I started my first toothpick build.  I went off an old build by KababFPV from 3 - 4 years ago.  The AIO and FPV system are different from his original build.

*Toothpick 3 Frame - TP3 (FPV Cycle)
*iFlight Xing 1303 5000KV Micro Motors
*HappyModel SuperF405HD 2-4S F4 AIO Toothpick/Whoop Flight Controller (w/ 20A 8Bit 4in1 ESC & 2.4GHz ELRS RX)
*RDQ Series 11.1V 3S 450mAh 80C LiPo Micro Battery - XT30
*Walksnail Avatar HD Mini 1S V3 VTX Kit VTX w/ Nano Camera
*HappyModel Crux3 Whoop Canopy
*Gemfan Hurricane 3016 Propeller 3 Inch Prop w/ 1.5mm Center Hole for FPV Racing
*Panasonic FM Series Capacitor 25V 470uf Low Impedance

*Fat Shark Dominator HD FPV Goggles
*TATTU 2500mAh 2S 7.4v Fatshark Goggles Headset LiPo Battery Pack with DC5.5mm Plug and LED Power Indicator

*Radiomaster Boxer Radio Controller (ERLS)
*Radiomaster 2S 7.4V 6200mAh Lipo Battery

So far got the frame put together.  Next part is installing the battery connector/capacitor to the AIO and mounting the motors.

Nice mate! A big fan of toothpicks here Watching on with interest. I take it you're going for a 3S rig with the specs you posted. Man that will be fast!

I got battery wire with capacitor soldered and motors mounted.  Now I have to solder those little tiny motor wires to those tiny pads.

Tin each of the motor pads well, just enough solder to cover it and start the form of a small blob. Strip, tin and then cut (again) the motor wires. That way the wire end is nice and clean when you go to solder it to the pad. You just line the wire on top of the pad, push the soldering iron down on the wire and then the heat transfers to the pad, melting both together well. Be careful not to push too hard as this will deform the shape of the tinned wire and cause it to shorten to the adjacent pad.

Start with the middle pad. then do the outer pads. For the outer pads come in from the side with the motor wire to allow for the greatest margin of error.

Small motor pads suck. Betafpv is the worst offender, jhemcu comes a close second.

Oh and don't forget the battery strap, you may need to install that before the AIO is wired into place.

Just soldered up its sister board which has all three pads lined up which I think is worse. I like to tin only the middle pad and get the wire on it first to check for bridging, before tinning and soldering the outside pads. And making sure your wire is twisted so its thin and cut short will help. And try to keep solder away from the through hole, as at that section the pads are nearly touching and much easier to bridge.



Not pretty, but functional.

(07-Apr-2024, 06:57 PM)mstc Wrote: Just soldered up its sister board which has all three pads lined up which I think is worse. I like to tin only the middle pad and get the wire on it first to check for bridging, before tinning and soldering the outside pads. And making sure your wire is twisted so its thin and cut short will help. And try to keep solder away from the through hole, as at that section the pads are nearly touching and much easier to bridge.



Not pretty, but functional.

So what temperature do you set your iron or pen?  I pulled an old FC and practiced the other night after watching a video.  They recommended for beginners or someone who hasn’t soldered in a while to set the temperature at 650 F.  My joints looked like junk..  I soldered those battery connections at 750 F and used some flux and it worked out much better.

Also, did you solder the antenna on the board?  I know it snaps on but maybe it is just the photo.

I have a cheap iron with a tiny dial for setting temperature, pretty sure its not accurate. I would guess its around 650+, but it will depend on your setup (iron/tip/solder) and best to dial in with some test boards. Ideally you want the solder to flow within a second or so after you make solid contact to the pad. If the tip is too fine, its hard to get the solder to flow nicely, that's why I use a slightly bigger tip even though that increases the risk of bridging. Some people like the chisel tips, I think everyone has a different preference. Slightly hot is fine, just remember not to leave the iron on the board for too long or repeatedly in the same spot without letting it cool.
Flux certainly helps keep solder to its respective pads and give a cleaner finish. Optional but good practice to clean your board after you've finished soldering too.

And the antenna UFL is just plugged in, not soldered. Some people like to add some liquid tape to hold it down, also on some boards the plug can rotate and short out components, but best not to solder in case you need to replace it.

Soldered motor wires to board.  I was careful and checked continuity with my multimeter to make sure I didn’t bridge any pads that I tinned.  I also used my smoke stopper and connected battery and got red okay light with FC appearing to light up correctly.

Where do most people put the antenna?  Zip tie to an arm?  Just bit worried prop may get into this kind of antenna since it is shaped like a T.

On to installing the Walksnail FPV tomorrow.  Glad it has a connector so should go faster.

Waiting on M2 nuts and grommet spacers to come in from Amazon to finish the build.  Shout out to mstc for the help with mounting the AOI and Walksnail VTX board.  My Toothpick kit came with 15 mm and 25 mm screws.  The 15 mm were too short so had to swap them out for the 25 mm.

Build is basically finished although I did decide to add a buzzer which is being shipped.

Hooked up Fatshark HD Googles and they work.  Now on to flashing firmware and figuring out how to use Betaflight.

