Hi, great videoand nice job ! As an FPV Pilot, I have some advice's for you: - Never try any adjustments with propellers on, this can lead to severe injury - Using PLA and other plastic materials create a lot of vibrations making it really hard to tune and even harder to pilot, not smooth at all, you can use pla for prototyping, then create a carbon fiber frame - You should stick to 1000-1500maH battery, it's not efficient on a five inches drone to fly with heavier battery (1300 is perfect in my opinion) - Every cables inside the drone should be short as possible to avoiding making vibration. Especially for your power cables, they should be attach with your LiPo strap or anything else to avoid them from being cut by propellers. - Your antenna is a bit too long and can add vibration to your drone. A shorter antenna cans help a lot. You should mount the antenna vertically to match your VRX antenna, this will give you a better range even with a shorter antenna. If you want to keep this antenna, at least, bend it to the top - Add a capacitor on the power pad on your ESC, this help a lot and can be the cause of your mid-flight death spinning (cause we ear the esc rebooting). Vibration is really the most important things when your building a FPV drone, especially on newer versions of betaflight. Every vibration is gathered by the gyro and need to be filtered. More filter you add on a gyro, more CPU is needed and less smoother and controllable is your drone. A youtuber nammed @ChrisRosser have made a lot of videos about vibration and filtering. Hope this help, sorry for my poor English, Leo,
I understand your value for being able to reprint parts that break, but as someone VERY into the FPV hobby (many thousand dollars deep), here are a few things to consider: 1. Carbon frames break WAY less than you would think. Well made frames like the Apex, Moongoat, etc are flown into brick walls, trees, and pretty much anything else you can think of at great speeds and can usually fly off with no issues after a quick turtle mode (flip over after crash mode). The Apex even has a warranty and they will replace parts if you break them. The most commonly replaced parts are motors and props. Props are a consumable, motors (for some people like myself who fly very hard) are as well. The arms are not. They should last you months or even years of flying around and just cruising. Until you start doing risky stuff around brick/concrete, you most likely wont break any carbon at all. 2. Plastic frames have much worse flight characteristics. We moved to carbon fiber because it is much, much stiffer. Frame resonance for plastic frames is a big issue. The flight controller needs to filter out those resonances, which adds latency to your system. If those vibrations are bad enough, it can even burn up your motors and ESCs. 3. Carbon frames offer the best durability for the weight. Carrying around a full size gopro, you really want to be conscious of the all up weight of the drone. Especially on a 4s build, heavier drones will have problems coming out of dives or stopping quickly due to voltage sag. The heavier the quad, the more your motors need to work, the more demand is put on the lipo. All in all, there is a reason the entire FPV community has moved to carbon frames. Until some of the more exotic composite materials are tested, carbon fiber offers the best balance of weigh, durability, price, and stiffness. Also a side note, you really shouldnt be holding the drone while it is armed. It is a lesson you will eventually learn yourself, but just, trust me... those props will win a 1v1 vs your hands. Ask how I know :)
I remember when I was a kid, my dad bought me and a friend of mine two identical RC planes. The instructions said to throw it like an airplane while putting the throttle to full. Quickly learned that these instructions are pretty bad for this particular plane (props in the back). My friend's mum threw the thing while he throttled to max. It just barely graced her finger with a prop and took of a bunch of skin. She had to get stitches. So yeah, props do be dangerous
SHTF prepper; Im interested in learning more about drones and creating them from nothing with replacement parts as I envision the next decade of SHTF crimes and modern warfare combat situations, drones seem to be the epicenter for many next discoveries of modern tactics in using drones in helping solider in battle, helping police fight crime, helping firefighters put out forest fires, and potentially SHTF type situation, perhaps it'll do some good to know such things and have such capabilities knowledge, skills and fighting skills in being able to both attack and defend yourself from afar.
In any reality in which terminator type machines exist, even used for good in protecting people, eventually they the terminator type solider's will be taken over by AGI, hacked by a humans, or some form of secret organization in witch will carry out brutal violence on the innocent of humanity. I am currently laying groundwork in setting up multiple companies and organizations in defense to these injustices even if they do not occur for another decade, this only gives us more time, because these events will occur, the question is when?
Armored robots are already being put onto the streets within the communities in which we call home. We should not and can not trust AI robots in providing security to us as individuals, our communities or nations at large, we must learn the skills that it takes to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to both criminal activity, foreign nations, secret agendas to rid us of all property, and AI from controlling the entire world via armored private security, armored police bots and armored military bots will be used everywhere around the world by 2045. Just like the automobile has dominated the battlefield and cities in which we live for the last 100 years, drones will have an major impact on the battlefield and in our own communities for over the next 100 years.
WELCOME TO FPV!!!!! I've been flying fpv for 8+ years. No one really understands how incredible it feels to fly a machine that only does what you ask it to, and nothing else. (And sometimes not even that... Lol) I will never stop dancing in the tree branches! And building and repairing my electronic birds. So glad you're joining us
@@greatscottlab yes. this is a strong advise.. printed frames in large drone simply dont work since the acelerometer pick all the vibrations and f.up all your parameters. you can find cheap frames on amazon for 20 or less usd
one thing you can try is to reinforce the frame with some carbon fiber pieces or tubes, or use a carbon fiber frame altogether, you can get modular frames which if you breake an arm or something you can get a spare one, something like the "TCMM Martian ii" should be good
@@greatscottlab why not inlay another stronger material in your prints, that way you can improve durability and vibration characteristics while maintaining the easy to produce and prototype nature of your parts maybe something like inlaid aluminum
@@ototheo2740 I don't think this will help much, he should overthink the choice for the printed frame and the prob size. It's a fun project, but not very usable as a freestyle drone.
When I designed my 3d printed long range 9" quad I learnt a few things that might help: I also used petg in the first version, but actually pla had better results due to the higher stiffness resulting in less flex in the arms. You can also turn on blackbox logging in betaflight, if your flight controller has an sdcard slot or flash storage. That way you can use BlackBox viewer, to find out what happens in case something fails. It flies really well with default PIDs, so that is definitely possible with a 3d printed design.
Apart from getting a carbon fiber frame, I would recommend that you swap ESC and FC in the stack. Having the FC on the top is more convenient for maintenance, since you rarely need to work on the ESC after you solder the motors to it.
Great video. Two suggestions from my experience 1. Try practicing in a simulator. There are a a few out there and it gives you lots of opertunities to practice without risk of breaking anything 2. Get a carbon fiber frame. The strength difference is massive. I have crashed drones into metal objects going 60mph without anything breaking
It is a tradeoff. Going with a smaller battery reduces the weight and draws less power, so there is a sweet spot. Also going to a 6s battery will make the drone more efficient but may be too much power to begin learning
This is awesome! Good for you Great Scott! Not only did you finally make your drone but this video was amazing in showing how you did it. Thanks as always!
This is the first video you’ve ever posted where I knew exactly what you were talking about 😊 2 tips… try to avoid powering up the VTX without an antenna hooked up to it. Depending on the one you have it can damage it. Also try a carbon fiber frame. The FC will work better with a rigid frame.
If you are following along this video and planning on building a drone, NEVER EVER do what he did at 13:18 EVER, that's how you lose a finger, get your arm cut to pieces or possibly worse. Specially if you are using betaflight with defaults settings where the pid loop is always active.
yeahh, 3+ kilowatts worth of motor power attached to essentially rotating blades (that produce thrust; aka erratic movement that could easily get out of control) is not something to fuck with
That has appened to me and almost lost a finger a year ago I picked it up from the ground and somehow hit the arm button and it went crazy on me Not a good experience
This reminds me of building my first quad it was so fun learning everything. Just wait until you are doing flips and flying through trees so fun. But I think a lot of your issues are caused by the flex of the 3d printed frame. These quads are extremely powerful and need a stiff frame to transfer accurate info to the gyro and a good carbon fiber frame can be had cheap probably close to what the filament and electricity would cost to print.
