Bent Prop Arm: Fixed

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Warning, long thread and a fairly brutal approach to repairing a precision bit of kit!!! It ant pretty and it definitely isn't precise.


So today I had my first proper crash, I was shooting in a tight area in some native woodlands here in Wales, I'd practiced a fair few times and had the line I wanted, almost skimming the trees on the way out, my plan was to reverse it in post. I got the shot I was after, cleared the trees and thought I'd pan back just that bit further to finish the shot, thats when the trouble started, in my head I knew after the clearing there was another patch of trees behind the drone, instead of stopping or turning round to look at the situation I panicked and just pushed up to try and gain altitude, well it didn't go as planned and I hit the trees. The drone fell about 20ft clipping some branches as it did (breaking its fall somewhat).

So annoyingly I navigated the tight spot fine then basically flew full tilt backwards and blindly into another group of trees, idiot.

I ran over mortified to see what at first glance looked like an intact drone, I was expecting the worst. it wasn't the worst however it wasn't the best.

IMG_0421.JPG


I'd bent the bloody prop arm, bugger!!

i used a screw driver to pop the shell back in and hope for the best.... once again it wasn't the best, the prop was fouling on the body by about three mm, hmm, the clearance on the other props was about ten mm, you can see the stress fractures where its bent.

I swore. A lot.

I headed home grumpy as can be and weighed up my options. They were few and far between and it turned out I had just two, new shell or try and fix this one. I decided to got for the later option.

I took the first allen screw out that holds the top and bottom shell together, then i took the LED cover off.

IMG_0428.JPG

The sticker comes off next revealing the motor screws.

IMG_0427.JPG

Once the three motor screws were out I popped the motor off its clips and wrapped it in foil, this was to try and protect it from the heat of the hairdryer I was going to use to try and bend the shell back into place, it didn't work and the motor got hot, very hot, it probably wont have liked that one bit but it is what it is.

I place a knife between the shell to give me a gap for leverage.

IMG_0423.JPG

After about an hour of fettling, reassembling, measuring, disassembling, heating more then reassembling again I managed to get the ten mm clearance I needed.

IMG_0430.JPG

It aint pretty and it definitely isn't precise, it does however work now and test flights seem to show success, so if you've bent an arm and feel brave heres how I fixed mine.
 
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Cheers heres the shot of me getting out of the trees, its a bit corrupted but that's to be expected
Ricrhys,

Very nice job. Now that you've got the arm back to about where it, would it be worth installing some support plates to take some of the stress off that fracture?

Funnily enough I've just been staring at the cracks and puzzling that very thought. Has anyone on here done anything like that before that may be able to give advice? I could easily fabricate some small Machano style bars I guess, I'll do some proper testing tomorrow and see how she flies in S under quick direction changes. Off to google plastic weld....
 
Last edited:
Ricrhys,

Very nice job. Now that you've got the arm back to about where it, would it be worth installing some support plates to take some of the stress off that fracture?

I was thinking the same thing personally I would cover the whole are with clear epoxy like 4 coasts that would stiffen it up more then enough,over stock even plus wouldn’t look to noticeable
 
I’ll test it properly today to make sure it’s in the right place before I think about setting it. The wind looks good, I’ll report back.
 

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