Arducopter Y6 Frame Assembly Guide

Multicopters are easy to fly, can takeoff and land anywhere, and provide great platforms for using camera stabilization systems. With three arms and six motors, the Y6 configuration combines lightweight design, powerful lifting capacity, and in-flight redundancy for a versatile copter experience perfect for any application

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Arducopter Y6 Frame Contents

These parts are included with the arducopter Y6 frame

Tools Required

Optional Extras

These parts can be purchased as part of the arducopter Y6 Kit

850Kv motors (6)

22A SimonK ESC (6)

10x50 Carbon Reinforced Props (2 sets)

11x50 Carbon Reinforced Props (2 sets)

Other Electronics (depends what options you selected)

These are the required electronics for the arducopter y6, but if using other electronics, please see the instructions that came with the for installation details

Attach motors to arms of your arducopter y6 frame

Each arm of your Y6 will have a top motor and a bottom motor attached to the arm using co-axial motor mounting plates. To ensure motors are securely bolted to arms, apply a small amount of threadlock to each bolt before fastening.

Threadlocking compound is an important component to ensure your motors remain firmly attached! For application tips, check out this video - http://goo.gl/ZsVyqQ

Bottom motor assembly

Attach mounting plates to bottom motors 

• Using two 6 mm steel bolts and one co-axial motor mounting plate, fasten motor onto plate as shown. 
• Repeat for three of six motors
  

Top and bottom motors attached to arm with mounting plates

Attach top motors to arms

• Insert mounting plate between top motor and arm. 
• Make sure motor cables protrude in the direction of the end of the arm. 
• Fasten motor and plate to arm using two 6 mm steel bolts by accessing through the two large holes in the bottom of the arm. 
• Repeat for all three arms.

Secure mounting plates together

• Place mounting plates with bottom motors attached on underside of arm so that the three outer holes in the plates align.
• Insert a 19 mm hollow spacer between top and bottom holes.  
• Thread a 25 mm bolt through spacer and plates. 
• Secure with a metal nut. 
• Repeat for all three holes on mounting plates. 
• Repeat for all three arms

Completed Arducopter Y6 motor assembly

Thread motor cables through arms

• Thread the cables from the top motors through the ends of the arms. 
• You’ll want to distinguish between top and bottom motor cables, so use a pen or piece of tape to mark the protruding ends of the top motor cables before threading the bottom motor cables through the arms

Attach Prop Holders

• Attach a threaded collet to the top of each motor using the four small screws included with collets. 
• Apply threadlock to each screw before fastening. 
• Repeat for all six motors

Main Y6 Frame Assembly

The top and bottom plates will form the main frame of your copter. We’ll attach these plates both to each other and to your copter’s arms.

• Attach top and bottom plates together through the four aligning holes near the front ends of the plates as shown using a 25 mm bolt, 19 mm hollow spacer, and metal nut.

• Next attach the arms to the plates. The black arm will attach to the narrowest angle of the triangular plates. 
• The two blue arms indicate your copter’s front-facing direction and will attach to either side of the front of the plates.
• Place the arm between the two plates so the two holes in the arm align with the holes in the plates.
• Insert a bolt into each hole from under the bottom plate and secure with nuts above the top plate. 
• For inner holes use 35 mm bolts and metal nuts; for outer holes on blue arms use 30 mm bolts and thumb nuts
• For the outer hole on the black arm use a 25 mm bolt and metal nut

Arducopter Y6 Legs Assembly

Your Y6 has three legs, each comprised of two C-type landing gear pieces. To assemble each leg, align the two pieces and attach through four bottom holes using four 18 mm threaded spacers and eight 5 mm nylon bolts

Arducopter Y6 Leg Assembly

• For each hole, position spacer between holes
• Secure from each side with nylon bolts. 
• Repeat for all three legs.
  
• Attach legs to arms with C-shape facing toward motors (to provide clearance for propellers on bottom motors). 
• Align the two top holes in the leg with the two holes in the center of the arm. 
• Insert two 25 mm bolts and secure with metal nuts.

Power Distribution Board

PDB between top and bottom plates

• The power distribution board (PDB) allocates power to your copter’s motors. 
  
