Talking about legs, they are fragile

gogowanda · Feb 21, 2015

I'm gonna take apart of my inspire next week and start to digitize the linkage legs (thinner ones). Mine hit a tree a while ago and dropped to the dirt. these skinny legs are very fragile when dropped, as the whole bodyweight will put a great leverage at those joint members. My main leg got almost knocked out from the T connector but I snapped it back in. The lower linkage snapped at the end. Then story came last week my other bud who fly inspire dropped his from 12 ft onto concrete. the main leg cracked like a spiral.

Anyone else have broken legs? What's the wait time to get a replacement. I'm curious to see if there is a market for it. It'd not be difficult for me to make but let me know how I can make them better.

Stu Hall · Feb 25, 2015

Hi gogo, I've sadly broken right front forward facing leg, done some research and carbon fibre tube is readily available, a wiring harness runs through to each corner, so don't know how easy it will be to replace, I'm certainly interested, don't want to have to send back DJi unless forced to, especially as pilot error maybe was the cause, any one in UK know of model engineer capable of helping, I have feeling DJI will sell each side as an assembly, they may not want sell them at all!

gogowanda · Feb 25, 2015

tubes are cheap and widely available, they are done in massive quantity because from fishing pole to mining tunnel supports all use some kind of carbon tubes. and it's possible to separate the plastic joints from the main tubes, just glue them back with 2 part epoxy resin or even super glue. but the skinnier linking legs below will have a hard time to debound if the tube is broken, the bound is too strong for the skinny tube. that's where we'll make a whole replacement.

I wouldn't make the legs and joints super strong, it's a good thing that they crack before anything from the body get damaged. kinda like motorcycle helmets...

seems more inspire fall out of sky in UK then here in the US, bigger gravity there?

Stu Hall · Feb 25, 2015

Behave gogo, the air is thinner !

(and we're more daring, and brave )
Actually Isaac Newton lived about 4 miles from here, and he went to school in Grantham, my home town, so gravity is very close to my heart.....
I've got my i1 splinted now, very successfully, doesn't look to hot, will be looking at a more cosmetic approach using carbon fibre now I know the beast still flies and performs as before. best regards from sunny England.

gogowanda · Feb 25, 2015

Stu Hall said:
Behave gogo, the air is thinner ! (and we're more daring, and brave )
Actually Isaac Newton lived about 4 miles from here, and he went to school in Grantham, my home town, so gravity is very close to my heart.....
I've got my i1 splinted now, very successfully, doesn't look to hot, will be looking at a more cosmetic approach using carbon fibre now I know the beast still flies and performs as before. best regards from sunny England.

no kidding! i know it must be the air, lol
anway, when applying carbon fiber, make sure it doesn't cover any antenna/receiver. carbon fiber is like a shield (it's conductive) so it'll block signals.
how do I know? we made a fancy looking carbon fiber keychain guard for the fancy looking ducati 1098, and received dozens of calls complaining they can't start their bike. turns out under the keychain guard there was a ring antenna that only can be triggered by the right chip in the key fob, and our carbon fiber perfectly shielded it...

Stu Hall · Feb 25, 2015

Thanks for that useful tip Gogo. The crack is in the central part of the front tube, so that only contains the wiring harness, I plan to bond some new CF tube over the original.

TantiveIV · May 8, 2015

I crashed two days ago and cracked the arm - not in half, but about 50%. I want to try putting on some new carbon fiber/epoxy and fixing it myself, but I am hesitant because my crack is really close to the plastic piece. Do you think it would be possible to fix on my own, or should I just buck up and send it into DJI? I'll attach pictures. Any advice is appreciated.

Screen Shot 2015-05-07 At 9.58.14 PM

TantiveIV
May 8, 2015

Screen Shot 2015-05-07 At 9.57.42 PM

TantiveIV
May 8, 2015

Hammer · May 8, 2015

I had similar issue due to compass error and was repaired locally. The motor boom arms are extremely thin...
A jig was built to realign the motors and motors balanced after.
Attached are some before and after of the repair

turbodronepilot · May 8, 2015

gogowanda said:
I'm gonna take apart of my inspire next week and start to digitize the linkage legs (thinner ones). Mine hit a tree a while ago and dropped to the dirt. these skinny legs are very fragile when dropped, as the whole bodyweight will put a great leverage at those joint members. My main leg got almost knocked out from the T connector but I snapped it back in. The lower linkage snapped at the end. Then story came last week my other bud who fly inspire dropped his from 12 ft onto concrete. the main leg cracked like a spiral.