For my fpv freestyle drone I took an existing 3D model, edited it to reinforce the weak points and then printed the whole thing with Nylon CF15 filament. The carbon fiber additives make the entire frame extremely stiff while being virtually unbreakable. I also recommend flying in a simulator first to get a feel for the controls, so you don't crash your expensive drone in the beginning.
Hi there, I have been watching your videos for years :) Good to know that you have finally started with drone racing. Few tips: 1.) Use a carbon fiber frame. Especially the 3D printed arms are not durable enough and will break very often. They are also not stiff enough and the FC gets way too much vibration which might lead to oscillations and poor flight performance. 2.) 3D printing is great for frame accessories like GoPro mounts or antenna mounts. ALWAYS use a flexible filament, preferably the TPU. Flexfill 98A is great for basically anything. It is very very durable. 3.) Learn how to fly on the FPV simulator. Liftoff, Velocidrone, or free FPV.Skydive can do the work. It will save you hours and hours of repairing the damaged drone. It absolutely pays off. 4.) The ESC is usually the first board in the stack and the FC is above it. It is way easier to build the drone that way ;) 5.) When building the drone on a carbon fiber frame, don't forget that the carbon is conductive so you should have all the parts laying on the frame insulated in heat shrink and it is a good way to do so even on a plastic frame. Cover the receiver with a heat shrink, stick it to the frame with double-sided tape and secure it with a zip-tie for safety.
Joshua Bardwell is definitely a wealth of information when it comes to FPV drones! I personally have made my own drone for an engineering challenge sponsored by Penn State University, and my design got Best Innovation. I utilized JB's tips and tricks for putting it together and tuning it. Happy flying!
Welcome to FPV! This hobby is seriously awesome. A few things I would recommend - use a carbon fiber frame, they are incredibly durable and lightweight, and allow much less vibrations from the motors into the gyro on the flight controller (due to it being more rigid), leading to better flight performance. The TBS Source One is a great cheap frame for about $25, but there are plenty of other great options. I would also recommend using acro mode (manual mode), as it doesn't limit your movements and is much better suited for FPV drones. I would definitely practice in a simulator first though. Great video!
I would say however that the ‘overflowing’ hardware market is a very good thing. We have so much to choose from! We can truly make our own machines, it’s lovely!
Dude... FANTASTIC work! 😃 First of all, fantastic choice of motors! The same brand has a cheaper version (I'm not sure which you bought) that are perfect! I'm not going to talk about the carbon frame, lots of people already did. 😬 But there are companies that would cut any frame design you come with, which could be a great option indeed. About learning to fly, I'm not sure if your transmitter can be connected to a PC and used as a joystick... But there are some fantastic simulators you can choose from. That's how I started and learned! You can crash hundreds of times without it costing your kidneys. 😂 Oh, in case your transmitter can't connect to a PC to be used with a simulator, looks for the Radiomaster models. They're great, the best in the market! Anyway, stay safe and creative there! And flying! 🖖😃
I have to build a drone for my final year project to get a BEng Mechatronics degree, and it amazes me how I've personally grown and used your content to learn. I was much younger when I first started watching and it was so hard to understand anything, I had too many questions. Now that I am older and finishing off my degree I of course follow a lot more and I'm happy to be here again, this time actually attempting to build something. I am required to allow for autonomous flight as well and I am very pleased to use your content as my research lol.
I would say buy a 5 inch carbon fiber frame, they can withstand a lot of crashes. Watch fpv drone freestyle videos and practice in a simulator, so you can crash many times and get better. Joshua bardwell has videos for good simulator and a lot of beginner friendly drone build videos, highly recommended.
Thanks for the info, now you made this regular DJI Mavic drone pilot want to explore FPV building and flying! 😎 I have watched FPV videos and it looks insanely hard when the margins are next to zero under very high speeds, but than again I have plenty of drone and even 6ch 3d helicopter experience. So shouldn't be to hard doing basic maneuvering. I'm going to take a look what's available in terms of simulation software for fpv. Thanks for the tip. 🙂
As an fpv pilot myself i got some tips 😅 1st i know 3d printed frame sounds nice in theory but sadly the problem with those is the vibrations that come from those. Carbon frames are much stiffer and so mich easier to tune. And you can get replacement parts for most quite cheap. 2nd lighter batteries are better, like 1100mah to 1500mah. Those exta 600mah of the larger one wont give more flighttime cause of the increased weight. And 3rd i know it seems intuitive to point the camera down like with dji drones but its a lot harde to fly like that. Try a little bit of uptilt start with like 10degrees on both the fpv cam and gopro. The reason for that is that u want to be flying foreward which means you will tilt forward. So if u tilt the cam upwards it will be level when u tilt to fly foreward. Oh and also tighten the fpv cam so it cant move up or down in angle 👍
I really hope you generously compensated the creator of the frame for sharing, helping you build, pick suitable parts, troubleshoot and generate ad revenue with this video :D such a nice guy
I'm very happy to see FPV on this channel! You should try a digital system for video if you enjoy the analog experience. I love 3d printing frames but they have so many issues I didn't know about until recently. They cause a lot of noise for the flight controller that makes the fc work harder and can cause fly away, unstable tunes, prop wash etc etc. Modern carbon fiber frames are also really resilient. I usually buy 2 of a frame and never have to open the other package even after crashing dozens of times.
This is very cool! This makes me want to build one of my own design. I would recommend putting some rubber dampeners on the flight controller and reinforcing the body with Carbon Fibre.
That 3d printed frame will have way too much give to fly ‘well’. You’ll get gyro oscillations and general unstable flying as your skill base grows. I’d highly recommend a 5” frame from Amazon. They can be had for as little as $30 usd. Another note. You typically don’t want anything above the FC for maximum electrical noise isolation. The ESC is the noisiest component so it’s best at the bottom of the stack. The only thing i’ll put on top of a FC is the RX usually just for packaging constraints. Check out Thingiverse for printable TPU holders for your RX to make it secure and electrically isolated without having to wrap it with tape of some sort.
I'd highly recommend using PLA+ filament instead of PETG. PETG might be a bit stronger but also less stiff and for a drone frame you really want the stiffness. PLA+ also can be "baked" to make it more crash resistant. I have also 3D printed drones before and after switching from PETG to PLA+ oscillations greatly decreased and I was able to use less aggressiv PID settings.
As someone who's been doing this for a few years now, a few tips. Don't use a 3D printed frame, it flexes too much causing the oscillations you were seeing, buy a carbon fibre one, they last a lot longer too, especially if you get a proper "name brand" one rather than a cheap knockoff (Armattan have a lifetime warranty, so if you break anything, you just have to pay shipping, other good brands are ImpulseRC/Ethix, Catalyst Machineworks, Ummagawd, GEPRC, iFlight, and there's a heap more, but that's a good start). Next, put your ESC on the bottom of the stack, and shorten the motor wires. Capacitor isn't needed for 4S but still recommended, but you definitely need to lock your battery straps into the drone a lot tighter so they don't flop into the props (the balance lead will tuck nicely under one of the velcro straps too). Your battery is too large for a 5" drone, I'd suggest a 1500 mAh one. The rest of your parts are very good, but your VTX is overkill unless you unlock it and go beyond the 25mW limits you have there. Beyond that, pick up a simulator for your computer, Velocidrone and Liftoff are the two most popular, and practice there. If you want to get into tricks, don't worry about learning angle mode, as the techniques are quite different. Personally I spent about 5 hours in the sim before I could do a coordinated turn (using both roll and yaw at the same time) properly, and about 10 hours before I went out with my actual drone.
