My P3P was packed in the hard case for the past 3 weeks. I cleaned it before packing it and it has done about 11000km by airline together with me as hand luggage. there was nothing wrong with it when i packed it. Now all these cracks are appearing? the picture is of the prop with the worst cracks, but all the others have visible small cracks. the craft is aboyt 12 months old. anybody have an explanation? is it just the plastic drying out? inferior casing? it is the casing with the reinfocements inside.

Thats scary stuff.... I wonder if there is any way to be able to get some kind of glue/epoxy down in there to stop the spread of those cracks.  Last thing anyone wants is for it to shatter mid flight and fall to its death.

Rain1dog Posted at 2016-2-27 18:43
Thats scary stuff.... I wonder if there is any way to be able to get some kind of glue/epoxy down in ...

used to see pictures here of other cracked crafts, but never thought it would happen to mine wont fly it until i have reinforced it. cracks are only where the motors are mounted

I wonder if reinforcing those areas with light fiberglass cloth and epoxy would help. I know we do that for RC planes and jets and sometimes use carbon fiber cloth. On wood we even use the cloth and CA but I don't know if the Phantom plastic would melt with the CA or not.

Hot glue works great on plastic, and if you ever need it to release... a dab of Iso Alcohol and it instantly falls right off leaving zero trace it was ever there.  Just hot glue.. if it gets to warm... will start to go back to liquid form.

thumb Posted at 2016-2-27 18:53
I wonder if reinforcing those areas with light fiberglass cloth and epoxy would help. I know we do t ...

that part is all that holds the motor to the craft. i think it is a design flaw. obviously the force when change of direction takes place is too much for the frame. I think i must insert aluminum plate on the inside and bolt it onto the arm to release the force from the plastic

Mine developed cracks similar to those.  I used a product called Plast-aid , I took the top shell off the Phantom and poured a small amount into the nacelles, the stuff creates a chemical and physical bond with the frame of the aircraft.
There is a thread about this somewhere in the forum.

I don't know if the product is available in your area, if not epoxy made for plastic should do the same thing.

Don't get carried away and pour the stuff too deep, if you do the motors will not mount into their proper positions and you may not get the top part of the shell on correctly.

Good luck.

draadkar Posted at 2016-2-27 13:10
that part is all that holds the motor to the craft. i think it is a design flaw. obviously the for ...

It's a well documented defect. Doesn't matter how old it is,dji should change the shell. Get ahold of them.

Elmer Fudd Posted at 2016-2-27 19:45
It's a well documented defect. Doesn't matter how old it is,dji should change the shell. Get ahold ...

thanks, but since I am in Africa it will be better to repair the thing than the big hassle to try and get a new shell.

raveneapoe Posted at 2016-2-27 19:38
Mine developed cracks similar to those.  I used a product called Plast-aid , I took the top shell of ...

I will do some inquiries for the product. no need to split the shell because once the motor is out there is enough space to work. checked out the plastaid video on youtube. great stuff

Sorry to see those spider veins show up, so evidently on your drone. It always saddens me, knowing that this could happen to any one of us Phantom 3 pilots, to our drone too...
Hopefully you can find a bandaid for them, and continue enjoying it without any unwanted interruption. It would be four aces if @DJI would replace the shells, free of cost,
and snail mail them out to those, who can prove they need a replacement. Particularly those of us, (not me) who are in such remote areas of the spinning globe.
Perhaps though not every phantom pilot is rehearsed & doesn't have the tools or skills necessary to perform RC surgery , and could 'FECK'it-up even worse. ;-)
Like mom on Mrs.Browns Boys would say. Feckin it up... Hahaha
If you don't already know Brenden O'Carrol hahaha on you... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Brown%27s_Boys
See YouTube.
Good luck, hope you get it repaired and back to flying real soon.

RedHotPoker

That sucks! Mine's the same age and I've been careful about storage temperature/humidity as I didn't want to encourage any stress fractures. But your cracks have convinced me to go ahead and buy a Replacement Shell. My logic is that if I have one on-hand, I'll never need to use it!!!!

But seriously, airframes and wings crack. It's the realty of aviation. The more stress we place on our motor mounts, the more likely we will eventually see cracking. Stress comes from a variety of factors -> heat, cold, vibration, braking, etc. Where possible, DJI provides us with a rich assortment of maintenance Spare Parts, if we choose to maintain our own P3s.

It sounds like you've treated your P3 well, so I'd opt to blame the storage conditions (temperature/humidity). Good luck with your repairs! Hope you're back in the air soon.

terrylewis Posted at 2016-2-28 04:39
That sucks!  Mine's the same age and I've been careful about storage temperature/humidity as I did ...

I am sure it is not temperature or any other ambient related condition that caused the cracks because the rest of the craft and RC is in immaculate condition. I oiled the motors before storing it in the hard pack and the reason i can now see the cracks is because some of the oil dripped down and entered the cracks. Bearing in mind the motor is bottom mounted on that area and the distance to the top of the prop is about 80mm and I fly sometimes in winds of 34km/h and carry about 800 gram below when taking my bait into the ocean that would place considerable stress on the plastic. I shall just reinforce it

I put StrongArm reenforcment plates on mine. They secure the motors and distribute the force evenly. Check them out - you don't need to take the shell apart. Highly recommended.

