Sand in Motors—What to do?

[old man mavic]

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.

i must have been reading a totally different thread to you then ,not sure what advanced manoeuvres you are referring to ,unless you call a hand launch advanced,
drone flying is something that requires practice ,and a certain amount of confidence in ones abilities ,and that is something that varies enormously,between pilots ,if a mistake is made then learn from that mistake and move on

 

[dronerat]

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

Well I did the flight and all went well!

Stayed low at first, looked around and panned a bit. Then since all seemed normal went higher and took some videos of the waves from above. Same beach—tho winds only 5-10mph today and I used my 3 foot Hoodman pad. (Which one leg missed when landing manually—I still have a lot to learn. lol)

I guess theres always gonna be some uncertainty that things are functioning perfectly until it is sent in. But I just envisioned using Care Refresh replacements only after really totalling the drone—like, legs broken off, cracks in body or lens or error messages etc. Right now Im not sure there *is* anything wrong with it besides scratches on the legs.

 

[dronerat]

i must have been reading a totally different thread to you then ,not sure what advanced manoeuvres you are referring to ,unless you call a hand launch advanced,
drone flying is something that requires practice ,and a certain amount of confidence in ones abilities ,and that is something that varies enormously,between pilots ,if a mistake is made then learn from that mistake and move on

Yes more practice for me. I think bc I am part of the generation where RC trucks and planes etc were kind of standard toys for us I approached this hobby with a little more confidence—and a little less cautiousness—than was ideal. Plus my focus was really on photography rather than flying—but I see now one ignores protocol/caution/good judgement in flying at ones peril!

I got some good shots…it is good to remide myself why I started flying in the first place too!

 

[mobilehomer]

Yes more practice for me. I think bc I am part of the generation where RC trucks and planes etc were kind of standard toys for us I approached this hobby with a little more confidence—and a little less cautiousness—than was ideal. Plus my focus was really on photography rather than flying—but I see now one ignores protocol/caution/good judgement in flying at ones peril!

I got some good shots…it is good to remide myself why I started flying in the first place too!

I might be a little older than you, but I come from a RC car racing background too. I have made plenty of boo boos. I want you to have the very best experience you can with your drone. Go slow at first. The skill builds fast enough.

 

[YVRGUY]

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

Ditto…and purchase a landing pad

 

[djwak59]

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?

I wish you the best of luck with everything, BUT…. one of the first things I learned when I started flying drones was NOT to hand launch them.
Now I know ….some here are gonna dispute this view but, it’s stuck with me from th

 

[djwak59]

I wish you the best of luck with everything, BUT…. one of the first things I learned when I started flying drones was NOT to hand launch them.
Now I know ….some here are gonna dispute this view but, it’s stuck with me from th

CONTINUED…..the beginning. Just don’t do it.
MY opinion.

 

[djwak59]

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.

Landing pad, yes, another item I’ve had in my bag since I started my drone hobby.

 

[dronerat]

CONTINUED…..the beginning. Just don’t do it.
MY opinion.

Did you get cut too?

Yeah I wish that dji did not advertise hand launching do much and that the risks of the props were a little better advertised. Also it was be pretty cheap and simple for dji to make a locking mechanism that made it impossible to install the props incorrectly. While im impressed with many aspects of these drones i think if dji were not a chinese designed company they would have done that already..

 

[Capt KO]

I see others have recommended a landing pad, a Must in sandy areas. I see no harm in some test flights knowing you have Refresh. Make sure it's retreavable, just in case.

 

[dronerat]

I see others have recommended a landing pad, a Must in sandy areas. I see no harm in some test flights knowing you have Refresh. Make sure it's retreavable, just in case.

Yeah that was my conclusion as well. It seems to fly! Any specific tests I should do/measurements I should take to be doubly sure?

 

[Capt KO]

Yeah that was my conclusion as well. It seems to fly! Any specific tests I should do/measurements I should take to be doubly sure?

I'd spin the motors by hand without props occasionally to check for noise or binding, otherwise just enjoy it. Reconsider near the end of Refresh.

 

[Zbip57]

drone flying is something that requires practice ,and a certain amount of confidence in ones abilities ,and that is something that varies enormously,between pilots ,if a mistake is made then learn from that mistake and move on

So true.

We've all made mistakes. It's awesome that people are brave enough to share their mistakes online in these forums so we can all learn from them.

My Phantom 3 Pro has props that spin onto threaded motor shafts. When the motors first start up, they automatically give a short burst of revs, which I think is meant to ensure the props are securely self-tightened onto the threaded shafts.

I tried to launch my P3P one windy day, but when the motors did their little startup spin burst, the props momentarily generated just enough lift that the strong wind tipped the Phantom over before it could take off. That mangled a set of propellers.

