Introducing the 3DR Y6 – an exciting new option in the 3D Robotics product lineup. With its lightweight and compact design, the Y6 provides enhanced agility and stability in all conditions, an open-view camera platform, and operational redundancy to withstand in-flight motor failure. This manual will guide you through the process of transforming your 3DR Hexa into a Y6.

3DR Hexa-to-Y6 Conversion Kit

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS

CONTENTS

Thank you for purchasing a 3DR Y6 conversion package!

This kit contains:

Metal hex nut

Co-axial motor mounting plate

C-type landing gear

19 mm hollow spacer

18 mm threaded hex spacer

25 mm stainless steel bolt

5 mm black nylon bolt

You will also need: » A fully assembled 3DR Hexa-C or Hexa-B » Phillips screwdriver (small) » 5.5 mm (7/32) wrench » Threadlock compound

1 Deconstruct frame

x6 x12

x12

x6

x12

x24

x12

Make sure to save your parts during the following steps. We’ll reuse them later in the conversion process.

x211 x 4.7 normal propeller

x1 (+1 spare)11 x 4.7 pusher propeller

First deconstruct your Hexa’s frame to allow us to alter the configuration of the motors and arms.

Remove legsRemove the two bolts securing leg to the arm. Repeat for all three legs.

Separate stack-ups, APM, and mounting plateUnscrew the top four bolts of the stack. Remove top plate. Disconnect any cables connected to your APM. Unscrew spacers; remove bottom stack-up plate (with APM). Remove remaining spacers and thumbnuts to detach mounting plate.

Disconnect ESCsDisconnect electronic speed controller (ESC) three-wire cables from power distribution board (PDB) signal pins. Disconnect ESC Deans connectors from Deans connectors on PDB.Disconnect ESC bullet connectors from motor cables; cut zip ties attaching ESC to arm. Repeat for all six ESCs.

Note: If you soldered ESCs directly to motor cables, you’ll need to cut the cables between ESCs and motors attached to arms we will remove in the next step. Wait to resolder until you’ve verified motor spin direction.

2 Create the Y

Detach extra arms

Remove propellersUnscrew nut; remove spacer and propeller. Repeat for all six propellers.

Disconnect motorsRemove two bolts attaching motor to arm. Repeat for all six motors.

Remove three black arms, leaving one black arm directly to the right of the blue arms.

Stack-ups

For each extra arm, remove the two bolts securing arm to frame. Remove motors completely from detached arms.

Blue arms: keep!

Keep!Remove extra black arms Remove

Move blue arm

Move to positiondirectly across

Detach the blue arm adjacent to remaining black arm. Move to position directly across frame. Reattach to frame in new position using the same two bolts. Your copter’s arms should now form an evenly spaced Y.

Blue arms

Black armBlack arm

Blue arm

Blue arm

©2013 3D Robotics

Safety Check! Disconnect battery before modifying your copter.

Threadlocking compound is an important component to ensure your motors remain firmly attached! For more information, check out this helpful video: http://goo.gl/bM3MA

Attach mounting plates to bottom motors

Each arm of your Y6 will have a top motor and a bottom motor attached to the arm using a motor mounting plate. To ensure motors are securely bolted to arms, apply a small amount of threadlock to each bolt before fastening.

First we’ll attach the mounting plates to the bottom motors using two 5 mm bolts (you should have these from when we disconnected the motors from the arms) and one motor mounting plate (from conversion kit).

Attach legs to arms with C-shape facing outwards using two 25 mm steel bolts and two metal nuts. (You should have bolts and nuts from when we detached the legs from the Hexa.)

For each hole, position spacer between holes; secure from each side with bolts. Repeat for all four holes. Repeat for all three legs.

Leg assembly I

Attach legs to arms

4 Attach motors

Insert mounting plate between top motor and armNow we’ll attach the top motors to the arms. Insert mounting plate between top motor and arm. Make sure motor cables protrude in the direction of the end of the arm.

Fasten motor and plate to arm using two 5 mm bolts by accessing through the two large holes in the bottom of the arm. Repeat for all three arms.

Place mounting plate (with bottom motor attached) on underside of arm so that three outer holes align. Insert 19 mm hollow spacer between top and bottom hole; thread 25 mm steel bolt through spacer and plates. Secure with nut. Repeat for all three holes on mounting plates. Repeat for all three arms.

Top and bottom motors attached to arm with mounting plates

Attachmotorhere

Bottom motor assembly

Position motor onto plate as shown. Fasten plate to motor using two bolts. Repeat for three motors.

Attach top and bottom mounting plates

Top motor

Mounting plates

Bottommotor

Spacer

Note: Bottom motordoes not connectdirectly to arm.

Reconnect motors to ESCs and PDBThread top and bottom motor cables through opening in end of arm. Connect motor cable bullet connectors to ESC bullet connectors.

7 Attach propellers

Connect ESC Deans connectors to PDB Deans connectors. (Order doesn’t matter; this is just to provide power to the motors.) Repeat for all three arms.

Black arm

Blue armsConnect ESC three-wire cables to signal pins on PDB according to motor number. Motor numbers are configured as shown.

Attach 10-inch propellers to top motors and 11-inch propellers to bottom motors according to the configuration shown above. Pusher propellers are marked “4.7P”; normal propellers are marked “4.7”. If using metal spacers, place metal spacer on top of propeller before adding prop nut.

Regardless of motor orientation, all propellers must face up (markings on top). This means that you’ll need to attach propellers to bottom motors upside down.

5 Reassemble stack-ups and APM

Attach mounting plate to frame with thumbnuts. Attach stack-ups to mounting plate using original spacers and bolts as shown.

Make sure your APM is facing forward, between the two blue arms as shown in the diagram above. If necessary rotate the APM and/or stack-up plate to achieve this.

PDB signal pins are labelled M1 through M6. Connect motors to their respective signal pins with white wire positioned upward.

Reconnect GPS cable, power module cable, cables from PDB into output pins, cables from receiver into input pins, 3DR Radio into telemetry port, and any other cables that were disconnected from your APM during step 1.

6 Test motor spin directionsConnect battery to your Y6. Test motors to ensure that propellers will spin in the correct directions as specified in the diagram above. CW (green) signifies clockwise rotation; CCW (blue) signifies counterclockwise rotation.

If motor spins in the incorrect direction, switch two of the three cables joining the motor and ESC. Once correct spin directions are confirmed, secure ESCs to arms using zip ties.

Note: If your motor and ESC cables were originally soldered, resolder cables here once motors are confirmed to spin in correct directions.

Your Y6 conversion is complete! For pre-flight configuration, Y6 firmware download, and additional setup instructions, please visit: www.copter.ardupilot.com/apmcopter. Happy flying!

Top stack-up

Bottom stack-up

Mountingplate

Now that your copter is configured into a Y6, we’ll reattach the stack-ups and reconnect the hardware.

©2013 3D Robotics

Your Y6 has three legs, each comprised of two C-type landing gear pieces. To assemble each leg, align the two pieces and attach through four bottom holes using four 18 mm threaded hex spacers and eight 5 mm nylon bolts.

3 Attach legs

Leg assembly II

CCW

! !CWCCW

! !CWCOUNTERCLOCKWISE ROTATION:

USE NORMAL PROPELLERCLOCKWISE ROTATION:USE PUSHER PROPELLER