Hey Andy and others, After a few months of waiting on parts and building. I have finally finished the quadcopter, today I flew the 3rd maiden, as the first 2 failed. That's why I would like to advise people who plan on building this quad about a few things: Firstly, do not get the alien x frame, get the cheaper 450 size f450 frame copy, which has integrated pcb. (I ended up buying this one) Secondly, get better ESC's, because all of my ESC's started to stop working one for one, I recommend you get the better ESC's used in the high end quadcopter series on this channel. Lastly, get enough props, although mentioned in the video, some people tend to forget this (me). I would like to thank you Andy for the work put in to this video because this has helped me enormously in my own project.
I have been into quads for a few years now, always with the intention of building one but I could never find step by step instructions through the whole thing including a parts list and programming. Now that I have seen this video, I am finally going to build my first large quad and get into many more aspects of the hobby that I've been too intimidated to try. Thank you so much for all the effort you put into this video. I, for one, benefited enormously from it.
I just finished my first flight test using your great video and fantastic instructions. This is the first quad I have built and no previous experience with model aircraft or RC vehicles. I do have an electronics background and worked on the flight controller for the F14 Tomcat back in 1967 and the CC3D controller is more sophisticated. I recently became a great grandfather so I may be the oldest of your fans. Thank you.
+GreenArt4 I created my own spreadsheet on prices and sources based on this video. Maybe it can help you: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jNVvUdmsWTabGDjqgGC21ukJqEW7q0NetiZeiHkXWew/edit?usp=sharing.
What an awesome video. Line by line I ordered it all that was the best informative build video ever. slow and steady, understandable, and patient. Thanks so much I subbed because you are awesome! I dont understand why other's don't make videos like this, they either talk to fast or become lazy and don't mention things...Incredibly accurate and enjoyable video! After wanting a huge quad, I bought 2 of these frames and spent days looking for a good informative and accurate video before I came across yours. With this information you have explained everything I need to build any quad copter really. Thats a great achievment , thanks again!
$20 gps + $9 OSD + $5 FTDI adapter = 10 times better Quad. Only thing is, that is huge can of worms that nobody wants to explain to newbies which I completely understand.
not true check out the high end version i did.. truth is no one wants to pay the amount u need to get decent results 20 dollar gps = flys back to china
Hi I just wanted to let you know I've just completed my 1st quad and it's 100% based on this video. I really appreciate your attention to detail. Mine wasn't without issues too since my FC was bricked from the factory. Other than that, it went really well. I'm giving this to my son as his birthday present and I have you to thank for it. Keep up the excellent work!
Could you make a battery guide video? I;m working to build this current set up but would be cool to learn more about batts and what this set up could take. Thanks
Just a couple of months ago I run into this video. Happy to report that my first quad was built successfully. Thanks AndyRc! Your videos were really helpful!
After about ten minutes of this video I opened up a chrome tab and started looking for parts. I got a bundle of motors and ECUs for a great price. But in other respects a very similar kit. I got everything for about 100 bucks, well except the transmitter and receiver. Found one locally for a similar price so I will be getting that after the other parts get here. Now the wait! Great video, makes the first proper build from scratch a little less daunting.
Great video, i have been coming back to this a lot as im currently building my first Quadcopter (450) i have been buying the parts week by week and the final bits should arrive tommorow. Thanks Andy for your very helpful and well explained videos.
More flashbacks for me, I still have a couple of open pilot flight boards that still work. OK, I don't use them anymore. Loved watching this trip down memory lane.
I am considering building a quadcopter myself , and this set up is fantastic , i am going up with this , nice video by the way , i so it from the start to end without skipping anything XP, nicely done
Thanks. Just ordered all the parts. Great video. Will be building two. Only thing different is that I will construct the frame myself. Daddy and son project.
AndyRC Many thanks for the detailed video. Especially the portion on tuning, nothing was making sense to me regarding this up till now. Very informative info.
Thanks for the video! just subscribed today after watching the phone FPV video. I was actually going back and forth all day today, looking at prices and parts. Haven't even received my quad yet so I don't have to program it or linking the transmitter yet but I'm so glad you included that. I actually downloaded openpilot already just because it works for mac too so I can use it when I bring my laptop along to fly. Thanks again.
Hi Andy, your videos are awesome! So than you for that. It is really nice to see a person like you, going through the all steps in building the drone. Like you I want to design my own drone, but it must be able to 'follow me' and the camera must be able to capture me. I do not want to buy something which is already made, as it is very interesting and rewarding when you have your own quad-copter in the sky. Can you please explain in your next video :) what components I would need to buy, and how to set it up, and where to buy it, etc.. Anyway, looking for your further videos. Thank you, Marcus.
I was wondering how you get power to the receiver. From the video it looks like the esc's power the flight control board which then supplies power to the receiver?
Thank you so much for recording this video and showing how to build a quadcopter step by step. I will be following your steps as soon as I can and will hopefully be flying it with the FPV system I am using on my syma X8W. cheers!!!
+AndyRC I would like to save a bit of cash buying the propellers from banggood, which of these do you think would do the job? www.banggood.com/search/dji-propeller.html cheers!
Hi Andy. I've watched the whole video several times - its so informative and we owe you for taking your time to make these. I want to build this but with a gimbal and GPS. Did you ever add these? I have looked but can't find it. I check your channel every day now looking for new stuff!
I just purchased all these parts but I'm not sure how to put them all together can you do a short vid on how to put together each piece one time please
I would love it if you showed the steps on how to put it all together because I would love to build one but it would be my first time. what do you recommend I do?
