Questions on First Quadcopter, Compatibility, Part Quality, Etc.

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cmkluza

Member
Hello, I'm part of a club trying to create a quadcopter from scratch, so before ordering any (well, most) parts, I wanted to ask some questions and get some feedback on the parts we were looking at.

So far, we've bought components for a frame, 4ft of carbon fiber rod (square) so the frame will be approximately 12in in each direction. The center of the frame I'm slightly concerned about, since it's currently only a small gusset maybe 1.5-2in, and I think for the frame we'll want something more sturdy holding it all together. We'll probably also need another gusset to create an additional tier for all the components that go in the center.

The projected parts include:
  • Motors
  • Propellers 1 or Propellers 2 - One's cheaper, but plastic (so less durable?) two's more expensive, but carbon fiber. What's better?
  • ESCs
  • Flight Controller
  • Radio Transmitter - Not necessarily this one, but a cheap 5ch from eBay. This one is a 5ch transmitter with a 6ch receiver. Would everything work despite this?
  • Battery
  • Charger - Don't know too much about chargers, what's important? Is this a good choice?
  • PDB - Couldn't find too much on these either, basically first result in Google search
This looks like a lot, so I'll try to paraphrase the major compatibilities (that I'm aware of) to make this simpler.
  • Motor max Amps is lower than ESC max amps (about 15 to 20)
  • PDB output is correct for motors (20 max versus 15.8 for motors)
  • Props fit motors
  • FC has Gyro/Acc (don't know too much about FC compatibility with other parts) FC says it Signal from Receiver is 5ch, does that mean it will only work with 5ch transmitters/receivers?
  • ESCs support battery and motor type
  • Based on website Weights (couldn't find weight of carbon fiber components, assumed around 100g) total weight is going to be around 1117.3g or about 1.12kg. I cannot figure out how to find thrust from KV, so I can't say if there's enough power with these motors
This is a pretty solid wall of text, so if anyone can get through it and help me out with some suggestions and tips, that'll be very much appreciated!
 
The motors are designed for a 4S-6S battery and with a 400KV running 3S you'd never get off the ground. They are REALLY nice motors if you want to build a bigger quadcopter.

Do you want to make a racer or make a quadcopter for photography? If you are planning to make one to lift a lot these motors are great, you will need bigger props and a bigger battery.



Here is a really great resource for flight controllers.
 
GJH105775 said:
The motors are designed for a 4S-6S battery and with a 400KV running 3S you'd never get off the ground. They are REALLY nice motors if you want to build a bigger quadcopter.

Do you want to make a racer or make a quadcopter for photography? If you are planning to make one to lift a lot these motors are great, you will need bigger props and a bigger battery.



Here is a really great resource for flight controllers.
Click to expand...
We're thinking of attaching a GoPro to the quadcopter so we can film stuff like school events, so photography it is. How much bigger should the propellers be? And would the battery just need more cells?

Thanks for your help!
 
cmkluza said:
We're thinking of attaching a GoPro to the quadcopter so we can film stuff like school events, so photography it is. How much bigger should the propellers be? And would the battery just need more cells?

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...


Well you probably don't need it to be this big, so you could move to a little smaller motors. Is this going to be flown over crowds? Also a Runcam camera may be an option for you in place of a GoPro.


Play around a big on here with props, and if you can't find a motor just use a similar motor. This will give you a lot of data that could help you make decisions.
http://www.ecalc.ch/xcoptercalc.php
 
GJH105775 said:
Well you probably don't need it to be this big, so you could move to a little smaller motors. Is this going to be flown over crowds? Also a Runcam camera may be an option for you in place of a GoPro.


Play around a big on here with props, and if you can't find a motor just use a similar motor. This will give you a lot of data that could help you make decisions.
http://www.ecalc.ch/xcoptercalc.php
Click to expand...
Thanks for your quick response! How does one calculate the amount of thrust that the motors will produce, so I can better try to figure out what motors can lift the weight of this quadcopter? Also, there is a possibility that it will be flown over crowds. Runcam looks good, certainly cheaper than GoPro. I'll have to look more into that ecalc website when I have time.

Thanks agian!
 
Always start flying with cheap plastic propellors, that way if you hit something the prop will break and hopefully save the motor.
I have just bought eight pairs of props from eBay for £5.99 and so sixteen props work out at about 37p per prop and so I won't be so upset when I break one.

A carbon fibre prop would be so strong that you would possibly bend the motor Shaft or totally destroy the motor. Also with plastic you can buy different colours and so I have red on the front so I can easily see my orientation.
 
Zec Richardson said:
Always start flying with cheap plastic propellors, that way if you hit something the prop will break and hopefully save the motor.
I have just bought eight pairs of props from eBay for £5.99 and so sixteen props work out at about 37p per prop and so I won't be so upset when I break one.

A carbon fibre prop would be so strong that you would possibly bend the motor Shaft or totally destroy the motor. Also with plastic you can buy different colours and so I have red on the front so I can easily see my orientation.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip, consider it duly noted! I'll look into plastic props then.
 
cmkluza said:
Thanks for your quick response! How does one calculate the amount of thrust that the motors will produce, so I can better try to figure out what motors can lift the weight of this quadcopter? Also, there is a possibility that it will be flown over crowds. Runcam looks good, certainly cheaper than GoPro. I'll have to look more into that ecalc website when I have time.

Thanks agian!
Click to expand...
The ecalc website is a calculator that will allow you to calculate thrust for a motor, and give you an idea what props you need. If you are going to fly over crowds then I'd suggest you make a hexacopter (6 props), as you will have a bit of redundancy in the event of a failure. This will allow you to move to smaller motors, like a 900k/v motor (if you are using a runcam a quad at 900k/v would lift enough).
 
GJH105775 said:
The ecalc website is a calculator that will allow you to calculate thrust for a motor, and give you an idea what props you need. If you are going to fly over crowds then I'd suggest you make a hexacopter (6 props), as you will have a bit of redundancy in the event of a failure. This will allow you to move to smaller motors, like a 900k/v motor (if you are using a runcam a quad at 900k/v would lift enough).
Click to expand...
Thanks a bunch for your help!
 
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