First Build --- Knuckle Quad

     I watched a video on you tube of a quad coptor going up into the clouds, it stopped just above them, spun slowly around, you could see the wind, clouds, sun rising just above the clouds, it was breath taking to me, I immediatly knew I had to learn more about flying a quadcoptor for aerial photography.

   So began my journey of learning about multi rotors, how to build them, how to fly them, etc. This led me to finding flite test online, I have learned from them and been inspired by them to learn to fly and build my own flying gizmo, a learning process that will lead me to aerial photography in time I hope.

  I decided to write an article outlining the build process, from why and what I wanted to build, to hopefully successful flight. To share my experience for reader enjoyment and perhaps inspire someone to go ahead and build a multi rotor that they have been thinking about building.  If I can do it, anyone can.  I will show the final cost of the build as I wanted to build this on a low budget, keep it simple and make it easy to repair when needed. There were some trials and tribulations along the way, but that is a part of the FUN of building.  Using logic and learning to overcome things that are problematic during a design and build, which leads to a better understanding of the craft you are building.

  LEARNING TO FLY:

 I bought a dromida for my first quad to learn to fly with. I learned to fly in the house. There is not much room to fly inside, so my skills are still very limited. First I learned to hover, then move in all directions, spin, turn, up , down . Then I learned to fly with all orientations of the coptor, this has been the most difficult aspect to conquer, resulting in many crashes.  As of yet i have not broken 1 thing on the dromida. I have had 2 motors burn out, which led me to purchase quite a few extra motors.

    I tried flying the dromida outside, but it was'nt fun or successful for me. Its winter time here and there is always wind and cold, the dromida does not do well in the wind because it is so light, all flights outside were in the wind, in my back yard, and I spent the whole time trying to keep it out of tree's or to keep it from crashing into garages, fences, sheds, houses.
    Which resulted in no fun, only stress for me as a beginner flyer. This made me look at the money i spent on spare motors, spare parts, extra batteries for the dromida and the limited flying time it would give me because it cant be flown (atleast by me) on a day with much wind at all, and since I need to learn how to fly outdoors to do aerial photography. I realized I needed something heavier and more powerful. I looked at a few quads that are RTF, but decided to build one to my specifications, also I wanted to learn and enjoy a build, which will eventually lead me to build my own aerial multi rotor, of which I envision being around 700 mm in size for added stability and easier for my old eyes to see.

CUSTOM BUILD BENEFITS: you can design and build a multirotor to fit your flying desires and budget

  I wanted my first quad to be medium size quad, around 400 mm, easy to see, one I could learn to do tricks with, fast and powerful, not expensive, repairable, and something big enough that I might add FPV to in the future.
   WHAT TO BUILD:  I decided to build a knuckle quad as seen on flite test. This design fits my needs of budget and repairability. I bought the kit minus the wood for the arms, because mine would be larger than the kit.

painted parts

frame put together with motors installed and distribution board prepped for wiring

  All of the electronics mounted and wired. I Used wire ties on the gear, KK board mounted on foam to shield it from vibration, reciever is attached with velcro.

 GEAR USED FOR THE BUILD:  Knuckle Quad Kit

KK2.1.5 Flight Controller

  I chose the power pack offered by Altitude Hobbies, this came as a great relief to me to have someone group a power package for me. I still do not understand how to match props to motors fully, there is seemingly an endless amount of combinations that can lead to too high of amp pull and motor burnout.  I am very glad to see flite test now selling various power packs for multi rotors as I will surely purchase from them for my next build.

Orangerx 6 channel radio and receiver        Motor: 4x  Suppo 2208/14 1450kv Brushless Outrunners            ESCs: 4x  iPeaka 22A Brushless ESC w/ SimonK firmware

Props: 2x  pairs 8045 multicopter props (CW & CCW)        Weight :: 733g -- 1.6 lbs Frame   919g (2lbs) with 2200mah 3S lipo battery      

 15 1/4" center to center -- diagonally -- motor to motor, so its 387mm in size

 FIRST PROBLEM:

  At first I used a power distribution board, but it turned out to be faulty, which I found out during table testing luckily. I was having intermittent power problems to one of my motors, so I grabbed the main wires from the power board and wiggled them and sustained a full power loss, telling me that the board had bad connections.
I had to take it out and created a spider rig for power wires, that I had seen a video on, which has worked out well.   Another issue i had was the bullet connectors on one of my motors, they were not factory soldered well.  I re-soldered 2 of them, the third one seemed ok, but eventualy I found it to be bad as well and I lost confidence in that motor and replaced it with an extra I had bought. I highly recommend purchasing an extra motor or 2 and some extra motor shaft.

