Hi from Mississippi, USA

[DyskoInferno]

In the last month or so, I have found the world of quadcoptors and multicopters, and they encompass several interests I have had since I was a child-- machines, flight, electrical and mechanical systems, and so on. I have since bought a good Air Hogs quad to practice with, and have gotten fairly decent at piloting it. However, being a toy which I only bought for its durability and low price, it's not the most accurate thing, even though it's great for what it is. I'm looking to get into flying quads and eventually building my own. The thing is, I'm in college and don't have thousands to blow on... well, anything. So, I would rather approach this cautiously. Hence I joined a forum and bought a toy first, rather than partaking in a high dollar impulse buy right off the bat.

I follow a channel on YouTube named FliteTest. They review multicopters and give advice to quad pilots on electronics, building multis, and so on. I haven't found anyone giving advice specifically for newbies...what quads to get and why, how to make one's own if it is indeed practical to build one's own at this stage, and so on. Any advice from those more experienced than I would be greatly appreciated. I joined this forum hoping to make friends who are interested in multicopters too; I'm the only one in my area who seems to be interested in them. I have ideas that I would like to try out once I get proficient, and eventually would like to bounce those ideas off of some of you.

Again, any advice on where to start is appreciated.

 

[COMike93yj]

Welcome DI,

If you aren't a late college attendee/student then you may or may not know what came to my mind..."Disco Inferno" by the Trammps!!! LOL

Anyhow...I think you are going about this the right way. Some folks may say don't waste your dough on a "toy" but I did just that to help me learn some basics of flying with a quad.

This site is OUTSTANDING to help you on your way. A bunch of us are building our own quads and are learning along the way. jbrumberg, motopreserve, coreyperez, 7808 (to name a few) are all doing this. I just got my final components and am soldering away in the hobby room.

If you look in the beginners section, there are a ton of good threads to read, "lessons and learning to follow" is a great one. Moto started another thread that might be right up your alley!

http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?16121-Getting-Started-BY-beginners-FOR-beginners

There is also a sticky at the top of the page that Bartman started that has some good videos illustrating some of the things you would need and how to do certain things with an F450 build....

http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?14280-Group-Build-DJI-NAZA-F450-Quadcopter!

Make no mistake....this hobby can get EXPENSIVE!!! So be aware of this....crashes can and will happen, frying an electronic component can happen, tools and misc parts add up....just be aware of what you are getting into!

Have fun and again, welcome to the site!!!!

Cheers,

Mike

 

[NeilM]

Welcome !!

 

[jbrumberg]

Welcome. Things can get expensive rather quickly if one is not careful. Keep practicing on your Air Hog as you decide on your build and start building, and keep practicing. A word of advice- do not let proficiency with your AirHog lead you to the belief that you will be just as "good" at flying your ultimate build. There are differences, as I recently discovered :hororr:. I will be doing a lot more practicing on my build job once my replacement parts arrive, and I will not try to do with it what I do regularly with my little SYMA X1's.

What model Air Hog are you flying presently?

Post freely and often and good luck.

 

[t smith]

Welcome to the addiction!

I'm a Mississippi guy too, where are you located?

I started out with a Traxxas QR1 and now I am putting the finishing touches on an SK450 framed quad that I hope to fly soon.

 

[DyskoInferno]

@COMike93yj: Thank you for the advice!

@jbrumberg: trust me, I know there are worlds of difference between my Helix X4 and a higher-level quad. This was only a way to get my foot in the door, so to speak.

@t smith: I'm in the Laurel area. Is the Traxxas any good? That was the next buy I had planned. Based on what I can find it's lightning quick but the auto-hover drifts a little. Any advice for someone considering buying it?

 

[t smith]

@COMike93yj: Thank you for the advice!

@jbrumberg: trust me, I know there are worlds of difference between my Helix X4 and a higher-level quad. This was only a way to get my foot in the door, so to speak.

@t smith: I'm in the Laurel area. Is the Traxxas any good? That was the next buy I had planned. Based on what I can find it's lightning quick but the auto-hover drifts a little. Any advice for someone considering buying it?

I've had a blast with it, fairly solid little quad. I've replaced a couple of motors and a ton of blades but it's been a fun trainer, get spare parts! When it starts drifting around you can do the accelerometer calibration and it usually does the trick, if not it's bad blades. All of us guys in the lab where I work have Proto X's too and they're fun little quads but kinda fragile and not as easily serviced and one of the guys got an Ares Ethos that's fragile and junk.

I was just down your way last weekend in Chickasawhay camping out and off roading with a group of my buddies.

 

[DyskoInferno]

I've had a blast with it, fairly solid little quad. I've replaced a couple of motors and a ton of blades but it's been a fun trainer, get spare parts! When it starts drifting around you can do the accelerometer calibration and it usually does the trick, if not it's bad blades. All of us guys in the lab where I work have Proto X's too and they're fun little quads but kinda fragile and not as easily serviced and one of the guys got an Ares Ethos that's fragile and junk.

I was just down your way last weekend in Chickasawhay camping out and off roading with a group of my buddies.

A buddy of mine and I looked up a video of it flying-- FAST! How would I go about ordering spare parts? Also, this may not work with the quad we're talkng about, but I'd eventually like to try FPV. Maybe fly the Traxxas while saving up to build a quad? I'm not sure if building is cheaper than buying a plug-and-play, but from what I can gather that's the route to go if one wants a really good one.

Cool. Where do you work, if you don't mind? Or rather, what do you do?

 

[t smith]

A buddy of mine and I looked up a video of it flying-- FAST! How would I go about ordering spare parts? Also, this may not work with the quad we're talkng about, but I'd eventually like to try FPV. Maybe fly the Traxxas while saving up to build a quad? I'm not sure if building is cheaper than buying a plug-and-play, but from what I can gather that's the route to go if one wants a really good one.

Cool. Where do you work, if you don't mind? Or rather, what do you do?

I got my QR1 off Amazon and also picked up spare blades and motors, they're only a few bucks. It's fun to fly and it is really quick in "expert" mode, I don't see flying FPV with it though.

This place is a wealth of knowledge, just read, read, read and soak it up, I didn't know an ESC from a LiPo until I got on here.

I work at Nissan in Canton, I'm a metrologist which is a $5 word for I measure stuff.