PROF- Of course not knowing anything
about quadcopters, I started with a V-Tail because it “looked cool” which in
hindsight was probably a big mistake. I read everything I could on online forums
about scratch building a V-Tail and nowhere did anyone mention how difficult a
V-Tail would be for a beginner to fly. (Of course one big hint was that a
friend said he had enough V-Tail Quad parts to build the next Space Station if
I wanted them free.) Kind of that ‘take over payments’ thing that fathers say
about their 20 year old daughters.
That said, the peak
elevation that I ever achieved was just high enough for a very hard landing.
After rebuilding and crashing it several more times, it is now retired in the
Boeing Air Museum. (Damn that gravity thing again.)
That was the start of my
long and winding road. The Pursuit. The never ending confrontation with evil.
And my new found appreciation of the Internet.
I should also
mention that I live on an island and trying to find anything about building a
quadcopter from scratch is only learned from the internet.
Why
scratch build a quadcopter or any other remote control aircraft?
PROF-I guess I like a
challenge and learning something new. There’s also the idea that it would be
cheaper to build from parts and pieces than purchase a RTF. Man-o-man is that a
slippery slope, more on that later.
What
was the initial appeal?
PROF-Certainly I had hoped
that there would be the feeling of accomplishment. To bring something to life
from a pile of parts.
What
were the major goals and milestones?
PROF-Obviously the goal was
to build a great flying quadcopter. The “milestones” can only be measured in
baby steps. They were so far and few between with so much disappointment laced
in between that celebrating the tiniest achievements kept me going.
What
are the basic components of such a device?
PROF: In the simplest terms
it a body with four arms, four motors, four props, four electronic speed
controls (ESC), a flight controller (FC) or main controller (MC), a receiver
and a battery plus a transmitter to control its flight. How simple is that?
Just get on the internet and start ordering parts, remember I live on an island
without a hobby shop!
But wait! The frames come
in many different sizes; the motors varied and have confusing terminology,
1100KV. 1100 Kilovolts? No, that would be 1100 RPM’s per volt, who knew?
When should someone consider a scratch build
approach?
PROF: When they have access to a good flying club and hopefully
a good hobby shop. Doing it isolated like I did is very difficult and
frustrating to say the least. It has taken me years to get to a point the
others could achieve in months with local support.
I believe that once a person has purchased an RTF and got some
hours on it, which includes repairing it after crashing, would be a good
candidate.
I’ve read many threads on the multirotor forums warning against
the path I took and I can certainly attest to that.
What are the steps to starting a scratch build
quadcopter?
PROF: Do as I say not as I
did!
First, buy an inexpensive
Ready to Fly helicopter such as the Syma 107s. They are a great training tool
and fly only indoors because they operate on infrared. Once you have the basic
skills of flying rotor craft, go buy a cheap little mini or micro quad like the
Hubsan H107 and start flying it outside, though they are quite small and need
still air. And then when you are completely addicted like the rest of us, move
up to something bigger but still a RTF and around $100. These steps are really
necessary as even the most stable of quads such as the DJI Phantoms still
require basic if not advanced flying skill. You don’t want to lose or destroy a
$600+ quad.
Last
year a friend bought a Phantom2 and equipped it with a Zenmuse 3D gimbal and
GoPro Hero3. Finding the manual a bit boring, he immediately took the P2 up and
out of sight. Gone. He called it a ‘run away’. I called it something. Learn to
fly.
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