Rnfaust Posted at 2016-2-28 08:53
I put StrongArm reenforcment plates on mine. They secure the motors and distribute the force evenly. ...

that is the best idea. you have picture to show more? would appreciate. did you fabricate yourself or bought? Aha i googled and found them. will try to source them AsAP

I have the Detachable prop guard brackets on both of my drones. They seem to help as well. Plus if i decide to fly with prop guards, the brackets are there already.

draadkar Posted at 2016-2-28 16:56
that is the best idea. you have picture to show more? would appreciate. did you fabricate yourself  ...

Check them out here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B017UR1JNW/ph079-20
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B016OD7BFI/ph079-20

And the source for the above, here with tons of other great info...
http://phantomhelp.com/Phantom-3-Professional/#Fixes

draadkar Posted at 2016-2-28 03:01
I will do some inquiries for the product. no need to split the shell because once the motor is out  ...

I would strongly suggest you take off the top shell, aside from the motor screws there are only three screws per arm, and the body has clips in addition to the screws.  If you can view you tube videos there are several that will walk you through the process.
I know it looks like you have room with the motors off, but if the material gets above, or flows over the motor mounts the motors will not sit in their proper positions.   In addition you may bond the top and bottom shell together making it impossible to ever remove the shell if other repairs are needed.
The GPS module will need unplugged from the circuit board but it is really easy to plug / unplug.
The biggest bother is the clips that fasten the top shell to the bottom, one has to insert a thin dull knife or something similar, pry out on the tool slightly while pressing firmly in on the bottom shell .
I wish you luck. It really wasn't that difficult for me.   

raveneapoe Posted at 2016-2-29 00:21
I would strongly suggest you take off the top shell, aside from the motor screws there are only th ...

Here is probably the best video (best i have seen) on removing the shell if you need to do it, it was courtesy of the phantomhelp site under "how-tos"

draadkar Posted at 2016-2-27 22:22
I am sure it is not temperature or any other ambient related condition that caused the cracks beca ...

"I oiled the motors before storing it in the hard pack and the reason i can now see the cracks is because some of the oil dripped down and entered the cracks. "

And that is very interesting.  I would not do that in the future.  The motors do not need to be lubricated and oils often do bad things to plastics.

Kilted Flyer (D Posted at 2016-2-28 16:37
I have the Detachable prop guard brackets on both of my drones. They seem to help as well. Plus if i ...

I think they will help, but they reinforce only half of the motor mount and only to the end of the arm where the most stress is towards the center of the craft. I think i will go for the strong arm reinforcemente

raveneapoe Posted at 2016-2-28 17:21
I would strongly suggest you take off the top shell, aside from the motor screws there are only th ...

thank you for all your help. i have ordered the plast aid together with the strong arm reinforcement plates. will bond the plates to the shell with the plastaid as i saw in the video it has a very strong chemical and mechanical bonding power.

WetDog Posted at 2016-2-29 06:03
"I oiled the motors before storing it in the hard pack and the reason i can now see the cracks is  ...

^ This is very important, and very true. Unless the oil is certified 'Plastic Safe', then you will do more harm than good if the oil gets on the plastic. It can weaken the plastic to the point where it crumbles. Having done this, I would suggest you buy or obtain a new shell and replace it before any further damage is done, then do not oil the motors again.

I have seen plastic become as brittle as cheese, simply caused by someone using Nano-Oil to lubricate something and it leaked onto the plastic.

I like the looks of the Plastaid product.  I'm a bit curious about the plastic repair that is being pushed hard on TV these days, using a UV light for curing.  You could put it in the 'wells' around the motor and then cure it to bridge the cracks.  The demos show it to be very strong.  My cracks appeared within the first month I had it (P3A).  At the time, it seemed like everyone was reporting them, even some fresh out of the box brand new.  I actually went to my dealer and showed him one he had in for repair and pointed out the cracks.  He had no idea they were there.  I also bought the removable guards.  When I saw how the clips mounted, I realized they would beef up those areas quite nicely.  I never remove them, but almost never fly with the guards themselves.

I also find it helpful to loosen and re snug all the screws. Some may be "over tight" from the manufacture process and will cause cracks in some areas. I do agree about the "strong arm" reinforcements brackets. But since im already using the detach prop guards, and having the braking set to "min" the brackets from them are working so far.

Geebax Posted at 2016-2-28 23:13
^ This is very important, and very true. Unless the oil is certified 'Plastic Safe', then you will  ...

nope it is not the oil. been using it for years and years on all kinds of plastics. I also discussed the application, high revolution bearings, with the manufacturer before using it.

Kilted Flyer (D Posted at 2016-3-1 12:39
I also find it helpful to loosen and re snug all the screws. Some may be "over tight" from the manuf ...

I remove the motors every 2 weeks to oil them since i bought the craft.