I Finally Built a Quad

Anthony M Robertson -

This was my first legit build in several ways. Most notably, it was the first build where I used a pre-fab carbon fiber frame. The durability can't be beat, and that can be important when you're regularly nailing tree trunks.

This is also the first quad ( 4 motor ) I've built. My homemade projects were all tricopters, but ultimately I couldn't get the yaw control to be reliable enough.

Being a 180mm size, the hardest part of the build is just fitting everything into such tight quarters. I spent a lot of time just visualizing where the components were going to sit, trying to leave things accessible and swappable where possible.

Build List

  • BLHeli 25A ESC
  • EMax 2300kv motors
  • Naze32 Rev 6 flight controller

It fits 4x5x3 props, and a 1300mah battery seems to be a good size ( also allows the GoPro to fit ).

Then there's a PDB board, radio RX, video camera, VTX, and antenna.

Videos

I'm getting much better at staying off the ground and avoiding the trees, but I have a long way to go before I'll be producing impressive videos.