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So I built a drone

I’ve been contemplating getting into FPV since I was in high school, but since I lived in Chicago at the time (and I didn’t own a car) there weren’t many places for me to fly a racing drone. But once I moved to the cornfields I didn’t have an excuse, so after finding a decent deal on a pair of Fatshark goggles (and then procrastinating for 2 years) I finally decided to commit to building a drone for freestyle (and maybe racing too I guess?).

My 5″ quadcopter in all its glory

I’m honestly not sure why I find FPV appealing since I’m not an adrenaline junkie and I have no interest in recreational aircraft, but I can definitely say that this was (and will continue to be) a really fun project! Also, I feel a bit proud as this was my first “real” hardware project that didn’t get completely botched1; being able to practice soldering and proving to myself that electronics aren’t so daunting after all were honestly much more valuable to me than the drone itself.

Part list

I’m sure I made some pretty silly decisions a seasoned hobbyist would avoid (something something Amdahl’s law), but I wanted to take a crack at sourcing the parts myself. I ordered several parts that were subtly incompatible with my build and had to make quite a few returns, so if I were to do this again I would probably buy a kit instead—it would likely be cheaper and someone more knowledgeable than I would have already verified that the parts all synergize nicely.

Video

Flight Controller/ESC: Speedybee F405 V4 Stack ($68.55 @ AliExpress) :

Motors: T-Motor V2208 V2 5" ($83.15 @ AliExpress) :

Props: HQ 5x4.3x3x3V2S ($14.36 @ AliExpress) :

Controller: Jumper T20S ($139.99 @ NewBeeDrone)
Batteries: Gaoneng GNB 6S 1100mAh 120C ($27.59/ea @ Amazon)

Frame: TBS Source One V5.1 5" ($44.99 @ AliExpress) :

Simulator: VelociDrone (£16.99 @ Bat Cave Games) :

In addition to the parts listed here I also spent ~$80 on a Pinecil, solder, wire, Kapton tape, Alien tape, various adapters, a smoke stopper, and an ST-Link USB dongle.

Build

I loosely followed one of Joshua Bardwell’s excellent FPV drone builds and consulted the various manufacturer manuals to get everything wired up correctly. For getting software/firmware setup, the ELRS and Betaflight docs were also invaluable.

The hardest part for me was all the soldering, as I was quite inexperienced. I had some perfboard and spare resistors lying around, so I practiced soldering components on and then taking them off, tinning and joining wires, and using flux and a desoldering braid. Even though there was not a single through-hole component in the soldering I did for the drone, getting comfortable beforehand with a soldering iron was invaluable for the real deal and I HIGHLY recommend doing so for anyone who isn’t already proficient in soldering.

I don’t have any action shots, so just imagine an incredibly cluttered desk with a bunch of screws and dried up solder globs strewn over the place.3

Letting ’er rip

Before attaching a single prop (or perhaps even before buying most of the parts besides the controller) you should get at least a few hours under your belt in a flight sim like VelociDrone. This is a very idealized version of drone flying (negligible wind, perfect signal, sitting at your desk instead of standing in a field) but in addition to getting some much needed practice, this is a good test to see if you’re actually interested in FPV drones without sinking a few hundred bucks into one.

I still don’t really know what the ideal flying spot looks like because public parks tend to have lots of people (which makes a novice pilot like myself somewhat nervous) and most other locations are on private property, but a bit of advice is to not fly near government/police compounds4. I’m (thankfully) not speaking from experience on this one but it seems like a good call to make.

Also, I want to give a huge shout-out to my roommate Richard for nagging me to get this project across the finish line, joining me as another FPV pilot, and serving as chauffeur transport.

Attempt 0: Sanity check

As an integration test of sorts, I took the drone in front of my apartment for a mock flight.

A few seconds after arming the drone, I heard a strange sound and one of the motors violently separated itself from the frame. As I inspected the damage I realized I had pulled a Boeing: not only had I secured the motors with only two screws instead of four, I hadn’t tightened any of them! Honestly, it was more surprising that only one motor detached.

But loose screws notwithstanding, all systems were nominal—it was time for a real flight!

Attempt 1: Maiden flight

After perennially being “just one small thing” away from flying the drone, the day had finally come to actually get the damn thing in the air.

I get the drone off the ground and… my video immediately turned into a sea of static.

It was not “just like the simulations”

Turns out I had turned my VTX power way down to prevent the VTX from overheating during the build, but I had forgotten to set it back to a reasonable value. There’s a way you can flick the sticks to change settings via the on screen display but I couldn’t find the VTX menu (it didn’t help that the OSD was completely illegible). That having been said, it’s entirely possible I didn’t configure SmartAudio properly.

Attempt 2: With video this time

After cranking the VTX power back up to a reasonable value, we headed to a more secluded piece of farmland where we didn’t have to worry about pedestrians or cars. I tried putting my goggles on only to realize I had forgotten to wear contacts; one way or another I was still flying half blind. Due to aforementioned lack of vision and accidentally getting some magnetic gravel jammed in one of the motors5, this was a short-lived excursion.

Attempt 3: Accidentally creating a bomb

By this point I had a checklist for everything I needed to go out flying: batteries charged, hex screwdriver, contacts on. We returned to the same field from last time, and although the landscape wasn’t exactly diverse, for the first time I was actually able to get some good flying in! Some rolls, flips, and yes, even landing the drone instead of crashing it.

My roommate Richard piloting the drone

Figure 1: Richard locked tf in

However, due to my carelessness in not securing the balance charge lead on the LiPO, it got caught in a prop and started shorting when I picked it up （゜Д゜）

So although that led to a stressful car ride back to our apartment with me ready to throw our unintentional ordnance out the window, I would consider this mission success!

Retrospective

Some parting words of wisdom to hopefully save someone some of the trouble I went through:

Choose digital
A fairly big misstep I made was assuming that the drone build advice I gathered back in 2018 was still relevant: a decent chunk of it was, but I had no idea how far digital video for FPV had progressed (both in cost and quality). Technically I don’t have an informed opinion having never flown with digital, but from everything I hear the quality is really just that much better than analog (and I think any difference in latency is probably not very perceptible to an inexperienced pilot like myself). I’m generally not a fan of buying into proprietary systems, but I’m also a pragmatist—at least for me, shelling out the extra $100–200 for dramatically better video quality probably would have been worth it.
RTFM
I wasted countless hours going down rabbit holes or worrying that my equipment was broken when that could have been avoided by spending 5 minutes reading a manual. For example, I spent an inordinate amount of time buying and soldering on a JST connector to the 3 wires sticking out of my Fatshark LiPO battery only for me to realize those 3 wires are in fact not for a balance plug but instead meant to power the fan on the goggles. D’oh!
Have fun!
Instead of constantly worrying that you’re going to crash the drone or make an expensive mistake, I think you just have to embrace that mistakes are inevitable and part of the experience (plus, if you built the drone yourself you can easily repair individual parts relatively cheaply). And if never putting your drone in a situation where it might crash is what helps you enjoy flying, you should do so; who am I to tell you how to fly your drone?