Cracked/Damaged Mavic Antenna Leg

dangerlabs · Nov 19, 2016

Upon getting my Mavic out yesterday for a flight (from the DJI bag), I noticed one of the antenna legs was damaged. It looks like something may have slid against the bag and pressed on the leg, that, or one of my passengers in the back during the day somehow moved or placed the bag somewhere it could be damaged.

I went ahead and started the RMA process, but after taking a closer look I can see it is only the plastic that is damaged. It is held on by 3 hex head bolts. It can be removed easily and the antenna slides right out.

I'm curious if DJI will offer these as replacement parts anytime in the near future? Honestly, if that's the case. I would be fine removing it and just gluing it back together in the interim. I contacted DJI support chat and they seemed like they were going to check inventory so I could purchase one and have it sent to me, but that wasn't the case. I was requested to go through the RMA process to send it in for repair.

Does anyone have any insight into this? Thanks.

Anthony · Nov 19, 2016

Not sure where in the world you are but i have seen a few post about RMA to dji and they seem to get good feedback for this ... its around a 14 day process i believe.

m0j0 · Nov 19, 2016

Well that blows

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dangerlabs · Nov 19, 2016

Yeah, I've heard the RMA process is good (and the DJI support rep I chatted with was pleasant), but I could change out the part in 30 seconds and be good to go if they sold/would send me one.

dangerlabs · Dec 2, 2016

I was able to resolve this by getting OEM replacement parts from SalvageDrones (on the forum). Great service!

Khy · Dec 20, 2016

dangerlabs said:
I was able to resolve this by getting OEM replacement parts from SalvageDrones (on the forum). Great service!

Hey I have the same problem as you slight bend on my leg.. how did you fix yours

Thanks

schpenxel · Dec 20, 2016

By removing 3 screws and putting a new part on, dur.

dangerlabs · Dec 20, 2016

Khy said:
Hey I have the same problem as you slight bend on my leg.. how did you fix yours

Thanks

I was able to get replacement parts (OEM) from SalvageDrones. Look him up on the forum and send him a PM.

Khy · Dec 20, 2016

Wow friendly bunch in here.!! Is there or do I need a guide should I beware of removing the part could I void warentry how much did it cost

Just lucking for a friendly point in the right direction

Khy · Dec 20, 2016

dangerlabs said:
I was able to get replacement parts (OEM) from SalvageDrones. Look him up on the forum and send him a PM.

Thanks danger

dangerlabs · Dec 20, 2016

Khy said:
Wow friendly bunch in here.!! Is there or do I need a guide should I beware of removing the part could I void warentry how much did it cost

Just lucking for a friendly point in the right direction

SalvageDrones should be able to help you out if he has parts. The price was great.

Be careful not to lose the screws when removing the leg. There is a bit of silicone holding down an antenna wire, you can remove this (used in assembly by DJI). The antenna PCB will slide out. Take note of its orientation. There are guides inside the leg to slide the antenna back in when you have your replacement part. Pretty simple fix (takes < 5 mins).

rfc0001 · Jan 15, 2017

dangerlabs said:
Upon getting my Mavic out yesterday for a flight (from the DJI bag), I noticed one of the antenna legs was damaged. It looks like something may have slid against the bag and pressed on the leg, that, or one of my passengers in the back during the day somehow moved or placed the bag somewhere it could be damaged.

I went ahead and started the RMA process, but after taking a closer look I can see it is only the plastic that is damaged. It is held on by 3 hex head bolts. It can be removed easily and the antenna slides right out.

I'm curious if DJI will offer these as replacement parts anytime in the near future? Honestly, if that's the case. I would be fine removing it and just gluing it back together in the interim. I contacted DJI support chat and they seemed like they were going to check inventory so I could purchase one and have it sent to me, but that wasn't the case. I was requested to go through the RMA process to send it in for repair.

Does anyone have any insight into this? Thanks.

Do you remember what size hex wrench you needed? The smallest I have is 2mm, which is too big, so I'm assuming it's 1 or 1.5 mm.

Thanks,
Russ

Attex · Jan 15, 2017

I just checked the allen size on mine and it is 1.5mm. I have a sweet little allen driver where all the tips fit inside handle. I think I paid like 7 or 8 bucks for it off ebay. I got it for rc truck stuff. Its a cheap one and there are better ones too but its worked good for me. If interested try a few searches on ebay for rc allen driver or something like that. Great tool to have for this too.

