Not So Tiny Whoop

Looking how Eachine switched from 6mm to 7mm motors (E010 -> E011) I decided to go a bit further - what will happen if I'll combine Eachine E010 flight controller with 8.5mm motors :-)? And I got kinda interesting results.

Recommended for those who want to get more fun out of their existing Eachine E010 drones :-). I would not advise to buy new E010 for this project because E011 with it's price (less than EUR 15 in Ali) and abilities (7mm motors and ability to flash acro) looks much more promising than E010.

CAUTION. Common sense required! I take no responsibility for burnt or damaged stuph and/or injuries caused! Resulting drone for sure will be more dangerous than Eachine e010! Also I didn't use some capacitor here or some diode there which some more skilled in electronics for sure would use!

Knowledge and tools required:

- Some basic soldering skills and tools.

- Ability to print 3d - those printed frames tend to break often.

- Double sided tape.

Parts:

- Eachine e010 flight controller and transmitter - Eachine-E010 or JJRC-H36 - they are just clones.

- 8.5 x 20mm motors - EUR 5,50.

- Propellers for those motors

more expensive but better (Walkera-QR-Ladybird-Blades-Propellers-For-Eachine-QX95-QX90-QX80). Those supplied with motors tend to run away after crash. EUR 2,0.

- Batteries. Well. I'm using 500mAh, 850mAh and 1400mAh from my Syma x5 (my first 2 drones). From my experiecne 850mAh are the best - well controllable drone and about 10 minutes of LOS flight time. With Eachine E010 150mAh battery and E010 transmitter (I don't have decent tx yet) resulting product is not controllable.

- Frame. Just search Thingiverse for 8.5mm drone.

Optional:

- Multimeter and skills to use it - because it's always nice to recheck polarity and voltage.

- FPV gear to fly FPV :-).

- Stick extender for Eachine e010 TX.

- Some glue to make things more solid - props will not run away so often.

- Zip ties to fix motors better.

1) Take off hull.

2) Make a nice photo of Your quad to have wiring and props reference!

3) Desolder motors

4) Unscrew 2 screws, take out flight board.

5) Put battery in and check if board still binds. May be it didn't survived previous operations already and there is no need to put more efforts into project ;-).

Just search Thingiverse for 8.5mm drone.

I tried:

1) Bottom plate from 105mm quad. Easy and fast to print. I broke one while getting off battery with too much double side tape used.

2) Bottom plate from 85mm quad. Easy and fast to print. Very durable. My favourite. Thought bit more nervous than 105mm or Oskie.

3) Whoopee. Takes ages to print. Fragile. Flies like a comfortable bus. Safe to use in living apartments.

4) Oskie. Takes moderate time to print. Recommended as almost most durable frame in the whole world by Oscar Liang. First frame of this type I managed to break in less than 15 secs :-D.

1) Solder power supply cable to board (if You plan to use different battery than that with E010). I just cut in 2 parts cable which came with my Eachine TX02 camera and got cables for camera and battery connection.

- Connect battery to new power cable and check if board binds.

2) OPTIONAL. Remove original E010 power connector from flight controller. I like flat bottom of board. Cut it if not sure about Your connector desoldering skill. Or leave as is and just use more slices of double sided tape :-).

- Connect battery to flight controller and check if board still binds.

2) Solder new motors according to picture taken in previous step.

- Check if board still binds. Check if motors spins.

3) Insert flight controller and motors into Your frame of choice. Use double sided tape to fix flight controller to frame.

4) Put props on according to picture taken in previous step.

5) Fix battery with double sided tape under frame. Don't use too mache tape here - You'll have to change those batteries time to time :-).

6) Try to fly. use trims to calibrate drone.

Optional:

- Use zip ties to fix motors better.

- Glue props to motors.

Will be written when I'll get cameras I ordered.

It's much more powerful than Eachine E010. Rather hard to control. More weight = more stable flying.

Motors heat up so hard them to touch but board and batteries remain cool. After crash motors tend to fall out from frame sockets, props tries to run away. First can be solved with zip ties, the second with some glue. During crash motors tend to touch flight controller board but it's still alive.

Flight time is about 10 mins LOS with 850mAh battery. About the same with 1400mAh - additional weight or not so good batteries.

Up to this moment (2-3h of flying) I broke some frames, lost some props. Motors and board still alive.

I'll add some video later when new props will arrive or I'll find some of lost ones :-).

My nearest plans:

- Get Eachine E011, get some fun - done.

- Put on it some FPV gear and get more fun.

- Get programmer, flash it acro for even more fun.

- Trash out flight board, put 8.5mm motors and go rogue:-).