+AndyRC Thanks! Love your videos Sir. :D I can't wait to scrounge up the money to blow on this sort of thing. haha So far I keep running outside all my free time and playing with my little 90$ quadcopter. NEED MOAR BATTERIES.. lol
Really liked the video - of course I realise it's a little old now. I am going to build a bigger quad for aerial photography, if you have a little time could you suggest any changes/additions you would add knowing more now than you did then? I would really appreciate it - or if not if you know of a similar but more up to date build video you could recommend. Thank you.
Greetings, I am using FS-i4 instead of your controller. The librepilot won't detect any pressed button, only throttles were detected and not perfectly.
hi andy! i dont know what to do today i got all the parts and when i got to calibrate the motor onley motor number 4 spin! i pluged all the motor to line 4 one by one to check and all the motor and the esc ok! i use open pilot 14.1 from the banggod site, the other version 15.02.02 dont working for me. any suggestoin?
this video is really helpful for me...each and every single point is explained detailed.really a good job done by u...hoping more videos from u...all the best
Hi Andy I solved cabe but flips over when taking off.i follow the exactly same your instruction.Also I checked director of motor,checked motor wire all look OK but I don't understand why flips.can you help me please.thank you
Hey AndyRC Could you do a video on how to get telemetry on this quad with the fs i10 receiver and how to get maybe gps and motorheat or an voltage alarm Thanks a log
Andy, cracking video mate, I have bought all the equipment and am at the stage of programming the controller on OpenPilot on my PC. I am totally new to drones so am doing this blindly completely following your instructions. I have an issue, at point 53:53 in your video when setting up the TxPID section when I press save it gives me a red cross and the controller loses its ability to arm the copter. However on the RC Input tab when I spin the knob on the controller both Channel 6 PWMs move as before. When I go to re-save the arm on Yaw right it fails to do so. Another point is when you are setting up the flight mode at 47:38 on the video, you use the knob on the right. Mine does not respond for some unknown reason, so I have to use the turn knob on the left, which does work. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with my issue described above. Please help! :-) Thanks for the video.
+sam albustany it can be a pain setting it up. did you check the bit where you copy the pwm values for the mode channel and it changes it back to an incorrect number? that caused me hours of greif
Dear, Really nice tuto thank you verry much! i have a issue with the stabilization! The quad is oscilating. I think is the PID setting wrong ? could you give me your setting? thank you verry much
Hi, I followed through your video completly and built a quad. I got the newer FS-T6 controller though. When I try to save the PID instance 2 into accesory 0 I am not getting a check, instead I am getting a cross. how do I program pid tuning into the nobe i'm not using. please help.
+AndyRC I have assembled all the parts to build my quadcopter except my motors. I went to just see if my esc would make a beeping sound to check if they work but when I checked they made no sound. but remember I did not have my motors attach to my esc yet. You think my esc are broken or is it because I have not yet connected my motors?
Ho...really good video. Do you have an updated version of this video? I think some of these parts are no longer sold. that being said this was really helpful to watch you go to the buying process and did help me and understanding what parts are actually necessary to do this. I would really appreciate an updated video as I have always wanted to build my own quadcopter.
+AndyRC Just converted that over to US dollars, dang, that is pretty good pricing! Though I'd imagine that most that stuff is shipping from china? I have had too many bad experiences with that to say it's worth it. Anytime I try to go cheap, I end up paying more to get replacements. I currently have over $700 in my quad, it was initially working out to $550 and over the course of the year that it took to get it working almost perfectly, I had killed 3 multiwii boards, a minumOSD board, several wires, punctured 2 floureon 3S 4500mAH batteries, smashed the gimbal (crash), had to buy replacement props, legs, and frames, etc! This hobby is $$$! On another note though, It is strange how all the RC hobby people tend to set the low voltage cutoff threshold pretty high, sometimes higher than 3.5V, and I think you stated in the video you set it around 3.7V, the nominal or average voltage of the battery! The standard RC lithium battery packs, so-called LiPos are actually just mostly normal lithium ion batteries, the same kind that I deal with in the "flashlight" hobby, that group of people tend to use 18650 cells, which are about 50% taller and wider than AA's, they tend to have cutout voltages around 3.2V and less. Generally damage will not occur until less than 2.8V per cell, beyond that is damaging, generally permanent increase in internal resistance and lowered WH rating. Though with how my current LiPos fall out of ballence as they die, it is easy to end up with a situation where two cells are like 3.4V and the 3rd is barely 3V! Also, lots of people mistakenly measure the voltage on the battery _after_ disconnecting the load, but, going by voltage alone without a load connected is completly inaccurate. I have actually fallen prey to that fact several times. If you leave a dead battery sitting around, the internal ionic resistance is high, but the voltage open circuit can easily climb right back up to like 12V or so! I had a battery that I thought had been damaged since it showed 12V on the pack, but I could only fly for like 2 minutes before it quickly died! Recharging it back properly all the way, (open circuit 12.5V) it worked fine! lol! I think the biggest reason for having higher cuttoff voltages is because the LiPos are cheaper quality and are not as well made as, say, a $24 18650 panasonic 3100 mAH 4.3V cell, and also that even the brightest of flashlights only draw like 10W per 18650 on Max. The C rating of 18650 tends to be much lower since they are used in lower drain applications and it is I guess safer.
i tend to find that weather you buy cheap or expensive you end up spending a lot. the hobby is a money pit no matter how much you look at it. the voltage cut off is set high because after that voltage they drop off quick and it wont be able to provide the power needed for the motors and you will get a brown out. all the best
hi Andy I have build this with inspiration from this video!! thanks I have test flown it and first test was good but on second flight half way through flight quadcopter just cut off no controls work it fell to ground !! I had to reinstall from flight pilot then all worked good . I haven't flown it yet since but im wondering if it could be cold solder on bullit connector as I didn't achol them! can this be the problem??? hope you can help.thanks,chris
Things have changed somewhat since you made this Andy. You can now buy a full kit with everything but the battery and transmitter for around £80 and the transmitter can be had for £34. For less than £150 you can have one of these with GPS as well. Something I may build next winter. Thanks for this very entertaining build.
