First Multirotor build!

[Scratch]

And here's after I finally got my servo leads in, and I installed the flight control board, receiver, battery, and camera. I have velcro holding on those three, and battery straps on also for that added security... just like my adult diapers.



I got batteries in the TM, and calibrated the ESC's which took a few tries, but I got it... I aint entirely stoopid...


Also the instructions were a little off, so I had some problems figuring out how to lock and unlock the ESC's, but with a little help from you smart people, I think we have it figured out that they meant to write a "2", but wrote a "3" instead. Gotta love those language barrier problems!

Still need to balance my props and motors, to keep out vibrations. Vibrations are bad for video... good for sex life, but bad for video... unless video is incorporated into your sex life.... but I digress.

I'll have time to balance my props and also add some landing gear while I'm waiting for my battery charger to come in! GRRRRR.... Just another thing I forgot to order. I think I'll also trim down those ridiculously long motor shafts. I'm not used to long shafts.... there I go again... mind in the gutter as usual....

 

[kah00na]

This looks good and makes me want to build one! I like how most of the electronics are hidden inside the frame. Since you pretty much have a solid lower platform, you could cut a hole in the upper plate and mount your receiver and flight board inside it on the lower board to try and help protect them a little more in the event of a crash. It would also keep the top from looking so... uh.... "flat", "plain", "ho-hum"... I don't know the word I'm looking for.

On a side topic, what state are you in?

 

[xuzme720]

You don't want the Rx too close to the ESC's. The way he's got it set up is actually better than trying to fit everything inside the frame.

 

[kah00na]

You don't want the Rx too close to the ESC's. The way he's got it set up is actually better than trying to fit everything inside the frame.

The flight board isn't affected by other electronics though, is it?

 

[xuzme720]

The flight board isn't affected by other electronics though, is it?

No, I don't recall any sensors on this one that would be. But for ease of access to tune it, mounting outside is easier. You are right in that it has no protection though, not a good thing when/if it crashes inverted.
I use a resealable storage container, lid screwed to the copter and the "bowl" part can be snapped on for flights. This leaves my boards accessible for tuning and protects them in the event of a crash.

 

[Cyberdactyl]

Very nice and clean!

About as clean as can be and still have the wiring exposed. I'm sure you probably will, but don't forget to trim off the excess shaft. They will bend with the first plop-over.

 

[Scratch]

Thanks all, I am planning on finding a small Tupperware container to act as protection too.
And kah00na, I'm in WI.

 

[Scratch]

Did a little more work to the flying deathtrap today… I built a prop balancer and tried it out. It works great! But then I realized that maybe this first set of props didn’t need to get balanced super well, since they’re probably not going to last more than 15 or 16 seconds, so I stopped balancing them. They were pretty good as they were surprisingly.

Anyways, here’s my fancy prop balancer. It’s made from some 3/16” by 1” steel flat stock, with some rare earth magnets stuck to them on the top center. The main shaft is just a 2” bolt with both ends ground to a point, and the tip of a Bic pen for a centering cone. Works great.



Then I trimmed down the motor shafts so there’d be less chance of bending them when I crash. I cut off one inch of them using a Dremel tool. I used tape to keep the metal shavings away from the motor windings.



Then I found the appropriate prop adapter that came with the props…. There it is!



Then I installed the props. The green ones are in front for better orientation.



I couldn’t stand it any longer… I tied strings onto the motor mounts, and tied them to four chairs in the living room… powered the bugger up, and I’ll be damned! The thing actually flew! Well, only a couple inches off the ground, and tethered to furniture, but still… I’m calling it one small step forward, for the flight of man.

Maybe someday, in the future, we’ll be going on vacation on winged metal tubes powered by massive engines, and you’ll be able to watch movies in your seat, and they’ll give you peanuts. If I’m right… these flying machines…. I’ll call them “Aeroplanes” will even have small bathrooms built right into them so you can sit on the pooper and order cheesy goods from a “SkyMall”
Yeah right… like that’ll ever happen…

I was able to check if the sticks were set right, and it seemed as if they were. But after a few minutes, my battery went dead. I’m still waiting on my charger which should be here in a few days, and then I’ll let her loose!
Of course, coming with the charger is my new KK 2.1 flight control board, and I’m not sure if I should swap it out or try this one again….
Anywho... here's proof that it flew...

 

[lonewolf7717]

Have really enjoyed this thread. Multirotors intimidate the snot out of me but this has been an inspiration. Simple approach, simple design and simple "gizmos and doodads" that make multirotors do what they do. Multirotor tech has advanced so quickly I tend to get caught up in the cutting edge stuff and think to myself "I could never do that".....perhaps I can.

 

[Cyberdactyl]

Looking great Scratch!

Sorry you have to wait for a recharge.

I'm very curious what kind of video you're going to get off the camera. With DT750's and plastic props, I've never been able to get perfectly good video unless I isolated the cam quite a bit.

 

[Scratch]

I'm curious too! That's the first I'd heard of vibrations with the DT750's and plastic props... Is it the plastic props or the motors that have the problem? In the future, If I swap to something like carbon fiber props with those motors, you think it'd be fine then?

If I have to wait to much longer for that charger, I'm plugging the battery into the wall outlet! Safety be damned!


That was a joke....

 

[Scratch]

Ya know I haven't changed anything on the TM or the i86 board yet. All pots on the board are set to 50%, but I'm not sure I would even know why to change them.

I know they are for pitch, roll and yaw, but are they kind of like trim adjustments, or sensitivity adjustments? Do I want to learn how to fly, with them at 50%, then adjust them once I actually know what I'm doing and I'll realize I need a more sensitive... Pitch or whatever?

