Today, ordering electronics for a quadcopter from China is very cheap. Assembling a quadcopter frame with your own hands from scrap materials is not at all difficult. You can learn to fly with the help of flight simulators. So the main thing is the desire to make a quadcopter with your own hands.

It is best to buy ready-made electronics for a quadcopter.

DIY radio-controlled quadcopter assembly

First you need to decide whether you will use a standard frame or decide to make your own.

The purchased frame is convenient, but if it breaks, you will have to wait until a spare part arrives. Homemade frame A quadcopter assembled with your own hands allows you to repair a breakdown in 20-30 minutes, but requires additional work when manufacturing the quadcopter.

Most simple option is the use plastic pipes for wiring. They are light and quite durable. In addition, you can buy swivel parts and wall mounts that are suitable for attaching electric motors to the frame.

The result is a very durable design that allows you to carry not only the electronics of the quadcopter itself, but also a camera for video recording from the quadcopter.

An important detail for beginners is the place where you will release your first drone for flights. Urban areas are no longer needed, since houses, trees and wires will interfere with test flights. The park is also not suitable. One wrong move - the vacationer and your newly-made child can suffer. It’s better to go out into an open field and drive the quad for your own pleasure.

List of main spare parts:

O motors with controllers for them;

O battery for quadcopter and remote control;

O flight controller;

O control panel with signal reception and transmission;

O charger;

O connecting wires, bolts, etc.;

O tools for work.

In order to be able to modify the drone in the future to work with video and photography, the base between the copter’s beams should be made wider to later accommodate other devices.

Choosing a quadcopter shape

First of all, you should decide on the number of beams and screws on the copter. There is a wide variety of modifications and external views Flying drones, based on the number of beams emerging from the center of the frame, are tri-, quad-, hexa- and octocopters.
The number of propellers may be greater than the number of beams. But the name does not change. For example, a quadcopter has two engines with propellers on each arm - this does not make it an octocopter.

The most popular model among copter pilots remains the quatrocopter with its beams arranged in an X shape. Firstly, two motors at once pull the entire structure forward, and secondly, the attached video camera will not see the propellers in front of it.

What to consider when selecting all spare parts

Based on the expected weight of the complete structure, it is already FPV quadcopter with a camera, you should assemble a copter with powerful motors. This means purchasing additional batteries or installing more capacious ones at once.

Visual assembly video:

YouTube Video

Of course, there are ready-made frames, but you should beware of fakes, otherwise after the first crash test at least one “leg” will fly off. During management skills, it is better to use available materials.

Quadcopter beams have optimal parameter— 30-60 cm in length from motor to motor.

To avoid getting hurt and not to mow down the foliage of nearby trees, as well as to test the copter at home, you can put special protection on the propellers.

What will the flight controller and all the other gadgets be attached to? Here, too, you can turn on your imagination. Of course, cardboard will not work, but a square of plywood and a plastic base from a CD box are optimal. It's not heavy and will hold up to whatever needs to be attached.

Motors - you need four of them at once. Propellers are mainly selected by diameter and power. The diameter is taken from the parameters of the frame (if it is homemade, then at your discretion).

Motor control controllers are needed to regulate the speed of rotation of the blades. The power of the engines directly depends on the weight of the drone assembly.

Batteries for motors can vary in capacity. It is better to provide the opportunity to change batteries for higher powers and, of course, use not one, but several at once.

The screws themselves can be taken 9-12 cm. A pair of ordinary ones and 2 with reverse rotation. It is advisable that they come with fasteners for several types of motors at once.

The most important and most expensive part of a quatrocopter is its “brains,” namely the flight controller—you can’t skimp on it. This is where the future capabilities of the drone need to be taken into account. It is better to take a programmable microcontroller (for example, Arduino Mega). The sensors for it can be taken “all in one” All In One (gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer, magnetometer), or at a minimum - a gyroscope and an accelerometer.

Additional functions:

· GPS — flight route programming;

· “soft landing” - fail safe (if radio communication with the remote control is lost, the copter will land smoothly and not crash to the ground);

· FPV (first person view) - first person view, and observation from a tablet.

