Lessons from First Quadcopter Build

I learned a few things from building my first quadcopter drone.

1. The USB port is very fragile, attach a permanent short extender cable to connect to your PC.  Otherwise, you will be buying a new controller.
2. You need to take time to think as you assemble the drone.  There are lots of ways of attaching components and taking some time to think will yield a better result.  Spending time with the Mission Controller application will help you set up your drone, understand how it will work, and allow you to test some of the functions before flying.
3. The best places to get pieces are online stores like Amazon and Hobbyking, Home Depot, and your local hobby shop.
4. Nylon cable ties are a great way to attach things to the quadcopter frame.  Why use bolts when a simple tie will do?
5. Learn how the controller works before flying.  There are some modes like "althold" that sound useful but should only be triggered after flying.
6. Make a tethered test setup to test fly your quad.
7. Use the Wiki, google, youtube, and manufacturers sites to find solutions to problems or helpful tutorials.
8. Get a good soldering iron and learn to solder.

Building and Flying Quadcopter Part 12

Well I went back and tried to fix the problems in the last test flight, which were:

1. ESC's not properly calibrated - I was able to get them to calibrate once, but there is something weird about how these speed controls interface with the controller.
2. Poor throttle control - It turns out that you should land and take off in "stabilize mode" and I was in "Althold" mode.  It took a lot of google searching to stumble across this.
3. The receiver refused to work for a while and I don't know why.  After plugging and unplugging wires, disassembling the receiver, testing and testing, it started to work again for some unknown reason.

After fixing these issues, I tried the quadcopter with no props and it seemed better.  I then lengthened the tethers and ran another test flight shown above, which seems much better.

Building and Flying Quadcopter Part 11

Quadcopter Drone ready for tethered test flight

Making progress, I found the link to set up the motors, speed controls, etc and got the wiring for the ESCs and motors set up properly.  Then I mounted the propellers and spent a while trying to figure out how to arm the drone, which I found at this link on the wiki.

I also needed a way to test-fly the drone, given my propensity to crash quadcopters.  I came up with a system using an old piece of plywood, with holes to allow rope to be attached to the drone landing gear.  The rope is wrapped around some tall screws on the plywood to allow adjustment.  This is shown in the photo above and actually worked out well.

Then our first test flight shown above.  The drone worked, although the controls need adjustments, particularly the throttle.  You can see me testing throttles, forward motion, yaws left and right, and left and right movement - all the basic movements.  So now it is back to the wiki and Mission Planner to find out how to tune the controls.