat the RX and antenna mount. Attached are photos of my partial build of the Mudskipper frame kit. The PNP Version less the Rx may have better outcomes. I decided to stop the build of this quad and find a more suitable frame because I already blew a 20 amp Lumenier esc and 2206 Cobra motor in the process of testing them on the frame despite having good success bench testing the motor and esc out of the frame. RMRC requested photos of my build which is attached to my post. I have bought many excellent products from RMRC, and I will continue to buy from their reputable company; however, the numerous problems that I have encountered on this build of the Mudskipper stand alone frame kit IMHO has a poor design despite the great look and durability of the quad. Sure you maybe saying that I should have gone with the RMRC DoDo FC; however, this FC as per RMRC bulletin also has issues with setting up with Cleanflight.

[chad2323]

Just got mine all setup flying great needs little tuning. I had to take my pins off my dodo and just wired directly to the fc that seemed to work great. The hardest part I had was mounting the VTX and the Antenna extension I'm not using the cricket because I wanted to use the Immersion 600watt for the filtering. Tim it would be nice if you can share your pids for your Dodo Thank's

[fpvguam]

Hi!

The Mudskipper is definitely not designed to work with other flight controllers that are taller like the CC3D you mention. The Dodo and Naze boards are single sided and can be mounted flush, which allows the flight controller to use s significantly less amount of space. The issue you mention regarding cleanflight was an issue with all flight controllers on cleanflight for a short amount of time, but that has been remedied with an update to cleanflight. It wasn't specific to the Dodo. I do apologize, as I don't think our listing as clear as it should have been that the frame was designed with the Dodo and Naze in mind and may not work with other flight controllers. These things are always a tradeoff, and honestly the original design would have come with a dodo pre-installed and with no other choices, but we decided that people may want to have at least some flexibility in how they installed their equipment. Regardless of how we build a frame, there will be tradeoffs with different flight controllers and RC setups. The vast majority of our customers are using either FrSky receivers or Spektrum satellite receivers, and those fit great in the space available. We definitely hear you, though, and if you want to return your frame you can do so even though you've modified it. You can open up a support ticket and point them to this forum thread and they'll get you set up with an RMA form.

Regarding blowing the motor/esc...these carbon fiber frames (all of them) can bring out other issues in products. Motors that have shorts to the body may not show an issue on a G10 frame, but one you add the conductive carbon fiber the issue becomes apparent. We've also seen a lot of people accidentally put screws into the windings of their motors on lots of various frames and that can cause all sorts of bad things to happen.

Anyway, I'd love for you to have good success with the frame, but if you don't want to try any more just set up an RMA and we'll get you taken care of.

Tim

Tim,

Thank you for taking out the time for addressing my concerns about the Mudskipper 250 particularly concerning the choice of flight controllers. During the process of purchasing the Mudskipper, I had the DoDo FC in mind despite not having any experience with this particular brand of FC; however, after reading the bulletin posted on your website concerning issues with Cleanflight, I was cautious and decided not to purchase this FC during the checkout process. Now knowing the fact that this issue has been resolved with Cleanflight, it gives me some optimism to complete my build with the DoDo or Naze boards in mind. I appreciate your gesture to return the Mudskipper; however, just the mere fact that you addressed these concerns and having an outstanding company with a reputable customer support system, I will give the Mudskipper another go to complete my build with your suggestions and recommendations. Incidentally, there are still many Futaba fans out there even in the quad industry and I would have preferred using this particular rx, but I can have it swapped out with a Frsky FASST compatible Rx to fit it into the Mudskipper Rx bay.

Geoff