Help on my first multirotor

[Vampircorn]

Hello!

I am trying to build my first multirotor. I have always been in love with RC aircraft, but never had space to fly planes, and now with multirotors becoming more common, I have decided to try and build one for myself. I am looking to build a simple quadrotor that I can put FPV equipment on in the future, and was wondering if the parts I picked out and researched would work, or if there are better options out there. If anyone could help me, that would be great!

Here is my list:

Parts: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...nDerekNetelenbos@gmail.com&idCustomer=1489052

Tx: http://www.amazon.com/dp/9269807304...UTF8&colid=10GEJPYTRQCYL&coliid=IMA8VRQDVFCLO

Rx:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009YSJM6W...TF8&colid=10GEJPYTRQCYL&coliid=I12QLVNU1XGTVS


Thanks,
Vampircorn

 

[joshuabardwell]

We can't see your wish list. Screen shot it maybe?

 

[Vampircorn]

Here:


Thanks!

 

[flying pancake]

looks like a pretty good setup to me!
but make sure you have enough batteries
and have you looked at the acro naze32 or the normal naze32 flightcontrollers? they are a bit more expensive but they are axsome!
just look at some videos on youtube. there is a guy who has a f330 quad and he put the acro naze32 on it, and it seems to fly fantastic!
i do not have a lot of experience with the NTM prop drive motors but i have read that they are not that good (have a lot of vibrations aftrer even a smal crash) once again i dont have a lot of experience with them so correct me if i'm wrong.
i think that getting ESC's with simon k on them is a better choice
but it all depends on you're budget
but this is a pretty good setup.
good luck!!

-FP

 

[Snarls]

Your off to a good start, just don't forget the small things. I would suggest a battery with a higher C rating, or larger capacity because with four NTMs with 7X4 props you could e pulling up to 32amps while your battery can handle only up to 30. Also don't forget to buy some bullet connectors if the ESCs don't come with them, as well as some XT60s. Have fun building!

 

[flying pancake]

also even though the TX and the RX are cheap, it doesnt mean they are good.
if you really whant to get a proper tx and rx look at spectrum or futaba,...
but look some more up to really know what you whant.
this tx and rx will do just fine but...


-FP

 

[Vampircorn]

Thanks!

I'm choosing the NTM motors because they seem to have generally good reviews for a starter craft and I don't want to pour too much money into this just yet, I will probably upgrade in the future depending on how this build goes. And I will look at other batteries and receivers. The bullet connecters I am ordering from another website because hobbyking seems to be backordered on those as well.

 

[Ace2317]

I didn't see it anywhere, but I may have overlooked it. I would go ahead and get a premade wiring harness. It makes everything a LOT more neat and less difficult soldering. Here's a link to the one I like.

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor...ullet_Multistar_ESC_Power_Breakout_Cable.html

With this you just have to solder bullets ( or cut off bullets and solder straight into the ESC) to connect your battery to all your ESCs.

You may also wanna think about a higher capacity battery. On my tricopter I run a 2200mAh and only get about 8 minutes.

 

[jhitesma]

Few thoughts. I'd agree with avoiding the NTM's. The vibration issues that can arise with them could make it much harder to get flying, being your first quad you don't need to make things harder on yourself like that. I'd suggest looking at the RCTimer motors Cyberdactyl likes (I don't have a link handy) or the Support 2212's or the Angel 2212 1400kv's. I run the Angel motors on my knuckle quad with 8" props and they're great - super smooth and can be had on ebay for $12 each delivered (and they include the bits you have to pay extra for on the NTM's.) There are quite a few motor options for this size of quad that are similarly or lower priced and far smoother and more reliable than the NTM's.

Is there a reason you were looking to go with 7" props? There's more selection available in 8" generally and on a 330mm frame I'd expect 8" props to fit. Also - make sure you get left and right rotation props in both colors. Just getting one color RH and one color LH will leave you with confusing color setups in the air.

The F20 ESC's you have selected will work, but I'm not a huge fan of them. Be sure to only use the BEC from one ESC - the F20's do not play nice with each other when you use multiple ESC's (even if you're just using one to power a FC and another to power a RX or GPS or Bluetooth module or something.) The F20's are also kind of heavy, I like the blue series 20's for just a few dollars more a lot better. They're lighter (4 F20's weigh more than 5 blue's) seem a little nicer made and have better BEC's in my experience. Either way I'd also STRONGLY suggest getting a USBASP so you can reflash them as simonk or blheli will make a HUGE difference in how well the quad flies and help you a lot as a beginner. I struggled to fly my first build reliably and figured it was just my novice skills - then I upgraded to simonk and overnight my skills seemed to improve markedly because it was really limitations of the quad not my skills

If you don't want to flash your own ESC's then I'd strongly suggest getting something like the Afro's or other ESC's that come pre flashed with simonk or blheli.

