Build Your Own PCB-Based Drone

If you want an affordable drone, you can go buy one right now on Amazon or eBay for well under $50. There are many models to choose from at that price point, and while they may not have a lot of features, they could provide a bit of fun. But if you want to build your own custom drone, the cost quickly increases. If you’re looking for a custom drone that is still affordable, Electronoobs has designed a PCB-based, Arduino-controlled drone that you can build yourself.

If you’ve ever investigated building your own drone, you’ve probably found that it can be quite overwhelming. You have to decide on a size and the features you want, and then choose a frame, a flight controller, motors, ESCs (Electronic Speed Controllers), a battery, an RC receiver, an RC transmitter, and often many other components if you want special features. There are dozens of options for each and every one of those components, and they aren’t always compatible with one another. By utilizing Electronoobs’ design, you avoiding the headache of having to choose components while still ended up with a customizable drone.

This drone design is quite small, and weight is saved by integrating most of the components directly into a single PCB. That PCB also acts as the drone’s frame, which eliminates the weight and cost of a separate plastic or metal frame. The drone is controlled by a Microchip ATmega328 microcontroller, which is compatible with Arduino and runs on the MultiWii drone firmware. An accelerometer and gyroscope sensor module is used to monitor the drone’s pitch and yaw. The motors are cheap brushed DC motors, which aren’t as good as brushless motors but which are cheaper and easier to control. nRF24 radio modules are used for control, and the transmitter remote is part of the same PCB as the drone itself. The total cost to build this drone should be less than $30, which makes it very affordable for a drone you can hack and tweak to your liking.