So, it turns out that the Mini isn't as crash-resistant as my Tello had been. Due 100% to user error, I cracked the left front arm pretty good on the fourth day I had my Mini. I'm not complaining; I absolutely could have been more careful, and will be going forward.
I had bought DJI Care Refresh, but was going out of town for Thanksgiving and was hoping to get some footage while I was away, and I hear that it takes weeks to have a new drone in hand with Refresh. Plus, I wanted to see if I could avoid one using up my two warranty-covered replacements on Day 4 of my 365-day coverage.
Reports that superglue is useless are true. But the epoxy I used has held nicely over a few flights and a few bumps, and I wanted to share my experience with the community. It ain't pretty, but it's working.
Here's what I bought at Home Depot for about $5:
I put on a coat, left it overnight, promptly crashed it when I hit the wrong stick while landing it, and it came loose. So I put on another coat, waited overnight, and added one more coat. It is thick and clear and shiny; I could probably sand off the drip on the bottom, and rough it up to make it a little less obvious, but for the moment, it seems to be airworthy, which was the main goal:
The nice thing about the tube of epoxy I bought is that it's re-closeable; I've brought the tube with me on this trip so I can do an emergency repair should I need to do so, and that might be a good idea going forward (even if I do eventually further wreck this drone, replace it, and am flying a fresh new one). But I've flown it for about 45 minutes in high winds, and all seems well.
Not only was the superglue useless, but it might even impede the ability of the epoxy to bind things up if you have to paint the epoxy atop the superglue. I'd recommend going straight to epoxy. I see online that J.B. Weld has a plastic-specific epoxy that might work even better:
Bottom line: Epoxying a Mavic Mini seems to work just fine. So far.
I had bought DJI Care Refresh, but was going out of town for Thanksgiving and was hoping to get some footage while I was away, and I hear that it takes weeks to have a new drone in hand with Refresh. Plus, I wanted to see if I could avoid one using up my two warranty-covered replacements on Day 4 of my 365-day coverage.
Reports that superglue is useless are true. But the epoxy I used has held nicely over a few flights and a few bumps, and I wanted to share my experience with the community. It ain't pretty, but it's working.
Here's what I bought at Home Depot for about $5:
I put on a coat, left it overnight, promptly crashed it when I hit the wrong stick while landing it, and it came loose. So I put on another coat, waited overnight, and added one more coat. It is thick and clear and shiny; I could probably sand off the drip on the bottom, and rough it up to make it a little less obvious, but for the moment, it seems to be airworthy, which was the main goal:
The nice thing about the tube of epoxy I bought is that it's re-closeable; I've brought the tube with me on this trip so I can do an emergency repair should I need to do so, and that might be a good idea going forward (even if I do eventually further wreck this drone, replace it, and am flying a fresh new one). But I've flown it for about 45 minutes in high winds, and all seems well.
Not only was the superglue useless, but it might even impede the ability of the epoxy to bind things up if you have to paint the epoxy atop the superglue. I'd recommend going straight to epoxy. I see online that J.B. Weld has a plastic-specific epoxy that might work even better:
Bottom line: Epoxying a Mavic Mini seems to work just fine. So far.