The transmitter for the control board should be selected according to your budget. The main thing is that there are at least four channels and a frequency of 2.4 GHz. It can be purchased for left-handed or right-handed people.

Of course, you will have to tinker with the wires, but in capable hands this time will pass quickly.

It is better to attach a special soft lining to the legs of the copter or to the beams themselves on the frame to make landing easier on hard surfaces.

It won't be easy, but it will be interesting and entertaining!

In addition to the basic materials, consumables are also required - bolts, nuts, washers.

At this stage, the tools you will need are a hacksaw, a drill and a file.

After all materials are prepared, we begin the process:

· In any convenient way, transfer the drawing to the textolite blank and cut it waste material along the contour.

· Connect all the resulting parts, securing them.

· Prepare holes for the screws (they are red in the drawing) with a drill with a diameter of 3 millimeters.

· After the beams are fixed to the frame, make holes to facilitate the structure (in the drawing these are white circles).

· Prepare holes on the beams for mounting the motor.

· At the last stage, degrease the frame and cover it with double-sided tape to dampen vibrations.

In subsequent stages, you will need the following elements: a board, motor controllers, propellers, motors, a battery and a charger for it, a transmitter and a receiver.

In order to secure the controllers to the adapter board, you should use copper wire without insulation. After this, the power wires, bus wires, and a toggle switch for turning the power on and off are soldered.

When placing controllers on the board, it is worth remembering that they all must be directed to the corresponding motors.
The next stage is installing the engines. It begins with soldering wires to the motor terminals and their insulation. Then the motors themselves are installed at the ends of the beams and secured with bolts on the underside of the “leg”.

After this comes the crucial moment of attaching the “brain” of the quadcopter – the adapter board. It is better to install it on small rubber dampers. It is important to protect the board from moisture and dust, so immediately cover it with any plastic cap. Its shape and transparency depend solely on your preferences and do not affect the safety of the board in any way.

A battery is attached to the prepared compartment, which is also best secured to a rubber layer.

At the last stage, we fix the screws on the motors, connect the transmitter and LED backlight.

From general to specific. The frame of the quad must be strong. A piece of plywood (150 x 150 mm) is suitable for its manufacture; a square aluminum profile (14 x 14 mm) can be used as a frame.

Profiles will also be needed for making beams. The length of each of them from the center of the structure should be 300 mm. By the way, you can fit pieces of foam or rubber on them, which will soften the landing.

Next is installing the board. You need to buy it. It is recommended to purchase a board already equipped with all sensors - gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer and magnetometer - AllInOne. There are also board options with a GPS receiver. The sensors can be attached to the structure using thick tape or silicone - this will help avoid strong vibration.

It must be mounted in the center of the structure. The screws should securely screw the board to the ends of the beams and pass through the plywood. There should be a receiver next to it. It can be glued with superglue.

The quadcopter motors should be located at the same distance. Therefore, before arranging them, you need to make precise markings on the beams and only then drill holes. By the way, the space for the tail of the shaft must be made all the way through, across its entire width, so that it does not touch its edges.

Now a little about the power wires of the speed controllers. They are connected in parallel using adapters. Where the battery is connected to them, a detachable connection should be made.

Now all that remains is to connect the wires to the corresponding motors and install the “brains”. Finding firmware for a board (Arduino) on the Internet is not difficult. First it is downloaded, then the settings. During installation, programs will appear step by step instructions. They must be strictly followed in order to debug the control of the device and calibrate it.

In the program menu there is a section AC2 Sensor. Here the operation of sensors and receivers is checked. All turns and changes in levels must be reflected with maximum accuracy in the oscillations of the needle and LED indicators.

After all this debugging, you can install the propellers and test the flight. In this case, it is better to place the device away from you. Gas should be applied smoothly. If the drone takes off, great. If it starts to shake, you should go to the PID settings. Other nuances of debugging through the program are also possible.

How to wisely choose a motor for a quadcopter? Undoubtedly, this part should be selected based on the characteristics and capabilities of the flying machine. The use of a motor is necessary only in large quadcopters, otherwise its presence will be unjustified and the device simply will not work.

