Let the Games Begin... Starting Actual Contruction of the Quadcopter

The moment has arrived.  All the ordering and waiting, and testing and ordering and waiting and more testing is finally behind me.  Now is the time to start the actual construction of the Quad.

First step: Mounting the motors

The for NTM 28-26 1200kv motors had been tested (previous post).  I also needed to cut the existing prop shaft that protrudes from the bottom of each motor (another previous post) so that the motor would fit onto the frame.  With these preparation tasks completed I am now ready to perform the final preparation step.  Each motor requires a prop adaptor be permanently mounted onto the top of the motor.  You can see the machine prop adapters sitting below the 3 motor in the photo (above).  These adaptors are mounted using three tiny metric screws.  A 2.0mm allen head driver is required to turn these tiny screws.

It is a little hard to see in the photo above, but this screw has a small drop of medium strength (blue colored) threadlock liquid.  Each screw, in the entire Quad, that screws into metal must have a drop of threadlock before screwing it in.  The threadlock (one brand is called "LockTite") keeps the screw from loosening due to vibration but will allow the screw to be removed if needed later.  Don't forget to do this important step.  Do not use the threadlock on any screws that screw into plastic.

Above are three of the motors with the prop adapters attached and ready to mount on the Quad arms.

The motors mount with small screws, that came with the prop adaptor kit for the motor, to a motor mounting ring, which is supplied with the frame.  The ring then mounts onto the actual frame arm.

While it is difficult to see in the photo above, the inner set of four holes are not exactly the same.  Two of the center mounting holes are slightly further away from the larger center hole, than the other two mounting holes.  The motors have a similar arrangement, so it is important to rotate the ring until the holes match the holes in the motor exactly.

Put in the four screw (with a drop of threadlock on each) and tighten in a crossing pattern.

Below is a picture of of a motor with the ring attached.

Next step is to mount the motor and ring onto the actual Quad arm.  The motor needs to be positioned so the holes line up and the wires are pointed in the direction of the center of the Quad.  Again each screw needs a drop of threadlock.

The final step in the motor mounting is to screw the landing gear leg onto the arm, below the motor.  The landing gear is mounted with two screws with a drop of threadlock on each screw.

Here is the green one.  I am not sure if I mentioned earlier that my Quad will have two white arms and two green arms.  This is to help determining orientation in the air.  The green are will be the front of the Quadcopter.  I order the green arms separately, they didn't come with the frame kit.

I had to repeat the motor mounting steps four times, one for each arm.  I took me longer to type all of this than it actually took to perform the steps.

Here is a short Youtube video from eluminerRC showing the steps:

Next Post: Mounting the arms to the body and mounting the ESCs to the arms.