 ALMOST THERE:     I was so anxious to fly my creation, I finally got a decent day, it was around 35 F, 5 to 7 mph winds. I did change some of my settings on the KK board gains, from the factory settings, based on many articles I read. I softened the gains for my radio on the kk board, as well as setting dual rates and expos on my radio, after spending about 2 days to gain an understanding of my radio, translating airplane terminology to quads, and finally gaining a basic understanding of what dual rates and expos really are.

   Maiden flight in my backyard ::    To my surprise and delight my quad lifted off of the ground and hovered well .  I had issues with the wind and the cold, which led to a few hard landings, which resulted in 3 broken props.  I also had some issues with being able to arm the kk board at times. I found that having too low of settings in some areas on the kk board would not allow it to arm.

   I had programmed throttle kill on my radio for saftey purposes, which turned out to be a great thing because you can kill the throttle and pick up your quad safely, make adjustments on the kk board, set it back down, then throttle back on without having to unplug the battery everytime.

   I was nervous about flying my creation for the first time, I didnt want to crash it hard lol, also using the orange rx for the first time was intimidating as I had only used the small type radio on the dromida.   I did get to fly the thing around in the limited space of my back yard, so for that it was a complete success for a first build, which made me happy.

   PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED::  1) I was not able to get the kk board settings where they should be, not enough time due to the cold air, wind, crashes,and being a little nervous.  I never did feel totaly in control of the quad, but it was not "out of control " either. I learned alot from this maiden flight, made notes, and decided on changes to the settings on my radio, kk board and quad.

2) landing gear was too bouncy, exposed blades lead to broken props when landing to fast--quad would tip and break prop on the ground. The radio and quad were not dialed in to my comfort.

3) Also I realized I needed more open space to fly in, to allow me to relax and not worry about crashing into things.

4) I had painted the front of the quad flourescent green and still had some trouble distinguishing the front side for orientation at times, wanted a dome to protect the kk board.

PROBLEM SOLVING:     The landing gear I had previously made was from large wire ties, it was way too bouncy and caused problems when landing. Sometimes it would bounce a foot high and several feet sideways, skipping like a flat rock on water.  After looking at many different designs of landing gear I got the idea to use a plastic coat hanger, the bottom part . So I cut the hook off and held the rest of the hanger up to see how it would fit and look, then decided to try the hook part instead to save on weight.  For me this has worked out well, its flexible, which helps to keep it from breaking, and it holds the quad up higher, keeping the props from hitting grass and twigs when taking off or landing.  I attached them using wire ties. I have used wire ties to attach the motors and ESC's on my my quad, which I learned from Josh, this allows the wire ties to break and not the gear, great idea !  Also I have used velcro on the battery and KK board. The only bolts I used were on the knuckles themselves.

    I realized that the plastic coat hangers could have many uses for quad building, you can buy 6 hangers for $1 at the dollar store. You can cut them very easily, bend them after heating with a lighter, hot water or heat gun. The only issue so far is painting them, paint doesnt stick very well to the plastic but i think i can solve that by lightly sanding them to rough it up and give the paint the ability to stick.

        I put "training wheels" of sorts on the quad, to protect the props until such a time I feel my flying skills are solid enough to not need them.  I purchsed some blade guards that turned out to be too small, then added some plastic to them to save props, as well as adding pieces on the side to aid in saving props on tilted landings.

    I found a styrofoam ball at hobby lobby, cut it in half, dug out the middle of one half with an exacto knife and a spoon, to make a dome for the quad. It is attached to the frame with velcro, which allows it to stay secure when flying and easy off when I want it off.  I cut out a hole in the dome so i could see the light on the reciever to ensure it is bound to the radio.

