Building an FPV drone can seem daunting for a first time builder, and rightly so. Only a couple years ago, building your own drone was the only way to go, since there was a lack of good Ready to Fly available on the market, but since then, companies like GepRC, AxisFlying, Emax and IFlight have stepped up the Ready to fly game. So then why would you want to build your own drone with all those good options out there. The amount of different parts that are available and aimed at different types of flying and pilots can be dizzying and confusing. On the other hand, building your own drone has its perks : highly customisable, easier repairs, better suits your flying and flying a drone you built is really satisfying. On top of being usually cheaper, building your own drone will deepen your understanding of FPV drones and make maintenance and diagnostics much easier.
For a start, research will be the most important part of this journey. Learning about what others are flying and what is your goal will help direct your research. Freestyle, Cinematic and Racing drones are vastly different and so will your research be. On the other hand, every drone is made up of the same basic components : Frame, ESCs, Flight Controller, Camera and VTX, receiver, motors and propellers. Some parts can be added for different purposes but those are the ones you need for a basic FPV drone. Your budget will also greatly affect your component choice, fortunately, many companies have great budget options that still perform fantastically. If you’re looking for parts on a budget, check our website or send us an email to info@epicfpv.ca
Each component has its own crucial function. The frame being one of, if not the most important part. The frame you choose holds every part you need and has to be rigid enough to withstand crashes, because those are inevitable. You want to stay away from Chinese clone frames, as those tend to be made of cheap carbon and those manufacturers do not pay attention to the weave pattern of carbon, which is crucial to have a good and rigid frame. Manufacturers like Team Black Sheep have cheap frames that are of high quality. TBS Source One V5 - 5" Frame – EpicFPV
The frame you choose will also determine your type of flying. Racing frames and freestyle frames are designed very differently.
Motors are the next biggest part you need to pay close attention to. The size and KV you choose will depend on your type of flying and the type of battery you plan on using. The typical sizes for a 5 inch drone are 2207 or 2306 (XxYy : XX being stator diameter and YY being stator height). But the KV can vary from 1700kv to 2700kv depending on your usage. Generally, for cinematic and freestyle drones, the recommended kv would be (For 6s Lipo) from 1700-1950kv and racing, 2100-2300kv (some go higher, like 2700kv, but it’s more geared towards competition than just gate racing).
You’ll then have to choose your Flight Stack (Flight controller and escs). This gets easier, because your choice depends on your flying style. You need electronics that will support your input voltage (4s or 6s lipo for example) and the number of amps your motors can pull at max. Motor manufacturers usually have spec sheets with this information. Usually, for 5 inch freestyle, 50a is enough, for racing 60a offers a nice buffer. Your flight controller depends purely on how many ports you need and the software you plan to use. If you’re flying cinematic and you need to have : GPS, HD fpv, receiver, wifi, telemetry and other accessories, you’ll need more ports. Verify the spec sheets to figure out this information. The processor will also vary, as of today, betaflight supports : F4, F7, H7 and AT32 chips. Older F3 aren’t supported anymore. We’ll go deeper on chipsets in another post.
The other parts (receiver, video system and propellers) will mostly depend on your gear and your application. Email us if you have any questions about these parts : info@epicfpv.ca
You will need some tools to be able to build your drone. The main ones being :
- Soldering Iron and solder
- Hex screwdrivers set
- A small Phillips head screwdriver
- A pair of scissors for stripping and cutting wires
- Electrical tape
- Digital multimeter
With these tools in hand, you should be ready to start building. I do recommend, on the other hand, if you have never soldered before, to get a practice board. This will make the build easier and more enjoyable. Soldering is a useful skill to learn, which will allow you to do your own repairs and to work on a bunch of other electronics.
Soldering Irons & Accessories - EpicFPV Canada
Tools - For FPV drones – EpicFPV
The next step is gathering all your parts and getting ready to assemble your drone. Refer to this post if you want step by step instructions on how to build your drone.
You will then have to do the programming and setup of the flight controller. Refer to this post to learn how to do the Betaflight setup or INAV setup.
You will then have to do some PID tuning. This can be daunting and not absolutely necessary.
Here are all the fundamentals you’ll need to build your own FPV drone. As you get familiar with all the parts and figure out what you like flying, building will become easier as time goes. I hope this was informative and for any further questions, contact me at info@epicfpv.ca