Sand in Motors—What to do?

[dronerat]

So I got overconfident a few minutes ago and tried to hand launch my Air 2S for the 4th time ever on the beach today.

I thought I installed the props correctly but obviously didn’t—it flipped and gave my hand some NASTY gashes and fell into the sand.

Thankfully my hand appears OK (these things are not toys! ****.

However some sand got into the joints of the two rear rotating feet and at least one of the motors (three can rotate by hand but one is stuck).

Theres a little sand around the obstacle cameras but afaik nothing in the gimbal or main cam, miraculously..

When I shake the drone I also hear some sand bouncing around.

What should I do? Is there a reliable way to remove sand from the motors and joints? Or is this a smart time to use Care Refresh? (I did buy the one year plan) Not sure if theres other damage or how to know really..

Whats the best course of action?

Update: I vacuumed and blew air in the motors and leg joints. The motors now all rotate smoothly and the legs rotate more or less smoothly. I ran the motors without props and so far have no errors or weird sounds afaik.

Is a test flight appropriate?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

For the motor I would be inclined to turn the drone upside down and apply the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner to the top (now the bottom) of the motor. If the motor is not jammed rock it slight CW & CCW to expose areas of the rotor that would otherwise be shielded from the air flow. Then turn the drone the right way up and run the nozzle around the gap between the rotor and the arm. Repeat this until the you can see no sand in there and the motor turns freely. Note you may feel a sort of ratchet or pulse effect as rotor magnets pass stator poles.

I would be inclined to vacuum all around the arm joint/pivot and any vents in the body near that joint/pivot. If this is designed in the same way as an M2P I doubt that sand could get into the joint/pivot unless it is extremely fine grained sand.

 

[mobilehomer]

Do yourself a big favor and stay away from the beach and/or trees until you learn to fly.

 

[old man mavic]

@mobilehomer , that was rather a harsh comment to make ,you could have said the same thing ,in a much more pleasant manner,everyone can make a mistake .
as for cleaning the drone of sand ,do not, what ever you do use any liquid to try to clean it, some canned air ,or an air puffer ,or vacuum,as previously stated would be best ,make sure that you clean all of the gimbal as well for any sand ingress

 

[dronerat]

@mobilehomer , that was rather a harsh comment to make ,you could have said the same thing ,in a much more pleasant manner,everyone can make a mistake .
as for cleaning the drone of sand ,do not, what ever you do use any liquid to try to clean it, some canned air ,or an air puffer ,or vacuum,as previously stated would be best ,make sure that you clean all of the gimbal as well for any sand ingress

Ha thanks, I had thought I knew how to fly All the blood proved otherwise. Im not sure if it was a bad prop installation or wind that was the cause but i’ll be more careful next flight. Using my launch pad again for sure…and from a more sheltered area from wind.

Ill try the vacuum and air puffer and no liquid! Should I use a strong vacuum (cannister) or something more low powered like a dyson?

This might sound dumb but how will I know when I’m finished and when I’ve removed all of it?

Also, the sand is leaving scratch marks on the arms around the joints when I turn them, as shown in the pic, those marks are new as of today…does that mean sand did somehow got inside? Or is it likely still just on the outside?

So do you think I should clean it and give it another test flight rather than immediately sending it in to Care Refresh then?

 

[mobilehomer]

Stop folding it until you are certain all the sand is gone. Practice take-offs and landing until it becomes second nature. Care Refresh will cost you about $120 and a week and a half, decision is yours. If you can't clean it completely, I would consider that a semi-costly lesson.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Also, the sand is leaving scratch marks on the arms around the joints when I turn them, as shown in the pic, those marks are new as of today…does that mean sand did somehow got inside? Or is it likely still just on the outside?

check the under side of what is immediately above the arm pivots, my guess is that there will be a small gap between the top of the arm and the underside of whatever is there.
Any sand that was in such a gap might have been 'squashed'/trapped there when you rotated the arm and consequently scored the arm as the arm moved. If such a place and gap exists on Air 2s it's not really part of the joint and if the Air 2s is like the M2P in that area all the surfaces are external surfaces.
In the actual pivot itself all moving-relative-to-one-another-surfaces are likely to be in contact with one another so I doubt normal sand could get into the actual pivot.
If, as you moved the arm, sand was squashed into the under side of whatever I suppose it could have been embedded in the under side of the whatever. If that has happened you might have to manually dislodge it with something quite thin, like the tip of a needle or perhaps an old razor blade.

 

[dronerat]

Stop folding it until you are certain all the sand is gone. Practice take-offs and landing until it becomes second nature. Care Refresh will cost you about $120 and a week and a half, decision is yours. If you can't clean it completely, I would consider that a semi-costly lesson.

Well for an update, after using a hand powered air “rocket”/blower and a vacuum, the motors all rotate flawlessly and I cant find any more sand particles in them. The legs, I’m not so sure about as the scratches seem to worsen very slightly as I rotate them and dont feel as perfectly smooth as new. But, they don’t need to move when flying.

Is it a bad idea to give it a test flight and see what happens? I can always use Care Refresh if something’s off (i just didnt want to use it THIS early, I literally got care refresh 2 days ago!)

Or is there way way too much risk it will fall out of the sky or that theres unseen damage?

