Now that the exam period is over I am able to start spending more time developing the glider. This is a quick update about the development over the last week or so.

The Blue Robotics order arrived and the components are of a very high quality and a significant improvement over previous hardware. The new tubing has an internal diameter of 100mm, whereas the previous tubing had an internal diameter of 84mm. In order to produce a proof of concept quickly, I will use the internals designed for the smaller tubing and use spacers so that the internals do not move around within the new tubing. I have currently fitted the backend of the internals within the new tubing using spacers. Blue Robotics also produce endcaps which forms a watertight seal with their tubing and you can easily print components that bolt onto the endcaps.

I uploaded the arduino bootloader to the ATMEGA328P so that it can now be programmed standalone and was able to test the stepper motor drivers on the board and they function perfectly. However, I was unable to solder another board with the IMU (LSM9DS1) attached using the hotplate method as the pins were too close together. I was going to order another IMU and solder it at a hackerspace with a hot air soldering station, however the component is out of stock until November. A workaround is using the SDA and SCL pads on the PCB to attach another IMU (MPU6050).

I have produced a battery holder for the lithium ion batteries using battery spring contacts and printed holders which snap the batteries into place. The batteries are protected using a 3 cell protection circuit. This battery holder will also accommodate steel rods on the underside to act as the movable mass which is used to control roll and pitch.