DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Replacing the canopy (and the mistakes I made)

Panamawise

Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Messages
41
Reactions
18
Location
Republic of Panama
After my Mavic Pro crashed into a building, its electronic innards were exposed, so I went to eBay and purchased an original DJI top cover from China (cheap, under $15.00 and it arrived reasonably fast). I also purchased on Amazon a set of micro tools, making sure they included the mandatory 1.5 mm Hex driver. Then I went to YouTube where you can find plenty of videos teaching you how to do a tear down. First mistake: you don't need to disassemble the whole unit to replace the canopy (insert sarcastic comment here). I started to disassemble the bottom, thinking it was necessary. Not a huge mistake, until I destroyed one of the bottom screws. It took me a while to extract the stripped screw, but what worried me was the possibility of stripping more of them... I was not satisfied with the torque provided by the 1.5mm bit. I tried all the bits in my pro toolbox almost at random until I discovered a much more useful one, marked CR-V T6. In my limited experience, it provides a much better torque and the 1.5 mm bit might end up in the dustbin. Bottom line, you don't need to take the whole MP apart just to replace the canopy, and I might add you don't really need to watch a long video showing you how every little screw is removed. Even for an ignorant tinkerer like me, it's very straightforward. Just two screws are hidden and you need to remove a small plate under the two front arms to access them. Incidentally, I was impressed by how beautiful this flying computer looks from the inside. DRONE damage.jpg
 
It's always fun to see in insides of these things. Good job getting it fixed, and now you know how to take it apart. It may come in handy in the future.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Panamawise
1.jpg 2.jpg
T6. In my limited experience, it provides a much better torque and the 1.5 mm bit might end up in the dustbin

These are 1.5mm hex screws. The Torx 6 that you used might fit, but that could strip a 1.5mm screw within the first few turns. If that happens, the DIY guy is really out of luck because many of the screws are recessed, so cutting a new slot for a flat head screwdriver with a dremel to retrieve the screw is impossible without damaging the body.

1.5mm works for me.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Panamawise
Thanks Rob, your advice is consistently spot on. And thank you for the close-up too. Since you likely have disassembled a large number of Mavics, I defer to your point of view. Still, the 1.5 mm stripped a screw... I did use a dremel (and a diamond bit) to retrieve the screw. I wonder if anyone on this forum ever used a Torx 6.
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
131,122
Messages
1,560,057
Members
160,098
Latest member
Bsplum