Mission: To Build a Cheap Mini Quadcopter
I've now built a few different RC planes and enjoyed doing so. I've never really given a thought to anything else - until now!
So for the moment my attention has turned to two other RC vehicles, a high speed boat and a; mission to build my first (cheap) mini quad copter. In the next few posts I will share my experiences, including disasters.
First of all I started to trawl Youtube to find what looked like a good quadcopter. Eventually I came across this video which looked great! and decided on building my first ever Mini Quad. Also, I watched some of Bruce's videos (rcmodelreviews.com) and got some further ideas.
After sometime searching I had figured out what components were needed. The list comprised of:
- KK 2.1 flight controller
- Diatone frame (similar to QAV250/ cheap copy)
- 4x Turnigy Multistar 10 Amp Multi-rotor Brushless ESCs
- Wire, XT60 Connectors
- 4x 1804-2400Kv ZMR Motors (RSX copies as far as I can see)
- Orange 620 RX receiver
- Zip ties
- Loads of little 2mm bullet connectors
- Some male to male 10cm servo leads
- 4x Props
Next I needed to purchase each part as cheaply as possible, so I turned to ebay and those lovely chinese sellers.
With each part I compared its price (including delivery) to eBay,Amazon and Hobbyking. I became lucky as Hobbyking where running a Super Sale which enabled me to purchase the KK controller board,frame and receiver at a reduced price, the rest was purchased from the following places.
- KK2.1 flight controller (Hobbyking £11.96)
- Diatone frame (Hobbyking £9.96)
- Turnigy Multistar 10 Amp Multi-rotor Brushless ESC (Hobbyking £4.42 each)
- 1m Wire, Nylon XT60 Connectors Male/Female (5 pairs)(Hobbyking £0.98p,£2.42)
- 4x CW and CCW 1804-2400Kv ZMR Motors (eBay somewhere in China.. £25.16)
- Orange 620 RX receiver (Hobbyking £5.97)
- Zip ties (Cheap £1 shop)
- 2mm Gold Bullet Connectors 10 Pairs - Male Female Plug Socket with heatshrink (eBay, China ;) £3.88)
- 10x male to male 10cm servo leads (eBay UK, needed fast delivery so cost more.. £4.49)
- 5030 Props CW/CCW 50*3 Multi-Copter 2Pairs (eBay somewhere in China.. £2.65)
With everything ordered it was just a waiting game for it to arrive. The orders from China took about 3 weeks, Hobbyking took about 4 weeks as it was from there global store! The total cost for my quadcopter was £72 - give or take £10 for delivery as the Hobbyking orders where split, I had ordered some other items in there Super Sale.
