I brought a new mini 2 in September and rust is forming on the motor housing and prop screws. I do live by the beach and fly at the beach a lot. I never fly in rain and never crashed it. What should I do?

I brought a new mini 2 in September and rust is forming on the motor housing and prop screws. I do live by the beach and fly at the beach a lot. I never fly in rain and never crashed it. What should I do?

I brought a new mini 2 in September and rust is forming on the motor housing and prop screws. I do live by the beach and fly at the beach a lot. I never fly in rain and never crashed it. What should I do?

Saltwater will always bring rust to iron metal. After each flight, dry the drone with a hairdryer or equivalent. Store the drone between flights in a air tight box with half the volume filled with Silica Gel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silica_gel

Wipe the drone down with a soft wet wipe after flying near salt water. The sea spray can corrode the screws. I get it on my prop screws sometimes if I don't wipe them down after flying.

Before every flight manually turn all the motors and check for binding. The salt air can damage the motors and tiny particles can come loose inside. One is enough to stop the motor at any time.

Hello there. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused and thank you for reaching out. Kindly please post some photos showing the said issue for us to see and can give out the best resolution for this issue? Thank you.

Hello there. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused and thank you for reaching out. Kindly please post some photos showing the said issue for us to see and can give out the best resolution for this issue? Thank you.

If the screws are using perhaps its time to change them before they get too bad.

DJI Stephen Posted at 12-16 19:45
Hello there. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused and thank you for reaching out. Kindly please post some photos showing the said issue for us to see and can give out the best resolution for this issue? Thank you.

fansa53b272b Posted at 12-17 02:56

Hello, there. Sorry for your inconvenience. Would you please use an alcohol pad to wipe the rust after turning the drone off?  It will not affect the normal performance of your drone. Please don't worry.

https://www.amazon.com/Sentry-Marine-Protection-Knives-Inch-Pouch/dp/B001G0Y6J4/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=Sentry+Solutions&qid=1639752268&sr=8-9

I use this on Knife blades. It would work great to keep those parts from corroding.

Bob

Must be the salt.

If I were you I would contact Dji for reasons of guarantee and to get official advise.

But one should realise this rusting might not only concern parts that you happen to see but most probably also those deep inside the outside of the body and also (maybe / probably) mealparts inside the drone (if any). Especially the bodyscrews will be hard to unscrew once their head is rusted. Rust is actually "expanded" metal which causes the screwdrivertip to not fit well anymore.

Whiping the drone will not help since you can't whipe the parts it concerns decently. Drying the drone in whatever way is ofcourse a good idea. Any regular airflow will do the job within some hours. Drying is not about temperature but about replacing the "moisture-filled" air by less moisture-filled air.

But since the salt is already outside and inside on and in your drone, salt is hygroscopic and air always contains moisture the rusting could be delayed but not stopped. Rusting is always a problem of quality of the material and/or of it's coating.

The technical usage of coating on metal is to block oxygen from getting in touch with the metal the coating is applied on and this blocking  thus creates the rustprevention. You can easily put on your own coating.

First is to Not Spray directly on the related product since a spray always spills some 90% in a 90degrees angle all around which causes a mess. Drip (or spray ...) a tiny bit of thin oil (silicone would be nice) into ie a cup or a small plasticbag. Dip ie a small screwdriver or toothstick in that oil and put it into the screwheads. Let it rest there for some seconds and the drip will then leak into the head. Use ie a earswab to wipe oil on the rings. The thinner the oil the thinner the layer will be and the less able it will be to hold sandparticles. But you would have to repeat the job somewhat more often. The right oil for bicyclechains is oke to use for this (for the same reason).

I have been living in Portimao, Portugal for some 6 months last winter at some 300 meters away from the shoreline on the 9th floor. The windows and my bicycle were always quite white after just any small amount of rain or mist. And so were my glasses and lenses at any beautiful day when I came closer to the beach to drone or kite or photograph. In other words, the reach of the salt is rather far.

If I were you I would contact Dji for reasons of guarantee and to get official advise. Rusting parts are a matter of lack of quality and I think your drone is quite an exception.

But in the meantime one should realise this rusting might not only concern parts that you happen to see but most probably also those deep inside the outside of the body and also (maybe / probably) metalparts inside the drone (if any which I don't know). Especially the bodyscrews (that are so deep inside there tunnels) will be hard to unscrew once their head is rusted. Rust is actually "expanded" metal which causes the screwdrivertip to not fit well anymore.

Whiping the drone with any towel will not help since you can't whipe the (parts of the) parts it concerns decently. I use a 1cm long brush to clean my cameras and drone. Drying the drone in whatever way is ofcourse a good idea. Any regular airflow will do the job within some hours. Drying is not about temperature but about replacing the "moisture-filled" air by less moisture-filled air.

For this same reason one should not store equipment in an airtight box. Moistureatoms always enter per air , then condensate into drips but the water will not evaporate since there is no airflow there and so no new dry air that can absorb the wateratoms. And since the salt is already outside and inside on and in your drone, salt is hygroscopic and air always contains moisture the rusting could be delayed but not be stopped.

Rusting is always a problem of quality of the material and/or of it's coating. The technical usage of coating on metal is to block oxygen from getting in touch with the metal the coating is applied on and this blocking thus creates the rustprevention. The word rust is used for metals but the official term is oxidation. You can easily put on your own coating.

First is to Not Spray anything directly on the related product since a spray always spills some 90% in a 90degrees angle all around which causes a mess. Drip (or spray ...) a tiny bit of thin oil (silicone would be nice) into ie a cup or a small plasticbag. Dip ie a small screwdriver or toothstick in that oil and put it into the screwheads. Let it rest there for some seconds and the drip will then leak into the head. Use ie a earswab to wipe oil on the rings. The thinner the oil the thinner the layer will be and the less able it will be to hold sandparticles. But you would have to repeat the job somewhat more often. The right oil for bicyclechains is also oke to use for this (for the same reason). However, any oil will create a coating.

I have been living in Portimao, Portugal for some 6 months last winter at some 300 meters away from the shoreline on the 9th floor. The windows and my bicycle were always quite white after just any small amount of rain or mist. And so were my glasses and lenses at any beautiful day when I came closer to the beach to drone or kite or photograph. In other words, the reach of the salt is rather far. If you notice this problem you can be sure it will not stop. I did and do not have a corrosionproblem with my Mini 2.

Once more I notice a post or reply of mine is published twice (more then one ...). Anybody ?

Once more I notice a post or reply of mine is published twice (more then once ...). Anybody ?

What will also help and protect against rust on metal is to wipe or dip the metal into or with WD40.

fansa53b272b, I notice that Wanda says to use alcohol, in the manual it says not to use any alcohol on this craft.  ???
If I had the rust problem on my Mini-2, I would take a soft cloth, spray a very small amount of WD-40 (Water Displacement formula 40)
in a small area of this cloth   and let it dry somewhat for a short time, then very carefully wipe a thin covering of the WD-40 on to the rust areas.
Be careful as some rust may wipe off, and you do not want to spread it.  Once wiped let it stand for a few hours or, overnight, then wipe all
those areas with a dry absorbent cloth, to remove what will come off, no need to rub hard.  That is how I would do it with my drone, and hope
that it corrects the problem, all the while being in contact with Dji for any recommendations.  Hope this helps.