It's a worthwhile build and AndyRC has done an great job of documenting this build! Finished this 450 build a few weeks ago, it took a while but got there in the end! The great thing about this build is that you can add and take away gear as needed. I've used a water noodle as landing padding for my build and lot's of tape, zip-ties and extra foam. It flies quite nicely now on Libre-pilot..
I didn't wait until winter and I am just starting to assemble the many parts I bought individually inspired by this video I have updated to Omnibus and got all my electronics into the small space of an X-525 with no spaghetti showing ;)
Im in a huge trouble, in setup this software picks up the radio signal and i did just what you did, at the YAW RIGHT time, i got no ARMED sound, and after that nothing happens, no motor starts nothing, what to do?
I just built a F450 quad with AfroFlight Naze32 flight controller and having problems with PID. It won't takeoff on its' own and when I had launch it fly's up and starts a uncontrollable wobble and crashes. I going to lower PID numbers and see what happens. Any suggestions on PID settings.
i set it up and now when i fly it at the start it flies amazing and i have p-gain on max but when i throttle up or do aggresive it just starts shaking and flying wierd
Firstly I'd like to say that this is pretty neat and I'm totally new to RC flight, have built a few RC cars before but this looks like the next challenge for me, I'd love to build something along the same lines as you have in this video! Think this has inspired me to start a new project! Great videos!
If you don't mind me asking what are your contact details? Reason being is i'm probably going to build my first one based on this same design and you'll have established what could/should have been done differently during building it in the first place :) As a total noob it'd be great to have a bit of "1-to-1" support, I've only ever built from kits so advice on different parts etc would be nice, I do plan to upgrade it with FPV after I've got the hang of flying it in general so I'd like to keep that option open, thanks in advance :) in the meantime I shall watch the next video! :)
Looks nice once you fixed the provlem.I think it shakes because plastic can't absorb the shaking so that's why some people such as flitetest use down or wooden booms to absorb the shaking...hope this helps
+AndyRC I have build my quad and am trying to tune the p settings with the I and d gains at 0. When o try to tune it with the d and I gains at 0 my drone drifts really bad to the right. Is my P gain to high or to low? May you please make a detailed video on pid gain tuning please? Or at least answer my question? Thankyou.
A big thank you AndyRC... There are a lot showing big interest in this project and I don't blame them... As a total beginner I was considering a ready made small one... Forget that as this looks like the way to go... unless of course you can buy a DGI Phantom or Inspire...
I got a kit like this back in 2012 with a Pixhawk PX4 to control it but the PX4 would never work so then I got a Naze32 but the USB port broke off and I got so depressed that I never built the model. Even if someone manages to build one of these I doubt they will ever be able to get it to fly.
Thank you so much for the video, I have followed this build and now I am trying to set up my flysky fs-i6. I have followed your set up exactly. When I get to 47:18 in the video it goes through configuration and the first few are working but I cannot get the Yaw or flight modes to set. The only one that it will take is the knobs VRA and VRB. Which stick are you using for yaw? I am new to all of this. Any ideas?
I've been messing with settings for a while and no luck. One thing I noticed different on my cc3d wiring to the receiver FS-IA6 is that I have 5 channel wires coming from the cc3d to the receiver. it has blue, yellow, green, orange then brown. would this affect the set up?
+AndyRC I got the wiring sorted out but I am still stuck on the flight mode configuration. It get to the flight mode and I cannot get it to program to any switch. any ideas? Thanks again
Hi Andy, Great project, is this project to be continued? You talked about adding a gimbal and other transmitter,. Maybe if you have these videos online you could add them to the description?
Thanks for the video, it's been very helpful. A lot of the links don't work any more, the video being several years old now. As the original quad frame is no longer available, could you recommend an alternative?
Which motors would you use for upgrade? Would you, for example, go for sunnysky 800KV or 980KV motors ? Would the ESCs and battery go along well with these motors? Thanks!
Hi Andy, yes I did, the other thing I meant to mention is that my values differed to yours. The first time I tried the process I changed all the values to mimic yours but that didn't help. Then tonight i have carried out the process and just left the values as they are. To answer your question, yes my value did the same and reverted to 1500 but I did change it back to 1000. I am totally stumped as to what to do next??!? Thanks for quick reply
+sam albustany perhaps the default weight of the pwm values have changed via a firmware update to the flysky. try to adjust the weightings so they are higher. perhaps the throws are not making it far enough.
