HI folks,

Just a quick one.  On my new phantom 4 pro, three of the four prop adapters installed on top of the motors, are loose.  The screws appear to be installed okay, but there is maybe 0.3mm play in the white plastic adapter, like the screws are not done up tight.

Is this something to worry about, or normal?

Cheers
Andy

Mine are tight,  no play at all.  My first Phantom, someone will chime in with more experence, but it doesn't seem correct.

Mine are tight, have you noticed any issues flying with them loose? I imagine its just a simple tightening of the screws but mine definitely don't have any play in them and I cant imagine having them move around would be a good thing...

Just checked mine and they are all tight.

I've had a check this morning, and the screws are tight.  I took one out to see what size it was, and they are little dinky shoulder screws, M2.5 by the looks of it.  The plastic prop adapters seem to be the issue, in that the counterbored holes in them are slightly deeper than where the head of the screw sits when tightened up.  That means no matter how tight the screw is done up, there will always be a slight clearance between the screw head and the plastic prop adapter, which will allow it to move slightly,.

The screws have blue threadlock applied already, so they shouldn't come loose.  It's a bit odd that they can move though.  I guess that is better than tightening up against the plastic, and risking it crack though.

Andy

Andy, would you please take a picture or make a small video showing that it's movable?
If they're not tight, I do suggest you send it in for evaluation.

Mine are tight, I have read others have had the same problem, they should be tight, either tighten them up or send it back, dont fly while they are like this

Andy LIS Posted at 2016-12-28 10:25
I've had a check this morning, and the screws are tight.  I took one out to see what size it was, and they are little dinky shoulder screws, M2.5 by the looks of it.  The plastic prop adapters seem to be the issue, in that the counterbored holes in them are slightly deeper than where the head of the screw sits when tightened up.  That means no matter how tight the screw is done up, there will always be a slight clearance between the screw head and the plastic prop adapter, which will allow it to move slightly,.

The screws have blue threadlock applied already, so they shouldn't come loose.  It's a bit odd that they can move though.  I guess that is better than tightening up against the plastic, and risking it crack though.

If bought locally I would suggest you take it back to the retailer and get a replacement, but check in shop and make sure all OK. If not get a refund and try somewhere else.

DJI Natalia Posted at 2016-12-28 10:59
Andy, would you please take a picture or make a small video showing that it's movable?
If they're not tight, I do suggest you send it in for evaluation.

Here's a quick video.  The rear left motor is worst of the four.  The front left is tight, and the other two are slightly loose.  All the screws are tight (I've checked).



Hope it doesn't have to go back, my Mavic has only just been sent off to have its camera and gimbal looked at...

I had the same problem with one of my P4 prop adapters. Bought a new set of prop adapters and solved the problem.

Get a tool and tighten them up until there snug. Very easy to do.

mine are loose too. you cant tighten the screws anymore, the screws are super tight already, the little white adapter on top is slightly loose, all 4 of mine, just like in post 9 video. it flys great with no problems.
what do we do DJI ? if you have replacement plastic parts, I will change them myself to keep from sending it in for repair.

Grizz 1 Posted at 2016-12-28 17:06
mine are loose too. you cant tighten the screws anymore, the screws are super tight already, the little white adapter on top is slightly loose, all 4 of mine, just like in post 9 video. it flys great with no problems.
what do we do DJI ? if you have replacement plastic parts, I will change them myself to keep from sending it in for repair.

http://store.dji.com/product/pha ... ng-plate-cw-and-ccw

that will fix it aardvark, I have one of those kits too, but I decided to cut a washer the same thickness as the spring clips in the kit, and punched out the holes and that tightened it up. I used brother label tape to make the washer/ spacer.
edited:

The screws cannot be tightened more, they are shoulder screws, and the shoulders are tight up against the motor housing.  The white plastic spacer holes are slightly shorter than the shoulder length on the screws, hence the play.  I don't really want to send the P4P back in, if the problem is the white plastic bits, that just need replacing.  Likewise, I don't particularly see why I should have to spend more money on something that is brand new (except for 3 flights).

Andy LIS Posted at 2016-12-28 08:39
Here's a quick video.  The rear left motor is worst of the four.  The front left is tight, and the other two are slightly loose.  All the screws are tight (I've checked).

https://youtu.be/YC8QOa_IOLM

My P4 prop adapters are loose to the point where I can rotate them slightly back and forth, but they have no upward movement like I see on your video. The screws are shoulder bolts and are made so the adapters have no pressure put on them from the bolts when they are tightened down. I don't recommend putting any shims between the adapter and the motor housing as you may place pressure on the adapter and crack it.

You either have screws where the shoulder area is to long or adapters that are undersized. Check the screws to verify they are tight. If so, the adapters are not going to come off. I wouldn't send it in, but instead get another set of adapters w/screws and try them. Somewhere in the manufacturing there needs to be an adjustment to get these parts to be a closer fit.

I've not seen those adapters before with actual springs - have these replaced the metal strips? (as mine was bought fairly recently)

Yep, I've got two P4 Pros and both have the springs instead of the leaf spring plates.  One of them the prop adapters are nice and snug, and the other they are tight, with no play.

Manufacturing tolerances on the slide perhaps?  I'm going to shim the loose ones to reduce the play.  Seems silly to send the whole thing back over that.

Andy

Hi All, thanks for your feedback, I've transferred your feedback to our engineers, will get back to you once I get more information.

It's interesting to see the spring being used instead of the leaf springs. I never saw any announcement on that happening.
Presumably the screws are different length, or the plastic a different thickness. And if old and new parts got mixed up then it would be possible for the plastic to be loose.

The thickness of the leaf spring of the p4 is 0.013 in. or 0.33 mm     the thickness of the brother label tape is 0.14 mm or  0.005 in.
this was enough to make mine tight enough and hopefully not crack the plastic. cant use the spring metal tab without drilling 2 more holes, so I used the label tape
edit: see my post 14

DJI Natalia Posted at 2016-12-29 04:17
Hi All, thanks for your feedback, I've transferred your feedback to our engineers, will get back to you once I get more information.

Thanks.  I'll look forward to hear what they think.

In the meantime, I've just used two layers of diamond tape, cut to the right shape and size, to go between the plastic adpaters, and the motor can.  All play has been removed.  (one layer was not enough).

Andy

DJI Natalia Posted at 2016-12-29 04:17
Hi All, thanks for your feedback, I've transferred your feedback to our engineers, will get back to you once I get more information.

Hi Natalia, I hope they can come up with a solution soon, its kind of scary flying around with loose prop mounts !  thanks !

Grizz 1 Posted at 2017-1-6 06:01
Hi Natalia, I hope they can come up with a solution soon, its kind of scary flying around with loose prop mounts !  thanks !

Thanks for your patience.
I've got the feedback now, the case you reported has no negative influence on aircraft's performance, please do not worry about it.
While we're aware of that, will improve the product quality control, thanks again for your feedback again.

That would make me nervous, any play in parts like this would have a tendency to get looser over time from wear I would think

That would make me nervous, any play in parts like this would have a tendency to get looser over time from wear I would think

I really think dji needs to take a closer look at this,  as it is a critical flight component !

It looks like the plastic part is meant to be used with the spring plate which would act as a shim. Perhaps the plastic parts for the conventional spring version are slightly thicker to compensate but they got mixed up in the factory. I doubt you could tell the difference just by looking.

i put these on my ph4 1 year ago, no problems
http://www.dronevalley.com/store ... %28Set_of_4%29.html