Quadcopter Build

izeman said:

nechaus said:

Two of the 4 holes will work for the big motors with no problems

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just to be sure: you're saying that i should mount it with TWO screws only? or that i should use the 2 holes and only drill 2 new ones and no mod all four?

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you can drill new holes, I have done that to make all 4 fit.. But soon reading, I found many people only use 2 holes and also many frames only use two holes.

So I just use two screws per motor and I have never ever had an issue with it!, The plastic arms will snap before the motor breaks away.

with the CCW and CW props...
this is how you need to attach them

hey guys here is my most recent build, My friend came over, many beers later we built this quad copter frame.
The center X is made from wood, the rest it all printed.

Its extremely rigid, weighs about 360 grams which is alot heavier than I wanted for just the parts that are used for now - the motors but its 18mm thick pine wood for the arms so it strong
Once I can be bothered building the rest ill post more pics and eventually a video of it in action.

I made the battery box to accommodate a 3s8000mah battery.
I am just going to print the remaining parts, I pretty much want to enclose everything so as many wires can be concealed.
Printing little boxes for the ESC's now.

so now i ordered some of those SF 10x4.5 props and this reamer: http://www.ebay.de/itm/390885896125
i hope NOW (after i had to order the radio module for the 9xr as well) i have everything to start flying before the snow comes

you will get it up and running...
sounds like everything you need man!

ping me here if you need help with anything, I have used quite a few of these multiwii boards and pretty familiar with the code

nechaus said:

you will get it up and running...
sounds like everything you need man!

ping me here if you need help with anything, I have used quite a few of these multiwii boards and pretty familiar with the code

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thanks for the offer. i'll take it for sure
i thought of ordering one of these as well: http://www.ebay.de/itm/10DOF-IMU-MS5611-HMC5883L-MPU6050-Flight-Control-Sensor-Module-MWC-10-DOF-/331220373156?pt=Wissenschaftliche_Ger%C3%A4te&hash=item4d1e45cea4
i heard that gyro and baro should be much better. especially the baro should be very accurate.

just try the stock ones,
I found best results, foam over the baro... and put the whole controller inside a container with tiny vent holes.. muck around with pids
i ended up getting really good results even on windy days.. like it will hold altitude within 30cm ...


I would hold off buying any more electronics, I think the best way to go if you want to upgrade it later is get a ardupilot kit instead, about $150


When building your quad, place your wiring harness as far away from the flight controller as possible to ensure you dont get magnetic interference with the on board compass..
If you were to buy any sensor, buy a new mag/gps so it can be mounted far away from the wiring harness, most good gps units will have the mag on it as well.

i agree with you that upgrading a system them isn't even built is ridiculous. i can't help doing so always - trying to optimize things. i build things to perfection and then put it in a box and keep it ready-to-go all the time. i'm not the riding/racing/flying person at all. i like to build and customize. but i will try to fly that thing at least a bit before starting a new project.

izeman said:

i agree with you that upgrading a system them isn't even built is ridiculous. i can't help doing so always - trying to optimize things. i build things to perfection and then put it in a box and keep it ready-to-go all the time. i'm not the riding/racing/flying person at all. i like to build and customize. but i will try to fly that thing at least a bit before starting a new project.

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its all good to think about how you can upgrade it know, only going to increase your knowledge...
I think you should be happy with it, I really like those motors because they can take a shit load of punishment. annoying because of that shaft adaptor but they can be changed later... I have like 8 of those motors, and even the oldest ones which i crashed heaps are still working well today.... So many of the smaller motors you will ruin easy after a heavy crash, I got so sick and tired of replacing the smaller ones...

One time me and my friends were having some beers, I had about 6 already and though ill chuck on a light to the base of the quadcopter and show them because it was night time and no lights were on it at the time....
Flew it like 50 meters up, could see it, flew it foward i could see it, brain fart, flew it backwards and the light was gone, because it was pitching towards me, A few seconds later I thought someone shot a gun, My quadcopter landed on my outdoor tin roof ( lucky), left a pretty decent dent in the roof, It actually bounced a couple of times.

Heart was beating fast, ran to grab a chair and climb on roof, thinking oh shit iv done it this time, I have finally broken it, its going to be in pieces...
climbed on the roof, took it inside under the light, looked at it and was shocked to see it was still looking good, only broke props, No motors, esc, fc, frame, nothing was broken,

My friend has a DJI phantom, he said if that happened to his he would probably not find all the broken pieces.

