First crash! Bent gimbal arm.

Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Messages
103
Reaction score
0
Unfortunately I had my first crash just a few mins ago. Broke some propellers, shell is dented, but the biggest problem is the bent gimbal arm. Has anyone successfully fixed this problem? Attached a pic, but I'm on mobile so not sure if it's any good.
 

Attachments

  • uploadfromtaptalk1409417083054.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1409417083054.jpg
    50.8 KB · Views: 1,064
  • uploadfromtaptalk1409417513043.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1409417513043.jpg
    33.2 KB · Views: 1,088
The arm is soft aluminum and can be bent back. You can try two pair of pliers, preferably with one that locks. Careful of the ribbon cable. Does the camera/gimbal still work? After you fix the arm, if it works but is tilted you can search for that fix also.
 
Thanks for the response guys. It seems to be totally fine other than the arm being bent. Still getting video feed, can still raise and lower the camera etc. I'll try and bend it back in to place.. Hopefully I don't snap it.

The kicker is I'm waiting for a camera/gimbal protector but it appears it got lost in the post! Bad timing!
 
Well, I managed to bend it back without damaging it..phew! The camera still looks tilted so I'll try and find the forum post mentioned above.

Edit: The pic where the camera looks very tilted is because the battery is off.
 

Attachments

  • uploadfromtaptalk1409434012132.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1409434012132.jpg
    39.9 KB · Views: 726
  • uploadfromtaptalk1409434022303.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1409434022303.jpg
    42.7 KB · Views: 787
This is how you fix that. Cut from another great post on this forum by Jeff

http://youtu.be/SFxM8OOWRQc

http://youtu.be/5iTz3Dd2Ecs

Mine took some trial and error to adjust and it's a pain because the only way I could check to see if it was fixed was to turn on the phantom and the transmitter and the wifi repeater and then connect to the phantom wifi on my iPhone and then open the dji app and then adjust the camera to horizontal to see if it was truly horizontal. And you have to turn off the phantom each time you make an adjustment. I had a roll of electrical tape (laying flat) that happened to be the exact height of the bottom of the camera off the table. Right side was touching, left side had a big gap. After tweaking with the slotted pin enough times, I managed to get the camera pretty much horizontal. The trial and error and having to set up the wifi connection and the dji app EVERY time you make an adjustment was a bit of a pain, but it really didn't take me that long to fix it. I DID NOT use loctite as suggested in the first video and it seems to be holding just fine. I was unsure if how much force I should use to twist the axle/shaft to adjust it. It seemed like I was using a lot of force, but I guess it it tight for a reason. Just be careful with the ribbon cables - don't remove the one on the side (IMHO). I did not remove mine. I just carefully used a needle nose pliers to turn the shaft, while not disturbing the circuit board or the ribbon cables. The hard part for me was figuring out which direction to turn it. It was actually confusing at first, but I eventually figured it out.

Why did the gimbal get messed up in the first place? I think it was because I turned on the Phantom a few times with the gimbal lock in place. Don't do that folks!

Good luck!

Jeff
 
Pleased to say that the fix is complete and the phantom is back to normal!

Thanks so much for your help guys.
 

Attachments

  • uploadfromtaptalk1409493392367.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1409493392367.jpg
    52.1 KB · Views: 680
This. This is why I love forums like this. Glad to hear you got it back in shape!
 
Pysen said:
Brammo, did you use two pliers as described, or what would you recommend?

Hi

I think I used a couple of wrenches or whatever was to hand. Prob worth putting a bit of padding on the shaft so whatever tool you use doesn't leave marks.

Good luck
 
Pysen said:
God point, thanks. Did you disassemble anything ?

Not for the bending part.

After I bent the arm back, I removed the back of the gimbal plate (the one with 3 screws) and rotated the shaft in there, as shown in one of the links in a previous post. This was to make sure the camera sat straight when powered on.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,358
Members
104,936
Latest member
hirehackers