I started thinking about scheduled maintenance on the Phantom 2 airframe. I'd be interested in any thoughts others might have on the subject.
The motors are pretty much maintenance free. Sealed bearings should require no lubrication but they will wear out some day.
How long? Probably longer than I can keep flying it without a catastrophic crash but it will depend on specific conditions.
Sand or dust in the motors could shorten the bearing life significantly as would moisture from rain or fog.
So I plan to disassemble, clean and inspect the motors on a regular schedule. But how often?
I'm inclined to do it annually based on calendar time rather than flight time.
What about the propellers? How many flight hours do you think before they need to be replaced?
I would think the plastic or nylon material isn't very susceptible to fatigue but what about brittleness from exposure to sunlight?
I have had one of my props strike a large bug in flight and I want to be sure a prop won't break from hitting a large insect or a single leaf.
I'm inclined to replace the props just based on individual inspection rather than flight time.
What about the ESCs? An ESC failure is always a concern. Is there an easy way to test them?
Since they are solid state components, you wouldn't think they could degrade but I've heard tell of ESCs that fail partially where the motors spin up but one or more of the switching transistors can't pass full power to the load and the motor will be power limited.
Thanks
The motors are pretty much maintenance free. Sealed bearings should require no lubrication but they will wear out some day.
How long? Probably longer than I can keep flying it without a catastrophic crash but it will depend on specific conditions.
Sand or dust in the motors could shorten the bearing life significantly as would moisture from rain or fog.
So I plan to disassemble, clean and inspect the motors on a regular schedule. But how often?
I'm inclined to do it annually based on calendar time rather than flight time.
What about the propellers? How many flight hours do you think before they need to be replaced?
I would think the plastic or nylon material isn't very susceptible to fatigue but what about brittleness from exposure to sunlight?
I have had one of my props strike a large bug in flight and I want to be sure a prop won't break from hitting a large insect or a single leaf.
I'm inclined to replace the props just based on individual inspection rather than flight time.
What about the ESCs? An ESC failure is always a concern. Is there an easy way to test them?
Since they are solid state components, you wouldn't think they could degrade but I've heard tell of ESCs that fail partially where the motors spin up but one or more of the switching transistors can't pass full power to the load and the motor will be power limited.
Thanks