Tired of reading about cracks, send your P3 in already!

[beauyoung85]

I'm at about 125 miles so far on my first P3P, just today noticed a couple hairline cracks around the motor mounts on two arms. I'll go the Bondic and UAVbits route after talking to the rep at DJI..

 

[Jbundy63]

I have over 100 miles as well as flights and so far so good, I did zip tie my arms very early on when everyone started posted. Crossing my fingers!

 

[ashtonhess]

how do you prevent cracks before they happen?

 

[Jbundy63]

how do you prevent cracks before they happen?

I zip tied mine like this.

 

[Alien Warrior]

112 Flights / 12.5 flight hours / 73.5 kilometres & no cracks yet.
Tied the arm with cable ties when the quad was new and reduced braking to 75% as per the advice of forum members.
Fingers remain crossed.

 

[Zelda 1]

Hi.. I have 2 hrs in and Cracks in front two. I am curious if those who have cracks also have prop guards? I noticed it is very easy to over- tighten motor mount screws into plastic housing.. ?

 

[Jbundy63]

Hi.. I have 2 hrs in and Cracks in front two. I am curious if those who have cracks also have prop guards? I noticed it is very easy to over- tighten motor mount screws into plastic housing.. ?

I installed detachable prop guards when I first got mine and have just left them on. No cracks have resulted because of them on mine.

 

[Jbundy63]

Hi.. I have 2 hrs in and Cracks in front two. I am curious if those who have cracks also have prop guards? I noticed it is very easy to over- tighten motor mount screws into plastic housing.. ?

Also if you do install prop guards? I just run the screws down basically until they stop because of the plastic shell.

 

[Tricky]

I'm no engineer, but with those zip ties, couldn't you possibly be creating a new pressure point that might expedite cracking?
Although I'm all for it if that's what high mileage flyers are doing to keep things from crackin.

 

[Jbundy63]

I'm no engineer, but with those zip ties, couldn't you possibly be creating a new pressure point that might expedite cracking?
Although I'm all for it if that's what high mileage flyers are doing to keep things from crackin.

I believe the results to be good, I have over a hundred mile of flight, 20 hours of time on my P3P. I tightened the zip ties down until they stopped ( snug) it just conforms to the surface and shape of the arms. It stops the twisting effects of the arms between the two shell halves.

 

[Zelda 1]

Yes.. I installed the clip on one's as well now. They have four screw mount which tightens the entire are structure☺

 

[Chuck Young]

I'm no engineer, but with those zip ties, couldn't you possibly be creating a new pressure point that might expedite cracking?
Although I'm all for it if that's what high mileage flyers are doing to keep things from crackin.

I re-torqued all the screws to only snug. Then put a layer of adhesive PVC around the ends of each arm, then around each arm and put zip-ties like the picture. Then I marked each screw with orange torque stripe. None of the screws have moved, no cracks, all appears to be well and I have 60 flights after the fix.

 

[AlexSP]

How much is "very early"? What are the standards for the Phantom, and who are setting those? What is the track record?

Of course if you get it off the box cracked already; or get a returned "new" shell cracked; or get cracks after 3 or 4 (or even 10) "normal" flights, that can be considered early and you probably got a defective unit (my guess is a bad plastic mix or issue during molding/curing phases).

Can happen with shells, batteries, processors, sensors, controllers, etc. Take it back to DJI, the seller, whoever, by all means. Or get it fixed yourself and learn a new skill.

Other than that, it's all well within expected failure parameters of most RC/hobby devices. Devices that cost a lot more and do a lot less than the P3, just to set the record straight. Search around.

Is it "normal" or "acceptable"? Certainly not by pilots unable to fly their ACs due to any issue. Is it "common"? Absolutely. This is an advanced and sophisticated RC flying aircraft not a mobile phone (those have issues too) or a DVD sitting on a shelf (ditto) doing only only one thing.

I have no idea about the percentage of cracking shells, but I'd be willing to bet it's lower than crashing drones anyway. Which is also well within the parameters of other RC/hobby models btw.

 

[AlexSP]

112 Flights / 12.5 flight hours / 73.5 kilometres & no cracks yet.
Tied the arm with cable ties when the quad was new and reduced braking to 75% as per the advice of forum members.
Fingers remain crossed.

That's a HUGE lot. Mine's almost that and also no cracks, battery or signal issues. I mean, I'm into this RC and hobby thing for years, decades even, and I can't recall any device that has anything close to that without need for a "new anything" (or more appropriately, "new many things"). Just ask any hobbyist, this drone thing is setting new RC/hobby parameters for many things.

As for avoiding cracks... IMHO if it's indeed caused by bad design (unlikely, as your P3 and mine and many other's show) or QC issue (more likely due to apparent randomness of occurrence and no evident operational cause), then maybe a reinforcement of the arms and motor beds before anything occurs can be a solution. I'm talking about something integral (glued, bonded, moulded, etc. to the inner part of the lower shell). In some cases, definitive. I know that such "fixes" in this Apple era this might suck, but if you love to fly then your motto is or should be "whatever works". Or whatever keeps you flying

 

[Bryce]

All my PS3's have cracks, two have the UAbits installed before and two after the individual crack experience. All of them are still flying FWIW. I'd love to send some of them in again, but the multi-month DJI support and lousy communication is a nightmare... and by then a new model will be out and these will be training birds.

From the get-go, on my next model I will pour in that plastic mix into the base area and see how that works. Kind of a pain in the *** though for something that is just supposed to work.