The first tests of a multicopter aircraft took place 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, capturing 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 build your own flight training apparatus 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 locker 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, and not from 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.

In order to assemble a quadcopter with a camera with your own hands, you need to divide the assembly into two stages. The first stage is assembling the quadcopter itself. The second is connecting a camera to it.

So, the first stage.

DIY quadcopter assembly recipe

To assemble the quadcopter we will need the following:

• four quadcopter motors;
• four speed controllers;
• four propellers (propellers), with a reserve;
• power splitter 3.5 mm;
• customizable board via USB to control the quadcopter;
• four batteries or more to get the most out of your flight;
• charger for recharging batteries;
• quadcopter radio control device (sold together with receiver and transmitter);
• additional boards for connecting the receiver to the “brains” of the quadcopter;
• silicone-sheathed wires for motors, two pieces each, red and black;

This is all about mechanisms and controls.

DIY quadcopter frame

In order for our quadcopter to feel confident in flight, it needs to be equipped with some kind of skeleton on which all control mechanisms will rest. There are two approaches to solving this problem:

• ready frame for quadcopter;
• frame assembled by yourself;

To choose the most suitable option for you, you need to understand some nuances. If you purchase a ready-made frame, then, as a rule, you can already screw everything onto it and you can launch it into flight. But if any part is damaged due to a fall or careless use, the wait for this part will take some time until it is delivered by courier services to your address.

As for the prefabricated frame with your own hands from improvised means, in this case you will need to tinker to cut everything smoothly and attach it. In case of any incidents, the broken part can be easily replaced.

The most common option for making a frame from improvised means is plastic pipes, which are used in construction for wiring. Their properties are ideal for mounting all necessary controls and engines. To fasten them (motors), you can use fasteners, those that are used to fasten pipes to walls when wiring.

With the help of such pipes it turns out quite good design, on which you can securely mount all the parts of the quadcopter and the camera. So, we almost have a quadcopter with a camera ready with our own hands, all that remains is to assemble it all correctly and go on test flights.

DIY quadcopter with camera: video of the assembly process

The entire process of assembling a quadcopter with your own hands is presented in this video. Let's see.

Below are photos that I found on the Internet. They present quadcopters with a camera, which were assembled with their own hands from improvised materials.

How to connect the electronics of the entire quadcopter

I couldn’t find the Russified instructions, thanks to my friend who translated this instruction from English into Russian for you.

When connecting motors, you will have to extend the wires using the extension method. You can use any suitable wires, but preferably “silicone” ones. This will allow them not to crack at low temperatures if you suddenly want to capture the New Year's fireworks display in winter on video.

Set up and “train” the quadcopter using software

So, we have assembled a quadcopter with a camera with our own hands, all that remains is to train our machine to behave correctly in flight. To do this you need to “train” her. How it's done? Very simple! You need to upload the firmware to the board via USB. You can find this firmware on a specialized forum or on our website. When the article with the firmware is published, a clickable link to the firmware will appear here.

If you don’t know how to fly a quadcopter yet and want to learn, then I’ll write an article on this topic especially for you. The link will appear here. There I will talk about the features of controlling a quadcopter and which one is the fastest to learn to fly like a professional.

As for the second stage, here you just need to attach a camera that you consider suitable for yourself in terms of price and quality. In the video reviews you will find a suitable camera, if not, then write to the chat, which is located in the lower left corner, other users will tell you.

At the end of this article, I suggest you watch another video on assembling a quadcopter with a camera with your own hands.

A quadcopter can hang in one place and take photos and videos, which is why many photographers keep up with progress and buy quadcopters for video shooting.

Quadcopters burst into our lives along with technical progress. 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 to have the desire to make a quadcopter with your own hands.

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

Details of a homemade quadcopter

Motors for quadcopter, 4 pcs - D2822/14 1450kv

Of course, the additional purchase of a small quadcopter is a little expensive, but by flying one you will learn how to control it and will be able to fly a large quadcopter with a camera without falling! And you can always give a small toy to a child.