And if you don't want to flash your own ESC's I'd advise against multiwii even though I'm a big fan of MW. Naze32 is considerably easier to setup if you're not already up to speed with reflashing things and modifying code. The acro Naze32 is the way to go and not that much more, the full version doesn't really add much that's very usable due to processor,software and circuit limitations.

Is there a reason you picked that particular MW board? If you really want to go MW there are a few other options that are a bit more "mainstream" and would probably be better for a first time build since you'd find more people using them who could assist you.

 

[RichB]

If that's what you are willing to spend on an TX/RX then skip the Amazon tx/rx and add the Turnigy 9x to your wishlist on Hobby King. You will want Mode 2 and expect to pay $70 with a receiver included. You'll have 8 channels instead of 6 and later on when you want more features, the firmware can be upgraded to some truly awesome stuff.

 

[helinor]

If that's what you are willing to spend on an TX/RX then skip the Amazon tx/rx and add the Turnigy 9x to your wishlist on Hobby King. You will want Mode 2 and expect to pay $70 with a receiver included. You'll have 8 channels instead of 6 and later on when you want more features, the firmware can be upgraded to some truly awesome stuff.

Another thing about the 9x is its module bay. With just a tiny hardware modding you can change out the Flysky protocol with what ever you would want. I have just upgraded to the Frsky system on mine. If you buy the Flysky FS-TH9XB, same radio different name, you don´t even need to do the hardware mod

 

[jhitesma]

The one drawback to the 9x is that the stock RF system is a horrible choice for multis unless you make your own RX (which really isn't very hard to do, just a couple of wires, a $4 arduino pro mini and a $3 RF module) because none of the RX's available for the stock FlySky RF system have failsafe and failsafe is a necessity on a multi.

That said I absolutely love my 9x, I'd love to upgrade to a Taranis but the 9x treats me very well. I loaded er9x (though if I was to do it now I'd go with open9x) for firmware and I regularly swap between multiple modules. In fact I have 4 quads that I fly regularly and all four are on different RF systems but I fly them all with my 9x:

1) FlySky with a homemade RX (that does PPM out and has failsafe)
2) DSM2 with a lemon RX sat RX (using the Orange DSM module in the TX)
3) OpenLRS (with the orange modules)
4) Hubsan with a homemade TX module (same parts as the Flysky RX just different code and wiring) to fly my proto-x

That said - if I was buying a new TX now I would try very hard to come up with the funds for a Taranis which is much nicer hardware than the 9x and runs the same firmware. If budget didn't allow I'd probably go with the 9XR since it's cheaper than the 9x and doesn't include the Flysky RX. Then I'd either pickup a FrSky module and RX's - or I'd whip up a FrSky module (again about $8 worth of parts.)

Oh and not all Flysky FS-TH9XB's can swap modules without the mod. Latest I've heard is that most of them now come with the TX antenna mounted on the radio instead of the module so you have to move the antenna from the radio to the module like you do on the stock 9x to be able to swap modules. It's not that hard to do though, just requires resoldering a small coax cable.

 

[helinor]

Oh and not all Flysky FS-TH9XB's can swap modules without the mod. Latest I've heard is that most of them now come with the TX antenna mounted on the radio instead of the module so you have to move the antenna from the radio to the module like you do on the stock 9x to be able to swap modules. It's not that hard to do though, just requires resoldering a small coax cable.

And with a 3D printed part you can mount your stock antenna to the module...

 

[jhitesma]

And with a 3D printed part you can mount your stock antenna to the module...

View attachment 34759

Don't even need a 3D printed part, if you're careful you can do it using all the original parts. I don't have any photos handy of how I did it and don't have time to open it up and take any right now. But the method I used was VERY similar to this:
http://www.hacksmods.com/2011/12/turnigy-9x-antenna-mod/

I didn't use any extra parts - only bits that came from the stock TX, and I didn't add the screws like he did - I just drilled my hole very carefully so the stock parts tangs hold it in place. It's held up for almost 3 years like that!