# Thrust vectoring EDF copter **URL:** \ **Category:** PX4 Autopilot\ **Created:** [November 13, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://discuss.px4.io/t/thrust-vectoring-edf-copter/47879 "2025-11-13T16:51:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HowardJetson](https://discuss.px4.io/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@HowardJetson](https://discuss.px4.io/u/HowardJetson)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://discuss.px4.io/t/thrust-vectoring-edf-copter/47879/1 "2025-11-13T16:51:41Z")
I’m building a single copter hovering drone with EDF fan and thrust vectoring using designs and manual published by @bresch. The assembling and setting up went pretty straight forward. I am using a Pixracer R15 flight controller. All I had to do after putting it all together is flashing the custom firmware and calibrate the sensors. Drone flies pretty stable and responds to control well. There are a few issues yet to resolve though. I often get warnings about high RAM usage above 97%. I rebuilt firmware switching off features that I don’t need but it made little or no difference. Another thing that i have to fix is when flying it always drifts to one side. Maybe because of that take off from the ground is impossible - drone just nosedives right after take off. I guess I have to dig into logs now to really see what’s happening. Any advice or comments are appreciated ![IMG_4065](https://discuss.px4.io/uploads/default/original/3X/0/5/05ee33bf4574250bbb4ba278173863fe9262b75e.jpeg) ![IMG_4067](https://discuss.px4.io/uploads/default/original/3X/4/1/41862c2c9a2907691a6880b7c33f16f73043c6dd.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![bresch](https://discuss.px4.io/user_avatar/discuss.px4.io/bresch/32/2343_2.png) [@bresch](https://discuss.px4.io/u/bresch)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 10:28am UTC](https://discuss.px4.io/t/thrust-vectoring-edf-copter/47879/2 "2025-11-17T10:28:57Z")
Hi @HowardJetson . Nice, thanks for sharing the pictures, I’m glad you’were able to make it fly! > [@HowardJetson](#): > > I rebuilt firmware switching off features that I don’t need but it made little or no difference. Yes, if it’s already not used, it won’t make much difference on the CPU usage, it will mostly just reduce flash space. What you could try is to disable one of the 2 IMUs, this consumes quite some CPU as the sampling rate is high. > [@HowardJetson](#): > > Another thing that i have to fix is when flying it always drifts to one side. In altitude mode? It’s not supposed to stay perfectly in place as the attitude is never exactly zero, but shouldn’t drift too quickly either. Which values do you have for `SENS_BOARD_[xyz]_OFF`? Ideally, those should be zero if the autopilot is aligned with the airframe. > [@HowardJetson](#): > > Maybe because of that take off from the ground is impossible - drone just nosedives right after take off. I I actually never tried too much to takeoff from the ground. The problem is that the airflow mainly escapes from the sides, so you would need a lot of initial thrust before taking off, and if you’re not quick enough, the integrators of the rate controllers might have reached saturation (which would make the drone quickly flip when airborne). > [@HowardJetson](#): > > I guess I have to dig into logs now to really see what’s happening. Yes, if you upload them to [http://logs.px4.io](http://logs.px4.io) and share the link here, I could also have a look. I’ve seen you also re-designed some nice parts (battery holders, test rope fixture, …), did you already share the designs somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://discuss.px4.io/uploads/default/original/3X/7/3/73ce918bdcd64854de904f0c8d9ab70ca9723f2a.png) [@system](https://discuss.px4.io/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 10:29am UTC](https://discuss.px4.io/t/thrust-vectoring-edf-copter/47879/3 "2026-02-15T10:29:53Z")
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