And finally, short video flight on a quadcopter, recording from a camera.

In this article, we looked at the basic principles of making homemade quadcopters. If you want to know more, see the section

iskra comments:

how to make a quadcopter so that it flies within a radius of 500 meters with a real-time camera that displays the image on the screen

chelovek comments:

Guys, help!
I want to build a quadrick on the Arduino Mega platform using these components:

The reasons why amateur copter pilots think about how to assemble a quadcopter with their own hands vary. For example, someone is not satisfied with the prices, someone wants to install their own camera, which is not installed on any gimbal, others want to get a configuration only for racing. You never know what else!

Modern users prefer to receive a comprehensive answer to the above question in the form step-by-step recommendations. And it’s even better if they are given the opportunity to see it in video format. Because diagrams and instructions in many cases do not fully disclose all the important parts during assembly.

In order to understand how to make a quadcopter with my own hands, let's take a look at the big picture so that at each stage of the build we have an understanding of how much we have already accomplished and how much work we still have to do. This will make it easier to continue and complete the process, because often a lack of understanding of how much work is left makes a novice designer give up halfway through.

So, let's first remember all the key components of the aircraft that must be included in the kit for assembling a quadcopter with your own hands. The first thing that comes to mind is, of course, the body of the drone, on which all the other equipment and electronics will be placed.

Assembling the case from scratch is not difficult at all. For example, if we look at what the body of conventional quadcopters is made of, we will see that manufacturers use plastic as the material. Plastic is the most versatile and suitable material for assembling the body and beams of any drone.

It is lightweight, which allows you to retain battery charge for a longer period. It cannot, of course, be said that plastic is the most reliable means of protecting a multicopter from damage in the event of an emergency fall. But if you think about it in general, even large planes made of stronger materials fall apart into pieces. Therefore, we will not be so demanding of lightweight plastic, the main task of which is, first of all, to firmly secure electronics and accessories inside the case during flight.

If you do not have the opportunity to make beams and body elements from this material, and also do not have spare pipes or beams from other unmanned vehicles, then we recommend paying attention to ordinary plywood. Of course, you should not select solid fiberboard sheets, because no motors or motors will be able to lift such a heavy structure. Look for a lighter option for your case.

Plywood is also good because any number of holes can be drilled into it to improve the aerodynamic characteristics of the copter, as well as for inserting various copter blocks into it. They can be the same blocks for motors and propellers, fastenings for wires and landing gear, compartments for electronic boards, batteries and video cameras.

After this, you should consider installing electronic and printed circuit boards on the finished case. This will allow you to move in assembling the device as if from its middle. As they like to say in such cases, dance from the stove. That is, from the most important thing that is in a quadcopter.

On each of the beams, special markings must be made so that the wires and motors are installed perfectly. How smoothly and balanced your assembled device will fly depends on this. An error of a couple of millimeters can lead to a strong roll or tilt of the drone during flight. Take accurate measurements and double check them several times before installing motors.

At the very end, all you have to do is establish a connection between all components of the drone - draw a connection between them in the form of wiring. General recommendations Read on to learn how to establish a connection. It remains to be added here that this is where the preliminary assembly of the drone ends. All that remains is to do a lot of tests on the ground and in the air to make sure that you did everything correctly and in case of errors, and, believe me, they will definitely be made, adjustments will be made.

Next, we will tell you what important components should be on board your copter, so that you know where, in fact, you need to start building your air “house” and what important details will come in handy. After this, you will definitely no longer have all the questions like “how to assemble a quadcopter yourself and at home.” As it turns out, it's not that difficult. The most important thing is to know the structure of the drone and the principles of its flight.

What is a quadrolet?

