MiniQuads

The cheap miniquads from china are quite fine for indoor flight.

3D models for print

I'm pretty good at breaking stuff, so I've come up with a quick-to-print frame for the mini-quads, so I can just print out a new frame in an hour if I crash it. The frame is fairly sturdy when printed in ABS.

OpenSCAD file with tool and miniquad frame (From git, always newest version)

STL with miniquad frame

STL with motor-mounting tool

Assembly

I've had trouble press-fitting the motors into the holding rings without either hurting myself and breaking the plastic or the motor, so I made the little tool shown below. It fits on top of the motor ring, and has room for the propeller stud, holding ring and the sticks holding the ring. This tool makes it way easier to apply even force to the ring and motor, resulting in straight mounts every time!

The PCB is screwed into the center holes. I use two-sided foam tape to mount the camera and battery. Note that on some quads, the motors are connected with sockets, and I didn't allow room for that, so you may have to desolder the plugs for this frame to fit.

The camera accepts from 3 to 5 volts, so it is mounted directly on the battery-connector, so connecting the battery turns on both camera and flight-board.

Images

MiniQuad shopping list

These are the things I've bought, I'm certain there is other stuff out there that's great, but this is what I've been using.