Popsicle Quad, V2

So after the first version, made with HaagenDaz sticks flew a bit, I wanted to make some upgrades. Specifically, I wanted a.)more power and b.) a bit more clearance to mount an AIO FPV (all-in-one first-person-view) camera, such as the TX02 that I had on hand. To do so, alas, would require a slightly larger frame. So I picked up a bunch of "craft grade" popsicle sticks (there's only so much sugar we can handle) from the dollar store, and got to designing a new frame.

I wanted to keep on using the rubber grommets as before, which were quite good at holding the motors. The final design I came up with the following: (series of relatively self-explanatory photos)

The end result, with the old Eachine triblades:

The new props, based on the suggestion of a redditor, are the 55mm ladybird props. I also tried some hubsan x4 props which were also an improvement, but only had a set and broke them quickly testing indoors ;) I see some newer KingKong 55mm and 65mm props, which might also be good to try out. They are also a bit cheaper at $5usd for 10 pairs instead of ~$8 for 8!! The main thing is to use props with 1mm shaft holes, and to ensure there's enough clearance of course!

Looks like the props are about half a gram heavier each. The extra thrust however, was totally worth it. It's actually a bit hard to fly indoors without a prop guard, so I waited a while before good weather and opportunity arose. Here's a flight in a park taken with a run cam 2 (sorry for slanted camera placement... it's a bit hard to tell sometimes ;)

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to do any FPV flights with it, and my ghetto FPV system (to be described at some point) is quite clunky. The camera adds 10 lbs 5 grams, which is about 10% the total weight of the quad. Being 200mW it also draws about 400mW, which is not negligible for such small flight batteries. A 25mW (such as the TX01 or the switchable power TX03) transmitter would be more appropriate for this build.