For those who are not yet in the know, this is a structure, a platform, a structure, aircraft, which is more convenient for you, which (if we are talking about a platform) is controlled by a transmitter. Has 4 engines with the same number of propellers. The assembly of such aircraft necessarily includes a flying multi-engine platform.

When the drone takes off, it assumes a horizontal position. Like a helicopter, it is capable of hovering above the surface of the earth for different heights. It flies in different directions. Previously, copters could only fly towards their nose. In recent years, they began to make models of the Headless type, when a drone during flight could fly sharply in any of four directions without turning its nose in that direction.

The copter is able to rise and fall, while it always remains horizontal relative to the ground. If special equipment is installed on it, then in some cases it can even fly in autopilot mode. Most aviation enthusiasts use such opportunities, first of all, to focus on aerial photography at this moment, and not to show the world their aerobatic skills.

General operating principle of a drone

As we said earlier, the system is multi-rotor. These same rotors create powerful diagonal rotation in opposite directions. The rotors have a so-called manager that collects information from three or six gyroscopes (the number of the latter depends on the configuration of the copter) and transmits it to the rotors.

Gyroscopes were created in order to automatically determine the position of the device during flight and then fix it in all three planes. At the same time, the accelerometer makes sure that the copter takes an ideal horizontal position. To secure the quadcopter at a certain height, the flight system is equipped with a barometer.

Due to this, the copter moves if all four propellers turn equally. The result of changing the rotation speed of one or another pair of motors is the tilt of the copter (as it is also called “roll”) towards the weakest rotating propellers - the drone flies horizontally.

In most cases, there are strictly four rotors, but from time to time you can find copters with six or even eight rotors. That’s why they are called multicopters, and the word “quadcopter” will no longer be relevant to the last two representatives of multirotor drones.

Instructions for assembling a simple drone

The first thing that comes to mind when assembling your own quad is, of course, its frame. There is nothing complicated with this element. For its base, ordinary plywood measuring 15 square centimeters will do. The beams are adjusted using screws along the diagonal markings of your frame. The beam should be 30 centimeters long, starting from the center of the copter. The beams are 25 cm. The holes for the engines themselves will be set aside at the end of creating the body, having first made markings for the engines.

And here is what is useful for the assembly itself:

• Turnigy 9 technology;
• Control board;
• Batteries for Turnigy;
• Power battery;
• Blades;
• Various battery chargers.

Let's start assembling

First of all, we install the control board. At the same time, place it as close to the center of your platform as possible. From the very beginning, take the necessary, and most importantly, accurate measurements. In this case, the device will not drift from side to side during the flight. Use self-tapping screws of sufficient length to screw the beams to the board. An aluminum strip is suitable for landing skis and holding the battery.

Install the receiver close to the board. To install the receiver, you can use some powerful superglue. A simplified version of connecting with two three-wire cables is possible in the case when the receiving channels are the same in purpose as the control board channels. Keep this in mind.

Engine Installation

Before inserting it, you need to make precise markings of the rays and make holes for the engine itself. Make sure that the distance from the edges to the axis of rotation is equivalent. At least as much as possible. When installing the engine, a shaft tail will stick out from its bottom, so you need to make a special hole for it.

When making holes for fastening, drill across the entire width of the square and all the way through. Then you can immediately see whether the shaft will catch on the edges of this square.

Wiring

Using adapters, make parallel connection 4 power wires. In the place where the battery will be connected to all four wires, you will need to use detachable connections. In other places soldering will be necessary. Then heat-shrink all the parts so that during strong vibration (when the copter is flying) nothing will jump out and become detached.

Now let's work on the control board and connect the driver wires. In principle, after this operation you can do a small check and eliminate problems that are revealed during testing.

The second way to assemble a quadcopter yourself

No matter how you assemble your first aircraft, there is one thing you need to remember - do not spare money on the parts from which you will assemble the drone. Only in this case, with a greater degree of probability, the result will be of high quality and minor inaccuracies and errors will be forgiven.

