Assembling Your µBee Drone

Safety First

Before assembling or flying your µBee Drone Kit, please review the safety guidelines.

Disconnect all batteries and power sources while assembling. Never work on the drone or remote control while powered.

Tools Required

After these steps, you'll have a 3D-printable drone that's ready to fly. Your kit contains all the required materials and parts, but you will need the following tools:

  • Precision screwdriver (Philips, to screw in some fasteners)
  • Soldering iron and solder (for some basic through-hole joints)
  • Wire cutter or scissors (to trim some wire and tape)

The kit includes the following fasteners and spacers that we'll use to assemble the remote control and the drone:

Estimated assembly times are provided for each section, but they are likely overestimates. No prior electronics experience is required.

Before You Begin

  • Work on a clean, well-lit surface.
  • Keep small parts organized.
  • Double-check part orientation before soldering.
  • Take your time. Most mistakes happen from rushing or not paying enough attention.

Remote Control Assembly

Estimated time: 30 minutes.

The µBee Remote Control uses a 915MHz digital radio to command the µBee Drone, and we need to cut an antenna of the appropriate length. Take your 3xAAA battery case, and measure out and cut a length of wire 82mm long from each of the red and black wires. One of them will be your quarter-wavelength antenna, and the other you can discard. (We cut both wires in this case just to make them the same length.) Accuracy matters here, so try to keep the length within a few millimeters.

Solder the stripped (bare metal) end of your antenna into the antenna hole in the remote control PCB. If necessary, carefully trim any excess on the underside using wire cutters.

Solder the red status LED. The LED's anode (the longer lead) goes into the hole on the left, as shown here. If installed backwards, the LED will not light up.

After you insert the red LED, but before you solder it, bend it 90° outwards so that the bottom of the LED sits flush against the PCB edge. Solder the LED one lead at a time so you can adjust its position as you work. After soldering, carefully trim the excess leads on the underside. The final result should look like this:

Next, we'll solder the power wires to the board. Using a wire stripper, utility knife, or a similar tool, remove a few millimeters of insulation from the two wires of the 3xAAA battery case, just enough to expose the metal wire. The result should look like this:

Insert the red wire of the 3xAAA battery case up through the hole marked "+" near the center-left of the PCB, from the underside of the PCB. Bend the metal end if necessary for extra mechanical stability when soldering. Solder it into place.

Do the same with the black wire of the 3xAAA battery case, into the other hole. Be careful that when soldering, you do not electrically join the black and red wires. Use a multimeter in continuity mode to verify that you've done this correctly. If you wish, you can optionally add a dab of hot glue to the top or bottom of the PCB at those joints for mechanical stability. The final soldered power wires should look like this when viewed from the top:

Next, we'll solder the thumb joysticks. Each joystick has 14 pins, so it's important to align them properly with the through-holes on the PCB, especially since they bend easily. For each joystick, seat it into place without applying pressure. If necessary, gently bend the pins using a screwdriver or other precision tool to align them with the through-holes, until the joystick fits snugly into the through-holes.

With the joysticks aligned and seated properly, solder their pins. Ensure both joysticks move freely and return to center.

At this stage, you now have a fully assembled remote control PCB. Turn it on by using the top switch. The red LED should turn on immediately, followed by a short upwards-trilling tone a moment later. Turn it off for the next steps.

The last step is to attach the remote control PCB with the case.

Press-fit the battery spacer against the back of the 3xAAA battery case as shown below. Pay attention to the direction of the wires, as orientation matters. Screw the 2 x M3 5mm screws into the 3xAAA battery case, to hold the battery spacer in place.

Now press-fit the 3xAAA battery case/battery spacer arrangement face-down into the remote control case bottom, as shown below.

Place the remote control PCB on top and align the four corner screw-holes with those on the remote control case bottom. Fasten it in place using 4 x M3 12mm screws.

Align the remote control case top with the case bottom you just assembled. Gently thread the antenna through the antenna hole on the case top, and fit the case top on the case bottom so that the red LED, antenna, and thumb joysticks clear the holes on the case top. Do not force the case closed. If anything doesn't fit easily, stop and check the alignment of parts.

Once more, test to make sure the joysticks move freely and return to center. They should not be blocked by the enclosure.

Fasten the case top and case bottom using 4 x M3 25mm screws.

Lastly, fit the battery cover into place. Fasten it using 2 x M2 8mm screws.

Drone Assembly

Estimated time: 30 minutes.

The first task is to insert the motors into the frame. Take note of the image below and the orientation of the frame, since we must insert the correct motors and props into their correct positions, and this is critical for successful flight.

To start, cut a very small sliver of the provided electrical tape, just a few millimeters wide. Insert it into the top-left motor mount (using the image above as a reference), and stick it to the inside of the motor mount, as shown below.

While holding the tape in place, insert one of the black-and-white-wired motors into the mount from the bottom, so that the bottom of the motor is flush with the bottom of the frame. Trim the tape if necessary when done.

The tape is necessary to accommodate for variations in 3D printer quality, including cases in which you printed your own parts. You can add more tape if needed to make a snug fit without damaging the motors, and this also prevents the fit from changing when the motors heat up the frame.

Repeat the process for the other remaining black-and-white-wired motor, which goes into the bottom-right motor mount this time. Repeat again for each of the blue-and-red-wired motors for the top-right and bottom-left motor mounts.

Correct motor and propeller placement is critical for flight, so be sure you've gotten it correct. The result should look like this.

Now gently pull each motor plug up through the small hole near the mount, so it comes out on top:

Align the drone PCB with the frame, so that the top of the PCB matches up on the same side as the gap for the battery on the frame underside.

Fasten the drone PCB to the frame using the provided 4 x M3 hex nuts, drone spacers, and M3 nylon 12mm screws. The easiest way to do this is to hold a hex nut in place from the bottom while driving an M3 nylon 12mm screw down through the PCB, a spacer, the frame, and then finally the M3 hex nut.

Gently plug the motors into their receptacles. (You can also do this step prior to screwing down the PCB if you want some extra wiggle room.)

Next, we'll attach the propellers. We provided 4 of each (clockwise and counter-clockwise), so you'll have extras.

Please pay extra attention to the propeller installation steps. Incorrect installation will prevent the drone from flying correctly.

Affix an "A"-type propeller (they are labelled) to each of the black-and-white-wired motors by applying pressure straight down from the center of the propeller. Do not apply pressure to anything but the center of the propellers, otherwise you can damage them. Similarly, only apply straight downwards pressure down the length of the motor, otherwise you can bend the motor shaft. The propellers should press on firmly but they should not require excessive force. If a propeller feels too tight, do not force it: check your alignment and try again. Once attached, they should fit snugly onto the motor shafts. (If you need extra leverage when attaching them, you can lay the drone flat on a table and press down on the middle of the props, but not too hard, as we just described.)

Repeat the process for the "B"-type propellers and the blue-and-red-wired motors.

Do a final check that you've correctly mounted and mated the motors with the correct propellers. This is crucial for successful flight.

  • Black/white motors: top-left and bottom-right, with A-type propellers
  • Blue/red motors: top-right and bottom-left, with B-type propellers

Before you proceed, do a final check that the motors are seated and snug, and that no wires are pinched, loose, or in the way of any propellers.

You can now insert the battery from the front of the drone frame. Be sure the battery is seated securely and all the way in its mount.

Don't power up the drone just yet! Make sure you're ready to test in a clear area first.

Congratulations! You've now assembled your µBee drone. When you're ready, check out the guide for tuning and flying your drone!