• Place the PDB in the center of your copter through the hole in the top plate, resting on top of the bottom plate. 
• You may want to experiment with the orientation of the board to accommodate all necessary wiring

Connect motors and ESCs

ESC connected to PDB

Motor connected to ESC

• Connect each motor to an ESC using bullet connectors. 
• The order of the bullet connectors doesn’t matter at this point but will become important later when we set motor directions, so make sure you can still access these bullet connectors after assembly is complete. 
• Each ESC should connect to only one motor. Label your ESCs by motor number according to the diagram.
  
• Starting with the ESC labeled 1 , connect the ESC three-wire cable to the corresponding position on the PDB pins (M1 - M6 for motors 1 - 6) with orange wire positioned at the top. 
• Connect ESC Deans connector to any PDB Deans connector. 
• Note that the order of the ESC Deans connectors does not matter, while the ESC three-wires cables must match the motor numbers on the PDB pins. 
• Repeat for all motors and ESCs

Don’t secure the ESCs to the frame until you have confirmed that each motor spins in the direction specified in the Y6 motor order diagram

• Lastly connect your APM power module to the long thick deans wires that comes out from the PDB

Install ArduPilot Mega onto your Arducopter Y6 Frame

Mount ArduPilot Mega board

• Place APM 2.6 in the center of the APM plate with the arrow on the case facing forward (toward wide end). Use four adhesive foam squares to secure the bottom of the case to the plate (one on each corner). 
• Ensure APM and foam squares are firmly attached so the position of APM does not shift during flight

For APM 2.5: Mount APM to the top of the accessory plate

• Using the four holes shown across, insert a 30 mm threaded spacer over each hole and secure from below with a 5 mm nylon bolt

• Locate the PDB six-wire cable (multicolored) and the power module six-position cable (red and black); thread these cables up through the slots in the APM plate where they can connect to APM (APM Outputs), see details in following steps

• The APM plate connects to the ends of the three 35 mm bolts securing the inside holes of the arms. 
• Place the three outer holes in the APM plate over the exposed 35 mm bolts on the top plate and secure with thumb nuts.

Power module connected to APM and the arducopter PDB

Connecting the PDB to APM

Connect APM to power module and PDB

• Connect the power module six-position cable (red and black) to APM’s PM port. 
• Connect the PDB six-wire cable (multicolored) to the APM output signal pins (top row). 
• Ensure that the individual PDB wires are connected to the corresponding APM output signal pins.
• For example, the wire originating in the position marked M1 (motor 1) on the PDB must connect to APM output signal pin 1.

Mount GPS Module

• Place the GPS module onto the square end of the accessory plate with the arrow pointing towards the center of the plate. 
• Use double-sided foam tape to secure case to plate

For GPS without compass: Attach GPS board to four holes using four 5 mm nylon bolts, four 30 mm spacers, and four nylon nuts.

• Connect the 6-position to 5-position cable to the GPS 6-position port and to the 5-position APM GPS port (use top-entry port not side-entry port). 
• Connect the 4-position cable to the GPS 4-position MAG port and to the APM I2C port.
  

Adding Extra components to APM

Attaching a telemetry module

• Attach antenna to Radio air module. 
  
• Connect telemetry cable to the air module pins (ensuring that the red wire aligns with the pin marked 5V) and to the APM Telem port

Match the correct control channel with its corresponding APM input signal pin

• To connect an RC receiver to APM, use the six-wire and two-wire cables provided with your copter.
• Use the six-wire cable to connect the receiver’s signal pins to APM’s input signal pins. 
  
• Use the two-wire cable to connect power and ground pins between APM and the receiver.
  

Note: APM also supports one-wire PPM connection with supported receivers. .

Attach accessory plate to APM plate

The last step it to attach the accessory plate to your arducopter Y6 frame, this plate can be used to mount extra gear like FPV gear/ radio modules..

• Place accessory plate onto the four 30 mm spacers protruding from the APM plate, and secure with four nylon nuts

If you have any questions visit our community forums to ask your question! Or share some flight videos/pictures!

Install/Setup the arducopter software

To configure the software and hardware on your arducopter Y6 please visit the page below for more instructions

Arducopter Setup