When assembling a quadcopter using the second method, we will consider a step-by-step assembly option using Arduino Mega and Mega-Pirate firmware.

What is required for assembly? 5 motors, including 1 spare. Also purchase two sets of blades - one for use, the other for reserve. We remind you that there should be two regular screws and two with reverse rotation. Speed ​​controllers. There should be at least four of them and, again, at least as many spare ones.

It is better to take a smaller battery for such a drone so that it does not weigh down the copter.

We recommend using several light and small ones. Yes, the drone will fly less during one life cycle such a mini-battery, but at the same time your flight will be more stable. Moreover, the process of replacing the battery will not take much time.

The frame for your quadcopter should be lightweight and at the same time durable. Remember what frame we described in the first case self-assembly. So, such a frame is quite suitable for this option. From the electronic stuffing you will need: an all-in-one board, an accelerometer, batteries, a microcontroller, a gyroscope, as well as many bolts, screws, wires and various types screed Don't forget also about a soldering iron and drill.

Once you are sure that you have everything you need, you can safely begin assembly. The assembly process can be repeated using the first method described above. The most important thing is that the distance from each end of the beam to the center of the frame is the same. Make sure that the propellers do not touch each other and, importantly, the central part of the frame, because this is where the electronic brains of your drone will be located, plus a video camera, which, by the way, can be installed at will.

If you mount your sensors in rubber or, say, in a silicone mass, then the force of vibration during operation of the propellers will be dampened. As a chassis, foam can be made and secured at the very ends of the beams. For a softer landing, they can be rubberized or foam rubber attached.

If you do not want to assemble the board yourself, we recommend buying a ready-made one. It already has 4 sensors installed, a gyroscope that will measure angular acceleration, an accelerometer that measures acceleration, a barometer that is responsible for selecting the desired height and holds the quadcopter at it, as well as a magnetometer that is responsible for where the drone will fly.

How to build a cheap Arduino Uno quadcopter with your own hands

If you follow brief instructions according to the Arduino Uno assembly outlined below, the output you will get is an unmanned four-beam device with a 30-minute flight time, measuring 60 centimeters (152 inches) from motor to motor. It will weigh a little more than one kilogram.

For the frame you need to use thin beams cut from ordinary wooden planks. The approximate thickness of one such beam should be 1-1.5 centimeters from above and about 3-4 centimeters when looking at the beam from the side. Make two identical pieces, each 60 centimeters long, and by cutting a hole in the center of one of them, secure both beams firmly together. You can solder them, glue them, and so on.

After that, for your convenience, you can paint the rays in two different colors. For example, paint the front two beams yellow, and red or black those beams that, after assembly, will be the back side of the drone.

The power board will need to be installed at the junction of your frame. It should be fixed in the center, at the bottom of the cross. Using plastic straps, the length of which can be adjusted, attach this board to the case on both sides. This will be enough to prevent the board from falling off and stably fulfilling its main purpose. Don’t be confused by the fact that it can move and move from its place by a couple of millimeters or even 1 centimeter.

After that, you will need to install 4 electronic speed controllers from HobbyKing - each weighing only 16 grams. Attach them securely near the edge of each beam. The same plastic adjustable strap with which you secured the power board is quite suitable for this purpose. In most cases, only one strap per controller is sufficient. But if you doubt it, you can add one or even two more straps for security.

At the end of each beam you should attach a special cap with a hole into which you will install the engines and propellers. Again, use straps as a fixing material. Secure the cover securely so that it does not fall off the first time you start the engines. By the way, it is better to install the electronic speed controller on the top of the beam. This will make it interact better with the propeller and make it easier for you to establish a connection between them.

The control panel, assembled from several important electronic elements (see illustration for assembly diagram), is attached to the top using plastic straps. Your board should have two holes on each of the four sides in order to securely attach it to each beam.

Ultimately, there will be two boards in the central part of your homemade quad. One is the power panel, installed at the bottom of the mount, the second is the control panel, mounted at the top of the crossed beams of your copter.