     Also after watching the flite test video where Eric tilted his motor 10 degrees or so and stated that it added stability to the quad, well it made sense to me, so when I added my blade quards I used an inch long piece of a large wire tie as a shim to tilt the motors in to add stability to the craft at hover. This turned out well, each motor is tilted the same and they are still tight enough on the frame using wire ties to attach motors on the wood frame.

   I made all of my quad mods based on the problems I encountered, painted it, changed settings on kk board and radio and waited for a break in the bad weather to go fly and get the gains set on my KK board.

        Second Flight :: After 3 weeks I finaly got a decent day to go fly. This time I chose a park and had about 100 yards of open space on 3 sides. No one else was in the park as it was not a sunny day, it was very cloudy and grim, but was 45 degrees F, light wind 1 to 3 mph.

  I sat the quad down in the wet grass, walked back about 15 feet, armed it and lifted off.  My intention that day was to get the gains on the kk board dialed in, but did not get to do that because I was having so much FUN flying in this open space !!!

 IN THE AIR:   I had to adjust the trims to get the quad stable in the wind. After a few minutes of getting the feel for the radio, stick response and overall control of the quad, I realized that my creation was responding perfect. I felt one with the machine ! it was exhilerating !   It was hovering very stable and my sticks were set perfectly soft for me. After moving the quad in all directions, spinning it, going up and down, getting a feel for everything I decided to stretch my wings and fly around. Which I could do safely in this area as there were no close by obstacles or people to worry about hitting.   Everything went very well, it felt as if I was flying it with my mind and not my fingers on a radio, this is the best way I can describe it. I was amazed at the speed of the quad when I pushed it, and by how much I felt in control of the machine.

   I put it in a hover about 6 feet off of the ground and pushed it straight up ......WOW !  jaw dropping speed ! I remembered a flite test build episode where Josh put a 4S lipo on a new build and shot it up verticle and it just disappeared into the sky in a split second !  I wanted that !  and got it, on a 3S lipo.  I was grinning ear to ear !!!  It felt amazing to have put 3 months of learning, creating, building into this magical flying machine and have it totaly exceed my expectations of performance in all areas.

  CLOSE CALL:     At one point I wanted to see the yaw rate and began spinning and raising it up at the same time. I got a little higher than I probably should have, the wind got ahold of it a bit, it also seemed to act weird for a few seconds, I may have buzzed the gyros as it was spinning very very fast,( this happens on my dromida sometimes when making too fast of turns ) then I lost sight of which way was the front of the quad due to being approx. 100 yards high and my old eyes and the dark skies.  After a few anxious moments I was able to determine the orientation and began to gain control and brought it back down safely.  All of the in the house orientation training with the dromida, paid off in that moment, it gave me enough confidence to not panic and bring it home safe.

   This first flight felt like it lasted forever ..... I didnt want it to end, but I eventually heard the battery alarm sound off and reluctantly brought it back for a battery change out. I put in the second battery and it would not arm ?  So I increased some settings on the kk board and my radio rates, I remembered this issue from the maiden flight. The quad still would not arm, purplexed I went thru all radio and kk settings again and found I had the throttle rate on the KK set to 90, I moved that up to 100 and it armed.

 SECOND FLIGHT OF THE DAY:  I put in another battery, anxious to fly again !   This time after I had changed the settings on the kk board and radio to get it to arm, it did not feel as dialed in. The quad did have some wobble in it on hover.  After a few minutes of flying I felt I still had control of it and I decided to just fly instead of taking the time to change the settings back to where I started the day at.   It still flew very well and I pushed it a lot harder this time. I am amazed by its speed and agility still. During the build I questioned what the overall weight would be as well as what the power of the motors would be, being my first ever build, but it turned out to have plenty of power and I think this quad will be a great flyer to fly and continue to learn how to fly.

   I used my radio's timer on this flight, it was around 8.5 minutes.  Also this run I ran the quad very hard to see what it had under the hood, so i think I will get around 12 minutes of flight time with a fully charged 2200mah 3S battery when performing a normal type flight.  I have 4 batteries total, 2200mah, 2600mah, 3300mah, 3600 mah.  In the future I will be studying these batteries for flight time as well as seeing how the different battery weights will effect quad performance.