Heh quite a coincidence, I started building my fpv drone around the time you did your original video. I actually finished it but a very bad choice of goggles and camera coupled with my being a total noob flying made me put it in a drawer and forget about it. I just randomly picked it back up and got it running a week ago, started training in a simulator and got a better fpv setup. Now this video comes out :) Good luck practicing your skills, the simulators like liftoff really helped me get over the initial fears of crashing or hitting someone.
7 of the top 9 comments advise on a carbon frame and they're correct, too! The TBS Source One is dirt cheap, tested and approved by lots of pilots. Lighter, stiffer and stronger. Other than that and the power lead getting chopped: good job! Overall people tend to go with a lighter battery on a 5" for maneuverability and a bigger battery like yours for mountain surfing on 7" quads but if you like it, that's the way you should fly it. It's funny how building and flying an FPV quad is almost like second nature to me but a learning process for you. I'm usually in awe of your knowledge and skills but FPV quads are where I learned most of what I know about electronics so that's like a baseline in my head.
I love seeing you get into FPV! It's perfect given all your other content. My first build 6 years ago was also (mostly) 3D printed. Racing drones have come a long way since then, and 3D printing makes it all so much easier!
From personal experience, I have printed drone frames for fun with custom designs, but usually having more solid infill is the best (with minimal cooling) as the arms become very rigid and hard to flex. Awesome job though, building is always the most fun part of the process, and this definitely looked like an exciting project to build!
That also happened to me when I build a drone with my friend for school project : - Aluminium frame without proper precision control and use epoxy putty to attach leg from body. - Gyroscope module taped with 2 side tape - No clue what's PID control - Zapped one of multiwii board because what's different between RS-232 and UART (I connected RS-232 output to UART port that supposed TTL logic level) - One of rotor decided to seperated from stator - more epic fails
It's interesting to see this video for me because I have built a few drones in my life and find it easy at this point. Normally I watch your videos feeling like a bit of an electronics noob to learn something. Now I'm watching you discover something new that I already feel competent in and that gives me joy, because it's cool to see someone's progress in "your own field". BTW I feel your pain with FrSky binding. ;)
I really love this. I built a FPV drone myself this year and had lots of the same problems as you had. It did not take 5 years to complete, but like 4 months.
From someone who is donig this for a while, welcome to this amazing hobby! to give you some general advice: -get some hours in a simulator before trying to fly irl -NEVER start such a drone in your handy, this is really dangerous and to add some comments to your build: -get a real carbon fiber frame, this printed one has way too much flex and breaks immediately -use a shorter antenna -your batteries are a bit big, soemthign in the 1300-1800mAh range would be better
Nice topic ;) The biggest downside of printed frames is the resonance behavior. That can lead to oscillations in the pid loop and can cause flyaways and shaky video. Carbon is waaaaay more durable and even stiffer. Also the vtx antenna causes massive oscillations. The rule is to get it as short and stiff as possible (stubby antenna) ✌
A good build for ya would be something along the lines of a "babytooth" build which is a light 1s 3" that weighs like 60g with a battery. Very agile, super quiet, can still go nearly 100kph. The original babytooth frame is shipped from the US, but look around for other 3" toothpick style frames, ~1302 11000kv motors, 600mah (gnb) 1s, aio whoop board, and the other bits. Love my build! Or for more power build one with 1303 5000kv motors in 3s.
Yeah, these things often gain huge benefit from clean electricity, minimal vibrations, and good PIDs. The low ESR capacitor is obviously going to soak up the little spikes, your filters would greatly benefit from bi-directional DShot and RPM filtering (flash Bluejay if you're on a BLHeli-S board), and usually stock Betaflight PIDs will at least let you fly. Good on you for your first build though!
Nice project! I’ll add my opinion with everyone else’s. The stock beta flight pids should work pretty good with a standard weight 5in. Your battery is quite large and heavy, this will probably need pid adjustments or a smaller battery. Flex in the frame may be an issue but I think major gains could be had with better esc/fc mounting. With the heavy esc on top and free mounted long bolts the whole assembly will move too much. I would install the long bolts with nuts mounted tight to the frame. Esc (heavy) on the bottom and FC on the top. Don’t squish the rubber too much. Great job!
I'm a bit late to the video but welcome to FPV! You didn't mention reshaping the arms to better fit the 5" props. Plastic is heavier than the carbon frames we typically use and 5" props are a bit less efficient than 6" would be esp for the motor size and extra frame weight
Hey, fpv flyer here, there is a reason frames are made of carbon fiber, mainly they are incredibly hard to break on soft grass, and as they are more rigid, they tend to vibrate less, and will make pid tuning way more easyer. If you want to get more in depth with the frame design and pid tuning, look at Chris Rosser's youtube channel, and DaveC_FPV for more creative ideas on frame design. A good option for an affordable 5" chassis is the Steele Apex, and if you want the best for the vibration dampening, the AOS 5 is a good choice too (made by chris rosser) Other than that, a 3D printed frame is fun for the experiment, but will limit your PID tuning ability in the long run.
Ots funny to read Scott call himself idiot, when several of the betaflight and other drone parts developers learn loads from him. The VESC video, FOC video and other ESC based videos are the reason why we have some of the cool features in our modern blheli32 ESCs. Videos on PID control by electronoob and Scott also made it easy for drones to simplify tuning.
Excellent video breaking down the process of how to build a quad from a beginner's perspective!! I would recommend trying out a sim, and you should be able to use your controller as a joy stick if it has a USB plug. For a sim, I would recommend using Liftoff or DRL, both of which are on steam. You can crash all day on those and not spend a penny!
Strap a 3s on it if you want to tame it down and get used to it first. Also that 4s battery is HUGE!!!! Most FPV freestyle use smaller batteries, shorter flight time but way more maneuverability
I haven't Fully finish this video but I can say it's lit. I was searching my first drone build for part I was mind blown by many choices. Now i can finally understand. Thank you
I made one in college using a Pi and arduino with some extra sensors and it worked pretty well. At the time the only leveling software was some open source stuff but it was really basic and rough. It's interesting that this stuff is now all in one board.
Maybe reducing the maximum power or throttle input might be a good idea to start with, one of the most important things first time flyers have to learn is that the adjustments you make during flight are incredibly miniscule, give your sticks say half the max throttle they can have using a linear curve, you'll be able to get used ot making finer adjustments with a larger throw on your controller, then bring the curve back up once you get more used to it so you can get into the acrobatics.
That's really cool! Coincidentally just a couple of days ago my dad asked me if I knew anything about making a motor controller for a remote control aeroplane, so I think I'll have to do some research into this stuff too.
As for the frame: you can try printing with something stiffer and a little stronger, like PP, PC, ASA. Also, often using a wider nozzle (0.6mm, 0.8mm) and/or increasing number of perimeters help
I'd recommend a lighter (carbon) frame (they are really strong, just buy a 2 spare arms when you buy the frame and you'll be set for years to come). Furthermore, those motors have quite high kv (2400kv on 4s is more than enough), so you could use some lighter pitch props to gain some flight time. And lastly, like mentioned by others, your batteries are quite high in capacity, and therefore heavy. Try some 1500mah 4s lipo (for example the cnhl black ones). The weight reductions mentioned above in combination with a lighter lipo should get you about 5 minutes of flight time!
