REVIEW: Shapeways Phantom 2 Zenmuse mount

[ianwood]

EDITTED FOR THREAD RESURRECTION. This is my in-depth review of the Shapeways DJI Phantom 2 Zenmuse H3-2D Damping Unit by quicktel a.k.a. kormster. It is a replacement for the stock DJI Zenmuse Phantom 2 mount should you happen to break it like I did.

After much thought and delicate consideration of the details, I have determined this replacement mount to be utter utter crap! And that's putting it nicely.

Thumbs Up:

• Looks cool. I got mine in blue! Yay! Neat!

Thumbs Down:

• Out of control vibration. Crazy, crazy, insane vibration. It is as if the Phantom is desperately trying to get rid of the Zenmuse!
• Flimsy plastic. Flimsy as in overcooked pasta would provide more tensile strength.
• Shapeways designs are clearly not vetted AT ALL!
• My home made, crudely hand-cut aluminum plate that was only meant to be temporary works 100x better than this.
• In fact, overcooked pasta would work 100x better than this!

This was clearly designed by someone who doesn't know a single iota about the Phantom, basic physical engineering, or common sense. He/she has no business operating a light switch let alone a computer or a 3D printer.

I will be seeking to get my money back. Don't waste yours.

 

[goldfishrock]

Thanks for that. It's the sort of item that could easily suck people into buying it based on it's looks alone. It's a shame you've had to get stung in the process though :-(

 

[Griggs]

This is my in-depth review of the Shapeways DJI Phantom 2 Zenmuse H3-2D Damping Unit by quicktel a.k.a. kormster. It is a replacement for the stock DJI Zenmuse Phantom 2 mount should you happen to break it like I did.

After much thought and delicate consideration of the details, I have determined this replacement mount to be utter utter crap!

Thumbs Up:

• Looks cool. I got mine in blue! Yay! Neat!

Thumbs Down:

• Out of control vibration. Crazy, crazy, insane vibration. It is as if the Phantom is desperately trying to get rid of the Zenmuse!
• Flimsy plastic. Flimsy as in overcooked pasta would provide more tensile strength.
• Shapeways designs are clearly not vetted AT ALL!
• My home made, crudely hand-cut aluminum plate that was only meant to be temporary works 100x better than this.
• In fact, overcooked pasta would work 100x better than this!

This was clearly designed by someone who doesn't know a single iota about the Phantom, basic physical engineering, or common sense. He/she has no business operating a light switch let alone a computer or a 3D printer.

I will be seeking to get my money back. Don't waste yours.

I ordered one, I wonder if I can still cancel my order..

 

[RogerClark]

I have a home made 3D printer (based on a kit), so I'm always interested in seeing 3D printable items for the Phantom etc.

Looking at the link, Shapeways appears to be printing it in nylon. I'm not sure why this is, as nylon is generally one of the more flexible plastics.

I'd have thought that ABS would be a better option. I know Shapeways print it in ABS, but I can't see it an an option for this piece.
And there are harder plastics than ABS there are harder plastics, of which PLA is the next most common for domestic 3D printers. The downside of PLA is that its more brittle than ABS. Personally I normally use ABS

I also note that there is a Strong version of this listed on Shapeways http://www.shapeways.com/model/1717409/ ... i=shortUrl
which doesn't have the cutouts. But it really depends in which direction its flexing, as to whether removing the cutouts would have a big difference.

Probably your best bet is to contact shapeways and see if they can recommend a harder plastic e.g. ABS or another plastic they can produce it in.

 

[rilot]

I got one myself and can echo your opinion of it. Do not buy it.
In the end I spunked the £58 on a genuine one. I wish I'd known how bad the shapeways one was before I bought it as I could have saved myself £30.

 

[C-Mac13]

I ordered one, I wonder if I can still cancel my order..

Me too. I wanted it for a back up in case mine broke in a crash. That really sucks.

 

[ianwood]

I also note that there is a Strong version of this listed on Shapeways http://www.shapeways.com/model/1717409/ ... i=shortUrl
which doesn't have the cutouts. But it really depends in which direction its flexing, as to whether removing the cutouts would have a big difference.

Probably your best bet is to contact shapeways and see if they can recommend a harder plastic e.g. ABS or another plastic they can produce it in.

Yes, I noticed there is now a "strong" version which must be in response to all the complaints similar to mine. The annoying part of this is that between Shapeways and the "designer", no one bothered to give it any real world consideration. I mean, when I took this thing out of the box, I looked at it and thought, "this is way too flimsy to work". But not wanting to rule it out without some testing, I tried it and my suspicion was confirmed. If the "designer" had a Phantom, or even a brain for that matter, they would have known right away that it wasn't going to work and thus not waste everyone's time and money.