The main rule is that you should choose a motor after final assembly quadcopter. When planning to attach a video camera or other device to a flying device, it is worth considering the additional weight. In order not to overload the device, it is necessary to calculate the thrust, which can be viewed using special tables. For example, if the weight of the device is 1.5 kilograms, then the thrust should be 2 times greater, that is, equal to 3 kilograms.

To choose the right quadcopter engine, you should carefully study all its characteristic properties. The screws of the device play an equally important role. The quadcopter hangs in the air due to several pairs of rotors rotating in different directions.

Just in order for the propellers to work normally, you need to select an engine based on the parameters of your quadcopter. Propellers consume a lot of motor energy, and motor power is important when purchasing.

To select the right motor, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with various videos where you will be told in detail about good parts for a quadcopter. Thanks to the advice that already experienced pilots will give, you can assemble a unique quadcopter with a powerful engine.

Why do you need a powerful engine? Firstly, it allows the device to fly much faster and longer, and to perform certain maneuvers. Secondly, you can hang additional cargo on the quadcopter, for example, a camera, which will shoot materials while flying at altitude. Due to this, you can take high-quality photographs.

Therefore, you need to select an engine based on what kind of quadcopter you want to build. Should be selected correct power engine, otherwise the device may either not take off or be completely uncontrollable. To avoid this, you need to listen to the advice of experts, and then assembling the quadcopter will be very simple.

First tests aircraft multicopters occurred back in 1922, but only in the second decade of the 21st century. this type of layout began to gain popularity at an impressive rate. Compared to other radio-controlled models, quadcopters are in great demand, probably because they have a practical purpose: at a minimum, shooting beautiful footage from the air.

Following consumer demands, manufacturers are flooding the market with an abundance of models of various configurations with various characteristics. Many buyers prefer RTF (ready-to-fly) kits that can fly into the air after simple calibration.

But not everyone needs the easy way. Particular pleasure can be derived from assembling the quadcopter from scratch on your own. The degree of difficulty varies between sets with all necessary details for assembly to independently selecting each component, checking their compatibility, assembling and configuring your own UAV.

It also makes sense to assemble a quadcopter if there are specific application scenarios for which factory models are not adapted. Or assemble a flight training device yourself that you won’t mind breaking. Detailed drawing You don’t need it for this; a sketch with all the elements marked is enough.

Basic units and components

In order for the constructed device to be able to take off in the air, at least in theory, and to make assembling a quadcopter with your own hands a pleasure, you need to purchase a number of relevant components:

1. The flight controller is the “head” of the future UAV, in which all the basic necessary sensors are installed, as well as software for processing their readings, as well as commands coming from the control panel to control the rotation speed of each engine. This is the most expensive component you will have to buy to assemble a quadcopter.
2. Advanced modellers make the frame themselves from carefully selected materials (aluminum, plastic, wood, carbonate or combinations thereof). If there is a lack of experience or engineering knowledge, if a ready-made frame is more suitable for the project or there is neither the desire nor the time to design a quadcopter and its parts yourself, then ready-made frames produced in wide range sizes.
3. It is better to choose brushless motors - they are somewhat more expensive, but much more reliable than brushed motors. For flights, rotation at a significant speed is necessary, so the absence of a collector has a positive effect on the service life. Purchase at least 4 (or 8, if you need an octocopter), if the budget allows, then with 1-2 spare ones.
4. Motor controllers, these boards that regulate the rotation speed of each motor and power it, will be mounted on the “beams” of the case. Their number corresponds to the number of engines.
5. Propellers or propulsors should be selected with special attention, because the size must match the dimensions of the future frame, regardless of whether it was built independently or purchased.
6. The power distribution board is designed to distribute power from the battery to the engine speed controllers. As a rule, each purchased case is equipped with a small board on which you can solder the inputs from all controllers, and then carefully power them. If desired, you can order a more advanced version of the main power board if your quadcopter circuit requires layout features.
7. Buying batteries is one of the most difficult moments in selecting spare parts. The type of suitable battery depends entirely on the intended purpose of the model being created. For fast models, it is better to take small batteries with high KV (revolutions per minute × Volts), and for low-speed filming devices, the priority is the ratio of capacity and weight, because the structure cannot be overloaded in any case. A useful addition is a battery charge monitor. You cannot do without a special balancing charger for the selected type of battery (lithium-ion or lithium-polymer).
8. A control panel with a receiver module that connects to the flight controller so that the device can be controlled. The type of control panel determines the comfort of control and some other available functions.
9. Additional options are selected depending on the purpose of the future device. Thus, camera stabilizers are often attached to drones for filming, and racing ones are impossible without an FPV (first person view) complex.