I would highly recommend going with a carbon, of the shelf frame. Especially if you don't know how to tune yet, you will have so much better results with a carbon frame: way stiffer, less oscillations and you don't need to worry about crashing (especially if you are only flying in the field). For most of them you can get spare arms and just swap them, should they break.
Nice work! Congrats on getting past the steep learning curve that can be frustrating for many people interested in getting started with fpv. I hope you have more videos in the future following your progress.
hi Great Scott, i like your videos :> i am a fpy pilot but i have no drone yet so I practiced in a simulator her are my recommendations and information * practice in a simulator * avoid 3D printed parts except for the gopro mount * if possible use a better controller/transmitter like RADIOMASTER (optional) * avoid exposing the battery cable near the props as when you crash it will get chopped up i hope you will have a great and fun flight out there :> that's all from me stay safe and happy flying :)
There was a time when the only way to get into the drone hobby was building it yourself. I built many drones in those days. These days the pre-built drones have just gotten so good that it is usually not worth building one. There are still cases where building is the right way to go but the average drone pilot will be far better served buying an ARF. You often times still need to install a receiver but you can even find many with the receiver built in.
cool video! as someone who has been into fpv for a few years now i would love to work with you on an updated version for this drone. plus a tip, it is really important to not test the drone with propllers on as it can lead to severe injuries.
Also, gopro mounts are best when made out of tpu, it will isolate some of the vibrations ('jello') and is mostly more durable since it will bend rather than break
Würde dir empfehlen in einem Simulator zu üben, Liftoff ist mein Favorit. Es empfiehlt sich direkt mit dem acro Modus zu üben. Wenn man das drauf hat, hat man die drohne mehr unter Kontrolle als im angle Modus. Ein sehr schönes Hobby!
Thank you for doing this. If you hadn’t I might have been tempted to attempt it myself, which would have resulted in hours of frustration and possibly mental health issues. Now I see why commercial drones are so expensive.
Go from the 3 blade to the 2 blade propellers, it wont feel as like crazy powerful, the more blades the hard it will turn amd maneuver. And i also recommend adjusting your motors in the firmware. The stock setup never works for me anyways! 👍🏼
Building is fun but it's only half the journey. I enjoy building them more than I do flying them. It's a big learning curve figuring out how to fly them and change the settings. But it is very rewarding flying them around and first person view with goggles
oh my XD ima fpv Freestyle pilot and i never do this kind of study about the trust of motors and nothing like that, if it dsnt burns its oke XDD nice video dude and continue doing that epic things and couple of things, both the battery and the frame I don't think they have the most appropriate power-to-weight ratio (I would lower the battery capacity), those things make the drone very unstable this kind of frame is build for cinematic. and that's silly but the TBS antennas give a range in the shape of a donut leaving the logo and the connector being radios of bad frequency, well take a look and I know you will build a monster! pd: the propellers are fine! belive
Really nice guide and build! But not cutting the zipties at the bottom triggered the hell out of me, especially while using a flush wirecutter 😂 Nice video!
Welcome to the great hobby of FPV! Its well worth to learn acro mode with a simulator. You might want to try the free DRL sim or Liftoff for like 10€, but DRL is free and great to learn. This safes a lot of money and has a very realistic feeling when used with the original drone controller
you finally made it in the FPV world! was waiting long enough for that :D Thanks for the insight of making it! there is soooo much to try and learn in the fpv/drone world!
Great video! Always nice to see more people get into the hobby I see other commenters have already yelled at you to get a different frame, so I won't touch on that... But I would like to point out that technically, you probably need a license to fly the drone in the EU. Not that difficult to get (just an online course/exam), and depending on the course provider it's free!
3d printed frames alone can cause tons of vibration that will cause feedback loops with the pid controller. I would look into carbon fiber. If you absolutely have to make it yourself check out the source one open source frame. There is files to cut it yourself. Love your channel since getting into fpv I like knowing the how things work and you do great at explaining it all. I look forward to seeing you progress with your flying 🤙 if you need any help with betaflight feel free to hit me up. Looking into black box explorer or pid toolbox as a side program to explore flight data is always a good idea. Welcome to the fun of FPV 🙂 it gets very deep very quick 🤣
I just realized you have the esc on top also you should try to avoid this the flight controller is very sensitive to the emi from the esc/motors/motor wires
While this content is neither novel or groundbreaking, it’s a good beginner video. DIY Drones have been covered in depth for years by the likes of Bardwell, Mads Tech, Painless, and the late project Blue Falcon. However these channels specialize in DIY drones, so they would be my first go to for help imo.
If you want to try a small racing drone, I highly recommend the EMAX TinyHawk Race 2. I know it's not DIY but is a ton of fun for it's price. Very fast too compared to the starter kit brushed FPV quad you have. If you plan on staying analog for VTX, I also recommend EV800Ds. Having a bigger viewing screen really makes the experience that much more immersive and I find myself having trouble going back to a smaller headset.
Hi, great videoand nice job !
As an FPV Pilot, I have some advice's for you:
- Never try any adjustments with propellers on, this can lead to severe injury
- Using PLA and other plastic materials create a lot of vibrations making it really hard to tune and even harder to pilot, not smooth at all, you can use pla for prototyping, then create a carbon fiber frame
- You should stick to 1000-1500maH battery, it's not efficient on a five inches drone to fly with heavier battery (1300 is perfect in my opinion)
- Every cables inside the drone should be short as possible to avoiding making vibration. Especially for your power cables, they should be attach with your LiPo strap or anything else to avoid them from being cut by propellers.
- Your antenna is a bit too long and can add vibration to your drone. A shorter antenna cans help a lot. You should mount the antenna vertically to match your VRX antenna, this will give you a better range even with a shorter antenna. If you want to keep this antenna, at least, bend it to the top
- Add a capacitor on the power pad on your ESC, this help a lot and can be the cause of your mid-flight death spinning (cause we ear the esc rebooting).
Vibration is really the most important things when your building a FPV drone, especially on newer versions of betaflight. Every vibration is gathered by the gyro and need to be filtered. More filter you add on a gyro, more CPU is needed and less smoother and controllable is your drone. A youtuber nammed @ChrisRosser have made a lot of videos about vibration and filtering.
Hope this help, sorry for my poor English,
Leo,
Thanks for all the tips :-)
Excellent tips, and your English is better than many people writing comments on RUclips whose first and only language is English.
@@evanbarnes9984 Thanks 🙏
@@greatscottlab Happy to help
Plus one for the first suggestion! I have the scars to prove it!
I understand your value for being able to reprint parts that break, but as someone VERY into the FPV hobby (many thousand dollars deep), here are a few things to consider:
1. Carbon frames break WAY less than you would think. Well made frames like the Apex, Moongoat, etc are flown into brick walls, trees, and pretty much anything else you can think of at great speeds and can usually fly off with no issues after a quick turtle mode (flip over after crash mode). The Apex even has a warranty and they will replace parts if you break them. The most commonly replaced parts are motors and props. Props are a consumable, motors (for some people like myself who fly very hard) are as well. The arms are not. They should last you months or even years of flying around and just cruising. Until you start doing risky stuff around brick/concrete, you most likely wont break any carbon at all.
2. Plastic frames have much worse flight characteristics. We moved to carbon fiber because it is much, much stiffer. Frame resonance for plastic frames is a big issue. The flight controller needs to filter out those resonances, which adds latency to your system. If those vibrations are bad enough, it can even burn up your motors and ESCs.