I have been slowly building that other frame,

I printed a small case for the afro esc's, They also have a top cover which i am yet to print..
Going to solder the motors wires directly to the ESC, try and make it as neat as possible this time around.

I also got some stuff called ( liquid electrical tape) going to cover all esc's with that stuff, I want to see how well it will fly in the rain lol, going to try and waterproof the esc's and FC with its accessories...

looking at the pictures, i might just solder new bullet connectors to the board instead and move esc just far enough away to keep the motors wires straight.

Check out the mini quad frame I have been slowly 3d printing...
its incredibly light weight. should go off like a rocket

its 100% printed 250mm mini quad, if i can fit 8 inch props on there it will be like a mini quad drag machine. ( really made for 5-6 inch props)

I still need to print 3 more top plates, but here are some pictures of it.
So far upto 122 grams with the motors!!!

one hi speed crash and ill be counting the pieces.

Ill have to test out nylon as the frame material, its currently PLA. Rigid, quite tough, not quite as good as ABS perhaps.
But if I am going to print with something that smells bad, I may as well use a strong material.
I would like to try Taulman t-glass which is a hard plastic, very good as well as PC would probably be the best material to use, in terms on what you can print with atm.

The design for this multirotor is from a bloke on thingiverse.
Here are the links.
Its fun to design your own frame, but sometimes thingiverse is great when you are trying to save time.

His Y6/T6
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:246350


http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:304237
Mini quad, what i just currently printed, but with slightly longer arms to try the 8 inch props

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:408363
slightly larger version

Nechaus,

You said you did not like the folding carbon hex-copter frame you tried--that was due to RF interference of the frame, right??

What frequency were you transmitting at the time? Is this a known problem with carbon fiber frames??

I am looking to build one of these aircraft soon, and was hoping to make one that had a compact folding design, but could still carry a GoPro and a FPV system. Any advice?

oh man. building a quad from scratch is not easy. so many thing to take care of. firmware, wire, motors, props, escs, and programming everything.
i now learned that clearing eeprom is vital if you play around a lot with firmware and settings.
i'm still far away from understanding 5% of what i need to and all those settings of the remote make my brain rotate.

Hi guys,

I want a drone too so what do you think about this config:

Frame: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...ber_Quadcopter_Frame_666mm_EU_Warehouse_.html
Motors: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking..._Brushless_Outrunner_Motor_EU_Warehouse_.html do they fit in this frame?
ESC: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...or_Brushless_ESC_2_4S_OPTO_EU_warehouse_.html
Props: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...X6_LH_and_RH_Rotation_Pair_EU_Warehouse_.html not sure about this...
Flight controll: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...ontroller_w_MTK_GPS_Module_EU_warehouse_.html
Batteries: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...1P_14_8v_20C_hardcase_pack_EU_warehouse_.html
And some cables of course.
Do I need something else?
I already have a 9xr transmitter and receiver.

if you're new to quad flying i would go for cheap props first. even though i'm still building my quad i read that you WILL break a lot of props before you really can fly. so buy some (10 pairs) of cheap plastic props. one or two spare shafts for the motor and maybe a spare motor and esc may be a good idea if you don't want to way too long for replacement after a crash.
for the price of the frames i ordered a spare one as well. if one legs breaks you have 4 spare ones.
why do you want to start with such a big quad? there are so mange how-to and recommendation for the 450 class. props, motors and esc have to fit together and there are a lot of ppls flying those 450 and can help a lot better i think.

Because I need one that big.
I'll use this quad for work, and for that reason I need it that big and that power.
Ok, I'll change the props, for ones cheaper.
And I think I'll change the motors for this: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking..._Brushless_Outrunner_Motor_EU_Warehouse_.html

Nechaus (and others),

Here is what I am planning to do...

I'd like to make it a hexacopter. I dunno why, just what I would prefer

This is the frame I am looking at:

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...d_PCB_Version.html?strSearch=hexacopter frame

As this frame is a little bigger, which motors should I use?

