My first scratchbuilt quadcopter

After spending 3 years with airplanes, i thought i would give multicopter a try. I first bought the plywood frame from HK but soon broke the landing gear so i moved on to building my own frame.

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First two packages came from hobbyking

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Content includes a frame, 4 x Emax 1600kv motor, 4 x 12A Turnigy Plush ESC, 1 x HK KK Board v2.1, 1 x programming USB, heatshrink tubes and connectors.

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Frame was laser cut nicely. Some parts were loose a little bit. I used normal white glue that found at any art & craft shop to glue them together. Takes about half an hour to dry and the joints are pretty solid.

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The board came with one gyro slightly slanted, didn't cause a problem however

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The motor mount didn't fit the slot so i cut off some part to make room for it. Motor is mounted with zip tie, work perfectly
 
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The motor mount didn't fit the slot so i cut off some part to make room for it. Motor is mounted with zip tie, work perfectly

Last two packages came few weeks later
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Bought some lipo safe bags, 2 x 1000mah 2s zippy battery, ESC programming card, some more wires and heatshrink tubes

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This is my set up. To be able to use different battery with different connectors, I created different adapter, shown here is the XT60 to 3.5mm-female-lead-bullet-connector adapter. I also made a spider harness that uses the male lead of the bullet connectors. Same thing for ESC, i soldered bullet connectors instead of XT60 or Dean plug so that I can just use the adapter and switch to different battery in case.

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As i said earlier I broke a landing gear test flying my stock frame so i set out to build my own. Cost me $15 for the part. They are all balsa wood.

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From one end to another is 60cm. Mounting base is 10x10cm. Motor mount base is 3x3cm reinforced with fibreglass tape

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Everything glued together with hot glue. I cut out three mounting plate. Two for the bottom and one for the top. The two at the bottom are glue with their grains perpendicular with each other for added strength.

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Booms are reinforced with threaded packing tape since fibreglass tape is too small to wrap around the boom
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I didn't buy the nylon spacer and i couldnt find it here in montreal so I cut out some small balsa wood pieces as spacer. I also copied Eric's idea to use pool noodle as landing gear. They are pretty sturdy, yet absorbing much of the shock on impact.

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@davyg: Thanks. I actually trashed the stock frame, i think it really is not worth the money, very fragile. Will post video of my new frame as soon as my girlfriend is free to film.
 
Nice Quad :) does it fly ???

Oh yeah it does. I started with + mode but now i think x mode looks cooler so I'm re-configuring it. Nevertheless it flies very nice. One modification i would make is i would reinforce the booms first before gluing them to the mounting plates. That would make sure that the whole booms are reinforced and not just the part that protrude from the mounting plates.
 

JohnnyV

Junior Member
What kind of programming is necessary? Does it involve code? Does it take a computer genius?

Have you flown it yet? I would like to build one for a.camera platform...

Thanks
J
 

davyg

Member
Oh yeah it does. I started with + mode but now i think x mode looks cooler so I'm re-configuring it. Nevertheless it flies very nice. One modification i would make is i would reinforce the booms first before gluing them to the mounting plates. That would make sure that the whole booms are reinforced and not just the part that protrude from the mounting plates.


What controller board are you using, and what pot settings???? :cool: , yeah, I am nosy....LOL
 

davyg

Member
What kind of programming is necessary? Does it involve code? Does it take a computer genius?

Have you flown it yet? I would like to build one for a.camera platform...

Thanks
J

If I can build a Tricopter as my first ever RC project, then anyone can.... if you can cut out the template and transfer that to the construction material then I would say that "you are good to go"....:cool:
 
What kind of programming is necessary? Does it involve code? Does it take a computer genius?

Have you flown it yet? I would like to build one for a.camera platform...

Thanks
J
Hi Johnny, no you don't need to be a computer genius to get into quadcopter. I had the same concern as you when I first thought about getting a quadcopter. As it turned out all you need is an ESC programming card and a control board USB adapter. All the programming is done by expert, you only need to flash your control board with those codes. However if you have programming knowledge I'm sure you can tweak those codes yourself. IMHO the prebuilt code flies very nice.

What controller board are you using, and what pot settings???? :cool: , yeah, I am nosy....LOL

Hi Davyg, I bought the HK KK v2.1 board. So far for my application it flies great. My pot settings are around 50 to 60% for all 3 pots. I'm using KK v4.6 so the three 3 pots represent yaw, roll and pitch. From what i read from rcgroups, in v4.7 the three pots represent P,I,D (dont really understand this thing thats why i didnt flash my board with v4.7). Please correct me if im wrong. Im still new to this.
Lovin' the pool noodles! :applause:


Cheers!

Eric
Hi Eric, thanks. I stole the idea from you. Hv got to say the pool noodles work perfectly!!
 
Just a quick update, i reinstalled v4.7 basic version (last time was ultimate and it was super twitchy). Dial dual rate to 50%, gyro 60-50-50 and it was really stable. Unfortunately i tested it in my apartment and it was hard not to knock into things, so no video for now. Will post video once i have a chance to go to the near by field.
Fun fact, i knock the quad into my dining table, chip a part of a propeller and the quad still flies ok!!
 
So i took my quad outside for the first time and the strangest thing happen. I tested the quad indoor last night to make sure everything works and it was fine. Today when i brought it outside, for some reason the motors just didn't have enough power to take off. And had to trim it all the way up and used a 3s from my friend instead of the 2s i usually use to have it flying. even with that, the quad could barely fly, at max throttle it flew at eye level. I had my friend recorded a quick clip which ill post when he finishes uploading it.
My question is did anyone have that problem before or is it just me? Thanks
 

glydr

How many letters do we ge
Haven't had that problem. List of questions (potential causes) come to mind:

1. Is the battery really charged?
2. Are the ESCs calibrated?
3. Are the props the right way around?

???
 
yes to all three. as I said earlier I tested it indoor and it was fine. and it became stranger as I took it outside for a flight again just now. it flew nicely without trim at half throttle on a 3 cell battery. I suspect it has sth to do with light and heat, which I think is very strange because to my best knowledge kk board does not have light or heat sensor
 

jobbzz

New member
maybe it was the weather. I have it sometimes with my Bixler it just will not fly and if I try it a few hours later it flies great. I think it is because there is a sort of downwards airflow. I don´t know if `downwards airflow´ effects a quad as much as a plane but that is just my suggestion. Why don´t you try it again indoor to see if it works again.
 

Shadow74

Multi-rotor madman
yes to all three. as I said earlier I tested it indoor and it was fine. and it became stranger as I took it outside for a flight again just now. it flew nicely without trim at half throttle on a 3 cell battery. I suspect it has sth to do with light and heat, which I think is very strange because to my best knowledge kk board does not have light or heat sensor


I have never had this happen. hmmmm....... did you hover indoors very high, or just in ground effect? (when in ground effect it will hover with less throttle)

Glyder suggested ESC calibration (which you said you already did)......what about stick centering?


Cheers!

Eric