3. Carbon frames offer the best durability for the weight. Carrying around a full size gopro, you really want to be conscious of the all up weight of the drone. Especially on a 4s build, heavier drones will have problems coming out of dives or stopping quickly due to voltage sag. The heavier the quad, the more your motors need to work, the more demand is put on the lipo.
All in all, there is a reason the entire FPV community has moved to carbon frames. Until some of the more exotic composite materials are tested, carbon fiber offers the best balance of weigh, durability, price, and stiffness.
Also a side note, you really shouldnt be holding the drone while it is armed. It is a lesson you will eventually learn yourself, but just, trust me... those props will win a 1v1 vs your hands. Ask how I know :)
I remember when I was a kid, my dad bought me and a friend of mine two identical RC planes. The instructions said to throw it like an airplane while putting the throttle to full. Quickly learned that these instructions are pretty bad for this particular plane (props in the back). My friend's mum threw the thing while he throttled to max. It just barely graced her finger with a prop and took of a bunch of skin. She had to get stitches.
So yeah, props do be dangerous
When you go bando bashing everything in this hobby is a consumable. :D
Good points. I agree with all of them. :)
SHTF prepper; Im interested in learning more about drones and creating them from nothing with replacement parts as I envision the next decade of SHTF crimes and modern warfare combat situations, drones seem to be the epicenter for many next discoveries of modern tactics in using drones in helping solider in battle, helping police fight crime, helping firefighters put out forest fires, and potentially SHTF type situation, perhaps it'll do some good to know such things and have such capabilities knowledge, skills and fighting skills in being able to both attack and defend yourself from afar.
In any reality in which terminator type machines exist, even used for good in protecting people, eventually they the terminator type solider's will be taken over by AGI, hacked by a humans, or some form of secret organization in witch will carry out brutal violence on the innocent of humanity. I am currently laying groundwork in setting up multiple companies and organizations in defense to these injustices even if they do not occur for another decade, this only gives us more time, because these events will occur, the question is when?
Armored robots are already being put onto the streets within the communities in which we call home. We should not and can not trust AI robots in providing security to us as individuals, our communities or nations at large, we must learn the skills that it takes to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to both criminal activity, foreign nations, secret agendas to rid us of all property, and AI from controlling the entire world via armored private security, armored police bots and armored military bots will be used everywhere around the world by 2045. Just like the automobile has dominated the battlefield and cities in which we live for the last 100 years, drones will have an major impact on the battlefield and in our own communities for over the next 100 years.
WELCOME TO FPV!!!!!
I've been flying fpv for 8+ years. No one really understands how incredible it feels to fly a machine that only does what you ask it to, and nothing else. (And sometimes not even that... Lol)
I will never stop dancing in the tree branches! And building and repairing my electronic birds. So glad you're joining us
Thank God you did it. i have been waiting for many years for this. 😂
Haha there you go :-)
@@greatscottlab Good work! I would have loved to see a drone with your own esc though. But I can understand the development time might be an issue :)
You totally missed the chance to start this video with _"I'm Greatscott and you're going to learn something new today!"_
Definitely a missed opportunity :-)
This video came just at the right time I was researching FPV drones yesterday and this video solved a lot of questions I had.
That is what I hoped for :-)
14:16. Most likely the problems you're having are the results of your frame being not stiff enough, and that messes up with Betaflight filters
Good to know :-)
@@greatscottlab yes. this is a strong advise.. printed frames in large drone simply dont work since the acelerometer pick all the vibrations and f.up all your parameters. you can find cheap frames on amazon for 20 or less usd
one thing you can try is to reinforce the frame with some carbon fiber pieces or tubes, or use a carbon fiber frame altogether, you can get modular frames which if you breake an arm or something you can get a spare one, something like the "TCMM Martian ii" should be good
And 14:26 should be a motor desync from the strong oscillations.
@@greatscottlab why not inlay another stronger material in your prints, that way you can improve durability and vibration characteristics while maintaining the easy to produce and prototype nature of your parts maybe something like inlaid aluminum
Have you played with the PID parameters after recording? Too much oscillation can be caused by too much proportional and integral gains
I will try that 🙂
Yeah, correct. It can also be fixed by increasing the Derivative gain as it contributes to minimizing the oscillations. However, it was good.
@@greatscottlab check out chris rosser for really good tuning guides
@@ototheo2740
I don't think this will help much, he should overthink the choice for the printed frame and the prob size.
It's a fun project, but not very usable as a freestyle drone.
@@raistraw8629 yea tuning is more of a bandaid in this case, but a general understanding will help
When I designed my 3d printed long range 9" quad I learnt a few things that might help:
I also used petg in the first version, but actually pla had better results due to the higher stiffness resulting in less flex in the arms.
You can also turn on blackbox logging in betaflight, if your flight controller has an sdcard slot or flash storage. That way you can use BlackBox viewer, to find out what happens in case something fails.
It flies really well with default PIDs, so that is definitely possible with a 3d printed design.
I'd get a carbon fiber frame as its much more resistant against crashing.
Definitely possible. But you can not easily reprint parts ;-)
@@greatscottlab Thats true but you don't have to anymore. Mine held up against hard crashes for now 3 years.
You can by replacements for cheap...
@@greatscottlab Probabaly using ASA or ABS could save a few grams and have the same if not better resistant
Carbon fiber is nice and strong but a pain the the behind to modify without making a mess. That dust is not good to breath in.
Apart from getting a carbon fiber frame, I would recommend that you swap ESC and FC in the stack. Having the FC on the top is more convenient for maintenance, since you rarely need to work on the ESC after you solder the motors to it.
Great video. Two suggestions from my experience
1. Try practicing in a simulator. There are a a few out there and it gives you lots of opertunities to practice without risk of breaking anything
2. Get a carbon fiber frame. The strength difference is massive. I have crashed drones into metal objects going 60mph without anything breaking
Great suggestions! Along with these tips I'd say bump down to a 1400maH-ish 4s to shave some weight as well.
Thanks for the tips!
Well. With the current battery flight time was already only around 4 minutes. So I really do not want to go down with capacity.
It is a tradeoff. Going with a smaller battery reduces the weight and draws less power, so there is a sweet spot. Also going to a 6s battery will make the drone more efficient but may be too much power to begin learning
@@greatscottlab The added weight will increase the thrust needed so it's a bit of a trade off of weight vs how hard the motors are working 👍
This is awesome! Good for you Great Scott! Not only did you finally make your drone but this video was amazing in showing how you did it. Thanks as always!
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is the first video you’ve ever posted where I knew exactly what you were talking about 😊
2 tips… try to avoid powering up the VTX without an antenna hooked up to it. Depending on the one you have it can damage it. Also try a carbon fiber frame. The FC will work better with a rigid frame.
@Funk FPV do you have a channel where you fly FPV? I love your YT Shorts btw
If you are following along this video and planning on building a drone, NEVER EVER do what he did at 13:18 EVER, that's how you lose a finger, get your arm cut to pieces or possibly worse.
Specially if you are using betaflight with defaults settings where the pid loop is always active.
I can feel the pain just by watching it...
yeahh, 3+ kilowatts worth of motor power attached to essentially rotating blades (that produce thrust; aka erratic movement that could easily get out of control) is not something to fuck with
That has appened to me and almost lost a finger a year ago
I picked it up from the ground and somehow hit the arm button and it went crazy on me
Not a good experience
This reminds me of building my first quad it was so fun learning everything. Just wait until you are doing flips and flying through trees so fun. But I think a lot of your issues are caused by the flex of the 3d printed frame. These quads are extremely powerful and need a stiff frame to transfer accurate info to the gyro and a good carbon fiber frame can be had cheap probably close to what the filament and electricity would cost to print.
