
Ask HN: Have you ever built a drone? Share your setup! - samayshamdasani
I&#x27;m looking to build a drone for under ~$400 this summer and I would love to hear your parts and how they perform.
======
dirktheman
Several! I recommend starting out with something not too overly expensive
(you'll crash), easy to repair (you'll crash) and sturdy (you'll crash). Oh,
did I mention you will crash?

TX: Turnigy 9XR or FrSky Taranis (more expensive, but a good investment since
you probably won't crash this one...)

Frame: any 330 size frame will do. This one for instance:
[https://www.banggood.com/DJI-F330-4-Axis-RC-Quadcopter-
Frame...](https://www.banggood.com/DJI-F330-4-Axis-RC-Quadcopter-Frame-Kit-
Support-KK-MK-MWC-p-943370.html)

Motors: 2212, ca 1000kv will make it pretty sporty

ESC: 30A

This combo set is only 19 bucks: [https://www.banggood.com/XXD-2212-MotorZTW-
AL30A-Brushless-E...](https://www.banggood.com/XXD-2212-MotorZTW-
AL30A-Brushless-ESCPropellers-KV1400-KV2200-p-971190.html?rmmds=search)

Flight controller: Naze32 or CCD3. Doesn't really matter. This one is fine
(it's in my latest quad) and is only 11 bucks:
[https://www.banggood.com/DALRC-
NAZE32-REV6-MPU6050-32-bit-6-...](https://www.banggood.com/DALRC-
NAZE32-REV6-MPU6050-32-bit-6-DOF10-DOF-Flight-Controller-for-
Multicopter-p-1020774.html?rmmds=search)

You'll need extra props, wire and nuts and bolts. 400 dollars is totally
achievable!

------
Artlav
I've been doing it for a decade [1].

Not a lot of success on the big one - before FPV it was notoriously hard to
fly, and after FPV it turned out it was unstable on sharp turns (see crash
videos). Haven't gotten around building a next iteration. Latest one is a
aluminium-plastic frame, 2825-1100 motors, 3.5Ah 3S battery, about 1.5Kg
weight. Nicknamed flying guillotine due to it's bush-chopping 10x3.8 props.

The small one ("Acro") performs very well as an indoors/training quad. 3D
printed frame, 800mAh battery, 1811-2000 motors, about 300g weight. Held
together with zip ties across stress points, with connections angled as to be
flexible on impact but lock solid under static load. So, you can crash it all
day long and only need to replace the zip ties or props occasionally.

All had custom flight controllers and software, no ideas on that front. Not
sure about the prices, since all the core parts were bought years ago.

[1] [http://orbides.org/pepela-gal.php](http://orbides.org/pepela-gal.php)

------
CharlieRobinson
I help out with a project [1] that teaches middle-school-age children how to
build and fly multicopters with an annual competition in Atlanta. A lot of
people wonder if "drones from scratch" projects is the right level for middle
school kids, but it's similar to PC building: Although they seem difficult to
someone who has never done it before, all the parts are built for you. You
just have to put them together.

If you think it'll help you decide on beginner-friendly parts, here's the kit
we use. This is in no way intended for racing, but this will put someone in
the air that wants to get into the hobby.

For a flight controller, we use KK.2s [2] and CC3Ds [3]. The KK.2 board is
programmed through a built-in screen, so it's useful if you want to make
changes on the fly (no pun intended). The CC3D is tuned by plugging it into a
computer running LibrePilot [4][5]. The advantage to that is that LibrePilot
gives you much more features/customization options than the KK.2's tiny screen
does. I've also found the CC3D to be a little more reliable.

Our transmitter/receiver combo is the FS-i6 w/ the FS-iA6B [6]. Nothing
special, should give you about a half-kilometer of range. If you're willing to
spend a bit more, I highly recommend the Turnigy Evolution [7]. It has much
nicer gimbals, and feels a lot more comfortable in the hand. The only
disadvantage you'd have with this one is that switches/knobs are limited, so
if you want to make cool peripherals you'll have less options (fun fact- if
you hook up directly to a channel output on a receiver, and bind that channel
to a switch on a transmitter, the servo will move in either direction! Lots of
cool things you can do with that)

For motors/ESCs, this MultiStar motor/Afro ESC combo pack [8] is pretty nice.
The motors can break if crash hard, but the hardware you get for the price is
excellent. If you get them, heads up: the axle that rotates with the motor
sticks out to be lower than the base of the motor, so when you mount it, make
sure that it won't drag on anything when it spins. Most frames have a hole for
this purpose, but I've had issues with this in the past.

When you're not racing, propellers aren't something you can go wrong with
(well, at least compared to other parts). With your price range and the
assumption that you're just building a simple multicopter for flying in a
field somewhere, 6-inch props (Example [9]) are really all you need.

Batteries are something that _really_ depend on what kind of flying you're
doing. You can go from tiny 1-cells for brushed micro quads [10] to high-
discharge 4-cells for racing [11], all the way to massive 30,000 mAh LiPos
for, I don't know, agriculture or something? [12] I'll have to make guesses
about what kind of drone you want to build, but unless you're doing something
extreme, a simple 3-cell 1500 mAh LiPo should work fine [13].

As for a frame, I recommend you 3D print one if you're not racing or trying to
do acro flying. There are a million on Thingiverse, but there's one called the
Crossfire that I really like [14].

