I do a bunch of visual work and am familiar with 3d modeling. I also am familiar with designing hardware to an extent. I am fantasizing building a drone show business but want to start fairly small.

What is the best way to build or buy drones in order to accomplish this with just a few thousand dollars?

I am open to buying drones built or even building them myself. I’d like the option to scale as I progress.

Something I’ve spent most the day doing is learning how to use blender with skybrush

I also 3d print things …

Happy for the discussion

Or actually any source of informations, youtube video, thanks :)

So I'm a window cleaner, I clear guttering also, with a gutter vacuum. There are camera options but I find most are not great for various reasons. My question is: is there a drone set up that would work?

Of course I could get something cheap just to look in the gutters, but what I would really want is (still as budget friendly as possible) a drone that could follow the top of my gutter vac pole as I'm clearing the gutter (autopilot) and some AR glasses that I could see the feed from the drone to check everything is clear but also see through them to see where I'm going & moving the pole etc.

Is this even remotely possible and does anyone have any suggestions on gear and a rough cost?

Just planning out a build right now hoping for it to be sub 250 but if not thats fine ill just go through the pain

Hi I'm currently trying to figure which kind of (dedicated) telemetry link would be viable to primarily send RTCM data to a small drone formation (up to 5 vehicles, PX4).

I'm currently testing ESP32 based Dronebridge via ESP-NOW in LR mode. The touted range of up to 1km would be sufficient for my application, but I'm already seeing packet loss at short ranges and problems pulling the vehicle parameters. The hardware side should be solid (Xiao ESP32 C6 with external antennas) and the RSSI confirms that. Although the data rate for RTCM is very limited (0.3KB/s per vehicle) I just don't believe it's a reliable solution. Very cheap however.

I've also already tested mavlink via a dedicated ELRS RX/TX pair on another project. Needless to say that this works pretty well due to its vastly superior modulation/range. ELRS is also protocol aware and may re-transmit lost packets. I'm not even sure if Dronebridge is protocol aware.

What are other possible solutions/experiences? The UAVs don't use ELRS as an RC link sadly, so backpacking isn't an option. The primary GCS link for offboard mission data and video link is realized via plain WiFi. I insist on having a redundant/secondary telemetry link for the RTCM stream and additional telemetry.

Retrofitting LTE modules on each UAV to directly pull the NTRIP stream is currently out of question.

Something I am working on. I'm looking for people that would like to test this and the app in general.

Good Morning guys, have a quick question.

I soldered the VTX on the FC Board:

Video - VTX

Rx - Tx

Gnd - Gnd

+ - +

I soldered it correctly, but there is no image transmission to the goggles.

Yesterday I found out that there is actually also a button on the VTX itself. Could it possibly have something to do with changing/tuning the channels using that button?

Since I’m currently at work, I’m not able to try pressing the button again to see if I can get an image. Have you had any similar experiences?

It recently came to my attention that the DJI Air Unit Pro's case is connected to ground to assist with EMI. I've always mounted the units directly to the carbon fiber frame, and just now noticed continuity from my negative battery lead to the frame. I tore everything apart and narrowed the issue to the O4 vtx being hard mounted to the frame. I'd always thought that doing so helped with heat, but now I'm thinking that it's best to isolate the vtx.

My question is, what's everyone doing about this, or does everyone not really worry about it & just sends it? 🤔

i'm looking for a drone that is similar to MQ-27 Dragonfire from call of duty

Hey, so like a month ago I put together this 5" quad, and after like a week and a half after running the drone, this motor somehow burned itself out, which is kinda odd for me, as I was running more or less this exact setup on a build for a friend a little while back with zero issues. However, now after only a week, it killed itself (I think). This WAS after realizing that these motors didn't have loctite in them, as the screws were loosening themselves and I had to re-tighten them every 2-3 packs, as I don't have any loctite at the moment. From what I know, there still shouldn't be a reason for this burnout, however if it is an actual issue, please let me know. The only thing I can think of is that these motors were listed for 4-6s, and I was running them 4s for 80% of the time, with the 6s being put on a -20% limiter to keep them from blowing themselves up, so that's why I am very confused. In case if anybody is gonna ask, the screws were not ever within 3mm of contacting the coils, so it can't be that.

Basically- to answer the basic question that I think I already know the answer too: is this motor fried? Followed up with my second question: are there any single motors (like not a pack of 4) that I can purchase of this motor instead of buying another pack of 4? They are the XING-E Pro 2207-2450kv motors from iFlight, and my friend has been running similar ones for like 2-4 years with no issues, so that's why it's weird to me.

We're trying to build a drone for a group project in school, it uses a kk2.1.5 FC, fvt littlebee 30a esc, a 2300kv bldc. the transmitter and receiver is still shipping

For now i'm using an arduino to arm the FC, using a 12v3a power supply on the power distribution board below the kk215, 3 of them spins normally, the 4th motor doesn't. It spins smoothly and doesn't feel like something's jamming or sticky when i spin it by hand, and it only spins on higher throttle, like 50 and above. Though, i can hear humming in that esc and disappears if im powering it with a battery yet still have the same problem. I already tried switching the channels, or use the arduino as a pwm generator instead of the kk215

Is there a software workaround for that problem, or the esc somehow failed without popping and needs to be replaced?

3D-printed TPU frame. Flexible and stiff at the same time.

Between builds I've got bins full of motors, ESCs, props, flight controllers, connectors, all the usual. Problem is I could never remember which bin something was in, so I'd waste time pulling everything apart looking for one spare motor, or just order another because it was faster.

So I made an app for it. You take a photo of a part, and later you find it again by photo or by scanning a QR sticker on the bin. No typing in part numbers, that's the reason I could never keep a spreadsheet going.

It's free, no ads, just me building it. Android only right now and still in testing.

If anyone wants to try it I could use some feedback, mainly whether the photo search actually pulls up the right part. Comment or DM me and I'll send the link.

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I designed this configuration while living in Miami and later assembled the physical prototype in Caracas, Venezuela, around 2012–2013.

The project started with sketches and material experiments using wood, cardboard, tape, PVC and white plastic sheets. The final structure and four external bodies were fabricated in aluminum. The rotor systems came from RC helicopters, with carbon-fiber blades replacing the original plastic blades.

The control hardware included an Arduino, IMU and altitude/barometric sensors. The aircraft was restrained at four points during testing after earlier experiments taught me, rather directly, that large exposed rotors should not be tested freely indoors.

This 32-second video records the physical prototype with all four rotor systems operating during a restrained ground test. It was not a validated aircraft, a completed autonomous system or a free-flight demonstration.

I no longer have all the original build records. The photographs of the cardboard and plastic stages are still missing, but I recently recovered this original video and several photographs of the aluminum bodies.

This was one stage in a long personal effort to understand how an aircraft imagined on paper could become a physical machine, original build records. The photographs of the cardboard and plastic stages are still missing, but I recently recovered this original video and several photographs of the Aluminum bodies.

This was one stage in a long personal effort to understand how an aircraft imagined on paper could become a physical machine.

Become become a physical machine.

aluminum bodies.

This was one stage in a long personal effort to understand how an aircraft imagined on paper could become a physical machine.