For my fpv freestyle drone I took an existing 3D model, edited it to reinforce the weak points and then printed the whole thing with Nylon CF15 filament.
The carbon fiber additives make the entire frame extremely stiff while being virtually unbreakable.
I also recommend flying in a simulator first to get a feel for the controls, so you don't crash your expensive drone in the beginning.
Hi there, I have been watching your videos for years :) Good to know that you have finally started with drone racing.
Few tips:
1.) Use a carbon fiber frame. Especially the 3D printed arms are not durable enough and will break very often. They are also not stiff enough and the FC gets way too much vibration which might lead to oscillations and poor flight performance.
2.) 3D printing is great for frame accessories like GoPro mounts or antenna mounts. ALWAYS use a flexible filament, preferably the TPU. Flexfill 98A is great for basically anything. It is very very durable.
3.) Learn how to fly on the FPV simulator. Liftoff, Velocidrone, or free FPV.Skydive can do the work. It will save you hours and hours of repairing the damaged drone. It absolutely pays off.
4.) The ESC is usually the first board in the stack and the FC is above it. It is way easier to build the drone that way ;)
5.) When building the drone on a carbon fiber frame, don't forget that the carbon is conductive so you should have all the parts laying on the frame insulated in heat shrink and it is a good way to do so even on a plastic frame. Cover the receiver with a heat shrink, stick it to the frame with double-sided tape and secure it with a zip-tie for safety.
This video made me realise I have been watching you since more than 5 years. Great Video!
Joshua Bardwell is definitely a wealth of information when it comes to FPV drones! I personally have made my own drone for an engineering challenge sponsored by Penn State University, and my design got Best Innovation. I utilized JB's tips and tricks for putting it together and tuning it. Happy flying!
Finally waiting for a drone video from u since 2017 😂😂
Well.....there you go ;-)
Welcome to FPV! This hobby is seriously awesome. A few things I would recommend - use a carbon fiber frame, they are incredibly durable and lightweight, and allow much less vibrations from the motors into the gyro on the flight controller (due to it being more rigid), leading to better flight performance. The TBS Source One is a great cheap frame for about $25, but there are plenty of other great options. I would also recommend using acro mode (manual mode), as it doesn't limit your movements and is much better suited for FPV drones. I would definitely practice in a simulator first though. Great video!
Failures and overcoming those is what makes this a great channel. Congratulations on the new drone!
I would say however that the ‘overflowing’ hardware market is a very good thing. We have so much to choose from! We can truly make our own machines, it’s lovely!
I REMEMBER YEARS AGO WHEN YOU SAID YOU'D FINISH THIS IN 2022
I'M SO PROUD OF YOU
joshua bardwell x greatscott, cant quite believe it
Dream team? ;-)
@@greatscottlab YES! next time u should build a 5" freestyle drone with an actual carbon frame and fly in acro
Dude... FANTASTIC work! 😃
First of all, fantastic choice of motors! The same brand has a cheaper version (I'm not sure which you bought) that are perfect!
I'm not going to talk about the carbon frame, lots of people already did. 😬
But there are companies that would cut any frame design you come with, which could be a great option indeed.
About learning to fly, I'm not sure if your transmitter can be connected to a PC and used as a joystick... But there are some fantastic simulators you can choose from. That's how I started and learned! You can crash hundreds of times without it costing your kidneys. 😂
Oh, in case your transmitter can't connect to a PC to be used with a simulator, looks for the Radiomaster models. They're great, the best in the market!
Anyway, stay safe and creative there! And flying! 🖖😃
I have to build a drone for my final year project to get a BEng Mechatronics degree, and it amazes me how I've personally grown and used your content to learn. I was much younger when I first started watching and it was so hard to understand anything, I had too many questions. Now that I am older and finishing off my degree I of course follow a lot more and I'm happy to be here again, this time actually attempting to build something. I am required to allow for autonomous flight as well and I am very pleased to use your content as my research lol.
I would say buy a 5 inch carbon fiber frame, they can withstand a lot of crashes. Watch fpv drone freestyle videos and practice in a simulator, so you can crash many times and get better. Joshua bardwell has videos for good simulator and a lot of beginner friendly drone build videos, highly recommended.
Thanks for the feedback :-)
Thanks for the info, now you made this regular DJI Mavic drone pilot want to explore FPV building and flying! 😎
I have watched FPV videos and it looks insanely hard when the margins are next to zero under very high speeds, but than again I have plenty of drone and even 6ch 3d helicopter experience. So shouldn't be to hard doing basic maneuvering. I'm going to take a look what's available in terms of simulation software for fpv. Thanks for the tip. 🙂
As an fpv pilot myself i got some tips 😅
1st i know 3d printed frame sounds nice in theory but sadly the problem with those is the vibrations that come from those.
Carbon frames are much stiffer and so mich easier to tune. And you can get replacement parts for most quite cheap.
2nd lighter batteries are better, like 1100mah to 1500mah. Those exta 600mah of the larger one wont give more flighttime cause of the increased weight.
And 3rd i know it seems intuitive to point the camera down like with dji drones but its a lot harde to fly like that. Try a little bit of uptilt start with like 10degrees on both the fpv cam and gopro. The reason for that is that u want to be flying foreward which means you will tilt forward. So if u tilt the cam upwards it will be level when u tilt to fly foreward. Oh and also tighten the fpv cam so it cant move up or down in angle 👍
I really hope you generously compensated the creator of the frame for sharing, helping you build, pick suitable parts, troubleshoot and generate ad revenue with this video :D such a nice guy
Yep. He got paid.
Nice!
I'm very happy to see FPV on this channel! You should try a digital system for video if you enjoy the analog experience.
I love 3d printing frames but they have so many issues I didn't know about until recently. They cause a lot of noise for the flight controller that makes the fc work harder and can cause fly away, unstable tunes, prop wash etc etc. Modern carbon fiber frames are also really resilient. I usually buy 2 of a frame and never have to open the other package even after crashing dozens of times.
Thanks for the tip :-)
Digital is awesome but very very expensive. Wait till you get into the hobby some more before you invest
This is very cool! This makes me want to build one of my own design. I would recommend putting some rubber dampeners on the flight controller and reinforcing the body with Carbon Fibre.
I could feel the frustration and heartbreak in the clip of the drone falling in the field
That 3d printed frame will have way too much give to fly ‘well’. You’ll get gyro oscillations and general unstable flying as your skill base grows. I’d highly recommend a 5” frame from Amazon. They can be had for as little as $30 usd.
Another note. You typically don’t want anything above the FC for maximum electrical noise isolation. The ESC is the noisiest component so it’s best at the bottom of the stack. The only thing i’ll put on top of a FC is the RX usually just for packaging constraints. Check out Thingiverse for printable TPU holders for your RX to make it secure and electrically isolated without having to wrap it with tape of some sort.
I'd highly recommend using PLA+ filament instead of PETG. PETG might be a bit stronger but also less stiff and for a drone frame you really want the stiffness. PLA+ also can be "baked" to make it more crash resistant. I have also 3D printed drones before and after switching from PETG to PLA+ oscillations greatly decreased and I was able to use less aggressiv PID settings.
As someone who's been doing this for a few years now, a few tips. Don't use a 3D printed frame, it flexes too much causing the oscillations you were seeing, buy a carbon fibre one, they last a lot longer too, especially if you get a proper "name brand" one rather than a cheap knockoff (Armattan have a lifetime warranty, so if you break anything, you just have to pay shipping, other good brands are ImpulseRC/Ethix, Catalyst Machineworks, Ummagawd, GEPRC, iFlight, and there's a heap more, but that's a good start). Next, put your ESC on the bottom of the stack, and shorten the motor wires. Capacitor isn't needed for 4S but still recommended, but you definitely need to lock your battery straps into the drone a lot tighter so they don't flop into the props (the balance lead will tuck nicely under one of the velcro straps too). Your battery is too large for a 5" drone, I'd suggest a 1500 mAh one. The rest of your parts are very good, but your VTX is overkill unless you unlock it and go beyond the 25mW limits you have there.
