09-Aug-2017, 12:03 AM
(08-Aug-2017, 10:30 AM)Carl.Vegas Wrote: Here is some supplemental perspective.
On soldering, it was the part that I was most concerned about. My experience with soldering in the past was mostly just the time spent as a teenager playing with my father's tools without instructions or guidance. (luckily the most important safety info: don't burn yourself and dont let hot solder get on you, is obvious). This forum talked me through most of the learning process and I have now built 2 quads successfully and managed through a couple of repairs to fix mistakes.
3 things prepared me for soldering my first build:
A practice kit: https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-Practical-...+soldering
This thread that unseen started: http://intofpv.com/t-how-not-to-solder
Stu's $99 build video: https://goo.gl/kxgScb
On the RTF vs ARF point that Tom makes above... an ARF or Almost Ready to Fly quad is probably a better choice for long term interest in the hobby. This way if you get a proper radio you can use it. Not always does it require soldering to a board though. For example I have two ARF quads.
My Vortex 250 didn't even require any disassembly. It had a pigtail hanging out of a little hold in the back that I could plug a PPM receiver into. Later this lead to the demise of my reciever and I placed it's replacement inside of the body but still it was the easiest one to install.
The diatone
On my diatone GT2 I did have to solder but only to put together the two cable halfs. The receiver (and XSR) comes with a cable that has a JST connector and some wires, the quad came with tons of cables with connectors and some wires. I just had to line up the correct wires between them and solder them together and use heat shrink to protect from shorts and I was done with the soldering.
Tom's advice on radio and cable (on a Taranis the cable is just a USB micro) is invaluable. I have been telling everyone that I talk to that is new that they should get hooked up to a simulator because it's the best way to practice between batteries. I've become mildly competent at flying these days and I still fly at least 1-2 hours per week in-sim to try out the things that might make me crash and to run practice precision.
The Tom and Carl show today.......... and I actually understood almost all of the jargon. (patting myself on the back) Yep, ARF seems the way to proceed.
Might look around for a soldering kit tomorrow. I have a few projects around the house that could be done with electrical tape.......... But now they will have to suffer the results of my newbie soldering efforts.
Cheers!