To soften and suppress the vibration of motors, which will not have a very good effect on your electronics, you need to make anti-vibration dampers. For these purposes, you can use regular silicone earplugs. They are sold at any pharmacy. You will need a set of four of these earplugs to fit under each control circuit board mount.

The best way to do this is as follows. Before you start tightening the reinforcement straps on each of the four sides of your board, place the silicone plug so that it is under the board itself and still rests on the beam. In this case, it will act as a kind of gasket between these two rigid elements and will be able to absorb vibration.

To secure the earplug between the board and the multicopter spider, insert a plastic strap into the holes on the board, align the earplug and tighten the strap so that it can secure not only printed circuit board on the crosspiece, but also pressed the plug itself on both sides.

Now let's start installing the batteries. You can use two Zippy Compact batteries. The capacity of each of them is 3700 milliampere hours. If you use both of them, it will double. As a result, we get 7400 mAh and almost 30 minutes of full flight. However, it is worth remembering that these two batteries will become the main load of the drone. Their total weight will be 517 grams.

To secure the batteries you will need tape and a long plastic strap (only one, but wider than the ones you used to secure the parts before). The batteries should be attached in such a way that they take a diagonal position, that is, they are attached not to either beam, but to both at once.

It is clear that best place for this there will be the same cross in the center. Since there will be free space between the control printed circuit and the crosspiece itself, obtained due to the height of the earplugs, you will need to insert a strap into this gap in order to attach the batteries to the structure.

Before this, you will need to place one battery on top of another, and add a regular soft sponge on top, which is used to transport breakable parts, pass a plastic strap under them, and stick strong tape on top of it. This will keep the strap in place so the batteries don't slip off, and will help keep the batteries glued to each other. For reliability, you can also use tape to glue the batteries to each other along the edges, but this is already optional.

Next, we place the batteries tightly to the bottom of the case and insert the strap into the hole under the board from above. We tighten it tightly. If necessary, we check the structure again for strength. The sponge will also act as a dampener for vibration that may occur between the quad beams, batteries, and power board at the bottom of the structure.

Special caps at the ends of the beams can now be used to install 25mm motors and put propellers on them. Your frame is already painted in two different colors, in order to better navigate where the front of the device is and where the back is. But for more precise orientation, you can use an orange or white table tennis ball.

To do this, you need to run an ordinary wire from one front beam to the other and secure each end approximately under the speed controllers. In the center of the wire there should already be a ball tightly strung on it.

That's it, your Arduino is ready to fly. As mentioned above, its flight weight was 1054 grams. The flight time at this weight is 30 minutes and a few seconds.

When designing the quadcopter, the presence of landing gear was not taken into account. In principle, they are not needed, because the drone does not have a camera installed on its belly, and it is not worth protecting the batteries and bothering with attaching legs for them. All you have to do is accurately calculate when the 30 minutes of flight are up and land the system softly on the ground in time. This way you will protect the device from accidentally falling from high altitude, because you will not have sensors anywhere to inform you about the state of charge of your batteries.

Setting up the firmware

Today it is quite easy to find the necessary firmware, download and install. After loading it into Arduino, download the program for configuration. After launching the program, you will be taken to the “Options” menu, there, enter the Arduino COM port and go to the Action menu - AC2 Setup. To ensure that the ATV setup is correct, try to flawlessly follow the instructions (tips) during the installation process and operation of the program.

For example, one dialog box will ask you to move the levers on the transmitter to the highest and lowest values, while another will ask you to control the position of the aircraft. It must be level for accurate calibration of the sensors.

When the calibration is complete, you will need to open A5 from GND. In the menu, in the AC2 Sensor item, find the Raw Sensor tab to check if the sensors are working correctly. In this case, you need to focus on the arrow. While rotating our board, the arrow should reach the desired value. If this does not happen or, on the contrary, it goes off scale, then you have problems with the sensors or coefficients in the code.