Beyond that, pick up a simulator for your computer, Velocidrone and Liftoff are the two most popular, and practice there. If you want to get into tricks, don't worry about learning angle mode, as the techniques are quite different. Personally I spent about 5 hours in the sim before I could do a coordinated turn (using both roll and yaw at the same time) properly, and about 10 hours before I went out with my actual drone.
Always cool to get an outsider's view on our amazing hobby that is FPV!
Heh quite a coincidence, I started building my fpv drone around the time you did your original video.
I actually finished it but a very bad choice of goggles and camera coupled with my being a total noob flying made me put it in a drawer and forget about it.
I just randomly picked it back up and got it running a week ago, started training in a simulator and got a better fpv setup. Now this video comes out :)
Good luck practicing your skills, the simulators like liftoff really helped me get over the initial fears of crashing or hitting someone.
11:45 Uses flush cutters but doesn't cut flush the tie wraps. 👀😉
You dont know how much i was waiting for this video and now its here .
Hi greatscott! Happy to see you flying fpv drone!! oscillation can be caused too by the stifness of the arm. Get a carbon fiber frame :)
Thanks for the tips!
7 of the top 9 comments advise on a carbon frame and they're correct, too! The TBS Source One is dirt cheap, tested and approved by lots of pilots. Lighter, stiffer and stronger. Other than that and the power lead getting chopped: good job!
Overall people tend to go with a lighter battery on a 5" for maneuverability and a bigger battery like yours for mountain surfing on 7" quads but if you like it, that's the way you should fly it.
It's funny how building and flying an FPV quad is almost like second nature to me but a learning process for you. I'm usually in awe of your knowledge and skills but FPV quads are where I learned most of what I know about electronics so that's like a baseline in my head.
I love seeing you get into FPV! It's perfect given all your other content. My first build 6 years ago was also (mostly) 3D printed. Racing drones have come a long way since then, and 3D printing makes it all so much easier!
Now you can finally make a DIY or Buy episode about Drones/Quadcopters :D
Maybe one day. For now I am pretty happy with this result.
From personal experience, I have printed drone frames for fun with custom designs, but usually having more solid infill is the best (with minimal cooling) as the arms become very rigid and hard to flex. Awesome job though, building is always the most fun part of the process, and this definitely looked like an exciting project to build!
That also happened to me when I build a drone with my friend for school project :
- Aluminium frame without proper precision control and use epoxy putty to attach leg from body.
- Gyroscope module taped with 2 side tape
- No clue what's PID control
- Zapped one of multiwii board because what's different between RS-232 and UART (I connected RS-232 output to UART port that supposed TTL logic level)
- One of rotor decided to seperated from stator
- more epic fails
It's interesting to see this video for me because I have built a few drones in my life and find it easy at this point. Normally I watch your videos feeling like a bit of an electronics noob to learn something. Now I'm watching you discover something new that I already feel competent in and that gives me joy, because it's cool to see someone's progress in "your own field".
BTW I feel your pain with FrSky binding. ;)
Had not thought we'd survive to see this video release but here we are ❤️
Keep it up ! I've been flying FPV drones for since 2016, it changed my life.....and my career
This is the cutest FPV Drone tutorial I have seen. Congrats on your first fpv build!🎉♥
I really love this. I built a FPV drone myself this year and had lots of the same problems as you had. It did not take 5 years to complete, but like 4 months.
nice one. first FPV flights are most exhilerating. thanks for sharing!
From someone who is donig this for a while, welcome to this amazing hobby!
to give you some general advice:
-get some hours in a simulator before trying to fly irl
-NEVER start such a drone in your handy, this is really dangerous
and to add some comments to your build:
-get a real carbon fiber frame, this printed one has way too much flex and breaks immediately
-use a shorter antenna
-your batteries are a bit big, soemthign in the 1300-1800mAh range would be better
Nice topic ;)
The biggest downside of printed frames is the resonance behavior. That can lead to oscillations in the pid loop and can cause flyaways and shaky video. Carbon is waaaaay more durable and even stiffer.
Also the vtx antenna causes massive oscillations. The rule is to get it as short and stiff as possible (stubby antenna) ✌
Sponsored by Keysight? That says a lot about the quality of this channel! Great job!
Fun build! The esc beeps tell you the FC reinitialized so you can trace it back to a connection/supply issue. Not the cap though. Cheers Bud
13:36 Lawnmower-Drone, 👌😉👍, Great Idea Scott ❗
Thanks 👍
Love it! ❤️
A good build for ya would be something along the lines of a "babytooth" build which is a light 1s 3" that weighs like 60g with a battery. Very agile, super quiet, can still go nearly 100kph. The original babytooth frame is shipped from the US, but look around for other 3" toothpick style frames, ~1302 11000kv motors, 600mah (gnb) 1s, aio whoop board, and the other bits. Love my build! Or for more power build one with 1303 5000kv motors in 3s.
Yeah, these things often gain huge benefit from clean electricity, minimal vibrations, and good PIDs. The low ESR capacitor is obviously going to soak up the little spikes, your filters would greatly benefit from bi-directional DShot and RPM filtering (flash Bluejay if you're on a BLHeli-S board), and usually stock Betaflight PIDs will at least let you fly. Good on you for your first build though!
Nice project! I’ll add my opinion with everyone else’s. The stock beta flight pids should work pretty good with a standard weight 5in. Your battery is quite large and heavy, this will probably need pid adjustments or a smaller battery. Flex in the frame may be an issue but I think major gains could be had with better esc/fc mounting. With the heavy esc on top and free mounted long bolts the whole assembly will move too much. I would install the long bolts with nuts mounted tight to the frame. Esc (heavy) on the bottom and FC on the top. Don’t squish the rubber too much. Great job!
I'm a bit late to the video but welcome to FPV! You didn't mention reshaping the arms to better fit the 5" props. Plastic is heavier than the carbon frames we typically use and 5" props are a bit less efficient than 6" would be esp for the motor size and extra frame weight
Hey, fpv flyer here, there is a reason frames are made of carbon fiber, mainly they are incredibly hard to break on soft grass, and as they are more rigid, they tend to vibrate less, and will make pid tuning way more easyer.
If you want to get more in depth with the frame design and pid tuning, look at Chris Rosser's youtube channel, and DaveC_FPV for more creative ideas on frame design.
A good option for an affordable 5" chassis is the Steele Apex, and if you want the best for the vibration dampening, the AOS 5 is a good choice too (made by chris rosser)
Other than that, a 3D printed frame is fun for the experiment, but will limit your PID tuning ability in the long run.
Holy crap when did you get almost 2 million subs?!? Nice! Javol!!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who had an unusually difficult time building a drone from scratch. Great job!
Ots funny to read Scott call himself idiot, when several of the betaflight and other drone parts developers learn loads from him. The VESC video, FOC video and other ESC based videos are the reason why we have some of the cool features in our modern blheli32 ESCs. Videos on PID control by electronoob and Scott also made it easy for drones to simplify tuning.
Excellent video breaking down the process of how to build a quad from a beginner's perspective!! I would recommend trying out a sim, and you should be able to use your controller as a joy stick if it has a USB plug. For a sim, I would recommend using Liftoff or DRL, both of which are on steam. You can crash all day on those and not spend a penny!
