A stress crack stays stable with strong arms

[nonflyingbrick]

I have a stress crack in one of the arms. Because I can't send it in for free warranty repair, I installed the UAV BITS strong arms for removable prop guards, am I'm happy to report that after 19 flights (11 of those without prop guards), the crack has stayed stable. I think it'll stay stable, so I'll stop periodically taking off the strong arm to verify the crack.

This is the crack before installing the strong arms:

Crack, picture 1

• nonflyingbrick
• Feb 14, 2016

Crack, picture 2

• nonflyingbrick
• Feb 14, 2016

Next time I can I'll buy the strong arms for flying without prop guards, because now when I fly without guards the strong arms are secured with only 4 out of the 6 screws.

As for the cause of the crack, I think it's possible at least one time I flew without the 2 motor screws that go where the prop guards are screwed, because when I take out the prop guards I was often too lazy to put the short screws back on for transport, leaving just 2 screwed on every motor. If that was the case, it's most likely it would have caused the crack. Lesson learned, always put all 4 screws on even if just transporting.

 

[Quadcopterpilot]

Leave the strong arms on and stop removing screws and all will be fine.
Keep removing screws and re-installing them will definetly cause problems and require you to start over-tightening them and causing more insures

 

[nonflyingbrick]

Thanks, I was worried about that too.

 

[Sim597]

Also, I'd get some good locktite epoxy, and gently fill that crack in


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[m0j0]

Wow.. Mine was far less than that...Mine is going to DJI. They can fix it.

 

[alokbhargava]

If you are happy with the strong arms, fix the crack first and them properly mount strong arms with all the screws.

 

[nonflyingbrick]

I'm not good with repairs, but the knowledgeable friends I've consulted have said that in order to fill the crack with glue I'd have to open it up a bit more, risking extending the fissure a bit. Should I still glue it? Is there another way?
Thanks.

 

[Dounin Front]

Reinforcement plates - good.
Prop guards - bad. All they do add weight, resistance and destabilize your aircraft. They probably won't help outdoors - just don't run into things and if you have trouble landing, try hand catching.

 

[nonflyingbrick]

Reinforcement plates - good.
Prop guards - bad. All they do add weight, resistance and destabilize your aircraft. They probably won't help outdoors - just don't run into things and if you have trouble landing, try hand catching.

Dounin, prop guards have important disadvantages, but they don't destabilize the aircraft. The day I flipped over the bird when landing in a bad surface with a lot of wind I wished I had had the prop guards on.
I also never hand-catch without them.

 

[Dounin Front]

Dounin, prop guards have important disadvantages, but they don't destabilize the aircraft. The day I flipped over the bird when landing in a bad surface with a lot of wind I wished I had had the prop guards on.
I also never hand-catch without them.

Sorry about that - I should have added IMO. We have different experiences. Admittedly, mine consist of hearsay with prop guards. The props sometimes show up in my footage and I imagine it could be worse when using prop guards, but I could be wrong there too.

 

[nonflyingbrick]

Yes the biggest pain of prop guards is that they show up in the frame when accelerating at nearly full throttle, but you can definitely work around that. I've done most of my flights with prop guards. I take them out when I want to do long range missions to avoid the extra drag, but it's not much.