Phantom 4 falling from sky - prop screws loose...

[Kans]

Mods..

Can you please make one of these threads sticky so as many p4 owners can see them and be safe.

Here is the thread i posted last night

Aircraft safety tip

 

[Phantomfreak]

Nice tip man, appreciated.. I never thought about this, will check mine today. The OP is right, this should be a sticky.


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[Kans]

I see a small crack on THE foto, from THE middel pointing to right under (south-east). Very alarming!

Had a good look at the same prop pictured for about 5 mins with a torch light and cant see a crack, probably was a strand of hair..... phewww..

 

[Snowwolf]

Also a good idea is to get a fine black pen and make a line across the screws so you can visually check each flight if screws have moved

 

[David Cooke]

Aircraft safety tip.....

There was a post on the dji forum of a bird that fell from the sky and it looked like the prop clamp screws on the motor had come off mid flight....

So decided to give mine a check....

add this to you pre flight checks, 50 hours of flight and I found 3 screws loose on mine.

Here is what you can do.

1. Inspect the prop clamps on the motor, the white plastic that holds your props, check them for any wiggle, even a slightest wiggle, tighten the screws using a 1.5mm hex allen key

2. Some of the screws on mine did not have the blue threadlocker compound applied, you can do them now, search for threadlocker in google, its a gel or a stick, it makes your thread tight and prevents them from coming loose due to vibrations.

3. A very quick inspection trick is to mark the screws using torque striping method, use a sharpie (a permanent marker) and draw a line on the white plastic and the screw, if the line is mis-aligned, you can easily tell a screw has come loose.

NOTE: Use a tiny bit of threadlocker on the screws only, not on the plastics.

Happy and safe flight all.

View attachment 54198

Thanks for that EXCELLENT! . . and sure enough only 20hrs and one screw was a 1/4 turn loose. photo very helpful too. I pulled every screw and gave them fresh MED locktite and will now add that to the maintenance sched. Really useful info. Thanks for saving me the grief. Old flying instructor told me "learn from the mistakes of others . . you'll never live long enough to make them all yourself" You have likely saved me a major loss.

 

[r62ewa]

Just checked mine and the 3 screws on the front right all turned a little compared to the others that did not move at all. I have marked them all with a Sharpie and if I notice any movement I will be adding Loctite as well.

 

[billy h]

Aircraft safety tip.....

There was a post on the dji forum of a bird that fell from the sky and it looked like the prop clamp screws on the motor had come off mid flight....

So decided to give mine a check....

add this to you pre flight checks, 50 hours of flight and I found 3 screws loose on mine.

Here is what you can do.

1. Inspect the prop clamps on the motor, the white plastic that holds your props, check them for any wiggle, even a slightest wiggle, tighten the screws using a 1.5mm hex allen key

2. Some of the screws on mine did not have the blue threadlocker compound applied, you can do them now, search for threadlocker in google, its a gel or a stick, it makes your thread tight and prevents them from coming loose due to vibrations.

3. A very quick inspection trick is to mark the screws using torque striping method, use a sharpie (a permanent marker) and draw a line on the white plastic and the screw, if the line is mis-aligned, you can easily tell a screw has come loose.

NOTE: Use a tiny bit of threadlocker on the screws only, not on the plastics.

Happy and safe flight all.

View attachment 54198

This is the kind of thing that makes a forum like this so valuable. I checked mine, and fortunately they are all snug but I shall check them periodically from now on. Many Thanks, Stealthmatt!

 

[SCGENE]

No problem here after the first two months, not enough time to keep the up with all the batteries for the P3 and P4

 

[normr]

Is it an issue if they are over-tightened?


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[TheLightSpeedz]

Thanks for that EXCELLENT! . . and sure enough only 20hrs and one screw was a 1/4 turn loose. photo very helpful too. I pulled every screw and gave them fresh MED locktite and will now add that to the maintenance sched. Really useful info. Thanks for saving me the grief. Old flying instructor told me "learn from the mistakes of others . . you'll never live long enough to make them all yourself" You have likely saved me a major loss.

Holy crap.... H O L Y C R A P! I checked mine, and half were a quarter turn LOOSE! I would have never checked those!


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[Chopstix Kid]

Here's what I did. Some red Testors model paint applied with a thin paper clip. Same concept they use for the lug nuts on school buses and large trucks so you can visually identify any that may have come loose.

 

[r62ewa]

Here's what I did. Some red Testors model paint applied with a thin paper clip. Same concept they use for the lug nuts on school buses and large trucks so you can visually identify any that may have come loose.

View attachment 54667

That's what I've done as well but using a Sharpie.

 

[jwt873]

Here's what I did. Some red Testors model paint applied with a thin paper clip. Same concept they use for the lug nuts on school buses and large trucks so you can visually identify any that may have come loose.

Great idea!

 

[m0j0]

Holy moly cracks I the plastic that holds the props on.. Really!

 

[Flywest]

Question what type of key and what size of key do you use to tighten the bolts, if they are loose ?

 

[darbyhouse]

Question what type of key and what size of key do you use to tighten the bolts, if they are loose ?

See first post of this thread. Should get ya taken care of. [emoji106]


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[Erised]

1.5 mm hex. Forgot who posted the torque values some where. The numbers are very low and do not over tighten.

 

[WetDog]

You can also use clear nail polish to lock the screw and provide a visual mark. I suppose you could also use a glitter polish - however you roll. One thing that does bother me looking at the picture is what appears to be metal fatigue on the bottom metal spring. That's the kind of metal fatigue that eventually breaks....

 

[David Cooke]

Wonder how often those springs should be replaced . . . anyone know of a component LIFE table? . . dji is not offering one

 

[Sim597]

You can also use clear nail polish to lock the screw and provide a visual mark. I suppose you could also use a glitter polish - however you roll. One thing that does bother me looking at the picture is what appears to be metal fatigue on the bottom metal spring. That's the kind of metal fatigue that eventually breaks....

View attachment 54730

That's a good catch, it LOOKs like fatigue to me also, I doubt if it fails it would be an aircraft part failure though, meaning that tiny piece may fall away without injuring another part, and the force from cold working, or tension, would still be applied when that piece comes off, still, I may order a set of these they're cheap and available.


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