I've just tried again and it fails at the point I try to save the TxPID values. Where you say the drone needs to be armed for it to save, mine is armed as I checked it, the moment I press "save" the red cross appears and the controller becomes completely unresponsive apart from the flight mode knob. Without sounding like a fool, can you give me values to try and exactly where I should put them...sorry I am a complete novice at this! Sam
everything I did is in the video. so i am not sure why it is not working :( its very frustrating. have u tried starting from scratch with the controller. i did that once and it just randomly worked. worth ago. not much to lose if it isnt working
sadly yes! I've started from the beginning each time and it keeps doing it. I've uninstalled openpilot and reinstalled. I have a feeling it might be because my knob on the right doesn't work. Do you think that could have anything to do with it? Sorry to be a pain with this!!
Thanks for this bro. This inspired me and finally come up to a decision on to moving to brushless quad. I'll be doing your build, but with some of my preference. Thanks again for sharing this.
Andy - great work. I'd sure like some pointers on where to get the complete parts - including GPS and camera with gimbal - Great job - I would suggest a link to parts and plans for novice builders - but I've built a 3d printer and am confident I could do this.... Thanks!
when i programme the cc3d my esc keeps beeping non stop.tats when we needed to calibrate the esc.i tried calibrating the esc with my transmitter but it got worst!now the esc ticks.how do i fix this pls help me andy
hi andy ive got a f450 quadcopter comeing from ebay with naza what ate the best props to use ive been useing 9inch on my phantom fc40 womt some to give a bit more speed
Watched the whole vid in one sitting.GREAT vid totally enjoyable. Thanks for your time and effort
ALLINGREENBERG ah thank you. it totally makes it worth my while to see comments like this. cheers
Hey Andy and others,
After a few months of waiting on parts and building. I have finally finished the quadcopter, today I flew the 3rd maiden, as the first 2 failed. That's why I would like to advise people who plan on building this quad about a few things:
Firstly, do not get the alien x frame, get the cheaper 450 size f450 frame copy, which has integrated pcb. (I ended up buying this one)
Secondly, get better ESC's, because all of my ESC's started to stop working one for one, I recommend you get the better ESC's used in the high end quadcopter series on this channel.
Lastly, get enough props, although mentioned in the video, some people tend to forget this (me).
I would like to thank you Andy for the work put in to this video because this has helped me enormously in my own project.
+Tobias Veerkamp no problem :) My ESC are still working. but u can see I moved on to the higher end build also
Excellent, excellent video m8, learned a few things in this most notably about the motor kv rating, enjoyed watching 👍
I have been into quads for a few years now, always with the intention of building one but I could never find step by step instructions through the whole thing including a parts list and programming. Now that I have seen this video, I am finally going to build my first large quad and get into many more aspects of the hobby that I've been too intimidated to try. Thank you so much for all the effort you put into this video. I, for one, benefited enormously from it.
+Sam M no problem good to hear cheers!
How much did the whole build cost?
I opened all the links and added up and as of today, the entire cost to build this project would be $245.78.
Isaac Watkins not cheap then
Considering a RTF quad of this size is $500+, it kinda is. You must just be too poor for this hobby
Burks that's fucked up. too poor for this sport? douche
he is too poor for quads.. and other stuff
I just finished my first flight test using your great video and fantastic instructions. This is the first quad I have built and no previous experience with model aircraft or RC vehicles. I do have an electronics background and worked on the flight controller for the F14 Tomcat back in 1967 and the CC3D controller is more sophisticated. I recently became a great grandfather so I may be the oldest of your fans. Thank you.
thanks for the story Jim. enjoy flying!
Which size of the screw you've use to mouting the motor to the arm??? M3 or M2.5?????
I have A2212/13T 1000KV motors mounted with M3 x 8mm screws and lock washers.
Jim Cameron Size screw is M3x8mm for your motor? But do you know size of the screw mouting DJI 2212 980kv to Alien X mode??
No, I do not know.
Flight time and total price??
I only know about the flight time what I heard in the end he said around 10 minutes.
thanks dude
UA-cam decided I needed to watch this in 2021. It is still educational even though precisely none of it is relevant 6 years later. I'm enjoying it!
Hmm I'm thinking about building it as my first quad copter, how much is it in total? :)
+GreenArt4 I created my own spreadsheet on prices and sources based on this video. Maybe it can help you: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jNVvUdmsWTabGDjqgGC21ukJqEW7q0NetiZeiHkXWew/edit?usp=sharing.
This has been the heroic time period of quadcopter flying. Amazing to see how much technology has improved since. Great video review.
I remember back in the day, loves to watch the whole process, from buying to building. Nowadays im all about ready to flies
Every 2016 build...250mm frame. 2205 racestar motors. 3/4 s 1500. CC3D fc with openpilot. Blheli 20amp escs. radiolink tx/rx
Lesson learned : buy quality parts :)
+Mike Dart Got some cheap motors... Plugged them in and they burned out.. GG
lol
What an awesome video. Line by line I ordered it all that was the best informative build video ever. slow and steady, understandable, and patient. Thanks so much I subbed because you are awesome! I dont understand why other's don't make videos like this, they either talk to fast or become lazy and don't mention things...Incredibly accurate and enjoyable video! After wanting a huge quad, I bought 2 of these frames and spent days looking for a good informative and accurate video before I came across yours. With this information you have explained everything I need to build any quad copter really. Thats a great achievment , thanks again!
it would've been better if it had gps
$20 gps + $9 OSD + $5 FTDI adapter = 10 times better Quad. Only thing is, that is huge can of worms that nobody wants to explain to newbies which I completely understand.
not true check out the high end version i did.. truth is no one wants to pay the amount u need to get decent results 20 dollar gps = flys back to china
AndyRC haha you have a recommendation? im thinking of going naza
YoSneeze surely you also have the cost of buying a flight controller that can use gps
Hi I just wanted to let you know I've just completed my 1st quad and it's 100% based on this video. I really appreciate your attention to detail. Mine wasn't without issues too since my FC was bricked from the factory. Other than that, it went really well. I'm giving this to my son as his birthday present and I have you to thank for it. Keep up the excellent work!
wonderful! yes it very rarely goes without issues. a lovely present. cheers
Could you make a battery guide video? I;m working to build this current set up but would be cool to learn more about batts and what this set up could take. Thanks
+Brad Moss (Parkourbrad) sure, in the meantime go and check out rcmodelreviews he has some great vids on batteries cheers
What a trip, watching this from the perspective of someone who only joined the hobby about 2 years ago.