Attex · Jan 15, 2017

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rfc0001 · Jan 15, 2017

Attex said:
I just checked the allen size on mine and it is 1.5mm. I have a sweet little allen driver where all the tips fit inside handle. I think I paid like 7 or 8 bucks for it off ebay. I got it for rc truck stuff. Its a cheap one and there are better ones too but its worked good for me. If interested try a few searches on ebay for rc allen driver or something like that. Great tool to have for this too.

Thanks. 1mm would have required ordering online, since they don't carry them at the hardware, but 1.5mm are easy to come by. Home Depot has a cheap $5 hex set that goes down to 1.5mm. Thanks!

Khy · Jan 21, 2017

So had ago at fixing my broken leg that was only really bent..

First stage to remove leg..

That was easy.. but it seems as if the little board inside hand become stuck, after a few attempts disaster

After hacking it of the bent leg and the help of some tape

I managed to rebuild the leg with the spare

Quick test flight and all seems well altitude test 150m and distance off 1000 meters

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rfc0001 · Jan 21, 2017

A couple tips for those attempting this. You'll want to fold the leg out after removing the screws to avoid putting stress on the wires. The wire is held in the bottom of a leg by a small channel and a small dot of white silicon caulk. You'll need to pry the small dot of white silicon off first by putting the tip of an X-acto knife underneath the silicon (and wire) and slicing sideways, being careful not to damage the wire by pulling up. Once off, you can remove the wire from the plastic channel holding the wire. Then, there are two small dots of white silicon holding the actual antenna circuit board. You can cut those off with an X-acto. then, grab the edge of the circuit board with a small needle nose pliers, and pull. You shouldn't damage the board by doing this if you grab it on the edge. If the wire is already loose before you do this (steps above), you shouldn't damage the wire either unless you pull too hard/fast. Finally, there is a small plastic strip of metallic shielding you'll need to slide out and put in the new antenna cover. The antenna is pretty snug, and the wire is held by the plastic channel, so i'm not convinced the while silicon is needed, but putting it back in the same place doesn't hurt, although you'll probably be in a hurry to get back up and running, and not want to wait for the silicon to dry, and it's definitely not worth the $8 for a whole tube of silicon from the hardware, so probably OK to leave off this step. Note, I measured when removing the screws, and they were tightened almost exactly 6.5 turns of the hex wrench (which is a 1.5mm hex wrench - you can get a set of metric wrenches at Home Depot for $5). Good luck!

ETA: you can get an entire leg assembly with motor, antenna, etc. for $58 on fleabay, however they ship from China though so can take a while (e.g. 4 weeks) to get. Also, this is not recommended, since based on the IFixIt teardown of the mavic., the motor wires are soldered to the motherboard -- best to just replace the antenna cover with a replacement cover from @SalvageDrones Thumbswayup

Khy · Jan 21, 2017

rfc0001 said:
A couple tips for those attempting this. You'll want to fold the leg out after removing the screws to avoid putting stress on the wires. The wire is held in the bottom of a leg by a small channel and a small dot of white silicon caulk. You'll need to pry the small dot of white silicon off first by putting the tip of an X-acto knife underneath the silicon (and wire) and slicing sideways, being careful not to damage the wire by pulling up. Once off, you can remove the wire from the plastic channel holding the wire. Then, there are two small dots of white silicon holding the actual antenna circuit board. You can cut those off with an X-acto. then, grab the edge of the circuit board with a small needle nose pliers, and pull. You shouldn't damage the board by doing this if you grab it on the edge. If the wire is already loose before you do this (steps above), you shouldn't damage the wire either unless you pull too hard/fast. Finally, there is a small plastic strip of metallic shielding you'll need to slide out and put in the new antenna cover. The antenna is pretty snug, and the wire is held by the plastic channel, so i'm not convinced the while silicon is needed, but putting it back in the same place doesn't hurt, although you'll probably be in a hurry to get back up and running, and not want to wait for the silicon to dry, and it's definitely not worth the $8 for a whole tube of silicon from the hardware, so probably OK to leave off this step. Note, I measured when removing the screws, and they were tightened almost exactly 6.5 turns of the hex wrench (which is a 1.5mm hex wrench - you can get a set of metric wrenches at Home Depot for $5). Good luck!

ETA: you can get an entire leg assembly with motor, antenna, etc. for $58 on fleabay, however they ship from China though so can take a while (e.g. 4 weeks) to get. Also, this is not recommended, since based on the IFixIt teardown of the mavic., the motor wires are soldered to the motherboard -- best to just replace the antenna cover with a replacement cover from @SalvageDrones