Hey! I’ve been researching on how to build a drone form scratch the past few days and I think I’ve finally gotten a part list that I’m satisfied with. But I do have a few queries and thing I’d like answers too. I have tried to Google these but I don’t think I’m looking in the right places.
But first, my drone!:
Frame: S250Q Spedix
Flight Controller: Arduino UNO
PDB: Matek PDB 140Amp
ESC: Plush 30AMP w/BEC
Battery: Multistar 5200mAh 3s 10C
Rotors: Turnigy D2836/8
Props: HobbyKing#8482 9x4.7
If this can fly great! I’d still like some part recommendations you might think will be better. The battery I know is 54A power draw when my drone draws 62A but I think because I won’t be running it full throttle it should be fine.
I haven’t chosen a RX/TX just yet either because I would like to explore my options.
I want to create this drone using Arduino so I can build and program my drone myself. I really want to experience this so I’d like some more veteran advice. I think I’ve done ample research and definitely want to know what you guys thing. I also plan on buying 2 so me and my friend can challenge each other to who can fly first.
If you need to know anything else please do ask. Thank you for reading this much and I really hope I can a response.
No, that combination of parts will not work. ~6" props are the largest you can use on a 250 size frame. With 6" props those motors are not suitable and you don’t want collet adapters anyway. A motor ~2206 1900kV would be more appropriate. And there is no way this will carry a 3S 5200mah battery, it’s much too heavy.
Thank you so much! All the guides I’ve read and not one of them mentioned that I just thought it was a suggestion when reading through the frame specs.
I’m not sure what collet adapters are and when I googled nothing essentially came up but the “thing” that would screw the prop onto the motor?
The frame can hold motors up to 2204 apparently so are you sure as 2206 motor would be okay? I assume anything smaller than 2204 should be completely fine. Then 6" props. I might need new ESC’s and PDB if my Amps go up right?
Thank you so much for replying again. Have a wonderful day!
Right, collet prop adapters. Don’t buy motors with that style they are heavy and difficult to balance. Thye are really not suited to multirotors. What you are building is a 250 mini-quad. there is tons and tons of information out there showing suitable component lists for that size quadcopter. 2204 motors are fine but 2206 motors will work also. You have to start with something and then spec the components from there.
What size frame do you want.
What props will fit the frame.
What motors will fit the frame and drive the props.
What all-up weight do you expect.
What battery in terms of size, weight, capacity and cell count is the best compromise to achieve performance and flight time.
What ESC is suitable based on max current draw and battery cell count.
Awesome! I guess I’ve just bean reading general build guides from places line DroneyBee, OscarLiang, MyFirstDrone, and DroneLab. None of them specifically mentioned frame size to be a problem around that unless I glazed over the information which I don’t think I did? Oh well.
I attempted to start with the frame so the Spedix as you saw. Then the main reason I want to do this is to build and program my own drone so I then confirmed an Arduin FC. After that came rotors then I could decide on ESC’s to match the rotors after looking at props, PDB to attach them too. Then Battery. Haven’t decided on a receiver yet because I plan on flying them inside my private building so I shouldn’t need the licenses. I hope. My entire building has WiFi coverage so I was hoping I could get a WiFi receiver and connect it to my phone/laptop and control it from there with some software. I fully understand the poor control a phone/laptop will provide I just want to see if I can make it work.
Thank you for the help though! How do I know the max rotor size a frame can handle? The Spedix only comes with the “recommendation” of 2204. Will check out your resources now. Will be back.
Let me know if I’ve made any inevitable mistakes again. I might’ve gotten collet adapter rotors?
Frame: Spedix S250Q
Flight Controller: Elegoo UNO R3 (Apparently a cheaper Arduino UNO?)
Props: Diatone Bull Nose 6x4.5 (They were on sale)
Rotors: Turnigy 2206-2300KV
ESC: Turnigy Plush 30AMP w/BEC
PDB: Matek 140Amp
Battery: Multistar 5200mAh 3s 10C
I know I have the same battery but after working out the thrust using smaller props with a lower pitch the motors apparently produced 880g at max thrust. Which is 3.5kg in total and the drone with all the parts currently weighs 886g with an included 30g for wires and stuff. Let me know if you still think this needs changing and I’ll get on it.
Getting closer but the battery is still much too large both in physical size and weight for a 250 size quad. That thrust spec is at 4S. Multirotors need to hover at ~50% throttle or less for good flight performance with thrust headroom for stability and maneuvering.
