Learning how to make a quadcopter is a complex process, but here at AerialTechReview we think we can help reduce the stress and get you going on the right path! We’ve come across a lot of great videos as we do our job. Videos that answer the hard questions we often hear people asking. “How do I know what parts are needed to make a drone?”. “How do I make a quadcopter?”. “Things required to make a drone???”
We thought it would be a great idea to try to provide our readers with a curated list of great example videos that try to answer some of your questions. To make our list the videos needed to give you some good angles, verbal instructions, and provide some explanation on the things required to make a drone. We’re tried to make the list as diverse as possible to give you a well rounded selection of instructions.
You might not be an expert in drones yet, but you’ll really start giving those pros a run for their money after you watch these videos and dig into what makes these drones work. The videos we’ve selected range in length and offer different styles of advice. You’ll see examples from experts who do the job cleanly and will inspire you, and you’ll understand more of why certain drones are built the way they are.
We’d recommend you watch the videos a couple times, pause where you need to and then circle back if you need to see it again. If you have questions it’s probably a great idea to check out the video comments and see if someone has bought it up before, or if the question has already been addressed.
The videos are in no particular ranking, but gradually increase in complexity and detail, so click on the first link and get started!
1. Ten Tips When Building A Drone
This is a great introduction video with some useful tips on how to make a quadcopter. In this video Stew doesn’t get too technical or actually build out a quad, so you won’t get specific instructions on the parts required to make a drone. This video highlights some common rookie pitfalls and mistakes that a newbie may make. Stew from UAVFutures is an experienced drone builder and pilot and while this video is now a little dated since it was uploaded in 2015, a lot of the tips he provides are evergreen. Definitely worth the 9 minutes of your time to listen to what he has to say.
2. How To Make A Homemade Drone
We were on the fence about including this video on the list, but its a fun and cool little build that anyone starting out in drone building can sink their teeth into. Its a homemade drone without any bells and whistles that will take you about 15 minutes to put together. Nothing special, nothing fancy, you definitely are not going to be entering any races with this drone or try to fly it outdoors. But, it does let you practice a bit of soldering, gives you an understanding of motor mechanics and is an extremely low risk and cheap build.
3. How To Build An FPV Racing Drone
This video from Adam Savage’s Tested is quite outdated from a technology and parts perspective, but is spot on when it comes to talking through the decision making process and selecting and understanding components for your build. The technology has advanced quite a bit since this video was uploaded in 2014. We wouldn’t recommend following this build exactly or trying to mimic the selection of parts, but the topics they cover and descriptions of components are universal. Norm from Tested asks some great questions and throughout the video they discuss parts required to make a drone from a beginners lens. Unfortunately, this video doesn’t dig into the actual build of the quadcopter, or the configuration and tuning after putting it together.
4. How To Build A Budget Quadcopter
Everyone wants to save money, and a lot of people are looking for how to make a quadcopter on a budget. This is a decently long video at almost 45 minutes. It covers some of the thought process on choosing cheap parts, how to use basic tools, and how to assemble the quadcopter. There aren’t a lot of jump cuts in this video so you should be able to follow along in real time when completing your build. This is a great video for a beginner that wants to follow along with a build and hone their skills. It doesn’t dive too deep into comparing and contrasting components and spends the majority of the video building the quadcopter. This video doesn’t dig into the actual configuration and tuning of the quadcopter after putting it together.
5. How To Build A 100 kmph Drone
This is another video from Stew of UAVFutures that made it onto our list. The build is focused on building a fast FPV Racing drone and was uploaded in 2016. It is a 5S battery build and has withstood the test of time fairly well. It is not as outdated as some of the other builds on this list. As always, Stew is quite good at explaining what he’s doing and keeps the video entertaining. You’ll get a pretty good idea of the parts required to make a drone for racing and what to focus on when selecting components. The video also gives you some pretty good examples of how to layout your build, heat shrink components and solder connections. Its about 33 mins in length and Stew spends roughly the first 25 minutes building out the drone and talking through the steps. This is a great little build and really showcases how to build cleanly and think about your quadcopter’s layout for a quality finished product.
6. Build A Cheap Quadcopter
Like video #4, this tutorial video is focused on how to build a cheap quadcopter, but this build is a slighty more advanced build for a full size 450mm wheelbase drone. AndyRC takes the time to talk through his decision processes and discusses all the things required to make a drone, all the parts he purchases, and lays out the process carefully over an hour. The video starts right at the beginning of the build process and he walks through how to purchase the parts, his recommended websites (banggood and ebay) and why he selected the components. AndyRC is an experienced quadcopter builder and listening to him talk through what he’s doing is worth the watch. Especially if this is your first build. The video also dives into the final steps of how to make a quadcopter and shows you how to calibrate the quadcopter, pair it with a transmitter and tune it.
7. Joshua Bardwell’s How to Build a Quadcopter Series
There’s no way our list would be complete without recommending Joshua Bardwell’s “How to build” series . Yes, you heard right. His series of videos! Joshua Bardwell is a highly experienced drone builder and pilot with tons and tons of experience and knowledge. Unlike the majority of channels out there that have a multiple 30 minute to hour long build videos, Joshua has spent time documenting his builds in extreme detail and dives into all the aspects of the build from selecting components all the way to configuring the quadcopters. He then lays the process out in a series of videos approximately 20 to 30 minutes in length. The video above is the first in his series of videos documenting his Coyote Racing Drone build. We only have good things to say about Joshua Bardwell’s videos. If you’re really interested in learning how to make a quadcopter and what parts are required to make a drone you must watch these videos. In fact, we’re going to include a link here to his full playlist of “how to build a drone”. Definitely check it out.
Conclusion
The videos above should set you on the right path if you’ve been asking yourself how to make a quadcopter, or what parts are required to make a quadcopter. Like most things in this hobby, watching videos and watching others will only get you part way there. At some point you will have to take that dive yourself and give building a quadcopter a shot. We wish you the best of luck! You are now armed with the knowledge to get this done!
IF, you decide that building a drone may not be for you at this point in your drone flying journey. Then maybe check out our articles on the Best Camera drones you can buy for under $300, and the best FPV racing drones you can buy for under $300. There are some really great bind-and-fly and ready-to-fly drones out on the market for anyone looking to get straight to the flying and skip the building.
Come back sometime and check out some more of our articles, product reviews and best-in-class lists.