Just a couple of months ago I run into this video. Happy to report that my first quad was built successfully. Thanks AndyRc! Your videos were really helpful!
+Dimitris Anagnostou great to hear and glad to help! cheers
exactly what i was looking for all day
theres a serious lack of in-depth tutorial for that topic, thanks for the video:)
Fridollio G no problem good luck with the build
Good work - and the fault-finding part is especially worthwhile. So often those intractable problems have a simple but invisible cause.
After about ten minutes of this video I opened up a chrome tab and started looking for parts. I got a bundle of motors and ECUs for a great price. But in other respects a very similar kit. I got everything for about 100 bucks, well except the transmitter and receiver. Found one locally for a similar price so I will be getting that after the other parts get here. Now the wait!
Great video, makes the first proper build from scratch a little less daunting.
TheAudiophile34™ congratulations good luck on the build :) its not hard at all just time consuming
Great inspiring video. Nice to see the problems and frustrations as they arose as well as the diagnosis and resolution
9 years ago, i followed this video tutorial to build my first drone... this really does bring back memories
Great video, i have been coming back to this a lot as im currently building my first Quadcopter (450) i have been buying the parts week by week and the final bits should arrive tommorow. Thanks Andy for your very helpful and well explained videos.
+Budgie RC glad to be of help enjoy your build!
More flashbacks for me, I still have a couple of open pilot flight boards that still work. OK, I don't use them anymore. Loved watching this trip down memory lane.
When I check rate stabilization then save and close openpilot, when i open openpilot back up it is unchecked again?
Thank you for this Video! I built nearly exact this quad (just with a 3d printed spyda 500 frame) and it flies extremely stable. Thanks to you AndyRC!
I am considering building a quadcopter myself , and this set up is fantastic , i am going up with this , nice video by the way , i so it from the start to end without skipping anything XP, nicely done
Thanks. Just ordered all the parts. Great video. Will be building two. Only thing different is that I will construct the frame myself. Daddy and son project.
+Earth Brother 7 sounds great. good luck with it!
AndyRC Many thanks for the detailed video. Especially the portion on tuning, nothing was making sense to me regarding this up till now. Very informative info.
Thanks for the video! just subscribed today after watching the phone FPV video. I was actually going back and forth all day today, looking at prices and parts. Haven't even received my quad yet so I don't have to program it or linking the transmitter yet but I'm so glad you included that. I actually downloaded openpilot already just because it works for mac too so I can use it when I bring my laptop along to fly. Thanks again.
Hi Andy, your videos are awesome! So than you for that. It is really nice to see a person like you, going through the all steps in building the drone. Like you I want to design my own drone, but it must be able to 'follow me' and the camera must be able to capture me. I do not want to buy something which is already made, as it is very interesting and rewarding when you have your own quad-copter in the sky. Can you please explain in your next video :) what components I would need to buy, and how to set it up, and where to buy it, etc.. Anyway, looking for your further videos. Thank you,
Marcus.
I was wondering how you get power to the receiver. From the video it looks like the esc's power the flight control board which then supplies power to the receiver?
+jcl311 that is correct yes the bec in the ESC
Thank you so much for recording this video and showing how to build a quadcopter step by step. I will be following your steps as soon as I can and will hopefully be flying it with the FPV system I am using on my syma X8W. cheers!!!
+Eduardo Agustin Vendrell del Río wonderful. good luck :)
I have one doubt Andy, is it possible to use a landing gear on this setup so I can attach a gimbal at the bottom of the quadcopter?
+AndyRC I would like to save a bit of cash buying the propellers from banggood, which of these do you think would do the job?
www.banggood.com/search/dji-propeller.html
cheers!
+Eduardo Agustin Vendrell del Río I don't think they sell the keyed hole at banggood. you could message customer services to see if they are keyed
Hi Andy. I've watched the whole video several times - its so informative and we owe you for taking your time to make these. I want to build this but with a gimbal and GPS. Did you ever add these? I have looked but can't find it. I check your channel every day now looking for new stuff!
I just purchased all these parts but I'm not sure how to put them all together can you do a short vid on how to put together each piece one time please
Nice build,works good.but i'cant trim its flyes backwards i have to youse the stick to hold IT stady,wat can i do?
I would love it if you showed the steps on how to put it all together because I would love to build one but it would be my first time. what do you recommend I do?
+Israel Rivera this video shows all the steps you need.
what flightcontroller do i need to this build to add alt hold,and GPS?and how do i set IT up,plees help.Thanks
I have just discovered a very expensive passion in quadcopters. ^^;; But I am totally going to create my own as you have done.
