Building Micros

Hello all,

I'm trying to design a project for elementary/middle school aged kids around building drones. I have experience with RC Airplanes and drones, and have been researching possible builds. The requirements are as follow:

- Budget is pretty tight, 200$ per drone, including transmitter and fpv solution
- I want it to be an educational experience, so I'd prefer if it were something they could build themselves (with my assistance, of course), rather than an RTF or BNF.

Given the tight budget restrictions, I was thinking a micro would probably be the best solution. I found many different parts from Banggood that seemed to have good price points.

Does anyone have experience with buying from Banggood? I've bought from Hobbyking a lot in the past and have read mixed things about Banggood, is it reliable enough to buy in semi bulk (10-15 units of each part)?

In general, any guidance in ascertaining a build is greatly appreciated.

You don't want to be soldering then with children really. So it would all have to be plug n play. Presumably soldered flight boards with pins & servo wires.
This would limit the size of a build to around a 220mm size. Motor you can get with bullet connectors but you may struggle to get esc's of this type. Even with these there is still a small amount of soldering, which you may have to pre prepare. I'm in work @ the moment but I would imagine the cowboy will be along shortly with a few links.

mozquito1 said:

You don't want to be soldering then with children really. So it would all have to be plug n play. Presumably soldered flight boards with pins & servo wires.
This would limit the size of a build to around a 220mm size. Motor you can get with bullet connectors but you may struggle to get esc's of this type. Even with these there is still a small amount of soldering, which you may have to pre prepare. I'm in work @ the moment but I would imagine the cowboy will be along shortly with a few links.

Click to expand...

You'd be surprised with the ability of an average middle school student. If they have the desire to learn you can teach them to solder pretty easily. They seem to pick it up pretty fast.
Whether you are allowed will depend on the school's policy with letting them solder.