Crashed my mini, need new shell. Is a transplant to mini 2 shell possible?

arpione · Feb 3, 2021

So I crashed my mini 1 the other day and the damage is severe.
Everything still seems to work, but my body shell is done for.
Since I need to order a new top shell, middle shell I went online and I saw that these parts are available for both the mini and the mini2.
This got me thinking, since the mini 2 shell takes mini 1 batteries. and I am going to have to tear down the mini 1 anyway... would it be possible to transplant my mini 1 parts into a mini 2 shell?
Mini 2 shell's plastic is a lot less brittle and it would fit the new batteries too, which could be a bonus should I ever decide to upgrade to a mini 2 in the future.

I did some googling to see if anyone has done this before, but didn't have any luck.
Does anyone have info on this, or a link to someone who has already done this?

arpione · Feb 3, 2021

Well what do you know.. I speak polish (a little) and found this gem:

From what I can see it should all fit. Or am I missing something?

lannes · Feb 3, 2021

It's a lot of work desoldering and resoldering the motor wires, you'll need a lot of skill to do this well.
The rear motor wires are especially short.

If you can get away without replacing the middle shell, I'd just replace the top shell as this wouldn't involve soldering and dismounting the circuit boards.
In the video posted by Arpione the top covers are not identical.

arpione · Feb 3, 2021

I am aware of the work, but since I need to do it anyway for the mini 1 frame, I might as well do it on a mini 2 frame.
I mean, if it is going to work..

The only thing I haven't found yet is a set of arms without the motors, because I only need the arms, the antenna's amd motor of the mini 2, are not much use to me on a mini 1..

DanMan32 · Feb 3, 2021

Taking shape out of the equation, you can put an MM1 battery into an MM2 because the MM1 battery voltage is a bit lower and MM2 firmware probably accounts for it. However it would not be good to put an MM2 battery into an MM1. Voltage is highr and circuits/firmware isn't accounting for it.

boblui · Feb 3, 2021

Mini 2 shell's plastic is a lot less brittle ? My Mini 1 hit a hard wall at maximum speed resulting in the gimbal broken into 3 pieces and several dents on the shell but there was no fragments coming off. It certainly did not look brittle to me.

FlyBackOU812 · Feb 4, 2021

boblui said:
Mini 2 shell's plastic is a lot less brittle ? My Mini 1 hit a hard wall at maximum speed resulting in the gimbal broken into 3 pieces and several dents on the shell but there was no fragments coming off. It certainly did not look brittle to me.

I ran head on full speed with MM1 about a year ago into a 1 inch thick large wooden sign and it literally bounced off the sign and landed like 25 feet away and landed on top of a huge boulder rock before it fell to the gravel and I promise you, not a scratch or broken anything. Didn't even need to calibrate anything and thats the honest truth as I can give it. Matter of fact I've got video of rhe entire crash. I usually wait till someone calls me a liar b4 i reveal that last part but im kinda over making people eat their words lol

arpione · Feb 4, 2021

I don;t mean to offend anyone or make a claim with the intent to make a bold statement, but seeing as my drone was damaged by flying itself into a wired fence in rocket mode, I found that the plastic in my particular case is unfortunately not as durable as you described it FlyBackOU812.
I am only going by my own experience ofcourse and just figured with the reviews of the mini 2 and all the comments on the new material being lighter and more durable, that it would be a viable alternative since I am going to have to transplant all the internals to a new frame either way, be it a mini 1 or a mini 2 frame..

FlyBackOU812 · Feb 4, 2021

arpione said:
I don;t mean to offend anyone or make a claim with the intent to make a bold statement, but seeing as my drone was damaged by flying itself into a wired fence in rocket mode, I found that the plastic in my particular case is unfortunately not as durable as you described it FlyBackOU812.
I am only going by my own experience ofcourse and just figured with the reviews of the mini 2 and all the comments on the new material being lighter and more durable, that it would be a viable alternative since I am going to have to transplant all the internals to a new frame either way, be it a mini 1 or a mini 2 frame..

I wasn't offended in the slightest way my friend. I was just giving context so you would understand they are both just plastic and both are subject to breaking at the speeds and heights we fly regardless of what you do or which shell you have so I guess I was more curious why you were thinking one would fair better than the other. Its gonna depend on the temperature no matter what the 2 different plastics aren't that far apart in flexibility and strength. You could crash one in the morning when its still cold out and shatter it in multiple places and a couple hours later, if you could duplicate the exact crash and hit in the exact same way after it warmed up 10 or 20 degrees and not have a scratch on the same model. These are sold around the world in many different climates so you have to take in consideration everyone will have a different experience so you can't go by how this person sees things to them compared to someone else's views on the other side of the planet or even just 500 miles away from each other

FlyBackOU812 · Feb 4, 2021

FlyBackOU812 said:
I wasn't offended in the slightest way my friend. I was just giving context so you would understand they are both just plastic and both are subject to breaking at the speeds and heights we fly regardless of what you do or which shell you have so I guess I was more curious why you were thinking one would fair better than the other. Its gonna depend on the temperature no matter what the 2 different plastics aren't that far apart in flexibility and strength. You could crash one in the morning when its still cold out and shatter it in multiple places and a couple hours later, if you could duplicate the exact crash and hit in the exact same way after it warmed up 10 or 20 degrees and not have a scratch on the same model. These are sold around the world in many different climates so you have to take in consideration everyone will have a different experience so you can't go by how this person sees things to them compared to someone else's views on the other side of the planet or even just 500 miles away from each other. Ive got a clear one you can buy from me if you want to make a real statement lol

LotusFan · Feb 4, 2021

I've seen many comments about the arms on the MM2 being more rigid, be it by a change in material or design. It makes perfect sense that the MM1 would have any weak points improved when they made the '2

