Dropped the RC and broke both joysticks...

[Xcel]

But I managed to fix it myself, wooo!

I was heading out to fly today but destroyed the RC before I could exit the house. I was carrying both the RC with the phone attached and the Mavic in one hand and as I was opening the door I showhow dropped the RC straight down onto the hard laminate floor. The RC landed straight down and pushed in both joysticks.
It felt like a punch in the chest as I was picking up the RC. Anyway I pulled the joysticks back into position but they were lose and the RC kept screaming to recalibrate the sticks. I tried to recalibrate several times but the sticks wouldn't stay centered.

I decided to try and fix it myself with the help of youtube videos on how to open the RC. By far the most difficult task was getting the **** lower plastic panel off the RC, it probably took me 15 minutes to get it off in order to assess the damage. It turns out both pins holding the joysticks in place had broken.




No other choice than to drill out the old pin and try and insert a new one.

I found a suitable replacement rod which was 3mm thick. I tested it out to make sure it doesn't interfere with the hall sensor because the rod is metal. Luckily it didn't, then I just had to find out the proper length of the new rod, cut it and put it into place.

Old and new pin.

Good as new! Now I have two metal pins now instead of plastic ones.


Works perfectly

 

[omega_vfx]

I applaud your ingenuity in fixing this, but for the sake of safety I would never fly with a "repaired" controller. The metal rods seem like a good idea, until you think about stuff like RC interferance, induction, short circuiting.. I don't know man. Flying a drone is dangerous enough as it is, flying with a repaired RC is just asking for problems imho. That's why my electronics are insured...

 

[Xcel]

Yea I would have preferred hard nylon instead of metal but couldn't find any at a short notice. I made sure the ends facing outwards were a bit bigger so the wouldn't touch the inner mechanics or slip in deeper. They can't move the other way either because the cover sits right on top of them. I will keep a close eye on the functionality, in case something were to go wrong I can always switch the RC off and have the quad RTH, so far no signs or trouble though.

 

[CC Rider]

I was going to say "American ingenuity at its best," until I realized the OP is from Finland!!

Hats off to you for the repair job you've done on your RC. Bummer it broke like that. Had to hit the floor just right to cause that kind of damage, though.

My guess is it was the added weight of the attached phone that really caused the damage to your RC, as I am sure DJI designed the RC to be able to sustain a reasonable fall from a reasonable height, but designed it only with the RC's weight in mind, not with the added weight of a phone. Kind of like what happens when people break bones while bouncing on trampolines. The trampoline's design greatly increases the body's rising and falling force when bouncing on it, but the body's bones are not designed to handle the stress of that force, so a bone that CAN sustain its own weight and normal force breaks when so acted upon. (That's why you won't find a trampoline in my yard. That and also because I think they're just ugly to see in any yard.)

Yeah, just keep a close eye on things like you are until your repair job totally proves itself and you end up just forgetting about it one day You can't argue with results. If it works, it works! Finnish ingenuity at its best!!

 

[Robert Mitchell]

You are the MAN! That had to be a very bad feeling dropping your controller. I can only imagine the language I would've used wouldn't have been suitable for children.

Seriously, hats off for doing what you needed to do. Most wouldn't even think of doing it.
In all honesty if it is mechanically sound, and you are getting good calibrations and no errors, you are probably good to go.

So while you were in there, did you notice if the battery would be easily replaceable, assuming you could get a replacement?

 

[Xcel]

Thanks for the kind word guys. I thought I would update you on the situation. I've flown tens of hours now and hundreds of kilometers after my repair and everything has been working flawlessly.
The sticks feel really stable and pretty much exactly the same as before I dropped the RC.