You should consider building your first copter with a bigger frame. Even more so if you plan to build your own flightcontroller. An arduino uno is really big for a 250 frame and you need additional space for an imu etc. Turnigy Plush ESCs are not really suited for a small copter or a copter at all. There are much better options which do not cost more. And the Plush ESCs are big , too. Have a look at the multirotor section of hobbyking.
And finally, consider buying a flightcontroller, like a KK 2 board, so you can make sure everything else is working
Hi there! Sorry for my silence I’ve been busy over the last few days and haven’t been able to get to my computer.
Getting a KK2 board for sanity checking sounds like a wonderful idea so I’ve already put that in my list of parts. Would probably be a good idea to get a TX/RX too. Onto the ESC’s can you explain why they’re not suitable for a copter at all? And what would make a preferable ESC in this case.
I would like to get a bigger frame to be honest however I’m trying to keep the parts relatively cheap to replace and buy initially. However my biggest reason is that I will be flying these indoors in the my building and I feel as though it would become difficult to fly a bigger drone down some of the hallways. I’ve not seen anything about a 250 frame being a problem for UNO’s and it’s accompaniments but I’ll need to look into it. Hobbyking has been the only site I’ve been staring at recently.
Ah. After looking at all this data, actually considering physical size for a 250 frame for a 5200mAh battery now does sound a little absurd.
Well reducing the battery size shouldn’t be that much of a problem.
Sorry for not replying for so long I’ve not been able to get to my computer. Been dying to look at drones again the last few days!
My thrust stats seem fine for now then. As someone mentioned below do you think it’s feasible to attach all the parts to this frame without space being an issue? I can’t really make the frame any bigger and I’m not really too sure what it wrong with Plush ESCs.
Just replace the 250 frame with a 450 one.All your parts would fit on that ok (including the battery) and you’d get a handle on the hardware side from a much used airframe.A DJI F450 or possibly an F500 frame are a good place to start.Once you’ve nailed down what you need to know about hardware with that sized copter you can go up in size or down easily.It’s much easier to work on a bigger copter just because you see stuff better.You can buy almost ready to fly kits in many variations.Just look around.It’s a cheap way into the hardware.
This is an example of what you can get as a kit.There are thousands more like it out there.
The bit about the Plush ESCs is mainly about their size.They’d fit on a 450 but there are better multirotor esc to be had…You can get micro 30A ESCs for small frames.About the size of your thumbnail.
Y’know you’re all probably right and I should take your advice. Even if it doesn’t move down the hallways as I want I can always up/down size like you say. I’ll move to a 450 frame then. So if all my parts work on here should I keep the current ESC’s or swap them out for something else?
Don’t know if you’ve read through the whole thread but I had an issue with my props. Should I revert back to the 9" prop’s or keep the 6"?
I thought I’d read so many guides about all this stuff but still finding out I know nothing at all! I love it. Thank you for your help.
Basically everything you listed at the top is fine excepting the frame.Replace that and you’re in a good starting point for learning all this stuff.You may try 10 inch props after a while and see how it goes.
I had some plush ESCs on a 680 hex and they worked ok but I use Hobbywing X-Rotor almost exclusively now.That’s just peronal choice with the benefit of a bit of experience coming from where you are now.I’ve tried the cheapest cheapo chinese stuff and it works as an introduction with the added bonus that it goes wrong a lot so teaching you loads along the way.After a bit,if you get serious - like carrying big expensive cameras,you’ll have to make choices between reliability and cheapness.But for starters just swap the frame in your list for a 450 (get a genuine DJI one for stiffness) and you’ll be good to go.
Have a look at the Frsky Taranis range of radios if you’re serious about flying stuff.
Neat I planned on getting about 10 pairs of props anyway cause people can’t stress enough about how often they break so get spares. So I’ll get some 10" ones as well.
I’ve actually been looking at the Frsky 6 channel radios already that I was going to get as a way to check if my drone actually works before I attempt to programme it myself. They are rather expensive and cutting into my budget a little bit but I guess this will have to do. I just added the F450 to my parts list. And I’m going to swap out the ESC’s for a smaller alternative. Then I should be good to go drone wise. Thank you for your help!
I also need to get the IMU’s for the UNO board.
If you have any advice for a newbie that you think I’ll need to know fire it at me