+EdmondDantesLeComte yes the cc3d is a very good option for starting. all the best
+AndyRC Thanks! Love your videos Sir. :D I can't wait to scrounge up the money to blow on this sort of thing. haha So far I keep running outside all my free time and playing with my little 90$ quadcopter. NEED MOAR BATTERIES.. lol
i started with a 40 quid hubsan and still fly it so thats fine
what is propeller orientation, at clockwise and anticlockwise motors.
Really liked the video - of course I realise it's a little old now. I am going to build a bigger quad for aerial photography, if you have a little time could you suggest any changes/additions you would add knowing more now than you did then? I would really appreciate it - or if not if you know of a similar but more up to date build video you could recommend. Thank you.
can you give me the dates of the screws you used on the frame and the one on the motors?
how about a video for software with the cc3d and librepilot?
I am gonna make this quad but with f450 frame,can you tell me some more tequnique for setup and some more cheap parts?
Greetings, I am using FS-i4 instead of your controller. The librepilot won't detect any pressed button, only throttles were detected and not perfectly.
hi andy! i dont know what to do
today i got all the parts and when i got to calibrate the motor onley motor number 4 spin!
i pluged all the motor to line 4 one by one to check and all the motor and the esc ok!
i use open pilot 14.1 from the banggod site,
the other version 15.02.02 dont working for me.
any suggestoin?
this video is really helpful for me...each and every single point is explained detailed.really a good job done by u...hoping more videos from u...all the best
Hi Andy I solved cabe but flips over when taking off.i follow the exactly same your instruction.Also I checked director of motor,checked motor wire all look OK but I don't understand why flips.can you help me please.thank you
it could be number of things. pids too high. controls reversed. props on wrong way. rates too high. damaged ESC, damaged FC
is it good to drink the alcohol after cleaning the flux in the shot glass?
How do u connect the transmitter to the receiver
can you do an upgrade video using apm?
Hey AndyRC
Could you do a video on how to get telemetry on this quad with the fs i10 receiver and how to get maybe gps and motorheat or an voltage alarm
Thanks a log
Andy, cracking video mate, I have bought all the equipment and am at the stage of programming the controller on OpenPilot on my PC. I am totally new to drones so am doing this blindly completely following your instructions.
I have an issue, at point 53:53 in your video when setting up the TxPID section when I press save it gives me a red cross and the controller loses its ability to arm the copter. However on the RC Input tab when I spin the knob on the controller both Channel 6 PWMs move as before.
When I go to re-save the arm on Yaw right it fails to do so. Another point is when you are setting up the flight mode at 47:38 on the video, you use the knob on the right. Mine does not respond for some unknown reason, so I have to use the turn knob on the left, which does work. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with my issue described above.
Please help! :-) Thanks for the video.
+sam albustany it can be a pain setting it up. did you check the bit where you copy the pwm values for the mode channel and it changes it back to an incorrect number? that caused me hours of greif
Dear,
Really nice tuto thank you verry much!
i have a issue with the stabilization! The quad is oscilating. I think is the PID setting wrong ? could you give me your setting?
thank you verry much
+Xavier Munger yes the pid is wrong you need to connect channel 6 up to the pid controller as shown in this video and alter it while you fly.
Hi, I followed through your video completly and built a quad. I got the newer FS-T6 controller though. When I try to save the PID instance 2 into accesory 0 I am not getting a check, instead I am getting a cross. how do I program pid tuning into the nobe i'm not using. please help.
+AndyRC I have assembled all the parts to build my quadcopter except my motors. I went to just see if my esc would make a beeping sound to check if they work but when I checked they made no sound. but remember I did not have my motors attach to my esc yet. You think my esc are broken or is it because I have not yet connected my motors?
Ho...really good video. Do you have an updated version of this video? I think some of these parts are no longer sold.
that being said this was really helpful to watch you go to the buying process and did help me and understanding what parts are actually necessary to do this. I would really appreciate an updated video as I have always wanted to build my own quadcopter.
Thanks for the nice video. Could you please do a tutorial for balancing the blades?
Fazir M Fahmy yes i have this same request thanks. i like this channel, its so matterfact
Do you have one of these videos on a racing drone?
What was to total system cost for your build (including the price of mistakes like damaging the motor windings)?
+Power Max I burned 2 esc and 3 motors so maybe 50gbp on top of whats in the video
+AndyRC Just converted that over to US dollars, dang, that is pretty good pricing! Though I'd imagine that most that stuff is shipping from china? I have had too many bad experiences with that to say it's worth it. Anytime I try to go cheap, I end up paying more to get replacements. I currently have over $700 in my quad, it was initially working out to $550 and over the course of the year that it took to get it working almost perfectly, I had killed 3 multiwii boards, a minumOSD board, several wires, punctured 2 floureon 3S 4500mAH batteries, smashed the gimbal (crash), had to buy replacement props, legs, and frames, etc! This hobby is $$$!
On another note though, It is strange how all the RC hobby people tend to set the low voltage cutoff threshold pretty high, sometimes higher than 3.5V, and I think you stated in the video you set it around 3.7V, the nominal or average voltage of the battery! The standard RC lithium battery packs, so-called LiPos are actually just mostly normal lithium ion batteries, the same kind that I deal with in the "flashlight" hobby, that group of people tend to use 18650 cells, which are about 50% taller and wider than AA's, they tend to have cutout voltages around 3.2V and less. Generally damage will not occur until less than 2.8V per cell, beyond that is damaging, generally permanent increase in internal resistance and lowered WH rating.
