Flying Brushless Cordless Drill, ESC & 2 20V Batteries with rapid charger

[MarcusHeap]

If you got a Brushless cordless drill and removed the casing for weight, could you make it fly?

You have a high speed motor, speed controller, battery or two, charger and your set to go.

20v should give more umph, the batteries charge in 30 min and I recon with the lightness of the plane and the lack of resistance on the motor you could get a 30 min flight time.

The motor up front, BIG wings, 1/3 size tail to wing size, battery towards the mid to rear and could fly nice. Oh, and a Massive prop, 12 / 6 maybe?

$99 for an 20v cordless drill with two battery, with the size of the motor, ESC and batteries and charger could work out a lot less than buying branded gear.

Lowe's Home Improvement
DEWALT DCD777C2 - 797362

Attributes
Battery Amp Hours - 1.3
Battery Included - Yes
Battery Type - Lithium ion (Li-ion)
Battery Voltage - 20-volt max
Battery Warranty - 3-year limited
Brushless - Yes
Case Type - Soft
Charger Included - Yes
Forward and Reverse Switch Included - Yes
Maximum Speed (RPM)1600
Number of Batteries Included for Tool - 2
Number of Clutch Settings - 15
Sub-Brand--Tool Height (Inches) - 7
Tool Length (Inches) - 7.52
Tool Power Output - 340
UWOTool Warranty - 3-year limited
Tool Weight (lbs.) - 2.56
Tool Width (Inches)2.5
Variable Speed - Yes

 

[Merv]

With the keyless chuck, prop changes would be a snap. The maximum RPM needs another zero (16,000) to make it viable.

 

[DamoRC]

If you got a Brushless cordless drill and removed the casing for weight, could you make it fly?

You have a high speed motor, speed controller, battery or two, charger and your set to go.

20v should give more umph, the batteries charge in 30 min and I recon with the lightness of the plane and the lack of resistance on the motor you could get a 30 min flight time.

The motor up front, BIG wings, 1/3 size tail to wing size, battery towards the mid to rear and could fly nice. Oh, and a Massive prop, 12 / 6 maybe?

$99 for an 20v cordless drill with two battery, with the size of the motor, ESC and batteries and charger could work out a lot less than buying branded gear.

Lowe's Home Improvement
DEWALT DCD777C2 - 797362

Attributes
Battery Amp Hours - 1.3
Battery Included - Yes
Battery Type - Lithium ion (Li-ion)
Battery Voltage - 20-volt max
Battery Warranty - 3-year limited
Brushless - Yes
Case Type - Soft
Charger Included - Yes
Forward and Reverse Switch Included - Yes
Maximum Speed (RPM)1600
Number of Batteries Included for Tool - 2
Number of Clutch Settings - 15
Sub-Brand--Tool Height (Inches) - 7
Tool Length (Inches) - 7.52
Tool Power Output - 340
UWOTool Warranty - 3-year limited
Tool Weight (lbs.) - 2.56
Tool Width (Inches)2.5
Variable Speed - Yes

Sounds like a viable project. The motor max RPM will be a lot higher once you pull the gearbox/clutch out and I think you will be able to put a pretty large prop on there. Tricky bit will be interfacing the speed controller to a standard receiver signal. It will probably still be quite a heavy set of electronics though.

 

[MarcusHeap]

With the keyless chuck, prop changes would be a snap. The maximum RPM needs another zero (16,000) to make it viable.

Thanks Merv, I was thinking that a lot of larger motors have a lower KV rating, but the extra power and larger prop should compensate. You could even gear it up 4 or 5 times to 6,400 - 8,000RPM. A brushless motor of that size with a speed controller and two batteries would be about £450.
Marcus

 

[MarcusHeap]

Sounds like a viable project. The motor max RPM will be a lot higher once you pull the gearbox/clutch out and I think you will be able to put a pretty large prop on there. Tricky bit will be interfacing the speed controller to a standard receiver signal. It will probably still be quite a heavy set of electronics though.

DamoRC,
Thanks for the reply, yes think it should be fine, maybe even use two on a warbird scaled up.

I was thinking once I have taken the spring out of the trigger that drives the drill I could use a servo to move the trigger so could negate interfacing with anything.

Also comes with a 3 year warranty if I keep the case and box I could reassemble and return. Lol

Marcus

 

[Merv]

A brushless motor of that size with a speed controller and two batteries would be about £450.

Check out Banggood & HobbyKing, you’ll find much better prices

 

[quorneng]

340 W output from something weighing 2.54 lbs is really pretty poor.
You would have to halve that weight (power tool gear boxes are heavy) before it would make much sense as a flight package.

 

[MarcusHeap]

340 W output from something weighing 2.54 lbs is really pretty poor.
You would have to halve that weight (power tool gear boxes are heavy) before it would make much sense as a flight package.

Thanks for your comments.
That is the overall weight. I only need the motor and speed controller so I am hoping it’s diet will bring it well under that.

I will let you know how I get on at weekend with it.

 

[Flying Monkey fab]

I got a dewalt setup about a year ago as my black and decker stuff was getting real long of tooth.
The battery has a lot of potential for this but a drill motor not so much.
A 20v weed whacker thought....