 

[dronerat]

check the under side of what is immediately above the arm pivots, my guess is that there will be a small gap between the top of the arm and the underside of whatever is there.
Any sand that was in such a gap might have been 'squashed'/trapped there when you rotated the arm and consequently scored the arm as the arm moved. If such a place and gap exists on Air 2s it's not really part of the joint and if the Air 2s is like the M2P in that area all the surfaces are external surfaces.
In the actual pivot itself all moving-relative-to-one-another-surfaces are likely to be in contact with one another so I doubt normal sand could get into the actual pivot.
If, as you moved the arm, sand was squashed into the under side of whatever I suppose it could have been embedded in the under side of the whatever. If that has happened you might have to manually dislodge it with something quite thin, like the tip of a needle or perhaps an old razor blade.

I think it might be like the pro. The scratches after all appear not “inside” the point of rotation of the joint but outside it on the leg, so although very annoying I *think* this is all external and cosmetic.

After a lot of blowing with a little hand powered air puffer and a lot of vacuuming as well with the fine tip of my canister vacuum, the motors rotate smoothly like new when I spin them with my fingers.

The rear legs are still a little scratchy but perhaps its again just cosmetic.

Do you think it is a bad idea to try a test flight and see how things go? Or do you think I should make a Care Refresh claim? Anything to pay special attention to if I do a test flight?

On the one hand I understand why it is good to be safe and send it in…but OTOH if I send it in every time I get a grain of sand in it, i feel like I am gonna be sending it in a lot!

 

[karlblessing]

Air bulb (the squeezy kind not the compressed air) the around around the camera/gimbal since the sand is going to hurt that a bit too if you don't get it out, causing gimbal overload errors and what not. After blowing it out a bit, make sure the drone is off, and gently rotate the gimbal with your finger in all three axis to see if there's any resistance or grinding in any particular direction and if there is, blow at it again.

You usually won't notice it until you get up into the air and get a overload error, especially during something like panoramic shots. So best to give that a check thru as well when something like it falling over into the sand happens.

 

[Yogi053]

Ease your worried mind. You paid for care refresh, just use it and lesson learned!

 

[FLDave]

You've learned valuable lessons. So, just easy your mind and have DJI take care of the problem so you can enjoy flying. You paid for Care Refresh to handle problems like this.

 

[IronSky1]

Install DJI OEM Blade guards and replace motors - or send to DJI for check out. Dont take a risk . These are not toys they are spinning knives.

Be carefull. I normally take the DJI checkout route for safety

 

[dart106]

Also, invest in a landing pad. Here in the desert southwest, dust and small granules of rock/sand are pretty much everywhere. Since using one consistently, my M2 stays much cleaner. A can of compressed air works well to remove dust, etc from the motors.

 

[dronerat]

Install DJI OEM Blade guards and replace motors - or send to DJI for check out. Dont take a risk . These are not toys they are spinning knives.

Be carefull. I normally take the DJI checkout route for safety

One thing I worry about with the guards is if you get your finger inside the guard, won’t that trap it and potentially invite an even worse injury?

You mention DJI “check out”…is there actually an option like this for service? I’m worried they will automatically give me a Care Refresh replacement even if I dont need it, and then if I seriously crash the drone later I wont have it when I need it. How does it work when you send it to DJI?

 

[IronSky1]

I normally just use care refresh (as Yogi053 stated) unless you have someone certified to repair in your local.
If I have anything abnormal happen. I remove the props after a visual check and then power up with no props. Make sure the motors are functioning and you have no system startup errors. Set your altitude/distance real low on first flight after problem. And yes use blade guards they not only protect you they more importantly protect in the case that you hit someone of something when a drone becomes unstable. Its a lot less exspenvie to replace parts that "look okay" then pay for a lawsuit.

These very complex systems and they are in the AIR not on ground.

 

[dronerat]

@mobilehomer , that was rather a harsh comment to make ,you could have said the same thing ,in a much more pleasant manner,everyone can make a mistake .
as for cleaning the drone of sand ,do not, what ever you do use any liquid to try to clean it, some canned air ,or an air puffer ,or vacuum,as previously stated would be best ,make sure that you clean all of the gimbal as well for any sand ingress

For an update: I vacuumed the *** out of it and the motors spin like new with my fingers. I then used the remote to spin the motors with no propellers and all seems to be working OK, no warning messages or jamming.

Do you think it is appropriate to do a test launch with propellors at this point?

 

[IronSky1]

Get blade guards on first the Set your altitude low and distance short and try carefully.

 

[mobilehomer]

@mobilehomer , that was rather a harsh comment to make ,you could have said the same thing ,in a much more pleasant manner,everyone can make a mistake .
as for cleaning the drone of sand ,do not, what ever you do use any liquid to try to clean it, some canned air ,or an air puffer ,or vacuum,as previously stated would be best ,make sure that you clean all of the gimbal as well for any sand ingress

Harsh or not, if you have been reading his threads, he is a brand new pilot. He needs to slow his roll, and learn how to fly before trying the intermediate or advanced maneuvers. It will save a lot of blood and money.

 

[old man mavic]

For an update: I vacuumed the *** out of it and the motors spin like new with my fingers. I then used the remote to spin the motors with no propellers and all seems to be working OK, no warning messages or jamming.

Do you think it is appropriate to do a test launch with propellors at this point?

download the online manual and make sure you understand the correct propellor orientation,
then with a fully charged RC and drone battery ,fly somewhere that has plenty of space to manoeuvre ,take off and just let the drone sit in the hover for a few moments and make sure you are in cine mode and then try a 360 yaw in both directions ,once you are happy that the drone is responding to the RC correctly gain a small amount of height and fly slowly forwards and backwards ,side to side ,and get a feel for the sticks after some 5 minutes land and swith everything off an check the battery temp by removing it and also spin the motors and see how they feel ,if after doing all of that you still feel unsure of the drones airworthiness,then thats the time to invoke your care refresh and get a replacement