lower frame cracking on my phantom 4

Badaxed · Apr 30, 2017

Has anyone else had their lower frame crack coming from the legs up toward the battery compartment? I have three hairline cracks. Two in the back coming from the legs and going in the direction toward the battery compartment ( a third of the way) and one crack coming from a front leg . I hand catch the phantom 4 from the right rear leg and have not had any crashes. I examine the craft regularly and just noticed these. I have sent the craft in to dji for repair for this issue as well as a crooked horizon issue (calibration did not solve). Has anyone else sent their p4 in for these issues?How long does it usually take to send in and get back? What is the usual repair cost.? Dji would not give me an estimate until they have seen the aircraft.

Sprtbkryder · Apr 30, 2017

Is it under warranty?

wa5tef · Apr 30, 2017

DJI took about a week to receive, analyze, repair, test fly and ship back to me. However, they lied about everything! I had sent it in for warranty repair but I messed up and paid the bill $239.00 quickly hoping to get it back soon. They sent me a new drone! But they have still refused to tell me why my Phantom 4 flipped over, inverted and flew into the ground from about 200 feet/ I sent them proof that showed it had to be a warranty issue because of the events, etc. but they said that since I did not send in any "flight records" with the drone, they could not prove my claim. I am going to send all my data that I have accumulated to the main office in China to press my appeal. I don't care about the $239 but I want to know why it flipped. Anyway, from reading posts here and other forums, kiss your drone good by because you won't see it again. You will most likely get someone's other drone that they have "refurbished". Just a heads up.
Anyway, good luck,
Jim
WA5TEF

Sprtbkryder · Apr 30, 2017

Amen there you just said it like it is!! I'm already having second thoughts about even sending mine in. It's just the lower shell anyway which is very easy to replace.

Dazzauk · Apr 30, 2017

im starting to think the p4 cracks more than any of the p3 range , it shouldn't happen period, grrrr

Sprtbkryder · Apr 30, 2017

Dazzauk said:
im starting to think the p4 cracks more than any of the p3 range , it shouldn't happen period, grrrr

And they expect us to just accept it that way too. What happens when the warranty period is over and you have 32 cracks in your shell?? What then?

Dazzauk · Apr 30, 2017

Sprtbkryder said:
And they expect us to just accept it that way too. What happens when the warranty period is over and you have 32 cracks in your shell?? What then?

exactly, and they make the support side of things so extremely difficult, and ive come to realise this is done on purpose to deter people from claiming warranty issues,

tevek · Apr 30, 2017

Dazzauk said:
exactly, and they make the support side of things so extremely difficult, and ive come to realise this is done on purpose to deter people from claiming warranty issues,

I think you're onto something here. My P4 has three tiny hairline cracks in the same area as the OP and when I enquired as to the repair process, I had to send it 4000 klms to Melbourne for a warranty consideration and wait up to six weeks. That's rubbish, so I'm keeping an eye on it and dumbly putting up with it.

rhoffart · Apr 30, 2017

I'm on my 3rd phantom. I owned a P3, P3 Pro and now a P4 and never had a crack. I always balance my blades. Now the shell should never crack, but I think this is not talked about enough. Some of my blades were way out of balance. I came from the build side years ago where you would never fly without balancing the blades before flying. The vibrations from a blade out of balance would cause a lot of issues. I think it can be easily causing a lot of these cracks. Just my thoughts.

tevek · Apr 30, 2017

rhoffart said:
I'm on my 3rd phantom. I owned a P3, P3 Pro and now a P4 and never had a crack. I always balance my blades. Now the shell should never crack, but I think this is not talked about enough. Some of my blades were way out of balance. I came from the build side years ago where you would never fly without balancing the blades before flying. The vibrations from a blade out of balance would cause a lot of issues. I think it can be easily causing a lot of these cracks. Just my thoughts.

Possibly a valid point, but in my case, I have never crashed, thrashed the quad, had a hard landing (hand catch), and am very fastidious with cleaning and inspecting before and after each flight. The props are the original set supplied with the kit and if anything, I would be suspecting motor mount cracks or possible arm cracking and not the leg cracks I have and have read about.

chefrd38 · Apr 30, 2017

Yep sent p4p back after a minor bump and landing in the grass

rhoffart · Apr 30, 2017

tevek said:
Possibly a valid point, but in my case, I have never crashed, thrashed the quad, had a hard landing (hand catch), and am very fastidious with cleaning and inspecting before and after each flight. The props are the original set supplied with the kit and if anything, I would be suspecting motor mount cracks or possible arm cracking and not the leg cracks I have and have read about.

