My scratch built quadcopter

by Axbri | June 21, 2013 | (5) Posted in Projects

This article is a presentation of my scratch built quadcopter.

The frame is built entirely out of wood. The booms are 15×15 mm pine wood that are painted black. The electronics box is made of balsa that I have covered in Oracover, as I traditional wood airplane. I have used landing gears that are intended for use on airplanes, but instead of wheels, I have made plates out of plywood.

I use the KK2.0 flight controller. This is my first quadcopter, and I was surprised on how well the KK2.0 works and how easy it was to setup. I have only flown a normal model helicopter before, but this thing is mush easier to fly. It can be flown with very high precession. The built in voltage alarm feature is also a great feature.

I run two batteries in parallel. To prevent current from flowing between the batteries, they are connected using diodes. This makes it harmless to connect the batteries, even if the are not exactly the same voltage. It also ads redundancy to the system, the quad can still fly if one battery fails.

 

A standard 7805 Voltage regulator supplies the 20A opto ESCs and the flight controller with 5V. 

The camera is mounted to the quad using three pieces of silicone tubing. This acts as a vibration dampening system.

DT750 motors and 20A opto Multistar ESCs.

My Setup:

  • Flight controller: KK2.0 board
  • Motors: DT750
  • ESCs: 20A Opto Multistar
  • Batteries: two 3 cell 2650mAh LiPo connected in parallel
  • Receiver: FASST compatible orange receiver
  • 5V regulator: 7805 to power the ESCs and the flight controller board
  • Diodes: BYV123 dual schottky diodes to connect the batteries in parallel

More pictures and information, including plans, can be found at my website:

http://axelsdiy.brinkeby.se/airplanes/quad/quad.html

COMMENTS

Cyberdactyl on July 13, 2013
Beautiful detailing Axbri. And your video is quite fluid.

The only assembly comment I would have is the mounting of the props [edit]> and the excessive, unneeded shaft length. <[edit] {I see that was done}

The Hextronik DT series is frustrating to some flyers because of the way they mount the props. Many complain the DT750 have crappy bearings, and a popular item ordered at HK.

You have the props clamped between the bell and the nut. That puts a tremendous shear force on the inset screw holding the bell to the shaft. When and if the shaft slips upwards on the bell, even a few hundreds of an inch, it transfers that shear force to the bearings, greatly shortening their life.

Simply put a nut and washer over and under the props to eliminate this issue. - See more at: http://flitetest.com/articles/my-scratch-built-quadcopter#sthash.RX3V4tQq.dpuf
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charlies on July 14, 2013
um, wrong link: this one is to THIS article; curious to see your post on the DT series prop mount.
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ecoster on July 13, 2013
beautifully made!!! good job, love it.
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Kiowa Mech on July 14, 2013
That looks awesome. It looks like you spend a lot of time on it. Great job!
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saitek93 on August 6, 2013
Great body on that quad! It looks awesome.

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The-One-Who-Never-Crashes on December 9, 2015
Great job! Beautiful!
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Flying_Dementia on April 2, 2016
what's the total weight without the lipo??
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Axbri on April 3, 2016
I do not know. This quadcopter is dissembled a long time ago, and I have built many others since then. But the weight is not critical.
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My scratch built quadcopter