Parts

To build a drone, you need the following parts

• Frame
• Motors
• Flight Controller
• Propellers
• LIPO Battery
• Radio Transmitter(Controller)
• Radio Receiver

Frame Design

While you can buy carbon fiber frames online (which honestly are better because they are extremely strong), I decided to design and 3D print my own for the fun of it.

The arms are separated into 2 parts since my 3D printer can only handle parts that can fit in its 180mm x 180mm x 180 mm build volume.

CAD Model

Electronics

All of the electronics, except for the motors, are housed in the center between the battery and the bottom frame.

Tuning

In order for the drone to stay level in the air, I have to tune the PID controller, which drives the motors when the gyro sensor reports an angle different from the desired angle.

Result

Quadcopter Gallery

Crashed parts

In total, I crashed the quadcopter 3 times. Using a 3d printed frame certainly didn’t help with strength. So… stuff like this happens when it crashes.