The Pi Zero Drone ESC/Controller stack build

#1

Hi,

First of all apologies in advance if this has already been answered, i tried to check with the search but cannot be sure i was using the correct terms in the search.

I am a new customer of the Pi Zero drone kit and whilst watching the video of the build, specifically putting the tech stack together to mount on the drone frame i noticed some differences from the parts used in the video versus those i received in my kit. I have come up with a way that works for me but i would like to validate what i have done is correct and i have not missed anything “silly”.

Two mains things i found:

  1. The ESC i received has a shield on the side that was the side that the 3d-printed plate was attached to in the video but this shield means the 3d printed bracket no longer fits. The solution i came up with was to attach the 3d-printed frame to to other side of the ESC so that it is now upside down compared to the video, is that what i was supposed to do or do i need a different bracket? (i have a 3d printer so can print it if there is an updated STL?)

  2. The plastic “spacers” in the video have both male and female ends so the male part (with the screw thread) screws into the 3d printed bracket. The spacers i received only have 2 female ends and i received more metals screws that i expected so i decided that we are meant to feed a metal screw “up” through the bracket through the ESC hole and then into one end of the spacer and then use a second screw to come “down” from the top, through the vibration dampner in the controller and into the other end of the spacer. Is this the expected way to create the “stack” before using mounting tape to affix it to the frame?

One combined photo to hopefully show everything i’m talking about:

photo
photo.jpg1607×872 431 KB

Thanks in advance for help and again apologies if i have missed a link somewhere or done something else silly.

#2

So the ‘shield’ was placed on the wrong side. If you cannot remove the shield there are various solutions.
1 Remove and don’t use the 3DP part and just secure the esc on the bottom with nuts. I constructed mine that way and put the stack over thick vibration damping material (https://dojofordrones.com/pi-zero-drone/).
2 Flipping causes the esc motor order to be flipped, but you might be able to correct that as per the video (56:42).
3 Return yours for a replacement or just buy another esc.

Regarding the spacers, I would say whatever works go with it. But your solution is not optimal and vibration might loosen the screws if they are not kept tight resulting in poor flights. Perhaps you could use a bit of glue to ensure they don’t loosen? You should consider buying some extenders and spacers as they are very cheap. In this hobby expect to buy lots of extra parts and tools which will come in handy, especially when fixing broken parts (eg, props, GPS masts, etc.).