With all this new weight, one propeller at 90% power is no longer enough to lift it off the table. Fortunately, there are four, not that I've tried running them all at once yet...
Anyway, assembling this was actually more annoying and time consuming than I thought. First I had to fuss around to find a layout for the batteries and ESCs that would leave enough room for the CPU, GPS, and IMU. Then I had to solder the ESCs to the motors and to power connectors, and I'm really not very good at soldering and so that took a while. I still need to make (or otherwise acquire?) power harnesses to run two ESCs from one battery. You don't see people in the forums talking much about routing their power harnesses. I guess this is a downside of my whole "design as you go" approach.
The battery pack I had ordered for the IMU came in. Unfortunately, the connector doesn't actually fit. (I sent SparkFun a little notice about that.) I'll have to go to Halted or something tomorrow to see if I can find the connector myself -- I'm hopeful it's just an ordinary small two-pin Molex connector. (Update: it's a JST connector. AeroMicro has them.) Then I can power up the IMU and start playing with it, which is something I desperately need to get on top of; it's by far the most mysterious (and expensive!) component in this project, and it will be the primary source of data for the controller.
I also need to find an appropriate sized perfboard (or something) for hosting the CPU. I've mostly got everything set up so I mostly just need to wire it to header pins which will go directly to the various peripherals, but that still needs doing. Then I can strap it down along with the GPS and IMU and we'll have ourselves an unlikely flying object.
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