The first step is to define what the drone will include. I designed all the pieces and placed holes, in AutoCAD, according to the components list. I think the tubes are too long, but let's see what happens in flight, as it is easy to cut them again. I chose M3 screws, hence the holes have a diameter of 3.2 millimeters. The platform will be designed when I get the quadcopter to work.

I successfully tested the ESC with an Arduino sketch and a potentiometer. Find the sketch inside the "ESC" folder in GitHub.

Although the drone will be autonomous, according to the FAA, you have to be able to take control over your drone at any time. Thereby, I ordered a Syma controller from Aliexpress. Then, I harvested all the components, enclosure, sticks and screws. I am planning to add a Xbee module, so that I drilled a hole on the enclosure for the SMA connector.

The plan is to design a new controller PCB with custom and original parts. This new PCB should have the same shape.

In order to attach the brushless motors to the center parts, I cut four pieces from a square aluminum tube. My tools are limited, but I got it. Also, I drilled 12 holes on every piece. See dimensions in the DWG file (GitHub) and BOM section.

I glued a cheap USB camera to a cheap base with 2 servos.