Man may not be able to take flight on his own; nevertheless, it does not stop him from reaching the skies in every way possible. The Wright brothers winged our imagination for flight and since then we have continually perfected the art of defying gravity. We’ve taken it to greater heights by manning machines that take flight from a touch of a remote control. Highly sophisticated, state of the art technology goes into manufacturing a commercial drone. Drones such as the DJI Phantom, Mavic and Go Pro drones are made to withstand extreme situations with outstanding agility while simultaneously recording the sharpest and most stabilized 4K footage. As appealing as all these features may sound, they come with a massive price, setting you back no short of at least $800. So how can you manage to enjoy the experience of owning your personal drone without breaking the bank? Make one yourself.
CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT HOMEMADE DRONES CAN BE MADE FOR LESS THAN A QUARTER OF THE COST OF AN INDUSTRY GRADE DRONE, YOUR IMAGINATION CAN TAKE FLIGHT WITHOUT TAKING YOUR SAVINGS IN THE PROCESS.
Tools for Take Off
You may think that sophisticated machinery would take ages to make but there is actually less than meets the eye. The procedure, as expected, begins with gathering inventory. The construction primarily requires a frame, 4 motors, propellers, the flight controller, and the electronic speed controller (ESC), a signal transmitter, an RC copter controller and a battery. All these components are fairly easy to find in most hardware stores, except the flight controller and the ESC, which can be easily found online at cheap prices. Once all of the components are accumulated, the building can begin!
Let the Building Begin
The framework to building a drone quite literally starts with a frame; you can either construct one using wood, plastic, spare chunks of metal or go for a prebuilt cheap frame. The most popular form is the quadcopter structure, housing all the electronics on the drone. The next step is to install four motors, on each of the four corners of the drone, using a driller and screws to position it tightly into place. The wiring from the motors should be carefully kept out of reach of the propeller, as it will be subsequently attached. The wires will later be connected to the control unit. Once the motors are ready, the propellers simply need to be tightened onto it. These few simple steps conclude the building portion of the process.
Creating “Command”
Every flying drone must have a control system, which processes the shifts and changes in the direction of air to keep it stable. Ready-to-use controllers can be purchased online and can be fitted onto the center of the drone using tight screws to fix it into its position. Then the Electronic Speed Controller has to be drilled into the bottom side of the drone, leaving space on the top for other essential elements and balancing out both sides. The remaining top space has to be utilized for assembling the battery and the mini signal transmitter. The transmitter may be screwed onto the frame while the battery is taped onto it, as it will have to be removed and charged frequently.
Finishing Formations
All elements of the drone will need proper connectivity to operate. Connecting wires will have to be linked from the battery to the motors as well as the flight controller, signal transmitter, and ESC. Input wiring from the motors, ESC and the signal transmitter will have to be accordingly inserted into the flight controller. Once that is done, the signal transmitter will have to be tuned to the same frequency as the RC copter controller, for it to receive commands.
Upon completion, the build will be ready to take off unless you want to capture every moment of your “flight”; a dedicated gimbal and an action camera will provide a decent stabilized video output.
Making a DIY drone at home is quite elementary and fairly intuitive. A homemade drone may not be able to compete with the qualities of a commercial drone but it does, however, give one a great bang for the buck. Considering the fact that homemade drones can be made for less than a quarter of the cost of an industry grade drone, your imagination can take flight without taking your savings in the process.
