Motor Grinding noise

GriffDawg · Feb 8, 2016

My new phantom 3 advanced has about 2 hours of flight time on it and I just noticed when I started it up a knocking coming from the back left motor, when I rotate it by hand I can feel it catching like there is some debris in it, hopefully a rock and not a broken piece of wire or anything like that.

What is the best way to deal with this? Obviously I wont fly it until this is resolved but should I take it in for repair or is it easy enough to open the motor housing and clean it out myself, I'm fairly handy at that kind of stuff. Would that void my warranty?

garykeithmead1 · Feb 8, 2016

GriffDawg said:
My new phantom 3 advanced has about 2 hours of flight time on it and I just noticed when I started it up a knocking coming from the back left motor, when I rotate it by hand I can feel it catching like there is some debris in it, hopefully a rock and not a broken piece of wire or anything like that.

What is the best way to deal with this? Obviously I wont fly it until this is resolved but should I take it in for repair or is it easy enough to open the motor housing and clean it out myself, I'm fairly handy at that kind of stuff. Would that void my warranty?

You crash it ?.

SimonH78 · Feb 8, 2016

Might be a tiny bit of metal that the motor magnets dragged in, careful how/where/which way up you put them down....

GriffDawg · Feb 8, 2016

no crash, it has been working perfectly, last time I started it up I just noticed the noise and the resistance.

robinb · Feb 8, 2016

You could try blowing compressed air through the motor to see if anything comes out the other end.

ianwood · Feb 8, 2016

Don't fly it until it is resolved. If compressed air doesn't clear it up, send it back.

robinb · Feb 8, 2016

ianwood said:
Don't fly it until it is resolved. If compressed air doesn't clear it up, send it back.

what he said

GriffDawg · Feb 8, 2016

ianwood said:
Don't fly it until it is resolved. If compressed air doesn't clear it up, send it back.

GriffDawg said:
Obviously I wont fly it until this is resolved

Wasn't planning on it. Just looking for suggestions.

I'll try compressed air tonight.
Ugh, I don't want to send it back 1 week after I bought it...

TheLightSpeedz · Feb 8, 2016

GriffDawg said:
Wasn't planning on it. Just looking for suggestions. I'll try compressed air tonight.
Ugh, I don't want to send it back 1 week after I bought it...

Hey man, take the motor off. It's stupid easy! Could be a piece of plastic, or something wrong with the motor. Just unscrew it and blow it out and screw it back on. I know it's scary, but it's really easy.

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

Droneted · Feb 8, 2016

I had a sliver of metal in one of my motors. I screwed around with it for a week. I used a magnifying glass and could see it but the magnet keep it locked in. I used a plastic pick and could move it but not get it out. I also tried compressed air. No luck with that either. I took the motor out and disassembled it. I got the metal out but didn't trust the motor. I replaced it for $20. I didn't want to unsolder it from the main board so I soldered the wires together and used shrink tubing on the joint. Should I be worried about the solder joint?

JNickel · Feb 8, 2016

I had to do something similar back in Phantom 1 days, to replace bearings. When I did mine, I cut the wires and then soldered on bullet connectors (with shrink wrap shrouds) so that if I had to do it again it was quicker to deal with. I probably wouldn't be comfortable with soldered together, I'd be worried that vibration might cause them to fail. Another option would be to use a butt connector that you'd just insert the two wires and then crush the connector with a pair of pliers to make it grip (of course giving a good tug afterwards to make sure they're snug).

Mako79 · Feb 8, 2016

You have metallic ferrite in the motors. The Ferrite is bridging the magnets and changing its polarity (effectively shorting out the magnets). If enough of them short, it could then magnetically lock the motor (grinding or squealing noise).

Possible tip over or landing where there is ferrite in the ground. There is heaps of minute ferrite at sandy beaches. I think mine was from sand in the backpack.

Best option is to replace the affected motor. The P3 motors cannot be separated or repaired unless your have machine press. Even if you do separated by force, there is a good chance of damaging the bearing case.

I was on holidays in Tassie Australia. It was Public holidays and no hobby stores were open. I had my trusty tool kit and found a mechanic workshop with an aircompressor.
My only alternative was to remove the foreign objects in the motor. I removed the 4 motor screws under the motor and lifted out the motor. There is no need to open up the P3. I used a compressor and blew top down. Then use tweezers a or a pin and gradually encourage the foreign metallic to move to the base of the motor/magnet. I used a Band-Aid to lift the foreign metallics. I would suggest using bluetack or play-dough.

Move the motor by hand and it should feel like the rest of them. Leave the props off and rev slowly through the ranges and make sure there is no squeal. Inspect again. Once you are happy there is no more foreign debris, take off at low altitudes for 20 min (1 full battery). Land and inspect again.