LIMITATIONS:  I still am limited to flying in straight lines, I havent flown enough outside to be able to learn how to fly in a circle or do figure eights, but I am confident that I will be able to learn with this quad and I believe this quad will be able to do flips and such, when I get to that skill level.  I also did some range testing, as in how far away I could tell its orientation and be able to know exactly which way is the front of the machine. Even with using flourescent green paint on the front end, I still have trouble determining orientaion after about 50 yards.

 I installed LED lights to aid with oreintation issues I was having

   I had purchased some 12 volt led lighting strips, with the intent of using them on the quad for visual effect and now have installed them on the quad and am anxious to fly once again and see how much they help me to always be able to determine orientation of the quad.  

     THOUGHTS AFTER SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT:   After receiving 12" of snow last night, I know I won’t be able to fly again soon enough, to test the lights and get my KK board  dialed in, so instead I decided to write this article. This new hobby has been so much fun !  I enjoy learning. Also I needed something to do during the winter, and I know there will be many more fun times ahead for me as I continue to learn, as the weather gets better, and I will be sharing my new found RC hobby with my kids and hope to get them inspired as well !

   I forgot to mention that I installed a switch for the lights on the quad, as i want the option to be able to turn them off.  Also I will install a switch between the battery and electronics as I do not like the arcing that happens when i plug in a battery.  I fear this may damage the FC over time.

Estimated cost to build ::

KK FC board--$29      4 motors ,4 ESC, 4 props--$100.00  various silicone wire and heat shrink--approx.$5  all of the above I purchased from Altitude Hobbies

Knuckle Hub Kit--$12.00   from flite test store

paint--$9    wood --$3.58    nuts n bolts--$3.00   purchased at Lowes

2600mah 3S lipo battery -- $24   B6AC battery charger--$60    Top Flite prop balancer--$20  purchased from Motion RC

Orangerx Radio--$65  Orangerx reciever, 6 channel--$5   shipping approx $30 for these--I ordered other items as well from HobbyKing  

Dome--$7.00  Hobbylobby

Misc supplies --approx $15

Grand Total--- $448 

Cost for the Quad only---$208  including battery

   I feel like this is a great value to be able to have a high quality quad coptor that fits your own needs/wants. Consider the dromida that I purchased for $80, then add on extra parts, motors and batteries, I have about $150 invested in it.  The quad I built is 10 times the dromida in quality and power.  But I believe someone new to quad flying should start off with a quad such as the dromida to learn on first, it is a very tough quad and parts are inexpensive and most likely can be purchased from a local hobby shop.

3/8/15-- Decent day out so I took my quad out for a spin !  

  I was able to the KK board dialed in today.  Went thru 4 batteries of flying !   It handles like a dream.  I flew with the LED lights I installed and they were a huge success.  It helped me alot in being able to determine orientation of the quad up to distances around 100 yards.  I got 10 to 13 minutes of flight time out of my batteries, I wish it was double that !  From what I have seen in the many articles I have read, this amount of time seems to be pretty good.

  My biggest battery is 3700mah 3S, which gave me 3 more minutes of flight over the smallest, which is 2200mah 3S.

 FINAL CHANGES AND THOUGHTS:
     I took off the prop guards, they were unsightly and didnt work as planned.  I changed what I had to a 3.5" piece of plastic coat hanger to act as a tip over stop.  These do work as intended and look more aesthetic as well.

   I am very happy with my quad in all aspects.  I was able to create the craft that I wanted in all aspects, cost, size, handling, easy to repair, simple.  It exceeds my expectations in handling and I look forward to many more flights with hopes of fun and increasing my flying skills.  I enjoyed each step in the process, from design to eventual flight, learned so much along the way.  It is very satisfying to build something from nothing and end up with a flying machine that does what you wanted it to. If you have been thinking of building a multi rotor, just do it !  It will be a very rewarding experience.

 Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed my article.

             Come on Spring Time !   I want to FLY !!!