Tips for Building your First Racing Drone

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If you’re one of those guys that love to build stuff with their own hands and just go crazy over DIY kits, you’re going to love this article. If besides all that you’re also a big fan of drones and especially racing models, then you just hit the jackpot because in the following rows you will be able to access free tips on how to build your first racing drone. For those of you that never saw a drone in your life and are interested in joining this very entertaining hobby, there’s no reason to be worried. You will find out that you don’t need any kind of superpower in order to be great at building drones and racing drones as well.

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It All Comes Down to Nuts, Screws and Bolts

You can’t really build anything without being able to properly link its different pieces together. And since a drone needs the perfect mix of flexibility and toughness, using the handy screws, nuts and bolts is the perfect way to go. You will need to make sure that everything is tightened and as a pro-tip, you can use Loctite gel in order to make sure everything stays in place. Due to vibrations and the powerful motors used for racing drones, one of the most frequent issues is the loosening of screws which leads to more powerful vibrations, lack of sensitivity when it comes to steering and an overall worse control over your drone.

Use Light Materials

Sure, it’s not like by giving you this tip you’ll feel like the wheel has been re-invented. And yes, while it’s pretty obvious that using light materials is vital when building a racing drone, not everyone has the capacity to make the distinction between a good quality material or one that doesn’t have the needed characteristic. For years now, and it seems that for quite some time to come, carbon fibre is the toughest and lightest material builders can use to make their drones fast and durable at the same time. When building a racing drone, it is best to use 4mm carbon on the arms of your drone since this is the most vulnerable area in case of an impact. For the rest of the frame, a 2mm thick carbon fibre is more than enough for a fast and sturdy drone.

Possibly the only downside of carbon fibre comes from the fact that it’s quite sharp around the edges and this might lead to the breaking of battery straps or the one you use for attaching the GoPro. You don’t really want to lose an expensive camera such as a GoPro but luckily there’s a way around that. And guess what? You can easily apply it on your drone with the use of some superglue and sandpaper. You need to begin with a light sanding of the edges of the carbon fibre with a medium sandpaper, then apply two layers of superglue – make sure to wait for it to dry after the first application before continuing. After everything is perfectly dry, perform an even lighter sanding again and you will be good to go. It goes without saying that this treatment will not temper in any way with the quality and performance of the carbon fibre.

Always Consult the Manual

Sure, it’s all about DIY and building your own, custom racing drone. However, if you’re not an engineering genius, you should always follow the manual, especially when it comes to circuits, batteries and the motor for your racing drone. That’s where all your power comes from so you won’t want to mix anything up, right? When it comes to power leads, operating gear and basically any other circuit on your drone, you simply can’t apply the trial and error approach. You will destroy certain components and waste a lot of money if you’re not following the manual properly. As a special tip when it comes to connectors and power leads you can use a bit of hot glue to make sure everything stays in place during flight, especially in the middle of a very tight race.

Go for FPV

Now that you’ve been through the main tips that are strictly related to building the drone in such a way that it would be as competitive as possible, it’s time to switch a bit to flying your drone. Sure, pilots that have plenty of experience will be able to ‘feel’ the drone in any condition without a problem, however, if you’re going through your first hours of flying, First Person Video will help a lot. It’s a lot easier to understand the height, speed and overall movement of your drone when using FPV. The flying experience will be complete and will help you learn how to better control your drone even without FPV.

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