Hi Radworm,

Just a thought     

Maybe consider flying it before any firmware updates or even tuning.
When I get a build finished, I always like to do an initial hover test and
at least some line of sight flights, maybe even FPV flights, before I do
anything with the firmware or tune. If it flies fine, then I am done.

If it Ain't Broke, then Don't Fix it. 

So far, I have never needed to upgrade the firmware and I rarely 
even have to mess with the tune. I would not update the firmware 
unless I was getting something that the current firmware didn't 
provide. 

About soldering: First, I use a medium size conical tip the same as
mstc uses. Next, I have a cheap 60 Watt AC adjustable soldering
iron with the temp wheel taped at 425 C degrees (797 Fahrenheit).
I like a hot iron. I leave the temp setting there and don't change it.
The iron temp setting is not about how hot the pad will get, it is 
about heat transfer. If you use the solder as a gauge and touch it
to the pad first, then the iron tip, the solder (63/37) will melt when
the pad temp reaches 183 C degrees, flow over the pad, and mount
up in the center. Remove the heat. Done. The actual pad temperature
did likely not get much over 200 C degrees, if that. 

Well I did just buy, but have not yet used, a new soldering iron that 
is 100 Watt, has digital temperature readout, and an on/off switch,
but looks much like my older iron. Oh yeah, got it on sale for $ 15 USD.
The extra wattage is what I was looking for, but the on/off switch is
nice. Moving on up...

Also, I use plenty of rosin flux because that tiny bit of flux in the solder
wire is really only sufficient for tiny wires and maybe really tiny pads.
Besides, keeping the pad (or wire) clean, it also insulates between pads
and helps to prevent solder bridging. 

Later, iFly  

I would suggest you keep the vtx disconnected whilst you figure out all the BF stuff. Otherwise I strongly recommend you have a small fan running directly over the stack to keep the vtx from overheating. Looking great so far though. Those xing 1303 motors, do they come in higher kvs? I've never seen them before, interested to know if they go higher in the kV dept.

(11-Apr-2024, 01:49 PM)iFly4rotors Wrote: Hi Radworm,

Just a thought     

Maybe consider flying it before any firmware updates or even tuning.
When I get a build finished, I always like to do an initial hover test and
at least some line of sight flights, maybe even FPV flights, before I do
anything with the firmware or tune. If it flies fine, then I am done.

If it Ain't Broke, then Don't Fix it. 

So far, I have never needed to upgrade the firmware and I rarely 
even have to mess with the tune. I would not update the firmware 
unless I was getting something that the current firmware didn't 
provide. 

About soldering: First, I use a medium size conical tip the same as
mstc uses. Next, I have a cheap 60 Watt AC adjustable soldering
iron with the temp wheel taped at 425 C degrees (797 Fahrenheit).
I like a hot iron. I leave the temp setting there and don't change it.
The iron temp setting is not about how hot the pad will get, it is 
about heat transfer. If you use the solder as a gauge and touch it
to the pad first, then the iron tip, the solder (63/37) will melt when
the pad temp reaches 183 C degrees, flow over the pad, and mount
up in the center. Remove the heat. Done. The actual pad temperature
did likely not get much over 200 C degrees, if that. 

Well I did just buy, but have not yet used, a new soldering iron that 
is 100 Watt, has digital temperature readout, and an on/off switch,
but looks much like my older iron. Oh yeah, got it on sale for $ 15 USD.
The extra wattage is what I was looking for, but the on/off switch is
nice. Moving on up...

Also, I use plenty of rosin flux because that tiny bit of flux in the solder
wire is really only sufficient for tiny wires and maybe really tiny pads.
Besides, keeping the pad (or wire) clean, it also insulates between pads
and helps to prevent solder bridging. 

Later, iFly  

I posted in the beginners thread that all my old quad builds were really old and had to replace everything.  I started doing builds in 2013.  I believe the DJI phantom 1 or 2 was out back then and it was well over $1000 so cheaper to build your own.  The Fatshark HD Dominator Goggles were basically forcing me to do a firmware update.  The Radiomaster Boxer transmitter firmware update I may skip after reading reading Oscar’s comment that you can brick them.  I need to check which version it came shipped.  But I get your point, sometimes firmware updates can make things messy and are unnecessary.

As far as soldering goes, I was a bit intimidated by the small pads but flux made a huge difference and easy.  I used a blunt end tip with temperature set at 700 F.  I also used a multimeter to check for continuity and make sure there wasn’t any bridge connections.

I appreciate the advice.

(11-Apr-2024, 02:30 PM)ph2t Wrote: I would suggest you keep the vtx disconnected whilst you figure out all the BF stuff.  Otherwise I strongly recommend you have a small fan running directly over the stack to keep the vtx from overheating.   Looking great so far though.   Those xing 1303 motors, do they come in higher kvs?  I've never seen them before, interested to know if they go higher in the kV dept.

I just went off the suggestions from KababFPV who did the original design of this frame and build.  He said that anything higher than 5000 KV was unnecessary.  So I ordered them from RaceDayQuads since they fit those suggested parameters.

Great idea on disconnecting the VTX as the board gets really hot.  My FS HD Dominator Googles keep telling me there is a firmware mismatch with the VTX.  Not sure if this matters or I need to flash an update on VTX.