Fixing Motor on X5SW-1 Quad Copter Drone

Project:
Fixing my son's X5SW-1 Quad Copter Drone

Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Easy

Process:
My son got this awesome drone for his 8th birthday from his pappa who ordered it on amazon.ca and LOVED flying it. Unfortunately, after a few days (!) one of the motors stopped working. At first, I thought it was just some dirt that clogged up the tiny plastic gears but after some testing I concluded that one of the motors actually died!

Luckily, I was able to find a set of 4 replacement motors on ebay for under $US10 bucks only 16 days ago. I just got the mail today and in less than half an hour the drone was back up and running.

All I had to do is take off the gear covers (x4), the three screws that held the drone shell together (x4) and the drone propellers. I had to de-solder the two tiny wires and pull out the dead motor, then simply push the new motor in its place, glue it down with a drop of crazy glue and re-solder the two wires.

After the two shells, screws, propellers and gear guards were screwed back on it was all done and flies again like new

Videos:

 

Pictures:

The box of the X5SW-1 drone

Close-up of the gear that turns the drone propeller

After all the necessary parts were taken off

The opened drone

After I cut out the dead motor

Gluing the replacement motor in its place

Tools:
Screwdriver
Soldering iron

Materials:
Replacement motor
1 drop of crazy glue

Cost:
$2.50

Time:
1/2hr

Savings:
Over $100 bucks

Conclusion:
Works great. So much fun. I can't wait to go try it out now.

Push Buttons For My Emco Maximat V10 Metal Lathe

Project:
Replacing the push buttons for my Emco Maximat V10 Metal Lathe

Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Easy

Process:
The push buttons on my Emco Maximat V10 Metal Lathe were not working very well (as is very common with those buttons) so I figured I'd take them apart, do a good clean and have a look at what might be going on.

Taking it apart was fairly easy; just a few screws and that's it. I gave it a good clean with brake/electrical parts cleaner. However, the plastic push buttons at the top literally disintegrated (after all, the lathe was made in the 70's). Again, this is apparently a fairly common issue with these lathes.

I just happen to have picked up a few 1" pieces (24" x 36" and 16" x 30") of Teflon at the local scrap yard for $20 bucks so I cut off a 1" piece on the table saw, fed it through the thickness planer to 1/2" by 5/8" and cut the ends off on the chop saw. All I had to do now is drill a hole slightly smaller than the metal pin that attaches to the switch module and I was all set.

The only disadvantage is that the original buttons were black whereas the Teflon is white. I didn't think it was that big a deal though.

Pictures:

The dirty switch module

Another view of the switch module

After the push buttons disintegrated

The disintegrated push buttons

The strip of Teflon I cut on the table saw

A close-up of the rough piece of Teflon

After it was put through the thickness planer

Drilling the holes in the back to match up with the metal pins in the switch module

After it was all done. The large button was pushed down a bit further after I took this picture to match the height up with the rest of the buttons

Tools:
Table saw
Thickness planer
Chop saw
Drill press
Knife

Materials:
1" x 1" x 16" Teflon

Cost:
$0.25

Time:
1hr

Savings:
No idea, can't even get these anymore

Conclusion:
Works great and the grease wipes right off!

BBQ Flavor Heat Shields Rebuild

Project:
Replacing the BBQ flavor heat shields with stainless steel ones

Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Easy

Process:
The other day I decided I was going to finally give my BBQ (it's about 6 years old) a really good clean so I had the burners on high for a good 20 minutes to try to burn off all the grease. Once it cooled down I did some heavy duty scrubbing with my steel brush and ended up cleaning out all the crap at the bottom, underneath the grill too. I noticed that the heat shields (the angled pieces of metal that are sitting right above the burners to protect the burners from the grease) were in pretty bad shape and since I didn't really have any other (major) projects on the go I figured I might as well replace those.

I did some research and although they wouldn't have been super expensive, with the shipping and the waiting and all the 4 replacement parts would have been around $50 to $60 bucks. After work I took a drive down to D.R. Recycling to get some stainless steel (SS) sheet. I found a nice 24-gauge piece that was about the right size for only a little over $5 bucks.

Once I got home I took the least rusted heat shield off the BBQ, hammered it flat and traced 4 pieces on the new SS sheet. At first I tried to cut it with the tin snips but it was just a little too thick so I ended up using the angle grinder to cut it out. Once it was cut and de-burred I used some pliers to bend it in shape, fine-tuned it and voila, all done.

Pictures:

The piece of 24 gauge SS I got for $5 bucks

Tracing the shape from the old heat shield that I hammered flat

After the part was traced and the rough shape was cut out

Almost done

The new heat shield

Two of them done, one of the old rusted ones is on the right

All done

Ready for some major bacon

Tools:
Measuring tape
Jiffy marker
Angle grinder
Needle nose pliers
Sheet metal pliers
Level (to draw straight lines)

Materials:
15" x 32" 24-gauge stainless steel

Cost:
$5.10

Time:
2 hrs

Savings:
$50.00

Conclusion:
Looks good. I'll have to see how long it will last in the searing heat