You will need few tools for assembly - a screwdriver for assembling the frame, a soldering iron and, of course, the skills to work with it.

The disadvantage of the latter is easy to eliminate during the assembly process; fortunately, the “aerobatics” of owning a soldering station is not needed. And it is better to use soldering irons with a thin tip.

Quadcopter drawings in the full sense of the word do not exist, and they are not needed. Assembly from modules eliminates this need. WITH consumables everything is a little more complicated. To assemble a quadcopter with your own hands you will need:

1. Thread lock so that none of the screws can be unscrewed due to flight vibrations.
2. Heat shrink insulation for each soldering point.
3. Polymer clamps for fixing elements on the body.
4. Waterproofing compound for printed circuit boards.
5. Banana connectors for motors.

Nothing will prevent you from making the necessary corrections and modifications to the design during assembly or flight testing. Maybe for your purposes it is better to assemble an octocopter with your own hands. With care and caution, even the most technically illiterate drone hobbyist can build a flying drone. Moreover, future flight tests will reveal all the shortcomings, which will be eliminated. The result should be the perfect personal drone. The main thing is to clearly understand the scenario for its application.

Build process

There are many options for the layout and design of multicopters, but the most common are models with four propellers. Therefore, the assembly of such a quadcopter will serve as an example for a step-by-step overview of the assembly process. In the process, you can rely on approximate drawings of quadcopters from the network or compiled by yourself.

1: Build the frame

Regardless of size or purpose, each drone must have a frame, frame, and supporting base. Assembly of finished frames should not be difficult due to the fact that they are supplied detailed instructions and all necessary fasteners.

And to assemble the frame yourself, you will have to show your design skills. A self-made quadcopter frame made of metal, plastic, metal-plastic or wood must be strong enough. For example, the thickness of the wooden parts of a self-made frame must be at least 30 mm. Assembling your quadcopter on a frame that is not strong enough is a waste of effort, because it will often break.

In any case, the output should be a given number of beams of the same length, which are carried by motors and attached to the central supporting plate. Landing supports or “legs” are also installed on it. In some configurations, the legs “grow” from under the engines. It all depends on the features dictated by the drawing of the quadcopter and its frame.

2: Install the power unit and propellers

Engines, their controllers and propellers play a key role in speed, maneuverability and other flight characteristics. Therefore, you should choose products from brands that work closely in the quadcopter industry, rather than someone who ended up in this market segment by accident.

Motors for one project must be of the same model from the same manufacturer.

Yes, the movement occurs due to the difference in the speed of their rotation, but it must be strictly controlled. A motley crew of engines would upset the balance. They are attached with screws to the outer ends of the “beams”.

After the engines, speed controllers are placed on the plane of their supports and secured with ties. The connection of the controllers to the motors, as well as to the distribution board, is carried out by direct soldering and connectors. If desired and on a budget, you can use a 4-in-1 controller, but then the layout of the quadcopter will change slightly. The result is an almost finished copter, which only lacks a flight controller.

3: Installing the “brains”

The flight controller is typically mounted on the top of the aircraft frame, above the power distribution board and battery compartment. The layout can be changed, but it is worth remembering that the lower the center of gravity, the more stable the device.

To minimize the effect of vibrations on the operation of the flight controller, its mounting pad is often mounted on rubber spacers or more sophisticated vibration damping systems are used. At the design stage it is good opportunity show off your engineering ingenuity without causing irreparable damage to the entire structure.

Only after the controller is installed can the remaining components and modules be placed: a receiver from the control panel, a GPS sensor, a magnetic compass, a camera, a gimbal, etc.

And only place it on the body; connection is permissible only after the initial calibration of the flight controller.

Different manufacturers produce different controllers, remote controls and other components. Therefore, their calibration is a complex and variable process worthy of separate consideration.