Micro FPV Canopy (make a Micro Cam Fly)

I had an idea while looking online at the Inductrix quadcopters. They come fpv equipped but what really caught my eye was how the micro cam was encased in this little cool canopy. Being a diy guy I figured it shouldn't be too hard to make a canopy for nothing. Follow my steps if you like how it looks without paying the $200 price tag of the Inductrix drone!

To do this instructions you will need an mini drone, eachine e10 or something simmilar as well as a micro 5.8 ghz fpv cam fpv goggles or monitor and a little patience. Below i will provide a full list of tools and links to the equipment I personally own and used here.

5.8 ghz micro cam~https://m.banggood.com/Eachine-QX90-Micro-Racing-Q...

5.8 ghz fpv goggles~ https://hobbyking.com/en_us/quanum-cyclops-fpv-gog...

Eachine e010 quadcopter~https://m.banggood.com/Eachine-E010-Mini-2_4G-4CH-...

Wifi antenna

Blue Styrofoam

White glue

Sandpaper

Exactoknife

Solder and solder iron

Wire cutters

Heatshrink

On each side of the frame you should see two small plastic pins. That is to hold the stock canopy on. Remember these because we will use them later to hold on the new canopy. Pop the top off to expose the curcuits.

This is going to be the canopy. We want to make it as close as possible to look like a tiny whoop. We have an eachine E010 drone , a micro 5.8ghz fpv cam and some blue foam. Lets make it work!

Here you want to cut a piece of blue foam about 3" × 3" . Look at it as a diamond shape and use exact knife to start shaping from the front and taper towards the back. So it should start looking like a firefighters helmet.there's not much i can say to guide you along you just have to go slow and sand carefully to get the shape you want. Open a picture online of a canopy just to go off.

You're almost done shaping. Take the sandpaper and gently sand sides down and shaping until your happy with your results, as well as keep using your drone for size reference every few mins. You dont want to sand it too much and be too small. Height wise you need to compare your micro cam to make sure it will sit in the canopy.

Next you will need to coat the styrofoam with white glue. Once this hardens it will make like a plastic coating shell on the foam for durability. Use a foam paintbrush or whatever and apply 3 coats of glue. ( each coat takes about an hour to dry).

While the canopy is drying now is a good idea to solder wire adapters to the curcuit board. Under the drone we see the battery adapter. Mark positive and negative and that is where we will solder mini wire adapter too. Easy right! Check your wiring twice the reverse voltage can damage the cam and the quadcopter circuits.

Like me my micro cam had a cloverleaf antenna, not such a good idea to keep on one of these little drones because the slightest crash could break the antenna off. This is an instructable all on its own so im going to just be quick with this step but theres plenty of references for whip antenna lengths and how to make them.

De-solder the cloverleaf antenna in 3 small spot on the cam. 2 ground pads and one conductor pad. Carefully and with not to much heat desolder these spots. By now you should have to make your whip antenna. I will provide a diagram how long and where to cut. When you have it ready solder the insulated wires on each side and conductor in the middle. Not to hard, but this does take some fine soldering skills and a steady hand. Like i say use google for more in depth reference for this step. Once this is done plug your camera in and then your quadcopter battery to make sure you have a signal. You will want to do this now because later the cam will be increased in our canopy. If you did everything right lets move to the next step.

Hopefully your canopy has a few coats of glue and has dried. You need to hollow out the canopy from the bottom so the cam fits in. This step is critical so go slow. I used a soldering iron and a small exact knife and mine turned out perfect. Hollow it out so there is about 3mm thickness left. Once your cam fits in snug mark where the lens hole in the front will go. For this i used my soldering iron to make a nice hole which hardened the foam as well. Once the hole is your desired size on the very to make a small hole for the whip antenna. Your cam should now fit in snug. The pictures here show i still have the cloverleaf on, i know i did these steps out of order!

I decided to paint my canopy with just acrylic paint. You can if you wish, i feel i makes it look more professional. A few coats will do of any color of your choosing. Once ready to put on your quadcopter i used a small elastic wrapped around the top of the camera before i inserted it in the canopy. Use the small hooks on the frame that hold the old stock canopy on then plug in the camera to the power we soldered on and add 2 small dabs of hot glue on the front and back to hold canopy from moving. Your done! You should have a little quad that resembles a tiny whoop. Thanks for ready, happy flying.