Building your own drone sounds intimidating to most and there is not much info on one page where everything is described. This is why I have decided to create this article/tutorial series where I will walk you through the basic of DIY drone and ideas how to upgrade it.
Before we start I want to point out that building your own drone is not cheaper than buying a ready made one. The end product will cost pretty much the same as a DJI Phantom 2 but you will have room for future upgrades and it will be more powerful. This gives you much more flexibility and you will notice a save in money once you need to change components. A great example is a new battery – DJI Batteries start from $100 while for your built one you can get the equivalent battery for $20.
OH and before we get started with the DIY Drone content part there is one thing I have to mention. If you are scared or against soldering then forget about building your own drone. You are going to need a soldering iron because there will be a lot of it. But don’t worry there is nothing complicated, 90% of it will just be soldering new connectors to wires.
Basics
First of I will talk about the main components needed to build a drone and why. From my experience this is necessary so you have some theoretical knowledge before you start. I will keep on updating the list below when I add new content. It will include both the main components to get your drone flying and also accessories that can help you make it better.
- Basic Drone Parts
- Adding FrSky Telemetry
Drone Builds
Here I will keep adding drone builds to make your life easier. There are sets from best bang for bucks to drones with best features. I will also include user submitted builds that all of you can submit me with credit to the creator.
- 450 NAZA AP Quadcopter Build – $433, $670 with Transmitter
Configuring DIY Drones
And finally the most important part, configuring your newly built drone. This is the hardest part of DIY drone and can take time to fit your flying style. I will describe how to change settings of both Radio Controller and different flight controller softwares.