Though with how my current LiPos fall out of ballence as they die, it is easy to end up with a situation where two cells are like 3.4V and the 3rd is barely 3V! Also, lots of people mistakenly measure the voltage on the battery _after_ disconnecting the load, but, going by voltage alone without a load connected is completly inaccurate. I have actually fallen prey to that fact several times. If you leave a dead battery sitting around, the internal ionic resistance is high, but the voltage open circuit can easily climb right back up to like 12V or so! I had a battery that I thought had been damaged since it showed 12V on the pack, but I could only fly for like 2 minutes before it quickly died! Recharging it back properly all the way, (open circuit 12.5V) it worked fine! lol!
I think the biggest reason for having higher cuttoff voltages is because the LiPos are cheaper quality and are not as well made as, say, a $24 18650 panasonic 3100 mAH 4.3V cell, and also that even the brightest of flashlights only draw like 10W per 18650 on Max. The C rating of 18650 tends to be much lower since they are used in lower drain applications and it is I guess safer.
i tend to find that weather you buy cheap or expensive you end up spending a lot. the hobby is a money pit no matter how much you look at it. the voltage cut off is set high because after that voltage they drop off quick and it wont be able to provide the power needed for the motors and you will get a brown out. all the best
hi Andy I have build this with inspiration from this video!! thanks I have test flown it and first test was good but on second flight half way through flight quadcopter just cut off no controls work it fell to ground !! I had to reinstall from flight pilot then all worked good . I haven't flown it yet since but im wondering if it could be cold solder on bullit connector as I didn't achol them! can this be the problem??? hope you can help.thanks,chris
+chrissy roberts now that you know the correct wires to solder, cut off the connectors and solder direct. the bullet connectors are not much good
What’s the gyro black box log look like?
Things have changed somewhat since you made this Andy. You can now buy a full kit with everything but the battery and transmitter for around £80 and the transmitter can be had for £34. For less than £150 you can have one of these with GPS as well. Something I may build next winter.
Thanks for this very entertaining build.
It's a worthwhile build and AndyRC has done an great job of documenting this build! Finished this 450 build a few weeks ago, it took a while but got there in the end! The great thing about this build is that you can add and take away gear as needed. I've used a water noodle as landing padding for my build and lot's of tape, zip-ties and extra foam. It flies quite nicely now on Libre-pilot..
I didn't wait until winter and I am just starting to assemble the many parts I bought individually inspired by this video I have updated to Omnibus and got all my electronics into the small space of an X-525 with no spaghetti showing ;)
Im in a huge trouble, in setup this software picks up the radio signal and i did just what you did, at the YAW RIGHT time, i got no ARMED sound, and after that nothing happens, no motor starts nothing, what to do?
i have the same problem did you solve it ?
Can you show how to add gimbal and landing gear to this setup?
+John Bellau if you check out my high end build I just recently added the landing gear. and then check out my storm32 gimbal video too
and i have last qustion
what abou any way to install some led for indicator mod ?
or just simple leds
tnx!
+יניב פוריאן i do not used led on my quads
hi may i know how did you mount the xiaomi yi camera? any pictures to share? thanks so much!
I just built a F450 quad with AfroFlight Naze32 flight controller and having problems with PID. It won't takeoff on its' own and when I had launch it fly's up and starts a uncontrollable wobble and crashes. I going to lower PID numbers and see what happens. Any suggestions on PID settings.
What kind of flight duration would you get with this set up? Can this be tailors for some basic arial photography/filming with a go pro?
Brad Moss about ten minutes and yes it can definitely do that
AndyRC - Last thing, there was no mention of where the batt/ voltage alarm connects?
it connects to the balance port of the lipo battery, it has polarity protection so you cant get it wrong
I getcha, thanks
dear andy can you suggest 1045 keyed hole propeller for 2212 motor,,please
and please tell me Nylon Propeller or carbon fiber propeller is better ?
i set it up and now when i fly it at the start it flies amazing and i have p-gain on max but when i throttle up or do aggresive it just starts shaking and flying wierd
?for what is the other 2 connection on the cc3d
can i use dji props or will i need a bigger battery for that?
Firstly I'd like to say that this is pretty neat and I'm totally new to RC flight, have built a few RC cars before but this looks like the next challenge for me, I'd love to build something along the same lines as you have in this video! Think this has inspired me to start a new project! Great videos!
+KamikazeXeX great! welcome to the flying side of it :-)
If you don't mind me asking what are your contact details?
Reason being is i'm probably going to build my first one based on this same design and you'll have established what could/should have been done differently during building it in the first place :)
As a total noob it'd be great to have a bit of "1-to-1" support, I've only ever built from kits so advice on different parts etc would be nice, I do plan to upgrade it with FPV after I've got the hang of flying it in general so I'd like to keep that option open, thanks in advance :) in the meantime I shall watch the next video! :)
+KamikazeXeX you can ask me anything you like on the comments or UA-cam message. I don't really check anything else :-)
+AndyRC Great! no problem! I'll give you a message as soon as I get to starting on building my shopping list :)
Can i used 2cell lipo battery?
excuse me, but i did not see where do you use the voltage checker
Looks nice once you fixed the provlem.I think it shakes because plastic can't absorb the shaking so that's why some people such as flitetest use down or wooden booms to absorb the shaking...hope this helps
+AndyRC I have build my quad and am trying to tune the p settings with the I and d gains at 0. When o try to tune it with the d and I gains at 0 my drone drifts really bad to the right. Is my P gain to high or to low? May you please make a detailed video on pid gain tuning please? Or at least answer my question? Thankyou.