BTW, I tried only the bottom piece in conjunction with the original metal top piece. Even that, with the extra support of the firmer top piece, flailed like crazy. Flailed and failed. I feel I have done 200% more product testing on this than either the designer or Shapeways. Caveat emptor!

My confidence in the "strong" version which really should be called the "I have no idea what I'm doing, but hopefully this'll work" version, is limited to say the least. Plus, Shapeways takes 3 weeks which kind of defeats the whole point of 3D printing.

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

This is my in-depth review of the Shapeways DJI Phantom 2 Zenmuse H3-2D Damping Unit by quicktel a.k.a. kormster. It is a replacement for the stock DJI Zenmuse Phantom 2 mount should you happen to break it like I did.

After much thought and delicate consideration of the details, I have determined this replacement mount to be utter utter crap!

Thumbs Up:

• Looks cool. I got mine in blue! Yay! Neat!

Thumbs Down:

• Out of control vibration. Crazy, crazy, insane vibration. It is as if the Phantom is desperately trying to get rid of the Zenmuse!
• Flimsy plastic. Flimsy as in overcooked pasta would provide more tensile strength.
• Shapeways designs are clearly not vetted AT ALL!
• My home made, crudely hand-cut aluminum plate that was only meant to be temporary works 100x better than this.
• In fact, overcooked pasta would work 100x better than this!

This was clearly designed by someone who doesn't know a single iota about the Phantom, basic physical engineering, or common sense. He/she has no business operating a light switch let alone a computer or a 3D printer.

I will be seeking to get my money back. Don't waste yours.

Great review. I love it when an end user meets the marketing hype

 

[Griggs]

I got my order cancelled, thanks for this review. You just saved me $$ !!

 

[RogerClark]

Silly question,

But what problem is the mount supposed to fix ?

Are these replacement for broken mounts or supposedly better mounts than the originals ?

The design doesn't seem that hard to replicate. There are lots of free tools for making 3D models out on the web e.g. Google Sketchup . Albeit the final design may not look quite a smooth and professional as the ones in the pictures, but if they worked..., I don't suppose it matters.

 

[Griggs]

Silly question,

But what problem is the mount supposed to fix ?

Are these replacement for broken mounts or supposedly better mounts than the originals ?

The design doesn't seem that hard to replicate. There are lots of free tools for making 3D models out on the web e.g. Google Sketchup . Albeit the final design may not look quite a smooth and professional as the ones in the pictures, but if they worked..., I don't suppose it matters.

I ordered it because my original one broke in a crash.. I have since got an older style that is in a "plus" configuration and is a bit different design. DJI was slow to get the new "X" style replacement part in stock. The new one is now available but is $75

 

[RogerClark]

Interesting how 3D printing is now starting to remove manufacturer monopolies on their plastic components.

And Shapeways are still making $$$ from this, as I don't think the original designer gets much of the purchase price, (perhaps max 10% - but perhaps this rate varies).

Cost of the actual plastic is quiet cheap. Even domestic 3D printer filament is around $40 for 1 kg (you can also get it a lot cheaper ), which is about 4c per gramme.

Hence the cost of the plastic on these sorts of things is less than a couple of dollars.

I realize that Shapeways have some pretty expensive machines that no doubt cost $100,000 + which they have to recoup, and they can print stuff that domestic 3D printers can't (stuff with overhangs are a problem for domestic 3D)

But I can see a time when you'd be able to get this sort of stuff printed locally for a fraction of the cost

 

[C-Mac13]

I unfortunately ordered this prior to this post and tonight I tested it and all I can say is wow. I had the same experience. P2 shook like crazy. I have emailed Shapeway asking for a refund. Hopefully they will honor my request.

 

[Bluegrass]

In case mine breaks, are there other options or can you get another Zenmuse mount. I think the Zenmuse mount is pretty cheap and flimsy but hey, I would think it couldn't cost over $20 to buy a new one. Also, does anyone know why they send two extra sets of those rubber things that I guess or dampeners?

 

[Kelso Kubat]

seems like poop :shock:

 

[Cr8tive_leo]

Also, does anyone know why they send two extra sets of those rubber things that I guess or dampeners?

Guessing it's the same reason reason there is a manual, just to look pretty.

Page three... What's in the box... They explain that black ones are the stiffest, white are the softest and the grey are mid. If you get vibrations you can switch them out to reduce the amount of vibration.