How To Make A Drone At Home Step by Step

Today, there is a wide range of drones on the market, and they differ in size, design, and properties. You just need to visit some popular online stores, where the drones are being sold, and find some ready to use a model that best suits you according to its features and price.Most people do it. On the other side, people who like do it yourself projects, enjoy building these devices from scratch. If you also like this craft, you can buy drone kits and enjoy piecing them together like a Lego puzzle.

However, the real challenge is to construct a drone from scratch without using a special kit. You would have to find the necessary pieces and imagine the drone structure yourself. So what do you say? Are you up for the task?

Here is a basic list of the components you’ll need in order to build yourself a drone.

1.The frame

2.Motors

 3.Propellers

4.Batteries

5.RC receiver

6.Electronic speed control

7.Battery monitor

8.Connectors

9.Mounting pad

10.Camera

These are the most important parts that every drone must contain in order to work and fly.

Aside from the above-mentioned parts, you will also need AWG silicone wires, a battery charger, Servo lead wire cables, zip ties, 3M command strips, thread locking compounds, etc. In addition to these components, you can also embed other accessories to your drone and make it more advanced.

10 Steps To Building a Quad from Scratch

Step 1: Making the Frame

No matter what your drone is going to be, it must have a frame. So, the first task is to make a frame. For this purpose, you can use different materials, such as metal, plastic, or wood.

If you select wood for the frame, find a wood board that is longer than 60 cm and about 25-30 mm thick. Cut up this board in such a way to get two laths which are 60cm long and 30mm wide. These two lengths are required to make a structure of your future quad.

Crossing these two laths you’ll make the X frame. Also, you will need a wooden sheet in order to make and add a rectangular piece in the central part of this frame. Its size should be 6×15 cm, and about 2mm thick.

Of course, you can use other dimensions if you like, but these will get you a pretty nice quad. To connect these parts, you will need nails and glue. In case you decide to go with metal or plastic, the dimensions are similar but the way you connect the laths together is going to be different.

Step 2: Propellers, Electronic Speed Controllers, and Motors

The ESCs (Electronic Speed Controllers), the motors, and the propellers are among the most important elements of a functional drone. So, you should get these components from an authorized store. They must be in accordance with the size of your drone, so bare this in mind when buying them.

When looking for the motors(or rotors), you should know that multi-rotor drones produce greater speed and ensure a stable flight, as each rotor works with other’s thrust points

For the propellers, we suggest you buy the metal 9-inch props you can find at a very affordable price on the market. These are durable and won’t bend so easily if the drone hits something during flight. However, if you want better performance, it would be better to get carbon props.

And finally, when it comes to ESCs (Electronic Speed Controllers), if you don’t want 4 of these (keep in mind we’re talking about a quad here) you can buy the 4 in 1 controller.

Step 3: Assemble the Motors

The next thing you need to do is drill the holes in the frame for the motors, according to the distance between the screws holes on the motors. It would be good to make another hole that will allow the clip and shaft the motor to move freely.

However, you may skip this action if the motors already came with mountings. Put the motor in the appropriate place and fix it to the frame using the screws and a screwdriver.

Step 4: Mount the Electronic Speed Controllers

After mounting the motors, you also have to mount the speed controllers. How will you do this? It is recommended to connect the speed controllers on the bottom side of the frame due to several reasons.

Among others, it will “unload” the upper side of the drone where other components should be added. In order to fix it well to the frame, you need to use zip ties. This way, your ESCs are tied down and well secured while flying

Step 5: Add the Landing Gear

This gear is an important part when landing your UAV because it significantly reduces the shock when the drone lands on a solid ground. It can be made in different ways, but you should be creative and make it in your own and unique way.

Here’s one idea: find a metal pipe (about 6 inches in diameter) and cut off (with the appropriate tools) 4 rings that will be 1-2 cm thick. Of course, the size of these rings should be in accordance with the general size of your drone.

You can use duct tape to fix these pieces to the frame. If you don’t like the metal pipe idea you can also use other materials that are flexible but strong, such as some new plastics.

Step 6: Flight Controller

Every flying drone must have a control system. This electronic system allows a drone to be stable in the air while flying and processes all the shifts and changes in direction and wind. There are two options when it comes to this step.

First, and the easier option, is to buy a ready-to-use controller. Second, you can make it yourself. For this work

So, if you want to make a controller yourself, you should opt for one of these projects that best suits you. Find it on the Internet, and examine it in details. It is not easy at all to construct such a device, but this way, your drone will be more “do-it-yourself”

Step 7: Choosing a Right RC(Wireless Remote Control System)

This remote control system is needed to control a drone.Luckily, there are various available RC control systems nowadays, like Futaba, Spektrum, Turnigy, FlySky, and so on.

In addition to this system, you’ll also need a few channels for yaw, pitch, throttle, and roll, as well as the additional channels if you want to mount a camera control to your drone

Step 8: Mount the Flight Controller

Once you choose the particular flight controller, you need to mount it. For instance, you can place it on the top of the frame in a certain direction, but you need to make sure that all the components are fixed well before calibrating your drone. For this purpose, you can also use the aforementioned zip ties.

It is recommended to put a small piece of sponge on the underside of the flight controller because it absorbs and reduces the vibrations from the motors. Thus, your drone will be more stable while flying.

Step 9: Connect the Open Pilot to Your Drone

The next thing you have to do is to configure and connect the flight controller to the electronic speed controllers.

Also, you have to connect it to the remote control. In order to see how to do this step, you will need to find an appropriate tutorial video on the web for the particular flight controller you have previously mounted.

Step 10: Check Out and Test Your Drone

Before you finally use your drone, you must be sure that everything works well. Therefore, you have to check out all the functions before the first flight. You can test the sensors as well as other components of your drone using the special OpenPilot GCS.

To make sure that everything works well, you need to take off the props and make a small experiment with the remote control. For this test, you should find a suitable place and try to move your drone within its control distance. Pay attention to the zip ties and cables whether they are connected well. When everything is okay, your drone is ready to fly!

If you check out the prices on the Amazon and other similar websites, you will see that you can buy an advanced drone that supports the cameras for this money. However, the satisfaction of having built your own drone does not have the price!