Here's what I would like to do now (or soon, anyway):

1. Able to lift a payload of a GoPro or some similar camera (with gimbal)
2. Able to FPV
3. GPS flight controller with return-to-home and GPS-hold mode (or whatever it's called--stable flight)
4. Acro mode


Here's what I would like to try EVENTUALLY (maybe with this model, maybe not):

1. Long range FPV flight
2. Head's up display in FPV for attitude, airspeed, heading, battery life, etc.


If I get into FPV flight, I may even start building airplane models again. I tried that hobby years ago but got out of it, as I was having a very hard time seeing the planes against the horizon. If I could control them first-person, that's a whole new game!

The only equipment I currently have is a Dx6i, an ar6200 receiver, and a Hyperion 1420 battery charger. I own no LiPO batteries at the moment.

So, with that in mind, should I change from your original parts list on the first page? How about the controller and a HUD--how do you add a HUD to a system later?

Fidel said:

Hi guys,

I want a drone too so what do you think about this config:

Frame: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...ber_Quadcopter_Frame_666mm_EU_Warehouse_.html
Motors: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking..._Brushless_Outrunner_Motor_EU_Warehouse_.html do they fit in this frame?
ESC: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...or_Brushless_ESC_2_4S_OPTO_EU_warehouse_.html
Props: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...X6_LH_and_RH_Rotation_Pair_EU_Warehouse_.html not sure about this...
Flight controll: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...ontroller_w_MTK_GPS_Module_EU_warehouse_.html
Batteries: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...1P_14_8v_20C_hardcase_pack_EU_warehouse_.html
And some cables of course.
Do I need something else?
I already have a 9xr transmitter and receiver.

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everything looks good except the speed controllers, I purchased x4 45 amp version, I tried them on 390kv motors as well as my regular 1100kv motors, they worked like shit! they only thing you can do to make them better is flash the firmware to improve refresh rates..

If I were you, get some speed controllers from rctimer.com ones that have simonk installed already

Deanwvu said:

Nechaus (and others),

Here is what I am planning to do...

I'd like to make it a hexacopter. I dunno why, just what I would prefer

This is the frame I am looking at:

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking...d_PCB_Version.html?strSearch=hexacopter frame

As this frame is a little bigger, which motors should I use?

Here's what I would like to do now (or soon, anyway):

1. Able to lift a payload of a GoPro or some similar camera (with gimbal)
2. Able to FPV
3. GPS flight controller with return-to-home and GPS-hold mode (or whatever it's called--stable flight)
4. Acro mode


Here's what I would like to try EVENTUALLY (maybe with this model, maybe not):

1. Long range FPV flight
2. Head's up display in FPV for attitude, airspeed, heading, battery life, etc.


If I get into FPV flight, I may even start building airplane models again. I tried that hobby years ago but got out of it, as I was having a very hard time seeing the planes against the horizon. If I could control them first-person, that's a whole new game!

The only equipment I currently have is a Dx6i, an ar6200 receiver, and a Hyperion 1420 battery charger. I own no LiPO batteries at the moment.

So, with that in mind, should I change from your original parts list on the first page? How about the controller and a HUD--how do you add a HUD to a system later?

Click to expand...

yeah that's a good frame, I actually am about to use the same frame, ( its a dji clone frame, pretty much same as the original minus the DJI markings)
I am just using the 3530 1100kv motors 10 inch props, 3s 8000mah, works quite well.
You can use your DX6i with the multiwii, Do you know if it uses PPM ? anyway I have seen people use plenty of spectrums

A hexacopter in a O pattern will have more stability than a Y/T pattern


If a hex with a O pattern losses one motor, you will loose YAW control, But you should be able to land fairly safetly, As in immediately land. you wont be able to fly it around.
( when i did the tarot HEX frame, One of the motors came loose, well not the motor but the motor mount, and the prop instead of being horizontal, It went vertical, and the hex was spinning around in circles quite fast, But was able to land it and not break anything.


A hexacopter in a T/Y pattern will have somewhat more control if you loose a motor, It also is a much smaller aircraft typically.
But down side, less stable in hi winds, less efficient

I found a great YouTube video on adding a HUD to a MultiWii board!! So cheap!! About $12 US for the addon board and some time to set it up!

Are you talking about an OSD? on screen display/hud?


Its good to get one with a return to home arrow...I Find when flying FPV in new areas, from birds eye view its completely different( its honestly easy to get lost, like if you start enjoying the view and all the sudden your lost), But having a little arrow at the bottom of the screen that points to the launch to be very valuable. Also battery voltages and MAH used