“This project started all the way back when I was in 6th grade and completely new to electronics, when I thought to myself, “Hey, let’s build a drone….it shouldn’t be that hard……right?” Yea, guess what, it’s hard. Almost 4 years later, this project is coming to a close, and along the way, I have built my engineering knowledge from the ground up, and I will be sharing my knowledge with everyone in the Instructables community so that if another 6th grader were to find themselves upon this Instructable, I hope they will not spend nearly as much time trying to build a drone, but still acquire the same knowledge that I have.
This drone tutorial go cover how I built my drone as well as go deep into the nitty-gritty aspects from the construction of the frame all the way to the code. I hope that by reading this instructable, you will be able to fully understand and admire the concepts and theory behind quadcopter building. I would like to thank and recommend some Youtube channels that I have watched and learned from which helped arm me with the knowledge that I have today:
- Joop Brokking: https://www.youtube.com/user/MacPuffdog (He has an AMAZING playlist for drone building)
- Great Scott: https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab (Great electronics information)
- Electronoobs: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiVhIvGmRZixSzup… (Clear explaination of PID)
- Electroboom: https://www.youtube.com/user/msadaghd (Funny and also great electronics information)
Without further ado, here’s the breakdown of this instructable.
Some parts are written as if a complete beginner was reading it:
- Steps 1-2: Physics and About Quadcopters
- Steps 3-6: Frame Design/Construction
- Steps 7-12: Power Electronics
- Steps 13-15: Control Electronics
- Steps 16-24: Wiring the Quadcopter
- Steps 25-31: Code, Calibration, Setup, and Theory
- Steps 32-34: PID Tuning and Maiden Flight-ish
- Steps 35: Summary, Future Upgrades/Add-Ons, Final Remarks
Note: Though this drone is made of cardboard, this is no slouch when it comes to flying. Fully loaded with the battery, the all up weight (AUW) is just above 800g, and with each motor pushing out up to 740g of thrust. Theoretically, this drone has a thrust-to-weight ratio about 4:1. In perspective, a DJI Phantom has a thrust to weight ratio of about 2:1.”