Warning to all X5 owners

[burlbark]

link doesnt work buddy

It works for me.... I think you may need to register to view?

 

[Ruckusman]

I can't see the link either - which facebook group do you need to join?

 

[burlbark]

Yep it looks like you need to be a member of the group DJI Inspire 1 Owners Group... The post is from Dec 28th. There are a couple of them with the same break that day/same thread.

 

[FlyHighUSA]

Feathered landings only with the Inspire. It would be nice to think the shock absorbers worked to allow a multi-G drop but unfortunately that's not the case.

Might be a good 3rd party add-on product idea though.

Those shock absorbers on high end RC cars and motorized camera dollies might be the kind of thing that would be needed.

Funny you said that, I just got through installing a trial pair of RC oil dampened shocks on my Pro X5 and they work really well. I will be posting pics soon. That's a great idea!!! I have been really worried about breaking my x5 gimbal after seeing pics like these and I always try to land super soft but the other day I was landing and was about a foot off the ground and a huge down gust of wind came through and basically slapped me against the ground. I did not have any damage but it made me think hmmmm what about some cool oil dampened shocks like the ones on my RC dirt track racer. I can drop my car from 6 feet with no issue at all to the racer but of course does not have an expensive gimbal /camera.
In the end I still believe a better shock system like the ones I referenced will greatly help. Also the weight is not much more than the stock landing gear. I am doing some ongoing testing and mods and will post some pics soon, happy safe flying to all my Inspire pilot friends.

Respectfully,
Ralph Rigdon
FlyHighUSA

 

[Casey Preston]

I'd be willing to bet I can produce a mount at least three times as strong without adding enough weight to the assembly to be an effect on flight time. On top of that I'll even limit it further and say I will only replace the part in question.

Do it. I will buy it.

 

[The Editor]

I've contacted three companies specializing in small run prototyping as many companies will chuckle at you if you're not ordering thousands and you're not bringing your own cad files. I'm on it. What I will need is the procedure for indexing the neodymium magnet nut that controls the stops in each pivot. If Guys like me continue to get silence from those who have the knowledge but are hell bent on protecting the company who refuses to treat it's loyal customer's fairly it makes producing solutions extremely difficult. I really have no wish to do DJI's job but I also find it a travesty what they deem as exceptable from an engineering and customer service standpoint. All that said those who have the knowledge of the short comings, questionable advertising claims, and manufacturing inconsistencies should be held complicit no matter what they signed. Right and wrong isn't something that is dependent upon perception.

The problem you are facing is a cultural thing I'm afraid and an inability in business to admit there is a mistake. In certain cultures accepting a mistake has been made is deemed as a personal failure.
We will find X5 v2 will have a redesigned gimbal mount but no admission that the original had a design weakness.

 

[RaptorMan]

The problem you are facing is a cultural thing I'm afraid and an inability in business to admit there is a mistake. In certain cultures accepting a mistake has been made is deemed as a personal failure.
We will find X5 v2 will have a redesigned gimbal mount but no admission that the original had a design weakness.

Having worked for a Japanese company for years and an awareness of the cultural thing of which you speak I have to agree that we'll probably see a redesigned V2 with beafed up gimbal and no admission that V1 had any problems. I should add that the desire to keep there mouths shut about design problems is not limited to the Asian peoples as we in the west can be pretty good at that game to. The difference is that in the Asian countries the failure is tied to shame whereas in the west the failure is tied to lawyers...


Brian

 

[The Editor]

Having worked for a Japanese company for years and an awareness of the cultural thing of which you speak I have to agree that we'll probably see a redesigned V2 with beafed up gimbal and no admission that V1 had any problems. I should add that the desire to keep there mouths shut about design problems is not limited to the Asian peoples as we in the west can be pretty good at that game to. The difference is that in the Asian countries the failure is tied to shame whereas in the west the failure is tied to lawyers...


Brian

Can't argue with any of that statement !

 

[damoncooper]

I've contacted three companies specializing in small run prototyping as many companies will chuckle at you if you're not ordering thousands and you're not bringing your own cad files. I'm on it. What I will need is the procedure for indexing the neodymium magnet nut that controls the stops in each pivot. If Guys like me continue to get silence from those who have the knowledge but are hell bent on protecting the company who refuses to treat it's loyal customer's fairly it makes producing solutions extremely difficult. I really have no wish to do DJI's job but I also find it a travesty what they deem as exceptable from an engineering and customer service standpoint. All that said those who have the knowledge of the short comings, questionable advertising claims, and manufacturing inconsistencies should be held complicit no matter what they signed. Right and wrong isn't something that is dependent upon perception.

Go Chnjab!

 

[Ruckusman]

well let's keep it in the headlines

I am thinking it's perhaps time to launch a full social media campaign about this otherwise DJI is clearly just going to keep fobbing this issue off pretending it doesn't actually exist

here's my most recent post on rcgroups

OK having to push this issue to the fore again...

We've received a invoice for a repair on this unit, which we're currently refusing to pay.

Supposedly assessed as not being covered under warranty, with no explanation regarding why that was the conclusion.

No correspondence about the supposed check that was to be undertaken with the FEA analysis team and quality control.

I've requested the results of those reports and been met with the most insulting response offering some free accessories, since we've paid for the repair - which we haven't!!

