- Joined
- Sep 2, 2016
- Messages
- 559
- Reaction score
- 395
A friend of mine and fellow UAV enthusiast recently requested my assistance in replacing a P4 (original) ribbon cable, and although we were successful in fixing the limp camera issue that he was having after a minor crash, we did run into a snag along the way.
After removing the gimbal itself from the aircraft, I started at the camera, removing the old cable and replacing it with the new as I worked upward. Then, once everything was done below the upper plastic housing, you have to remove four internal screws that allow the camera and arm assembly to drop from the gimbal frame, and this is necessary to feed the rest of the ribbon cable upward prior to attachment to the board. And wouldn't you know, three of these small screws came out with no issue, but one had been put in somewhat ham fisted it would seem, and its head was all stripped off.
In the end, we decided to carefully drill the head off this screw if you can believe it, and although it took a bit of work - fragile as the gimbal is - I drilled and he held the vacuum to it, and the little screw head eventually popped off. Twenty minutes later, the copter was happily flying again, and the camera was back in order. It felt pretty good when it booted up properly and even better when it passed the flight test, but I have to say, I would have never guessed that we would have needed a drill...
After removing the gimbal itself from the aircraft, I started at the camera, removing the old cable and replacing it with the new as I worked upward. Then, once everything was done below the upper plastic housing, you have to remove four internal screws that allow the camera and arm assembly to drop from the gimbal frame, and this is necessary to feed the rest of the ribbon cable upward prior to attachment to the board. And wouldn't you know, three of these small screws came out with no issue, but one had been put in somewhat ham fisted it would seem, and its head was all stripped off.
In the end, we decided to carefully drill the head off this screw if you can believe it, and although it took a bit of work - fragile as the gimbal is - I drilled and he held the vacuum to it, and the little screw head eventually popped off. Twenty minutes later, the copter was happily flying again, and the camera was back in order. It felt pretty good when it booted up properly and even better when it passed the flight test, but I have to say, I would have never guessed that we would have needed a drill...