Gideon Tong's Latest

Today's video and blog post will accomplish even less than yesterday's blog post, since all I did in twelve minutes was essentially learn how to use a soldering iron (not really, I already know how, but I do a terrible job and am so slow at it I basically learn how every time) and actually solder something. The relevant YouTube video is linked below, and once again, I kept is short and sweet as much as I could, and it's probably between 10 and 12 minutes. At the time of writing, I haven't actually edited the video yet since I'm typing up my write-up on my phone first, while I usually create the video first. Even though all I really accomplished was soldering, I'd like to show off what I did, even though this will probably be my shortest post of all time, and I don't really like short blog posts, even though I'm trying to make shorter YouTube videos. As I said in my video, I may go back to doing longer videos in order to get more done per video, or ...

It is only the fourth blog post, and I can hardly wait! I have finally received all the parts necessary for me to build a quadcopter (I would hope), and I would hope that I do not need any other parts since it would be such a hassle to order them and wait for them to arrive from China, and as time ticks down and my summer days are wasted away, I do not have any more time to waste! The relevant YouTube video is linked below. Not too much was accomplished today, but I would still like to record what exactly I did, so that's the point of today's blog post. In the picture below, you can see all the parts laid out of the extremely popular frame "Martian II," which is a copy of another popular frame, the "Alien," or something that is of that sort of name. The Martian II is relatively cheap, at only $26, comparable to $100 carbon fiber frames and even includes a PDB, a benefit that allows me to save a few dollars and not spend money on a PDB. Knolling: a...

As my blog posts coincide with my YouTube videos, they are starting to have less and less creative names. However, you can watch me unbox and cover every item in the YouTube video below, or you can read my write-up. So one of the things I received in the mail today (pictured below this paragraph) was the FrSky Taranis Q X7 transmitter. It has tons of features and the one I bought comes as a mode 2 controller, which means it is better suited for quadcopters and multirotors over fixed-wing planes and single rotor aircraft. Memory can be expanded via a micro SD slot, and on the left side there is a 3-pin connector that I have not yet figured out what it is for. This left side-right side thing I'm talking about is a cover on the front (facing the body) that I believe is misplaced, since any cables plugged into it will poke into your stomach. On the right side is a mini USB port, which comes with my other gripe. While I do have many mini USB cables lying around my house, it is an ...

One of the things I would like to do the most this summer before I hit my junior year of high school is build a fully functioning, at least multi-featured drone, with the goal of building both racing quadcopter, and provided that I still have time, an AP (aerial photography) hexacopter. I intend to build a quadcopter first because I don't have any experience with building drones, so I need to learn how they work first before I can attempt any big projects. Thus, I've essentially assigned myself the task of successfully building a cheap quadcopter and not crashing it. I do believe that's possible. Today, I received XT60 connectors in the mail from Amazon (pictured below). They were not very expensive, I bought 5 pairs for only a few dollars. They have soldering cups on one end and connect to each other on the other end, and seem to be found everywhere regarding the remote control hobby, from cars to planes to drones. 5 pairs (sans 1 male connector) of XT60 connectors....

One of the quadcopters I have that was given to me as a gift several years ago is a toy quadcopter, easily found on eBay and Amazon for prices of less than $50. It's a quite underpowered quadcopter, equipped with a camera that shoots 480p video and no audio and powered by a 2.59 Wh battery, which is rated at 3.7V with a 700mAh capacity. The entirety of the drone is plastic and the interior board is comprised of a single board, and after disassembling my own drone I discovered that there were disassembly guides already available on the internet. Not to be deterred, I have shared my own findings here on my own website as well as on my YouTube channel. These posts coincide with my YouTube videos, but my posts are sometimes more or less technical and are always written after the YouTube video is created, so there may be corrected information that I might have gotten wrong in the video. There's a YouTube video linked above. If you're unable to see it, you can click th...