In the meantime yet another X5 camera has been returned with the same failure - this one was landed in a bush.

Absolutely no damage to the craft whatsoever, yet the yaw axis broken clean and lifted up into the bayonet compartment.

Lets be clear here - these units are not fit for purpose and this level of service is into the realm of being just plain insulting bordering on abusive.

 

[burlbark]

You need to post

well let's keep it in the headlines

I am thinking it's perhaps time to launch a full social media campaign about this otherwise DJI is clearly just going to keep fobbing this issue off pretending it doesn't actually exist

here's my most recent post on rcgroups

OK having to push this issue to the fore again...

We've received a invoice for a repair on this unit, which we're currently refusing to pay.

Supposedly assessed as not being covered under warranty, with no explanation regarding why that was the conclusion.

No correspondence about the supposed check that was to be undertaken with the FEA analysis team and quality control.

I've requested the results of those reports and been met with the most insulting response offering some free accessories, since we've paid for the repair - which we haven't!!

In the meantime yet another X5 camera has been returned with the same failure - this one was landed in a bush.

Absolutely no damage to the craft whatsoever, yet the yaw axis broken clean and lifted up into the bayonet compartment.

Lets be clear here - these units are not fit for purpose and this level of service is into the realm of being just plain insulting bordering on abusive.

You need to post this up on the Inspire owners group and the Inspire Fly Away facebook page. If you don't scream it from the rooftops they wont change the design.

 

[Haakon]

Seeing this has made me think twice about using a gimbal lock and transporting the inspire pro in flight mode with gimbal attached...

 

[Phatzo]

thank you for the thread. i will probably wait for V2 of the X5 and X5R to come out with hopes that they reinforced and redesigned the gimbal with more rugged strudy material.

also hope they will develope a longer battery life system for the heavier lifting quads.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Haakon]

Hi - I'm not sure because I haven't seen the item up close but this damage looks like the result of shearing force - side / front on rather than a downward only pull as if a straight down heavy landing or from an impact upwards through the gimbal - my reasoning is that the washer above would be spreading the load across a much wider area than the fracture - therefore this fracture must be caused by the gimbal being struck either side / front on or straight up into the mount and not just through the momentum of the gimbal pulling down in a heavy landing.

Nevertheless the very thin material here is cause for concern. When assembled how much space is left around the area where the crack is visible in the photos? Is there scope for repair with one of those epoxy liquid metal type compounds? Indeed if we start to see significantly more failures is there any merit in beefing this area up ourselves?

 

[damoncooper]

Any word on this? Did Chnjab ever get a replacement made?

 

[Ruckusman]

Hi - I'm not sure because I haven't seen the item up close but this damage looks like the result of shearing force - side / front on rather than a downward only pull as if a straight down heavy landing or from an impact upwards through the gimbal - my reasoning is that the washer above would be spreading the load across a much wider area than the fracture - therefore this fracture must be caused by the gimbal being struck either side / front on or straight up into the mount and not just through the momentum of the gimbal pulling down in a heavy landing.

Nevertheless the very thin material here is cause for concern. When assembled how much space is left around the area where the crack is visible in the photos? Is there scope for repair with one of those epoxy liquid metal type compounds? Indeed if we start to see significantly more failures is there any merit in beefing this area up ourselves?

There's no space below the washer to re-inforce anything because the washer needs to rotate freely, which is also of concern, because the washer doesn't distribute the load - and they end up broken...

 

[Ruckusman]

Seeing this has made me think twice about using a gimbal lock and transporting the inspire pro in flight mode with gimbal attached...

support the gimbal plenty with good absorbent foam underneath.

Same had to be done with the Vision Plus in fight cases, plenty of those gimbals came out the other end of the carousel broken inside the hard Pelican style transport cases just from being thrown by the airline baggage handlers

 

[Haakon]

There's no space below the washer to re-inforce anything because the washer needs to rotate freely, which is also of concern, because the washer doesn't distribute the load - and they end up broken...

Surely the washer doesn't rotate! The nut above it is to clamp the bearing shaft to the housing - the washer should be static and just spread the load of the nut holding it together. The unit rotates about the motor bushes.

 

[Ruckusman]

you'd think that would be the case, but the assembly doesn't work that way, the washer sits tight onto the motor shaft and the entire shaft rotates

Any extra material has little space below the washer to fit into, it's a difficult assembly to strengthen, with the limiting factor being the actual length of the motor shaft.

With a 2mm longer motor shaft that assembly could be so much stonger with additional material, the motor shaft however isn't a trivial part to re-manufacture, it's got a knurled end, internal thread with a flange stop to go into the yaw assembly lower and a D -cut upper shaft which takes the neodymium magnet nut which screws on top of the shaft to hold it all together.

Unfortunately not well designed is the most logical conclusion as far as material selection and amounts are concerned

 

[burlbark]

support the gimbal plenty with good absorbent foam underneath.

Same had to be done with the Vision Plus in fight cases, plenty of those gimbals came out the other end of the carousel broken inside the hard Pelican style transport cases just from being thrown by the airline baggage handlers

I had to resort to taping the gimbals in place with painters tape when sending them off. I had a couple of them break after repair, sending them back to customers.