We have an IOT subject this semester and thanks to your vids i already know a lot of stuff already
Strap a 3s on it if you want to tame it down and get used to it first. Also that 4s battery is HUGE!!!!
Most FPV freestyle use smaller batteries, shorter flight time but way more maneuverability
Great video! Can't afford to finish mine right now, so I'm drooling over yours.
01:45 that smile!!!!!! awesome. I only watch the video for the smile.
I haven't Fully finish this video but I can say it's lit. I was searching my first drone build for part I was mind blown by many choices. Now i can finally understand. Thank you
The capacitor part is a nice punch line. You are a great comedian!
I made one in college using a Pi and arduino with some extra sensors and it worked pretty well. At the time the only leveling software was some open source stuff but it was really basic and rough. It's interesting that this stuff is now all in one board.
But the software is still open source and likely can trace its origins to the same place as yours
Maybe reducing the maximum power or throttle input might be a good idea to start with, one of the most important things first time flyers have to learn is that the adjustments you make during flight are incredibly miniscule, give your sticks say half the max throttle they can have using a linear curve, you'll be able to get used ot making finer adjustments with a larger throw on your controller, then bring the curve back up once you get more used to it so you can get into the acrobatics.
That's really cool! Coincidentally just a couple of days ago my dad asked me if I knew anything about making a motor controller for a remote control aeroplane, so I think I'll have to do some research into this stuff too.
As for the frame: you can try printing with something stiffer and a little stronger, like PP, PC, ASA. Also, often using a wider nozzle (0.6mm, 0.8mm) and/or increasing number of perimeters help
I'd recommend a lighter (carbon) frame (they are really strong, just buy a 2 spare arms when you buy the frame and you'll be set for years to come). Furthermore, those motors have quite high kv (2400kv on 4s is more than enough), so you could use some lighter pitch props to gain some flight time. And lastly, like mentioned by others, your batteries are quite high in capacity, and therefore heavy. Try some 1500mah 4s lipo (for example the cnhl black ones). The weight reductions mentioned above in combination with a lighter lipo should get you about 5 minutes of flight time!
I would highly recommend going with a carbon, of the shelf frame. Especially if you don't know how to tune yet, you will have so much better results with a carbon frame: way stiffer, less oscillations and you don't need to worry about crashing (especially if you are only flying in the field). For most of them you can get spare arms and just swap them, should they break.
Thank you for posting this. You have really sparked a desire to build my own drone now! This could be a really good winter build project.
Loved your video, this is very similar to how I got into FPV almost 3 years ago, frustrations and all. Been hooked ever since. Enjoy!
Nice work! Congrats on getting past the steep learning curve that can be frustrating for many people interested in getting started with fpv. I hope you have more videos in the future following your progress.
hi Great Scott, i like your videos :>
i am a fpy pilot but i have no drone yet so I practiced in a simulator her are my recommendations and information
* practice in a simulator
* avoid 3D printed parts except for the gopro mount
* if possible use a better controller/transmitter like RADIOMASTER (optional)
* avoid exposing the battery cable near the props as when you crash it will get chopped up
i hope you will have a great and fun flight out there :>
that's all from me stay safe and happy flying :)
There was a time when the only way to get into the drone hobby was building it yourself. I built many drones in those days. These days the pre-built drones have just gotten so good that it is usually not worth building one. There are still cases where building is the right way to go but the average drone pilot will be far better served buying an ARF. You often times still need to install a receiver but you can even find many with the receiver built in.
cool video!
as someone who has been into fpv for a few years now i would love to work with you on an updated version for this drone.
plus a tip, it is really important to not test the drone with propllers on as it can lead to severe injuries.
Also, gopro mounts are best when made out of tpu, it will isolate some of the vibrations ('jello') and is mostly more durable since it will bend rather than break
Würde dir empfehlen in einem Simulator zu üben, Liftoff ist mein Favorit. Es empfiehlt sich direkt mit dem acro Modus zu üben. Wenn man das drauf hat, hat man die drohne mehr unter Kontrolle als im angle Modus.
Ein sehr schönes Hobby!
This video is 50FPS and 1440p
wao, nice move greatscott
;-) I think 50FPS looks better with the fly sequences.
Excellent video. Was good to see it finally fly! I didn't think the piloting was *that* bad either.
Thank you for doing this. If you hadn’t I might have been tempted to attempt it myself, which would have resulted in hours of frustration and possibly mental health issues. Now I see why commercial drones are so expensive.
Go from the 3 blade to the 2 blade propellers, it wont feel as like crazy powerful, the more blades the hard it will turn amd maneuver. And i also recommend adjusting your motors in the firmware. The stock setup never works for me anyways! 👍🏼
Building is fun but it's only half the journey. I enjoy building them more than I do flying them. It's a big learning curve figuring out how to fly them and change the settings. But it is very rewarding flying them around and first person view with goggles
oh my XD ima fpv Freestyle pilot and i never do this kind of study about the trust of motors and nothing like that, if it dsnt burns its oke XDD nice video dude and continue doing that epic things
and couple of things, both the battery and the frame I don't think they have the most appropriate power-to-weight ratio (I would lower the battery capacity), those things make the drone very unstable this kind of frame is build for cinematic.
and that's silly but the TBS antennas give a range in the shape of a donut leaving the logo and the connector being radios of bad frequency, well take a look and I know you will build a monster!
pd: the propellers are fine! belive
Really nice guide and build!
But not cutting the zipties at the bottom triggered the hell out of me, especially while using a flush wirecutter 😂 Nice video!
Sorry!
@@greatscottlab They can really give you a surprisingly nasty cut.
Welcome to the great hobby of FPV! Its well worth to learn acro mode with a simulator. You might want to try the free DRL sim or Liftoff for like 10€, but DRL is free and great to learn. This safes a lot of money and has a very realistic feeling when used with the original drone controller
you finally made it in the FPV world! was waiting long enough for that :D
Thanks for the insight of making it! there is soooo much to try and learn in the fpv/drone world!
Great video! Always nice to see more people get into the hobby
I see other commenters have already yelled at you to get a different frame, so I won't touch on that... But I would like to point out that technically, you probably need a license to fly the drone in the EU. Not that difficult to get (just an online course/exam), and depending on the course provider it's free!
3d printed frames alone can cause tons of vibration that will cause feedback loops with the pid controller. I would look into carbon fiber. If you absolutely have to make it yourself check out the source one open source frame. There is files to cut it yourself. Love your channel since getting into fpv I like knowing the how things work and you do great at explaining it all. I look forward to seeing you progress with your flying 🤙 if you need any help with betaflight feel free to hit me up. Looking into black box explorer or pid toolbox as a side program to explore flight data is always a good idea. Welcome to the fun of FPV 🙂 it gets very deep very quick 🤣
I just realized you have the esc on top also you should try to avoid this the flight controller is very sensitive to the emi from the esc/motors/motor wires
While this content is neither novel or groundbreaking, it’s a good beginner video. DIY Drones have been covered in depth for years by the likes of Bardwell, Mads Tech, Painless, and the late project Blue Falcon. However these channels specialize in DIY drones, so they would be my first go to for help imo.
If you want to try a small racing drone, I highly recommend the EMAX TinyHawk Race 2. I know it's not DIY but is a ton of fun for it's price. Very fast too compared to the starter kit brushed FPV quad you have. If you plan on staying analog for VTX, I also recommend EV800Ds. Having a bigger viewing screen really makes the experience that much more immersive and I find myself having trouble going back to a smaller headset.