The transmitter is checked as follows. If the levels move as expected, then when you press the gas lever to the right and down for a couple of seconds, the red diode will blink. If you move the stick up, the indicators should be identical, that is, the LED should light red again.

Takeoff

It's time to take off. Before doing this, install the multicopter at a distance of approximately 10-12 meters from you. Tilt the throttle down and to the right. The copter will have to take off. If instead it is stationary, the propellers are running, and it is shaking, then you will need to adjust the PID configuration in the appropriate menu.

The quadcopter is a radio-controlled flying platform with four equipped propellers. Such devices include a flying multi-rotor platform. In flight, the quadcopter occupies a horizontal position relative to the surface of the earth, is able to hover over a selected location, and moves to the sides, up and down. The presence of special additional equipment allows the quadcopter to carry out almost autonomous flights.

This device is equipped with four rotors that rotate diagonally in opposite directions. The rotors are controlled by a processor that reports data from three gyroscopes designed to determine and fix the position in space in all three planes. Thanks to the accelerometer, you can take a completely horizontal position. Fixing the quadcopter at the desired height is achieved by equipping it with a barometer. The device moves in space due to the fact that the rotation speed of one or another pair of motors changes. The quadcopter rolls with its further movement.

First devices

This direction began to develop in 2006. Developers from Germany Ingo Busker and Holgen Buss created a quadcopter with their own hands. A huge community of passionate people gathered around him - RC modelers, programmers, designers. In mid-2007, quadcopters began to hover and move quite steadily in the air. Such devices differ from radio-controlled helicopters in a positive way due to their design flexibility and low cost. The equipment necessary for a quadcopter can be purchased, and then there is huge scope for creativity. In addition, in the event of a fall, repairing such a device is usually much cheaper than a radio-controlled helicopter.

How to assemble a quadcopter with your own hands: instructions

You can easily make the frame for the device yourself. This doesn't require a lot of materials. Among them is a piece of plywood 150 x 150 mm, square aluminum profile 14 x 14 mm. The beams can be screwed using screws along the diagonals of the square. Thin aluminum strip can be used to create a landing ski and holder for each beam from the center is 300mm long and each beam is 250mm long. Holes for the motors at the ends of the beams can be made after assembly, marking everything according to the motors.

RC quadcopter: list of required spare parts

• Turnigy 9x hardware.
• Control board.
• Battery for equipment.
• Power battery for the quadcopter itself.
• Propellers.
• Charging device.

Quadcopter assembly

First you need to install the control board, and try to place it as close to the center of the platform as possible. That is, it’s better to measure everything in advance so that later you don’t have any problems with balance and other issues. The holes are drilled through the previously installed plywood, directly into the ends of the aluminum beams. Long metal screws are used to screw the board directly to the beams. Speaking about how to assemble a quadcopter with your own hands, it should be noted that the beams should not be drilled through, since here the battery fits as tightly as possible to them.

A receiver must be installed in close proximity to the board. It can be secured with superglue. If the purpose of the channels on the receiver exactly matches those on the control board, then a simplified connection can be made for them using two three-wire cables.

Engine placement

If you are thinking about how to make a quadcopter with your own hands, then you need to mark the beams and drill holes for the engine. The distance from the edges to the axis of rotation must be exactly the same in all cases. The hole intended for the tail of the shaft, which sticks out from the bottom of the engine, must be drilled through the entire width of the square, which will allow you to see whether the shaft clings to its edges.

Disassembly with wiring

At this stage, it is time to perform the following operations. First, a “spider” is made from four speed controllers, and their power wires must be connected in parallel using special adapters. It should be used only in one place - where the battery is connected to the “spider”. Everything else needs to be soldered and then heat-shrinked, since various unexpected things can happen in flight due to vibration. Now you need to connect the driver signal wires in accordance with the ones on the control board.