I learned from that experience that blow-overs are possible when launching in strong winds. The Phantom has conveniently long legs to hang onto. The Phantom is much safer to hand launch and land, than the flat-bellied Mavic-style drones. You need to be more careful to keep your fingers out of the way with those.

 

[TwoSticks]

I hand launch and catch a good portion of my flights. I do not carry a landing pad with me, it's extra I dont want. If you prefer to hand launch and catch learn from the lesson. I have been doing it for a couple of years and just a week ago nicked the end of my finger in windy conditions talking to someone. I should have paid more attention. It was a decent amount of blood but so what. I ride bikes too and have fallen several times, I am still going to ride the bike. That said, it's safer taking off and landing from the ground but not all conditions make that viable so knowing how removes the limitation some have with only being practiced from a clear spot on the ground.

 

[old man mavic]

Did you get cut too?

Yeah I wish that dji did not advertise hand launching do much and that the risks of the props were a little better advertised. Also it was be pretty cheap and simple for dji to make a locking mechanism that made it impossible to install the props incorrectly. While im impressed with many aspects of these drones i think if dji were not a chinese designed company they would have done that already..

actually DJI do not encourage consumers to hand Launch /land in fact the advice they give is not to do it ,with regards to the fitting of incorrect props on the wrong motors ,it was not possible to fit them to the wrong motor ,on the earlier Mavic models ,but a legal challenge from a competitor ,over the way that they locked onto the motors ,caused them to change slightly the way the props attach ,and meant that they could be inadvertently fitted to the wrong motors,
i believe this change was when the Mavic Air versions were released ,but as i have never owned a Mavic Air,any version ,i cannot say whether this is still the case with more recent Air variant's

 

[TwoSticks]

actually DJI do not encourage consumers to hand Launch /land in fact the advice they give is not to do it ,with regards to the fitting of incorrect props on the wrong motors ,it was not possible to fit them to the wrong motor ,on the earlier Mavic models ,but a legal challenge from a competitor ,over the way that they locked onto the motors ,caused them to change slightly the way the props attach ,and meant that they could be inadvertently fitted to the wrong motors,
i believe this change was when the Mavic Air versions were released ,but as i have never owned a Mavic Air,any version ,i cannot say whether this is still the case with more recent Air variant's

It's still the case. You can install the props wrong without any resistance. You have to watch for the colored rings to match the color on the motor to get it right. Unless you know without the colors but that makes it pretty easy.

 

[dronerat]

actually DJI do not encourage consumers to hand Launch /land in fact the advice they give is not to do it ,with regards to the fitting of incorrect props on the wrong motors ,it was not possible to fit them to the wrong motor ,on the earlier Mavic models ,but a legal challenge from a competitor ,over the way that they locked onto the motors ,caused them to change slightly the way the props attach ,and meant that they could be inadvertently fitted to the wrong motors,
i believe this change was when the Mavic Air versions were released ,but as i have never owned a Mavic Air,any version ,i cannot say whether this is still the case with more recent Air variant's

Thats a good point…from how casually hand launching is discussed here I just assumed DJI encouraged it, lol now i feel dumb. I guess after reading so much the sources feel blurred, but looking at the manual again it does clearly state not to launch from the palm etc.

Thats interesting about the legal stuff impacting the design. Yes I assure you it is possible—and very easy—to put the props on incorrectly on the Air 2s lol (ouch!)

 

[old man mavic]

@dronerat ,there is nothing wrong with hand launch/land ,and if people want to do it ,then its at their own risk if things go wrong
i personally dont do it for medical reasons ,as i am on a anticoagulant ,and getting cut by the props is not a good scenario for me
spinning blades on any drone,have the potential to injure ,to a lessor or greater extent,so DJI would never advocate close proximity to the drone during the launching /landing phase of the flight because of that

 

[djwak59]

Did you get cut too?

Yeah I wish that dji did not advertise hand launching do much and that the risks of the props were a little better advertised. Also it was be pretty cheap and simple for dji to make a locking mechanism that made it impossible to install the props incorrectly. While im impressed with many aspects of these drones i think if dji were not a chinese designed company they would have done that already..

No. Never got cut because I’ve never hand launched, or caught, any of my drones.
It’s just something that’s stuck in my mind ever since I got into the hobby. Just my opinion.

 

[dronerat]

No. Never got cut because I’ve never hand launched, or caught, any of my drones.
It’s just something that’s stuck in my mind ever since I got into the hobby. Just my opinion.

Yeah I wish I had that wisdom/mentality. From now on I’m gonna be like you, no hand launching for me, I learned the hard way. Safety above all else, including portability and convenience, even if I have to carry my 3lb hoodman landing pad on a 5 mile hike, i dont care!