And what about the radio... Don't I need to make some settings in there like expo, dual rates, or something else... Or should I wait till I learn more about flying until I change stuff that I'm to stupid to realize any changes yet.

Not that I'm calling myself stupid... Well yes, I guess I am... But what I mean is that if I make changes to say... expo, when honestly, I'm not 100% sue I know if I'll even notice those changes yet. I've watched flite test beginner series videos, which gives a pretty good visual explanation of expo and stuff, but I still may not even realize the effect with those changes so I'm not sure if I should mess with them until I know more what I'm doing.

Or are there some settings on the FCB or the TM, that I should absolutely do now so it'll help me learn how to fly better sooner, and not get frustrated on some little thing that I should have done first, so that I'll recognize what adjustments I'll need to make later on, and why?

 

[Cyberdactyl]

If you're totally new to flying a quad, (even if you're not), you should definitely scale down all the inputs other than throttle. Maybe around 20%. Not sure how it works on your board, but you can also do it at the Tx.

And should also have at least 30% expo, at a minimum, on the right stick controls; the pitch and elevator, if not more. Being new to flying I would suggest up around 50%. You want it timid for the first 5 flights or more.

I have 30% on pitch and elevator, and 20% on yaw.

 

[Scratch]

Thanks for the tips.... I'll see if I can figure out how to make those adjustments....

 

[Scratch]

So it's pretty much done. I still have to add some landing gear, which I’ll do once I brave the cold long enough to walk about 50 feet to the pole barn to get some PVC pipe, but other than that, I’ve spent all the money I think I’m going to spend on it. So I thought I’d show you exactly what I have into it.

The first picture is everything I’ve bought for this project and comes in at $405.64, but that is with a 30.00 control board that I haven’t even got yet, but will probably be put into use as a replacement for the i86 control board that I’m using now. It also includes over $60.00 in shipping…. Ugh. But to be fair, I did pay extra for the shipping since I decided I didn’t want to wait for these parts to become available at the US warehouse, so they came straight from China.
There are also extra parts left over from that list, like I ordered 10 nuts, and only used 4. I ordered an extra motor and ESC in case I ever had a bad one, etc…



The second picture is what I used from that list, without all the extras and came in at $326.10. but the more than 60 bucks in shipping is still included since I figured you’d have to get some stuff shipped anyways. The only thing extra on there is the extra props (12 extra props in all-3 for each motor) which I’m going to consider consumables… at least for me…



I also didn’t include the GoPro Hero 3 Black in the cost of the quad since it doesn’t need to be there to fly, but I did include it so I knew what I spent on it.

So there you have it. That’s what I ended up spending on the thing, to get it in to the air. I know it took me a lot longer than most to build but I’m ok with that. And I’m ok with spending around $350.00 for a fun toy that I hopefully wont crash “too” much. I suppose I could have bought a ready to fly unit but I’m sure that would have cost at least double, and now I know some of the theory behind it, and can easily fix stuff when I crash it.
I'll try to post some video when I can.

 

[Cyberdactyl]

Ahh, you should look at it as much more than a toy. A toy is a RTF mini quad with transmitter.

With a DYI multirotor you learn a heck of a lot. With an RTF mini quad, or even a full size RTF, you can easily get away with knowing little else other than flying it and charging it.

Also, you might be surprised what uses, benefits and peripheral cross-over knowledge to other interests might arise from it.

 

[Craftydan]

It's amazing how it can add up! My current V-tail ran near $200, not including battery, TX, or charger, but I've been flying it more than anything else. Positive side, a good flight costs me the electricity to recharge the battery . . . and so far the worst crash cost me 2 X-mounts and all 4 props -- $8 total for an epic cartwheeling crash, even if you include the zipties.

Three sets of props will go quicker than you hope, especially if there are any bushes or trees around -- magnets for props I say! and when you've got 4, they're hard to keep away from

Dunno about the i86, but the kk2 has been surprisingly stable with damaged props -- even flew one with about 20% of the blade *missing*. If it weren't for the noise I wouldn't have known it was damaged form the way it flew. Don't recommend flying on cracked props, and you'll *hate* any video on anything except pristine props, but a few nicks on the blade should still fly fine if you're just zipping around the yard.

If HK doesn't have them in stock, you can buy the same Gemfan's in bulk from Value hobby and get the cost down to ~$1.20/prop shipped. They're not fantastic props, but they're cheap, will fly nice, and break more often than get dinged (that's actually a good thing). That and IL is a *lot* closer to you than any of the HK warehouses . . .

 

[lonewolf7717]

The heft of that list are items that wont need to be purchased again if you build another craft. Its amazing how much RC related "stuff" one can collect after just a short period of time. If you opt to stay with this RC thing you will find at some point to make a build 90% of what you need will be sitting in a bin ready to go.

 

[Cyberdactyl]

Don't you know it.

This drafting board pretty much bare 2 years ago.

 

[jhitesma]

Brave man keeping a spreadsheet like that! I really should make one up for my budget quad. Problem is where do I draw the line

I already had my TX batteries and my charger - should I include them in the cost? I wasn't really looking for the cheapest option starting from nothing - just the cheapest way to build a quad with the stuff I already had....but that's not fair to a lot of people.

Or what about all the bits I bought but didn't need or bits I broke (like 2 spare motors or the pile of props?)

I think I need to just draw the line and add up the prices on everything in it and call it done. But now that I'm expanding to openLRS for the radio and adding the GPS and all that good stuff...

Too much fun not enough budget