Once everything is assembled, you can move on to testing and solving emerging problems.

Alternative option

The first thing to say to those who are interested in how to assemble a quadcopter with their own hands: you should not skimp on parts. There are a large number of firmware, sensor options, ready-made controllers, but our article will describe the option using Arduino Mega, MegaPirate firmware, as well as relatively cheap sensors.

Details

To start, you will need 4 motors plus 1 spare. Propellers should also be taken with a reserve; there should be at least 2 standard and 2 reverse rotation. 4 speed controllers, plus several spare ones. You should not take one super-capacity battery as a power source, as it will only add excess weight device. It is best to choose several small ones to change them one by one. The frame should be as strong and light as possible. The option described above can be called quite suitable. As the brains and sensors of the device, you can use a programmable microcontroller, an AllInOne board, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, control valves, batteries, a charger, and much more. The latter should be understood as the required number of bolts, cogs, wires, and ties. You will also need tools for work, such as a soldering iron and accessories for working with it, a drill, as well as skillful hands.

Hardware assembly and configuration

If you have everything described above, then you can begin the processes of drilling, soldering and twisting. The frame can be made in the same way as described earlier, or you can use your imagination. But only one point is important here: make sure that the distance from the center to the ends of the rays is absolutely the same, while the propellers during rotation should not touch each other and the central part of the plywood, since all the sensors, brains, and also the camera are placed on it , if you wish. The sensors should be installed on thick tape, rubber or silicone to reduce vibration. In the middle or at the ends of the beams, you can attach foam, dense foam rubber or rubber beacons, which will take over the functions of the landing gear at the moment of landing.

Sensors and ways to get them

The simplest option is to purchase a ready-made board with four main sensors: a gyroscope designed to measure angular acceleration; an accelerometer to measure gravity and acceleration; a barometer that determines the altitude and keeps the quadcopter at it; a magnetometer that records the direction of movement.

At the moment, you can also find boards on sale that, in addition to the four indicated sensors, also have a GPS receiver, which is actively used for autonomous flights.

Brain Assembly

To make the installation process as convenient as possible, it is worth placing everything on some kind of board that performs the functions of a prototype. The connection pinout depends on the type of firmware that was current at the time the device was assembled, so in each individual case everything should be connected in accordance with the instructions.

Firmware setup and download

Finding the required firmware is not difficult at the moment, so you should download the appropriate archive and unpack it. After the firmware has been successfully loaded into the Arduino, you can download the setup program, and then close pin A5 to GND. When the program is launched, select the Arduino COM port from the Option menu, and AC2 Setup from the Action menu. It is important that the setup of the quadcopter is successful, and for this you need to strictly follow the instructions that will appear in front of you after pressing the huge button. In one window you will be required to move the knobs on the remote control to the maximum and minimum values, and in the other window you will be asked to make sure that the device is level in order to correctly calibrate the sensors.

Further work

Quadcopter control is configured after calibration. After you complete the setup, A5 with GND can be opened, and then in the menu find the AC2 Sensor item, where you can check if the sensors are working correctly in the Raw Sensor tab. Each rotation of the board with sensors must be processed as clearly as possible, that is, as it is turned, the arrow becomes, if it does not reach or exceeds the desired value, then you have problems either with the sensor or with the coefficients in the code.

You also need to check the operation of the receiver. This is done in the next tab. If the movement of the levels is correct, then when you move the throttle joystick down to the right for 2 seconds, the red LED should light up. When the same manipulator moves slowly upward, approximately the same level deviation should occur in the left column.

Result

When everything has passed the test, you can attach the propellers and then try to take off. To do this, you should place the quadcopter away from you, tilt the left stick down and to the right, and then slowly add gas. If the device takes off, that's very good, but if it shakes, you'll have to adjust the PID. This is done in the PID Config item. This is all done individually in each situation, that is, there is no universal solution. Now you know how to assemble a quadcopter with your own hands.