First calculations: Size, weight and lift

Once we the idea of what we would carry on top of the quad, we had to figure out how big it should be. So we made a paper version. We had to make sure the Arduino would fit in the middle, and that propellers would turn freely.

Here are some questions we had to answer:

• Are those propellers big enough to generate the lift we need?
• How much will all this weight?
• How much flight time can we accomplish with this size and configuration?

The answer was on this website. A Multi-copter calculator.

It allows you to enter parameters such as: weight, motor model, propeller size, battery type and size and it will tell how how much flight time you will get and if your motors will catch fire or not :-) 

The idea: Quadcopter from scratch

The original idea was to create a home-made quad copter from scratch using ordinary materials, instead of just buying a frame and assembly it. YES, even write our own software.

We would use an Arduino board as the flight control unit and a couple of other components.
The quad would have to be big enough to carry a GoPro camera + other equipment such as a camera stabilization gimbal, FPV transmitter, a GPS, etc.