Yea, such a good machine with a huge flaw ... same here never crashed and always hand catch.

chefrd38 · Apr 30, 2017

wa5tef said:
DJI took about a week to receive, analyze, repair, test fly and ship back to me. However, they lied about everything! I had sent it in for warranty repair but I messed up and paid the bill $239.00 quickly hoping to get it back soon. They sent me a new drone! But they have still refused to tell me why my Phantom 4 flipped over, inverted and flew into the ground from about 200 feet/ I sent them proof that showed it had to be a warranty issue because of the events, etc. but they said that since I did not send in any "flight records" with the drone, they could not prove my claim. I am going to send all my data that I have accumulated to the main office in China to press my appeal. I don't care about the $239 but I want to know why it flipped. Anyway, from reading posts here and other forums, kiss your drone good by because you won't see it again. You will most likely get someone's other drone that they have "refurbished". Just a heads up.
Anyway, good luck,
Jim
WA5TEF

Did u have dji care just curious

Dazzauk · May 1, 2017

rhoffart said:
I'm on my 3rd phantom. I owned a P3, P3 Pro and now a P4 and never had a crack. I always balance my blades. Now the shell should never crack, but I think this is not talked about enough. Some of my blades were way out of balance. I came from the build side years ago where you would never fly without balancing the blades before flying. The vibrations from a blade out of balance would cause a lot of issues. I think it can be easily causing a lot of these cracks. Just my thoughts.

I can see what you are saying and where you are coming from, however, i think in this day and age with cost and quality of manufacturing no blade from dji should ever need to be balanced, remember these things are aimed at and sold to the consumer market designed for people who have no knowledge of this type of thing, its a bit like when some of the older generation ask about gaping a spark plug, in this day and age it is not necessary ..... Just my 2 cents worth

Sprtbkryder · May 1, 2017

No where in the owners manual does it say anything about having to balance the blades to prevent anything. I too am from the days of balancing blades and such before you flew but those things do not apply here.

Duchunter · May 1, 2017

I just noticed a crack the other day. It broke my heart. My p4 has about 40 cycles on the battery. I can't say how much it's flow cause I got it used but I suspect it hasn't been in the air that much because the P.O. had the battery set to discharge after 1 day so I imagine it was charged more than one that's set to 5 days or whatever. It did get crashed but I checked every inch of it when I bought it and it was clean. A week later and it has a crack. I can't send it to DJI so it's my problem. I'm going to epoxy it from the unexposed side while I have it apart doing the gimbal repair and reinforce it with something stronger than the plastic.

Sprtbkryder · May 1, 2017

All DJI needs is some competition and you would see a lot of these problems being taken care of, quickly.

Duchunter · May 1, 2017

They've got 70% of the market and rising. 3D Robotics tried to take a huge chunk but their product just wasn't good enough, especially for the price. The solo was like $1500 when it was released. Amazon has them now for $260 but u get no support from 3dr.

Erised · May 1, 2017

Duchunter said:
I just noticed a crack the other day. It broke my heart. My p4 has about 40 cycles on the battery. I can't say how much it's flow cause I got it used but I suspect it hasn't been in the air that much because the P.O. had the battery set to discharge after 1 day so I imagine it was charged more than one that's set to 5 days or whatever. It did get crashed but I checked every inch of it when I bought it and it was clean. A week later and it has a crack. I can't send it to DJI so it's my problem. I'm going to epoxy it from the unexposed side while I have it apart doing the gimbal repair and reinforce it with something stronger than the plastic.

My P4 cracked at exactly at the same place. My first repair was with locktite 420 (capillary action) the crack was hairline, this lasted about 6 batteries. The crack now opened like yours, I glued with locktite 414 that has a higher viscosity, 4 batteries later it is still holding. From the first repair to the second the crack opened up more but did not go further down towards the leg. I don't realy want to open the shell and I am considering hand drilling a terminating hole just after the crack ends. This is the only stress crack I have in one year of flying over 4,000,000 feet and over 200 flights with no crashes.