Drones are GOOD, Drones are FUN, , and Droning is a big adventure just waiting for you.
To get to the nitty gritty first. 3 years ago I was a Newbie just like you. I knew that UAV’s looked like fun and I loved photography and at first sight these 2 things went together like fries and a burger. They still do!. In those dark ages of 3 yrs ago I knew Radio controlled models well and flew most weekends at the local club site. I still do fly at the club but not as much.
I looked at many drones to see which was the best way for me to get into this hobby but at the same time keep my wallet and my Blonde person Happy….Happy Spouse, Happy life!
Talking of Happy people…. Before I start please go and check the legal Stuff page and make sure you operate your UAV legally and correctly for your country, especially respect the location of airports and other prohibited areas for your flights. In some countries Registration is required for UAV’s over a certain weight or size. Please follow the rules and always give way to full sized aircraft even if they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. it happens.
Ok, Back to UAV’s
So the choice was huge, Quadcopters from 40$ to 4000$, 4 rotors to 8 rotors, a bunch of electronics that meant very little to me and tales of “Flyaways” and UAV’s dropping from the sky like flaming meteorites. Fixed wing planes that took to the sky and were not seen again, wings folding on launch with too many batteries and the dreaded exploding battery lipo issue all stood in the way of a happy flight. There MUST be a better way?? Well, there is, read on.
This blog will take you through the path to a well controlled and capable UAV that you can fly everyday knowing it will return in a safe manner. you will learn from the mistakes I made in the past and gain expert knowledge for your own UAV operation whether its for fun, for photography or mapping of large areas for research or for crop analysis. Each activity has its own challenge that I will address in this Blog, give me time, its a long and complicated story I hope you will enjoy. If you wish to ask questions please do so, you are welcome to use the contact page from the menu at the top of the site, I will try to reply ASAP. I have added pages for Mulicopters and for Fixed wing builds and in these pages I will try to list the parts that I use with a supplier or a link. this will save you a lot of searching time.
My first UAV turned out to be a home made flying wing simply because I had plenty of 6mm sheet foam ready to use. I did some doodling and built my first UAV. For the first few flights it was a simple RC aircraft, I changed a few parts of it until if flew well and then started to add the UAV stuff.
Everyone has there own preferences but this is what I considered important an why.
1) The radio system MUST be 100% reliable, as I had been using Futaba since I was a boy that was and still is my first choice, yes, there are cheaper units out there that have more features BUT I know if I choose Futaba I don’t have to look at the radio if something is not doing what it should be doing, its not the radio! I use the Futaba 6EXA or 7C for everything.
2) Lipo batteries, Turnigy Nanotech batteries last a long time, give good power and have a low internal resistance, pick a size you need and get some spares. The price is always good. Make sure the connectors match your ESC and your charger. My preference is the XT60 style connectors,
3) Lipo chargers, Always choose a balancing charger and preferably a unit with AC/DC capability so you can use it at home and in the field.
4) Motors, Unit you get REALLY confident and experienced then go for a middle price motor, give the super motors a miss until you are confident the next flight will not be one where you throw the plane into the dirt. Same for propellers. Give Carbon fiber propellers a BIG miss for now, they are incredibly dangerous parts and need to be treated with respect.
5) Servos, always try to choose a servo that is suitable for its intended function, do not under size the servo to save money.
6) ESC, same as 4) go for middle of the road, the cheap ones explode, the expensive ones are an overkill and still burnout if you dive into the dirt on your first flight. here is where thought begins to win?.
My friend has deep pockets and built a foam wing the same as mine but equipped it with an expensive motor, batteries and carbon fiber prop, We would fly around in formation just having fun and his was a few miles/ hour faster but otherwise the same. On our landing field there is a tree in just the wrong place at the approach to the runway. On his last landing of the day the tree grabbed the plane from the sky as they do. The motor was still running and the prop was stopped by the tree, the plane spun around the motor and destroyed itself, the motor overheated and burned, the ESC melted and died. History does tend to repeat itself however…. several weeks later MY plane hit the same tree but this time the cheap plastic prop broke and lost both blades, the motor carried on running and the plane fell to the ground. total damage = 1 off 4$ plastic prop, damage to my friends plane = total loss. only the receiver survived. more expensive is not always better.