That said, in terms of using the MM2 batteries, that would be a "no" when using the guts from a MM1, the '2s batteries are a different type, have a different voltage and needs a different charging circuit. I'd assume that the MM2 can recognise which battery it has fitted and adjusts it's thresholds accordingly

FlyBackOU812 · Feb 4, 2021

LotusFan said:
I've seen many comments about the arms on the MM2 being more rigid, be it by a change in material or design. It makes perfect sense that the MM1 would have any weak points improved when they made the '2

That said, in terms of using the MM2 batteries, that would be a "no" when using the guts from a MM1, the '2s batteries are a different type, have a different voltage and needs a different charging circuit. I'd assume that the MM2 can recognise which battery it has fitted and adjusts it's thresholds accordingly

Seems I've wasted my time here trying to saythe difference can't be drastic enough if at all to justify doing what, you are talking about doing in the. Slightest possible way way. Do you bro, DO YOU

LotusFan · Feb 4, 2021

FlyBackOU812 said:
Seems I've wasted my time here trying to saythe difference can't be drastic enough if at all to justify doing what, you are talking about doing in the. Slightest possible way way. Do you bro, DO YOU

Sometimes it's hard to read the tone in messages, though it reads as though you are being aggressive with your capitalisation, that's like shouting among friends, uncool bro

In the history of pretty much everything ever, the MK2 is normally an improvement. In the history of hobbies and modders, it's really normal to try to use the latest and greatest parts

This guy said that his Mini is going to need a total strip down, so according to him, it's no extra work to use the MM2 parts, normally yes, I would say use the newest and best parts, why wouldn't you, if they fit?

As I said, he won't gain the benefit of being able to use the MM2 batteries, my concern that he buys a load of parts that aren't suitable. If he knew they fit or could return the parts, I'd say go for it

LotusFan · Feb 4, 2021

arpione said:
Well what do you know.. I speak polish (a little) and found this gem:

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From what I can see it should all fit. Or am I missing something?

That's a great video to watch, I did pick up on a couple of his comments on differences, he mentioned something about a light now also being a button?(1.36) and differences to the size of the leg pivots (8.59)
Don't forget that the USB socket is different too, so the cut out in the body wont be the same

arpione · Feb 4, 2021

FlyBackOU812 said:
Seems I've wasted my time here trying to saythe difference can't be drastic enough if at all to justify doing what, you are talking about doing in the. Slightest possible way way. Do you bro, DO YOU

You are not wasting your time as I am reading and listening to all advice I am getting on here and I am still in the process of deciding if I am going to order the mini1 or the mini 2 shell. Fact is that I will have to order either one or the other if I want to fly my mini, so I am going to have to disassemble the mini 1 regardless of whichever I choose.

Deleted member 103366 · Feb 5, 2021

There are differences in the components that penetrate the shell, the USB connector and the front led are two that I know of. With that in mind there may be other differences, including mounting points for boards etc. Consequently I would think it better to try and stick with MM parts for the replacements. I understand your reasons but .......

FlyBackOU812 · Feb 5, 2021

PhiliusFoggg said:
There are differences in the components that penetrate the shell, the USB connector and the front led are two that I know of. With that in mind there may be other differences, including mounting points for boards etc. Consequently I would think it better to try and stick with MM parts for the replacements. I understand your reasons but .......

Thing is he only needs to replace the top shell and I think an arm and could do that very easy with only needing to soder the 3 arm wires without going through all he's talking about wanting to do. Seems barbaric unless he has the knowledge and skills to do it and if that were the case he certainly wouldn't be asking the opinions of people he has no idea whether they are skilled enough have the knowledge or not. Sounds to me he's just talking to be talking and wasting our time. If I'm wrong then god help the little Frankenmini

arpione · Feb 6, 2021

FlyBackOU812 said:
Thing is he only needs to replace the top shell and I think an arm and could do that very easy with only needing to soder the 3 arm wires without going through all he's talking about wanting to do. Seems barbaric unless he has the knowledge and skills to do it and if that were the case he certainly wouldn't be asking the opinions of people he has no idea whether they are skilled enough have the knowledge or not. Sounds to me he's just talking to be talking and wasting our time. If I'm wrong then god help the little Frankenmini

Wasting "your" time? Talking to be talking? ehm..
Nobody is forcing you to reply and if you don;t feel like "wasting"your time you are ofcourse free to ignore this thread.
However, I think there is no need to be so negative and act so hostile.

It is an honest and straight forward question where I am honestly thinking of doing a swap of the internals from a mini 1 to a mini 2 shell. If anyone has a good reason to not do it, which is probably the case, then it would save me some time and some money but at the same time I am trying to see if it is even possible to do it. I do not see how this is "wasting"someone else's time.

Further more I have been building my own fpv racing quads since 2013. I know how to use a soldering iron and have programmed my fair share of flight controllers and esc's to know what is possible and what isn't.
Now I am not saying that I know everything about the mini and the mainboard or 4in1 board (otherwise didn't have to ask any questions here) s I am asking my questions here.

As to the damages to my mini 1, I can tell you that the top cover is broken, the nose of middle frame is broken off and the right front leg and right back leg are broken (but the motors still work) and the gimbal has been damaged with the longer extensions to the rubber feet broken off and the camera giving a gimbal overload and giimbal stuck message.

So at the moment the mini is pretty much worthless. To get it to fly again i need to replace the middle and top shell and two arms and probably a new gimbal housing adding up to about 140 dollar.

The price for the mini 1 and mini 2 shell is about the same, so as I am going to have to take mi mini apart anyway, I was just wondering if I could not just go for the mini 2 frame. That was all..