How to Make a Drone With Pixhawk 4 and Spektrum!

A couple of years ago I saw a person try and shoot down a drone with a shotgun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl2Z9N4Q82g It's a very famous video that many people have seen. Anyways, ever since I saw that I have been infatuated with drones. My first drones were the very famous DJI Phantom 3's. I say were cause the first one I crashed in a tree and the second one got attacked by a bird and crashed at 200 feet. So after putting some thought into this I eventually gathered enough money to make an Indestructible Drone. I had a multitude of ideas of what to do but money and school kept getting in the way. Eventually I got reminded of the drone I'm currently doing an Instructable on, which is the Hiro-450. Sadly, they stopped manufacturing the frame and I couldn't find it anywhere but Ebay. So this Instructable isn't just for the Hiro-450 frame, it's really how to make a drone with a Pixhawk 4. I chose the Hiro-450 for this Instructable cause I realized that I live in a bad area for drones and needed something that could withstand a punch from a tree. So this Instructable describes how to create my dream drone frame with a very good but difficult flight computer. The one and only Pixhawk 4. After using it for about a year now I do understand drones much more in depth so this Instructable is really for beginners that want to make a drone but don't know how to.

1. Time(Like a lot of time)
2. Money(About 500 dollars)
3. Drone frame(I'm giving a link to a different 450mm frame then mine) https://amzn.to/3q6gw4G
4. Pixhawk 4 https://amzn.to/3r2hOgj
5. Drone battery https://amzn.to/3I2bUD9
6. Power module https://amzn.to/3F7o2AE
7. GPS/Compass https://amzn.to/3JUyOOg
8. 4*ESC's https://amzn.to/3f5GcIo
9. 4*Motors https://amzn.to/33gxqod
10. A computer(To program the Pixhawk)
11. Transmitter(I'm using a DX8e Spektrum) https://amzn.to/3t5BNxu
12. Receiver(Again a Spektrum) https://amzn.to/3n8XGIj
13. PPM Encoderhttps://amzn.to/3qWU5hL
14. Telemetry System(Optional) https://amzn.to/3JVC4c8
15. Power Distribution Board https://amzn.to/3f5pzww
16. Propellors https://amzn.to/3G3bRWV
17. Safety Switch and Buzzer(Should come with Pixhawk 4)

First you need to install MissionPlanner and QGround control on your computer. These are 2 very necessary programs to program the Pixhawk 4 and write parameters on it. You don't really need many tools but some scissors and a soldering iron. You MUST make a clean area to put all your parts down and work on the drone. Numerous times I have lost parts or not have a pair of scissors because my work area wasn't organized and clean. And I strongly recommend to buy all the parts before you start building. It makes it so much easier to actually make a drone. It makes a month long project into a day.

I personally used velcro to attach my parts onto my frame but I have seen others use tape. Either way if you're making a drone that has 2 halves like mine and ziptie together or have drone thats wide open thats easily accesible to get into, like the one I have the amazon link on, you need to strap down your parts.

First, I recommend to velcro your power distribution board in the direct center. I personally put it directly under where I put my Pixhawk 4 due to having a lack of room. As you can see in the image you need to solder your ESC's directly onto the positive and negative contacts on the power distribution board. Make sure not to solder directly on the battery terminals,because that is where you'll be soldering the male fitting of your drone battery cable on to connect the female fitting thats on the battery.

Second, you must center your PX4(Pixhawk 4) in order to get the correct measurments for the gyroscope. So make sure to either tape or velcro it on the dead center. You also need to make sure that it is pointed towards the front of the drone. You need to make sure you have enough room on your drone to easily access the micro usb port on the side if you're not using the telemetry kit.

Unless you got a power disribution board with a built in flight computer and ESC's(Which I wish I had done) You're going to need a ESC for each motor. Now what are ESC's. Electronic Speed Controllers? ESC's are a circuit composed of tiny electronic components. ESCs connect to an RC model’s electronic system such as the Pixhawk 4 in order to control an electric motor’s speed and thus the speed of a drone. Well now that you know a tiny bit abot them you know that they're necessary in order to fly a drone because they control the speed at which the drone motors spin. Now with drone ESC's you have to solder the positive and negative wire to the power distribution board. Now the 3 wired hanging off of the ESC's, you need to plug into the PX4. You need to plug the wires into the numbers on the PX4 thats 1-8 not 1-6. The 1-8 is for motors while the 1-6 is for like servos and additional things you might want to add onto your drone.

You need to make sure that the GPS is pointed towards the front of the drone like the GPS. Make sure if you bought the GPS/Compass to plug in the cord with thhe more wires into the GPS port while the cord with fewer wires, which is the compass, to plug into the I2C port.

This was the most difficult part I had in the creation of my drone and I don't know if I'm doing it 100 percent right but it works. Anyways, I put a PPM encoder on the RC port next to where you plug in the motors. And then I got the 8 wires handing from my PPM encoder and plugged it into a Spektrum AR6210. Then I plugged in my Spektrum satellite receiver into the side of my AR6210 and it worked.

If you bought a DX8e like I did you need to program your transmitter to a drone. It took me a while to figure this out so I am going to leave a link to show how to do it. The video shows a DX6 but its the same for the DX8e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLx_S0_1qSg

The telemetry system must be plugged into the telemetry port one, because the second port is not turned on. In order to turn the second port on though just follow these instructions in this link https://bit.ly/3qWo5KC As you can tell I used Bitly to shorten the URL.

The power module should have the most wires sticking out and you need to make sure to plug it into the Power port on the bottom left of the PX4.

The safety switches are required for the flight of your drone if you're using a Pixhawk 4. You need to plug in your buzzer in the buzzer port of the PX4 and plug in the switch in the switch port of the PX4. The switch is very necessary because you need to hold it down until its solid red when its powered to arm the PX4.

There is a certain difficulty to programming this but Mission Planner pretty much has all preloaded firmware and settings in order to do this. This is why I will be putting a youtube link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEECLCmXEXg

If you have any difficulty in programming or pairing a Spektrum remote with a receiver just leave a comment below and I will respond hopefully with help.

I have found it very helpful to have some spare props and tape while flying just in case you're flying and crash. I have crashed many drones on many occasions, especially when first flying, and I just have to say that you need to be aware of the area around you and need to be very careful. In my case since this was my first FPV drone I had my friend hide under a bench with his computer when I started flying. (I honestly did this just to see if I can fly it in between the bench and hit him.)

I sadly crashed my drone before I was able to get a picture of it. But I do have a picture of my friends in the sky. Its just a black dot somewhere in the sky. Have fun flying with your new drone. If you have any questions just leave a comment and I'll try my best to help.