Crashed into trees - Broken gimbal and thoughts on replacing the motors

[bmmcpeek]

Hi All,
I am a new P3P owner and new to this forum. I had the drone for a week and it is absolutely amazing. I was stupid and flew the drone too far away where I couldn't see it to clearly and crashed it into a tree. Anyway, I was able to get it from the tree but didn't turn it off as soon as possible like an idiot. It finally turned off before I got it completely down BUT I had "obstruction of motor" warning...obviously. Anyway the gimbal yaw arm broke and looks like I don't have many options to repair it. The gimbal motors seem to be fine so I think I am going to try out the F-Stop Labs replacement gimbal arm. Has anyone had any experience with this brand? I do not like the idea of 3d printed parts so that is out of the question. It seems to be the best choice and closest to OEM since DJI does not make gimbal replacement parts. I hope this fixes it and I am back in action. The next question I have is should I replace the motors since they might have been strained. Since the motors are under $20 it seems like the right thing to do but I don't like the idea of soldering to the board. SOO I was thinking about cutting the wires and putting a 3 pin connect in place that way I don't have to unsolder the leads and in the future motor replacement would be just disconnecting the connector. If anyone can provide any feedback from my questions that would be great. Thanks a lot and thanks in advance!

 

[alokbhargava]

You are right, it is not advisable to use 3D parts for Gimbal. Buy them from a reliable source or contact Mike at 530-277-5366 or [email protected]

I don't think you need to change the motors at this stage as ESC tries to limit the currents to motors and there is a level of protection. In case motors are short, even ESC might burn. Hope for the best.

I have warned many newbies that most common error is flying low and most common result of it is hitting a tree or a wall.

 

[fvader]

what's wrong with 3d printed parts? I assume neither of you own 3d printers?
I trust them.. (that is to say, if i'm doing the printing) but the process of 3d printing itself is fine IMO.

 

[bmmcpeek]

@alokbhargava great thanks for the comments. I thought there would be some sort of over current protection but still wanted to make sure. Thanks for Mikes contact info as well, I will defiantly reach out to him about parts.

@fvader I do not own a 3D printer but work for one of the largest engineering plastics companies and have some background into additive manufacturing. 3D printing is great and I can not wait for more progress to be made but I personally do not believe it is yet to the point where I would trust parts that are 3D printed for something like a gimbal arm to a P3. To me there is just to much risk with going with a 3D printed part for this component. Don't get me wrong I know there are many people who have done this and have had great success and there are companies and individuals who know what they are doing and can make great quality parts. But again I am not willing to take that risk and would rather go with OEM parts for the time being. Thanks for your relay though!

 

[berlib]

The F-Stops lab parts are very well made! But they come with no information on how to use it. You have to search youtube to find the solution. Good luck!