Anyone else have broken legs? What's the wait time to get a replacement. I'm curious to see if there is a market for it. It'd not be difficult for me to make but let me know how I can make them better.

Hey gogowanda!!
If you have a broken leg or arm you will need to send it in to dji for repair..
They need to put it in a jig to ensure proper alignment...
I have a buddy who's inspire crashed and broke a leg that has been at dji LA for a month now and is still waiting to be repaired..
Not good!! Im guessing the repair time is longer due to the large amount in service now..
Know of another guy who had to have the complete arm replaced at a cost of 500.00 USD..
Some pilots are attempting to repair the arms with different carbon tubing and improvised legs.. Only qualified fabricators should try to do this IMO or the guys from over seas that get screwed by import export tax that don't have any other option..
Happy flying!!
Turbo..

turbodronepilot · May 8, 2015

Hammer said:
I had similar issue due to compass error and was repaired locally. The motor boom arms are extremely thin...
A jig was built to realign the motors and motors balanced after.
Attached are some before and after of the repair

Where's locally at??

Hammer · May 8, 2015

turbodronepilot said:
Where's locally at??

It's in San Diego.
Not sure what the rules are here for posting contacts for a business, if anyone interested can PM for contacts

turbodronepilot · May 8, 2015

Hammer said:
It's in San Diego.
Not sure what the rules are here for posting contacts for a business, if anyone interested can PM for contacts

Hey Hammer !!
Its Ok to list the company that helped you out!!
If its yours and its a start up I still think its OK!!
It not like you're advertising like the leg muscle chic just posted..lol..
I think its great someone is helping us out that has the mechanical and technical ability to do a sweet repair like on your i1...
Like I said my buddies i1 been in the shop for a month and Nada!!
Plus I believe in free speech !! You know that thing we use to have..
Turbo...

Hammer · May 8, 2015

It's my buddy's business, thecarbofibershop.com 619.886.4678
He's been in the military and aerospace composite industry for a long time.

turbodronepilot · May 8, 2015

Hammer said:
It's my buddy's business, thecarbofibershop.com 619.886.4678
He's been in the military and aerospace composite industry for a long time.

Cool man!!
I'm going to save that info!!
Thanks!!
Turbo......
Got it.......

turbodronepilot · May 8, 2015

Hammer said:
It's my buddy's business, thecarbofibershop.com 619.886.4678
He's been in the military and aerospace composite industry for a long time.

About how much was the repair??

TantiveIV · May 8, 2015

Hammer said:
It's my buddy's business, thecarbofibershop.com 619.886.4678
He's been in the military and aerospace composite industry for a long time.

Thanks for the info! I would also like to know how much it was. And IDK if you looked at the photos I posted, but I don't have a complete break, so I don't think alignment would be an issue. I'm just wondering if I could do a carbon fiber fix myself and get back in the air. ...Might be wishful thinking.

Hammer · May 8, 2015

It was close to $500 because I had to pay for the tooling and the jig.

turbodronepilot said:
About how much was the repair??

Hammer · May 8, 2015

It might still have to be cut off in order to clean up the inside to prevent it from cracking. When carbon fiber breaks, it shatters like glass.
The jig was used to secure the repair for 8hours while the resin cured.

TantiveIV said:
Thanks for the info! I would also like to know how much it was. And IDK if you looked at the photos I posted, but I don't have a complete break, so I don't think alignment would be an issue. I'm just wondering if I could do a carbon fiber fix myself and get back in the air. ...Might be wishful thinking.

TantiveIV · May 8, 2015

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=9174&page=1&extra=#pid116390

Thanks Hammer! I will keep looking into it. On the link above, there is another guy that repaired his leg on his own. Might have some ideas for future repairs.

jon b · May 8, 2015

Hammer said:
I had similar issue due to compass error and was repaired locally. The motor boom arms are extremely thin...
A jig was built to realign the motors and motors balanced after.
Attached are some before and after of the repair

Looks like they did an excellent job. Good strong fix and cosmetically, it looks perfect