FAA Rules

I flew my homemade drone earlier this month for the first time in a long time. It was also the last time I’ll be able to fly it.

New FAA rules require a remote ID broadcast device that is integrated or retrofitted to a drone.

From the FAA:

“Drone pilots … have until March 16, 2024, to equip their aircraft”

So this is my last chance to fly the drone.

Flight Test

The remote uses 8! AA batteries which unfortunately were mildly corroded

I bought the drone frame on eBay and it was supposed to be carbon fiber (CFRP), but for ~$15, I really doubt it is CFRP. This arm broke off after a rough landing and was repaired using a metal plate. The motors are attached using zip ties because they are supposed to make breaking an arm less likely.

Drone not flying :(

Unfortunately the drone didn’t take off, it’s a pretty effective lawn mower though! Two of the propellers were swapped.

Successful takeoff after swapping two rotors!

How I Built This Drone for Cheap

About 11 years ago, I bought a Dynam HawkSky remote controlled plane. The only modification I made was putting magnets instead of glue in the wing halves so they could be separated and transported more easily.

RC plane first flight in 2013

That was fine, but I started seeing more videos about drones, so a few years later (c. 2015) I turned my plane into a drone.

I ended up choosing to build a tricopter because they are cheaper and have less vibrations than a standard four rotor drone. Tricopters use a servo to pivot one of the rotors in order to provide all the degrees of freedom needed for flight. I bought most of my new drone parts on eBay and used some pretty scrappy solutions, like cable ties to hold the battery on. All together I was able to repurpose the radio unit, cables, a speed controller, a servo and a battery from the plane. The build required about $50 of new parts.

Velcro cable ties hold the Li-Poly battery in place

I had 3 extra servo motors from the plane so I put two of them to work to create a rudimentary camera gimble to stabilize the camera in two directions. I put the cheapest camera I could find on it.

The camera gimble

Today the drone industry is much more mature and even very cheap drones have advanced cameras and remote ID built in. I don’t know that I would have attempted this project if drones were more readily available, but I’m glad I learned something while doing it.