{"author":{"bio":"Daniel Chote, the Code Monkey, Cat Herder, Maker, H4x0r, uav pilot, sim racer, bullshit artist and dad. Made in Hastings, New Zealand... Now living in the USA!","imageUrl":"https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/7f04e14567c4ec6ea9c28826cc9e3e12?s=250\u0026d=mm\u0026r=x","location":"State College, PA","name":"Daniel Chote","postCount":155,"slug":"daniel","website":"http://chote.com"},"cover":"/content/images/2026/10/9e08d4941150-social-background.png","hero":"","kind":"post","logo":"/content/images/2016/08/projectable-me-4.png","nav":[{"id":"62e854d471683dea63488bcbca5c6188","label":"Home","url":"/","sortOrder":0},{"id":"1bc84fb15620acd635df7735a0b8ddd8","label":"Projects","url":"/projects/","sortOrder":1},{"id":"3207e2fec51d66d2a5b3d8d04feb9dd8","label":"Sim Racing","url":"/tag/sim-racing/","sortOrder":2},{"id":"59115afd52e59a74faa4b386e00ae3fa","label":"About","url":"/about-me/","sortOrder":3}],"post":{"id":"7a3709631e203221ab024f748dc5df9a","siteId":"projectable","slug":"project-edf-tricopter-assembled-plus-first","title":"Project EDF Tricopter - Assembled","markdown":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProject EDF Tricopter\u003c/strong\u003e - Assembled!! Plus, first flight test!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSummary:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eAll aluminum hand built frame, with full tilt tail boom (bearings for smoothness)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e3x 70mm ducted fan units (CW \u0026amp; CCW) powered by 2300KV motors + 60A ESCs on 6s battery!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAPM 2.5 running Arducopter 2.9-dev (git 3/8/2013) + hott-for-ardupilot classes (for telemetry)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGraupner GR-24 receiver running PPMSum (yay 1 wire)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWeight: 3lbs 4oz (4lbs 4oz with 3200Mah 6s battery)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/-rdV9FD5NnA\" width=\"560\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am amazed that this flew with default PIDs\u0026hellip; One thing to note, which I am sure some tuning will help, is it starts to pitch and that pitch builds until stick correction is no longer enough (which is what happened in the vid). I hope its not electro magnetic interference from the motors\u0026hellip; I would figure the aluminum around everything would act as a shield to some degree.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cimg src=\"http://66.media.tumblr.com/fcd16f0847206fbd12029e2c6780c2e6/tumblr_mjcuprKQ3a1rgpsuzo2_1280.jpg\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cimg src=\"http://67.media.tumblr.com/e9e00e165de39ee0b82aed586429d4d4/tumblr_mjcuprKQ3a1rgpsuzo1_1280.jpg\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cimg src=\"http://65.media.tumblr.com/ff5eccc9519c251f0fabf923a6a74563/tumblr_mjcuprKQ3a1rgpsuzo3_1280.jpg\"\u003e","html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProject EDF Tricopter\u003c/strong\u003e - Assembled!! Plus, first flight test!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSummary:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eAll aluminum hand built frame, with full tilt tail boom (bearings for smoothness)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e3x 70mm ducted fan units (CW \u0026amp; CCW) powered by 2300KV motors + 60A ESCs on 6s battery!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAPM 2.5 running Arducopter 2.9-dev (git 3/8/2013) + hott-for-ardupilot classes (for telemetry)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGraupner GR-24 receiver running PPMSum (yay 1 wire)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWeight: 3lbs 4oz (4lbs 4oz with 3200Mah 6s battery)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/-rdV9FD5NnA\" width=\"560\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am amazed that this flew with default PIDs… One thing to note, which I am sure some tuning will help, is it starts to pitch and that pitch builds until stick correction is no longer enough (which is what happened in the vid). I hope its not electro magnetic interference from the motors… I would figure the aluminum around everything would act as a shield to some degree.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cimg src=\"http://66.media.tumblr.com/fcd16f0847206fbd12029e2c6780c2e6/tumblr_mjcuprKQ3a1rgpsuzo2_1280.jpg\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cimg src=\"http://67.media.tumblr.com/e9e00e165de39ee0b82aed586429d4d4/tumblr_mjcuprKQ3a1rgpsuzo1_1280.jpg\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cimg src=\"http://65.media.tumblr.com/ff5eccc9519c251f0fabf923a6a74563/tumblr_mjcuprKQ3a1rgpsuzo3_1280.jpg\"\u003e","excerpt":"","metaTitle":"","metaDescription":"","status":"published","featured":false,"publishedAt":"2013-03-08T18:44:15Z","authorId":"190160de54f2192bd5b8734ec8808086","authorName":"Daniel Chote","authorSlug":"daniel","heroMediaId":"","projectId":"","tags":[{"id":"9bec399c1772c721c401034517cb9218","name":"Multi Rotor","slug":"multi-rotor"}],"createdAt":"2026-10-18T13:16:27Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-18T13:16:27Z"},"preview":false,"related":[{"id":"348624cbbc3deb00815071017427f52a","image":"","slug":"my-nexus-7-rc-transmitter-mount-i-got-a-fantastic","title":"My Nexus 7 rc transmitter mount!"},{"id":"5ad93069d5772a52861aee65bd8bd2e6","image":"","slug":"project-minitricopter-completed-just-took-it","title":"Project MiniTriCopter Complete"},{"id":"63553f0ef8cbfe8aad2cfae836bae522","image":"","slug":"project-minitricopter-build-complete-the","title":"Project MiniTriCopter - Build complete!!"}],"site":{"id":"projectable","theme":"projectable","title":"Daniel Chote's Project Blog","description":"Software Development, Game Development, Hardware Hacking, Sim Racing, Multi-rotors and Robots!","timezone":"America/New_York","postsPerPage":10,"logoMediaId":"21557257b3f2ecc4b3fa875b808097a7","coverMediaId":"6d7e99f0997d13aac98da38677ca7064","copyright":"© Daniel Chote","twitterUrl":"https://twitter.com/dchote","linkedinUrl":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchote","googleTagId":"G-07GJBQVM38","hosts":[{"host":"new.projectable.me","canonical":false},{"host":"projectable.me","canonical":true},{"host":"www.projectable.me","canonical":false}]}}

Project EDF Tricopter - Assembled

Project EDF Tricopter - Assembled!! Plus, first flight test! Summary: All aluminum hand built frame, with full tilt tail boom (bearings for smoothness) 3x 70mm

By Daniel Chote

2013-03-08T18:44:15Z

Project EDF Tricopter - Assembled!! Plus, first flight test!

Summary:

All aluminum hand built frame, with full tilt tail boom (bearings for smoothness)
3x 70mm ducted fan units (CW & CCW) powered by 2300KV motors + 60A ESCs on 6s battery!
APM 2.5 running Arducopter 2.9-dev (git 3/8/2013) + hott-for-ardupilot classes (for telemetry)
Graupner GR-24 receiver running PPMSum (yay 1 wire)
Weight: 3lbs 4oz (4lbs 4oz with 3200Mah 6s battery)

I am amazed that this flew with default PIDs… One thing to note, which I am sure some tuning will help, is it starts to pitch and that pitch builds until stick correction is no longer enough (which is what happened in the vid). I hope its not electro magnetic interference from the motors… I would figure the aluminum around everything would act as a shield to some degree.