Cheap Flying Lego Quadcopter

by Weseley

114K910134

Intro: Cheap Flying Lego Quadcopter

Ever needed an excuse to start building Lego again? Now is the time! Turns out Lego bricks can be used to build a perfect symmetrical frame for your quadcopter! And... it's super cheap.

I used Lego Technic because it has holes in the bricks. You can mount the motor's with tie wraps through the holes and it's an ideal weight reduction. For the motor's and flight controller I used parts from the famous Hubsan X4.

Interested...? Then dust of those Lego bricks and start building!

STEP 1: Tools and Materials

You'll need the following tools/materials:

  • Lego (of course)
  • Soldering iron
  • Elastic band
  • Soldering tin for electric components (optional)
  • Doublesided tape (optional)

I ordered my Hubsan X4 parts from Banggood.com. http://www.banggood.com/buy/Hubsan-x4.html They have the parts even cheaper then ebay. This is what you need:

  • Hubsan flight controler 107l or 107c (107l if your planning on adding fancy led lights, 107c if your planning on adding a camera)
  • 4 7mm hollow cup motors
  • 4 blades (and maybe some spare)
  • 3.7v battery + charger
  • Hubsan remote (if you dont have one)

If you don't have a remote yet, then it's probably cheaper to buy a rtf hubsan x4. You can take it apart and as a bonus you get the original hubsan x4 frame!

STEP 2: Soldering the Flight Controler

This requires a little soldering but nothing really hard. If you look at the flight controller, the place where you need to solder the motor's is already labeled.

And as you've probably seen there are clockwise and counterclockwise motor's. It's important to place the same motor's opposite of each otter. So clockwise motor opposite of the other clockwise motor and same for counterclockwise.

The flight controller already has some soldering tin on it, but it's not much. So you can add some extra if you want.

STEP 3: Building Your Lego Frame

I will let the pictures do the talking. You don't have to build exactly the same frame I build. With a little imagination you can build some awesome frames! Just don't make the frame to heavy or it will be very hard to fly (if it even has lift off). Please share you awesome frames for inspiration!

STEP 4: Mounting the Motor's and Flight Controller

What I mentioned earlier is that Lego Technic is perfect for mounting the props. It has holes in the bricks and all you need to do is mount the motor's with tie wraps trough the holes. I also used double sided tape to keep the motor's in place. Fixate the flight controller on top, battery under the frame and your good to go!

Let me know if you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Good luck building your own Legocopter!

121 Comments

abiddemi 6 years ago

I dont know where any thing is. pls help me

221910306044 3 years ago

When I click on that link it is showing as some error like page is not found

221910306044 3 years ago

Hey Weseley! Where can i get that Flight Controller.

drone138 4 years ago

Dear, we are unable to connect between the transmitter and the drone. the LEDs flicker on contact with the battery, but that is it. Can you help with this? thanks.

abiddemi 6 years ago

I looked at Bangood but I can't find anything I need. Pls help.

arvlag862 6 years ago

Hello again!
We put together the drone and connected the battery, leds starting to flash and it all seems to work great. One problem though, we can't get the controller connected to the Hubsan Control. Any ideas how to do it?

Weseley 6 years ago

Hello there, sorry for the late respone... But if the leds are flashing when you connect the battery, that means it's waiting for a connection with the transmitter. Just turn on your transmitter when the leds are flashing and they should pair. After that, you should be able to control your drone.

arvlag862 6 years ago

Hi again!
It turned out that you need to push one of the rear end buttons on the transmitter when you started the transmitter in order to connect the the transmitter with the receiver. Now it all works just fine!

Weseley 6 years ago

Cant remember doing this in order to connect. But great to hear it works, have fun!

leletsr 6 years ago

hello,

I've tried building the drone with the following pieces but it is not working. I don't know if it is a compatibility problem or one of the components is not working. I don't know how can I check if they run indepeniently. Do you know where I can find the manual of the components (I haven't found nothing)?

-Hubsan X4 H502E H501C H907A RC Quadcopter Spare Parts Transimittervs

-2 x 7mm Hollow Cup Motor For Hubsan H107L Upgraded Version

-Hubsan X4 H107C RC Quadcopter Spare Parts Receiver H107C-a43

Thanks for your help and great job!

Weseley 6 years ago

Do you see leds flashing when you connect the battery? If that's the case, you should turn on your transmitter and it should pair automatically.

Weseley 6 years ago

This is a newer version, but you can definitely use this one! Just take it apart with care ;-), good luck!

arvlag862 6 years ago

Hey Weseley, can you please check my parts? Do they really work together or do I need to change something? I was a bit confused due to your broken links.

https://gyazo.com/31acf3bac25dccfa22ec7d6e1186659f (link with all the parts)

Weseley 6 years ago

Yes, you got the right parts! Thanks for mentioning the broken link, I'll fix it this weekend. Good luck!

arvlag862 6 years ago

Thank you so much for the answer!

AntonioJ15 6 years ago

Hello, is it possible to control the drone by the smarthphone with arduino+bluetooth?

GavinK12 7 years ago

Hey Weseley! Is there anywhere I can buy a good controller individually while still fitting a low budget profile?

Weseley 7 years ago

Hello Gavink, the controller is about the most expensive part for the project. But you can make your own controller with an Arduino and RF transmitter. It's a lot of work but the price will be under $10.

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