A big thank you AndyRC...
There are a lot showing big interest in this project and I don't blame them...
As a total beginner I was considering a ready made small one... Forget that as this looks like the way to go... unless of course you can buy a DGI Phantom or Inspire...
+Stephen Rea with a home made one if you crash it you can fix it :)
I got a kit like this back in 2012 with a Pixhawk PX4 to control it but the PX4 would never work so then I got a Naze32 but the USB port broke off and I got so depressed that I never built the model. Even if someone manages to build one of these I doubt they will ever be able to get it to fly.
Thank you so much for the video, I have followed this build and now I am trying to set up my flysky fs-i6. I have followed your set up exactly. When I get to 47:18 in the video it goes through configuration and the first few are working but I cannot get the Yaw or flight modes to set. The only one that it will take is the knobs VRA and VRB. Which stick are you using for yaw? I am new to all of this. Any ideas?
+325ctd theres an option in one of the settings of the tx to change the knob channels to switch c. i fly mode 1 so yaw is on the left
AndyRC do you mean the mode 1 yaw is on the left with your pitch-elevator?
I've been messing with settings for a while and no luck. One thing I noticed different on my cc3d wiring to the receiver FS-IA6 is that I have 5 channel wires coming from the cc3d to the receiver. it has blue, yellow, green, orange then brown. would this affect the set up?
yes it does. please.copy the order i connect mine in this video
+AndyRC I got the wiring sorted out but I am still stuck on the flight mode configuration. It get to the flight mode and I cannot get it to program to any switch. any ideas? Thanks again
Hi Andy,
Great project, is this project to be continued?
You talked about adding a gimbal and other transmitter,.
Maybe if you have these videos online you could add them to the description?
He added fpv but after that he did a series for another 450 quad just look in the playlist and he has a video about two cheap 2d gimbals
Thanks for the video, it's been very helpful. A lot of the links don't work any more, the video being several years old now. As the original quad frame is no longer available, could you recommend an alternative?
Which motors would you use for upgrade? Would you, for example, go for sunnysky 800KV or 980KV motors ? Would the ESCs and battery go along well with these motors? Thanks!
+Dimitris Anagnostou check out the high end build series I did. its in the playlists section its this quad with upgraded parts
did u use the same motor after discovering the problem cuz today i faced the same senario
i buit the same quadcopter but it doesn't lift from land
i don't know what's not working
Can I use primitive transmitter from the child helicopter?
I'm just getting into this hobby and this video was amazing dude.
+James Gibson thank you :) glad you enjoyed it
Hi Andy, yes I did, the other thing I meant to mention is that my values differed to yours. The first time I tried the process I changed all the values to mimic yours but that didn't help. Then tonight i have carried out the process and just left the values as they are.
To answer your question, yes my value did the same and reverted to 1500 but I did change it back to 1000. I am totally stumped as to what to do next??!?
Thanks for quick reply
+sam albustany perhaps the default weight of the pwm values have changed via a firmware update to the flysky. try to adjust the weightings so they are higher. perhaps the throws are not making it far enough.
I've just tried again and it fails at the point I try to save the TxPID values. Where you say the drone needs to be armed for it to save, mine is armed as I checked it, the moment I press "save" the red cross appears and the controller becomes completely unresponsive apart from the flight mode knob.
Without sounding like a fool, can you give me values to try and exactly where I should put them...sorry I am a complete novice at this!
Sam
everything I did is in the video. so i am not sure why it is not working :( its very frustrating. have u tried starting from scratch with the controller. i did that once and it just randomly worked. worth ago. not much to lose if it isnt working
sadly yes! I've started from the beginning each time and it keeps doing it. I've uninstalled openpilot and reinstalled. I have a feeling it might be because my knob on the right doesn't work. Do you think that could have anything to do with it?
Sorry to be a pain with this!!
it could be. can you try it with the other one?
Is it compulsory to place cc3d on center of the quad?
Thanks for this bro. This inspired me and finally come up to a decision on to moving to brushless quad. I'll be doing your build, but with some of my preference. Thanks again for sharing this.
+RC404 great hope it goes well!
OpenPilot stoped could i use librepilot instead?
hey can I use a transmitter and a receiver which are not of the same type/ brand? Example: flysky receiver and syma transmitter.
Will it work?
Thanks
have a watch of my devo 7e video it explains all :)
+AndyRC ok thanks :)
Andy - great work. I'd sure like some pointers on where to get the complete parts - including GPS and camera with gimbal - Great job - I would suggest a link to parts and plans for novice builders - but I've built a 3d printer and am confident I could do this....
Thanks!
check out the high end build series for GPS and the zhiyun review for a good gimbal. cheers!
when i programme the cc3d my esc keeps beeping non stop.tats when we needed to calibrate the esc.i tried calibrating the esc with my transmitter but it got worst!now the esc ticks.how do i fix this pls help me andy
+kingzmen kinzmen plug the ESC direct into the receiver rather than into the CC3d and calibrate them individually
can we use any 10 inch props
dear friend
in this esc and motor can i used 4s bettary,,,
thanks for ur advice
+waruna perera yes as long as u dont fit a gimbal
+AndyRC thanks lot.i hope to fix 4s 5000mah.thank 4 advice
no problem
jyu hornet, any good?
could you please recomend a battery from bangood that will work(what specifications does it has have?)
hi andy ive got a f450 quadcopter comeing from ebay with naza what ate the best props to use ive been useing 9inch on my phantom fc40 womt some to give a bit more speed