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Mako.....Shenzhen (where the DJI factory is), is a subtropic climate, situated right next to HK.......the lowest the temp will drop there in winter is low 50's, high 40's......
How to check your Phantom 3 for stress cracks *VIDEO*
- Thread starter Kman
- Start date
Mako.....Shenzhen (where the DJI factory is), is a subtropic climate, situated right next to HK.......the lowest the temp will drop there in winter is low 50's, high 40's......
For those of us with removable prop guards, we have that extra thick plastic piece under the motors that the guards click into. Am I incorrect in thinking that that plastic collar adds some strength against cracking?
Sorry, I just couldn't resist, and yes, the MASSIVE delay in the gimbal is definitely not something i'm happy about.
But, it does appear that DJI was rushing to market the Phantom 3, cutting corners to compete head to head with the Solo.
Too bad they did that, as you can tell from their silence that they were well aware of cracking issues but put them out anyway.
Competition is good, unless you cut corners on your faithful customers, and make them pay for your mistakes.
I am just thinking out loud, but if these are truly aircraft like the FAA claims. I wonder if filing a complaint with the FAA would do anything. If these cracks are as wide spread as reported it is just a mater of time until one comes down on someone or something. The FAA is in theory supposed to help regulate all aspects of civil aviation. I would think that DJI would be more concerned with an FAA investigation over design flaws than a few rouge owners making complaints. Please don't crucify me for thoughts of bring in "The Man".
No, I believe (has so far) the removable prop guard bases strengthen that area although I could be wrong. I have 39 flights and 7.5 hours on my P3P, with every single flight flown with the prop guard bases (installed first thing when received my P3P). I have only checked once (honestly don't want to remove them regularly) but no cracks yet... yet...... The Plastic is way to brittle. Even if they are over cranking screws at the factory as well as at different temps as noted above, they should be strong enough to take some kind of abuse. Normal flying = cracks? When I (very carefully) opened my RC to install DBS Antenna, I immediately took notice of all 4 posts that hold RC together were shattered to pieces. Had to build those up with Gorilla glue before being able to reassemble RC.
Here's to hoping DJI will improve the plastics and QC in the future. Sucks for those that already have or could be experiencing this problem in the future with current builds.
I now have 51 flights logged on my P3P, and just under 300k feet.
I checked my arms last night and lo and behold, stress cracks under 2 arms. I have never crashed, I always land very softly or disarm it in the air while holding the landing gear. It's never been tipped over, knocked over, handled roughly or even looked at sideways. I always keep it in the DJI hard shell backpack.
This thing is just under 3 weeks old. I have to say I am extremely disappointed.
I checked my arms last night and lo and behold, stress cracks under 2 arms. I have never crashed, I always land very softly or disarm it in the air while holding the landing gear. It's never been tipped over, knocked over, handled roughly or even looked at sideways. I always keep it in the DJI hard shell backpack.
This thing is just under 3 weeks old. I have to say I am extremely disappointed.
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It's happening to many many people. I fear that as times progresses and more and more miles are put on the shells that are already out there, that we'll see a greater number of these issues. I flew over 120 miles on mine before noticing anything. Mine ended up starting to crack around the motor mounts, not the usual cracks around the 2 shell screws.
Seems like 8 hours of flight time is about the standard "crack point".
I just got back my new unit from warranty. I'm curious to see if it makes it further than 8 hours this time around.
I just got back my new unit from warranty. I'm curious to see if it makes it further than 8 hours this time around.
I went to take my P3P apart to fix the cracks in the shell and as I was doing so, two! of the screw recesses broke right off when I took the screws out. This is soooooo disappointing!!!
Realizing that Im going to be on my own on this one, since I really don't want to wait for DJI, i ordered a new shell replacement. My plan is to reinforce all the potential weak spots before I replace the current broken shell.
What should I use to do this? Would 20 minute plastic epoxy be a good choice? Should I shred up some fiber glass into it?
Realizing that Im going to be on my own on this one, since I really don't want to wait for DJI, i ordered a new shell replacement. My plan is to reinforce all the potential weak spots before I replace the current broken shell.
What should I use to do this? Would 20 minute plastic epoxy be a good choice? Should I shred up some fiber glass into it?
Personally, I wouldn't glue it. Just do the zip tie fix that was posted.
If you glue it and you have a different warranty issue, such as the camera starts pulsing and vibrating while filming, which is the problem I had in addition to the stress cracks, they won't honor the warranty. I was getting ready to glue the shell the next day and the camera started having problems. I'm glad I didn't. They replaced my craft with a brand new one after exactly 6 weeks of wait time.
If you glue it and you have a different warranty issue, such as the camera starts pulsing and vibrating while filming, which is the problem I had in addition to the stress cracks, they won't honor the warranty. I was getting ready to glue the shell the next day and the camera started having problems. I'm glad I didn't. They replaced my craft with a brand new one after exactly 6 weeks of wait time.
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DJi will cover it under warranty is the theme here as long as you don't jack it up by gooping crap all over the cracks before sending it in.
People, if you have cracks and haven't crashed the thing send them in. You'll be covered.
I bought a P3P and a P3A early on when they were released. P3P has 65 flights and 8.41 hrs on it, the P3A has 88 flights and 15 hrs on it, I check both after each battery for cracks. So far nothing. And I don't baby these things in the air. If cracks start to develop on either I'll send them in for warranty repair.
People, if you have cracks and haven't crashed the thing send them in. You'll be covered.
I bought a P3P and a P3A early on when they were released. P3P has 65 flights and 8.41 hrs on it, the P3A has 88 flights and 15 hrs on it, I check both after each battery for cracks. So far nothing. And I don't baby these things in the air. If cracks start to develop on either I'll send them in for warranty repair.
24 hours flight time and about 120 flights -- I have stress cracks in the same areas you have displayed.
Manufacturing defect or... wear n tear?
You must fight car dealers when you need new tires or wiper blades lol
Yeah I saw the date.
Its just silly how some folk get so bent out of shape over the dumbest things. I think the shell is something like $40-60 bucks. Just replace it yourself and move on. If the company will replace it, more power to ya but flip side.. back in the day it looked to be of challenge and eh..
But if you have a good number of flights and fly in conditions other than perfect you have to respect the fact that things will fail due to wear an tear. These stress cracks are a prime example. In this case I'd look at how long the turn around time is for repairs vs doing myself. Time is money!!
How many guys with cracked cases balanced their props.
Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
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