Again, I have no idea what kind of multicopter you're trying to build, and
there are so many ways that the parts list would change if you were trying to
get into racing or full autonomy or something else. Other than the frame, this
is what we start kids off with, and it's proven to be an effective way to get
people into the hobby.

[1] [https://www.g3robotics.com/dfg](https://www.g3robotics.com/dfg) [2]
[https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbyking-kk2-1-5-multi-rotor-
lc...](https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbyking-kk2-1-5-multi-rotor-lcd-flight-
control-board-with-6050mpu-and-atmel-644pa.html) [3]
[http://www.getfpv.com/openpilot-cc3d-flight-controller-
strai...](http://www.getfpv.com/openpilot-cc3d-flight-controller-straight-
pins.html) [4] [https://www.librepilot.org](https://www.librepilot.org) [5]
[https://github.com/librepilot](https://github.com/librepilot) [6]
[https://www.getfpv.com/flysky-fs-i6-afhds-6ch-transmitter-
an...](https://www.getfpv.com/flysky-fs-i6-afhds-6ch-transmitter-and-6ch-fs-
ia6b-receiver.html) [7] [https://hobbyking.com/en_us/fpv-racer-radio-
mode-2-white.htm...](https://hobbyking.com/en_us/fpv-racer-radio-
mode-2-white.html) [8] [https://hobbyking.com/en_us/multistar-afro-combo-
pack-2206-b...](https://hobbyking.com/en_us/multistar-afro-combo-
pack-2206-baby-beast-v2-motor-and-12a-afro-esc-set-of-4-cw-ccw.html) [9]
[https://hobbyking.com/en_us/gemfan-propeller-6x4-5-black-
cw-...](https://hobbyking.com/en_us/gemfan-propeller-6x4-5-black-cw-
ccw-2pcs.html) [10] [https://www.getfpv.com/tattu-220mah-3-7v-45c-1s1p-lipo-
batte...](https://www.getfpv.com/tattu-220mah-3-7v-45c-1s1p-lipo-battery-pack-
with-eflite-stock-connector-1pcs.html?gclid=CJzg5a__5dMCFYg7gQodfCIHQg) [11]
[https://www.getfpv.com/lumenier-1300mah-4s-60c-lipo-
battery-...](https://www.getfpv.com/lumenier-1300mah-4s-60c-lipo-battery-
xt60.html) [12]
[https://www.genstattu.com/tattu-30000mah-22-2v-25c-6s1p-lipo...](https://www.genstattu.com/tattu-30000mah-22-2v-25c-6s1p-lipo-
battery-pack.html) [13] [https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-
compact-1500mah-3s-25c-lip...](https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-
compact-1500mah-3s-25c-lipo-pack.html)

Side note, this is my first post to HN. I have no idea what I'm doing, and if
I'm breaking any unwritten rules or something please tell me! Thanks

------
nanospeck
Hey, I am also planning to work on exact same thing. Are you interested in
keeping in touch each other to share experience? DM me please.

------
untrade
I've actually intended building one from scratch as much as possible (buying
only a frame, motors and battery) and then build custom flight controller and
custom 3-phase motor controllers, but eventually decided just buy ready-made
ESC and focus more on the flight controller.

The first iteration of the flight controller consisted of an Arduino nano,
MPU9250 breakout board and ESP8266 for WiFi communication (I've intended to
use an Android app for control):
[http://imgur.com/NyHABh7](http://imgur.com/NyHABh7) (the Arduino nano and the
MPU9250 breakout board are missing because I'm using them in the new board)

This setup never took off because of two main things: 1\. The Arduino proved
to be very slow. (8 bit without FPU) 2\. The Android controllers on the touch
screen made it very to control the drone.

So, I decided to "gut" a toy drone controller put an Arudino + nRF24 in it.
And since I now needed to replace ESP8266 with an nRF24 and replace the
Arduino nano with something more powerful, I built a new flight controller
with both the nRF24 and a Teensy 3.5 (which is an ARM with Ardunio compatible
libraries): [http://imgur.com/XtaDUPi](http://imgur.com/XtaDUPi) The
controller: [http://imgur.com/8Br1cMs](http://imgur.com/8Br1cMs)
[http://imgur.com/cY1FupV](http://imgur.com/cY1FupV)
[http://imgur.com/sJyS0EJ](http://imgur.com/sJyS0EJ)

And this time the drone actually took off! And after a lot of PID tuning and
messing around with the algorithms it actually stayed in the air! (I'll upload
a video later, I can't take one now because it's 1am...)

But the controlls were still pretty bad. They we're very sensitive and noisy.
Since I enjoyed this project (both building/coding and flying) so much, I
decided to take it to the next level. I bought a real flight controller
(Taranis X9D) with a compatible receiver, and instead of building another new
flight-controller on a proto-board again, I made a PCB:
[http://imgur.com/08oFkGW](http://imgur.com/08oFkGW)

Here's the PCB actually sitting on the drone right now:
[http://imgur.com/KqvGPd5](http://imgur.com/KqvGPd5)
[http://imgur.com/Svjz61w](http://imgur.com/Svjz61w)
[http://imgur.com/jerlNHB](http://imgur.com/jerlNHB)

Currently I'm working on the next version of the PCB with a few fixes, and
additional magnetomter and a barometer:
[http://imgur.com/nqLHzKc](http://imgur.com/nqLHzKc)

If there's an interest I'll make the source code and PCB layout+schematic open
source. Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, and a lack of video of the
thing actually flying :). I'll take some more pictures and videos tommorow
hopefully :)

