I have a small quadcopter that fits in my hand which I enjoy using. To call what I have and this gas-drinking monstrosity by the same name seems wrong, but just as an elephant and a mouse are both animals, they are, on some level, the same thing. On the other hand, while mine flies quite well, and cost around $50, this one is still in the experimental stages.

As stated in the first video, the single motor “weighs in” at 30 horsepower, and uses belts to drive each propeller. The whole design is meant to use as much off-the-shelf technology as possible, and the design is open source.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv6OsMBh46I]

As seen in the video below, there are a lot of forces at work here, and after some belt issues, one of the propellers cracked. Builder Peter McCloud thinks he can prevent this from happening in the future, so like most projects, it will be a learning experience. I think it should also serve as a reminder to be careful when experimenting with something, especially involving a large engine and/or rotating parts. It’s good to learn to fix a machine, but it’s usually harder to fix yourself!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCfh3zFHTus]

via Hackaday