Frame replacement

[Darrel]

Hi all,

Today my Q500 did battle against a tree and lost. Broke one of the landing gear; and cracked the frame. I see you can buy a new frame at Carolina Dronz. My question is for someone who is not very mechanical is it hard to transfer all the elements to the new frame or should I leave that task to the pros? Anyone non-mechanical done this? I would appreciate any input.

Thanks for your help.

Darrel

 

[NRRTRAINS]

how bad is the crack in the frame if not too bad just patch it an fly , you can also epoxy it .
photos would help .

 

[Darrel]

In looking over the frame on my Q I am going to take NRRTRAINS advice and epoxy it and I should be back in the air. Thanks for your advice.

Darrel

 

[NRRTRAINS]

In looking over the frame on my Q I am going to take NRRTRAINS advice and epoxy it and I should be back in the air. Thanks for your advice.

Darrel

your welcome , fly safe

 

[yufasa]

I know I am late to the party, but as someone that have done it in a Saturday morning I can tell you it takes a bit of sweat and skill. The motors and esc's need to be desoldered and properly marked, both wires and motors/esc's, as they need to go back in the exact same place on new frame.

It is also important to connect it to the Q500 app afterward to verify everything works correctly and is turning in correct direction before going flying.

Took about 4 hours to complete for me with the screws taking up a large portion of the time. There is a lot of them

 

[jeep2liberty]

I know I am late to the party, but as someone that have done it in a Saturday morning I can tell you it takes a bit of sweat and skill. The motors and esc's need to be desoldered and properly marked, both wires and motors/esc's, as they need to go back in the exact same place on new frame.

It is also important to connect it to the Q500 app afterward to verify everything works correctly and is turning in correct direction before going flying.

Took about 4 hours to complete for me with the screws taking up a large portion of the time. There is a lot of them

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tim Lewis]

Hi all,

Today my Q500 did battle against a tree and lost. Broke one of the landing gear; and cracked the frame. I see you can buy a new frame at Carolina Dronz. My question is for someone who is not very mechanical is it hard to transfer all the elements to the new frame or should I leave that task to the pros? Anyone non-mechanical done this? I would appreciate any input.

Thanks for your help.

Darrel

I'm late too, but my Q had the same experience with a tree. I tried to glue the frame, but it was right next to the motor mount/motor-cowl. Alignment was a pain. I didn't want one motor pulling in a different direction than the rest. I ended up getting the Carolina Dronz frame too, thinking it would be a quick swap. But, 5 wires at each motor had to be unsoldered, routed in the new frame, and soldered again. So many tiny screws involved, and a few are different shapes & sizes. Transferring the guts isn't so bad, if you just move it from one frame and immediately attach it to the new frame. Local hobby store wanted $325 to do it. That's almost the price of a new PNP Q500 at Carolina Dronz!! If I had to do it again, I would just cut the necessary motor wires, move the motors and all to the new frame, then splice the wires. I don't know how to solder good, but luckily had a new friend offer to do it as I watched. It still took almost 3 hours, just for the soldering, with everything open and exposed already. He kept checking with a DVOM to make sure nothing was contacting something it shouldn't

 

[yufasa]

I also toyed with the idea of putting bullet connectors on the motor wires. Still may be a good idea.

 

[Mindbank]

Lost a prop at 60ft and smashed into the ground in about 2.5 seconds. The camera popped out of the rubber grommets but survived with 3 broken wires. The frame and landing gear were totaled. Rebuilt the whole thing but it took 7.5 hours. Connected to the GUI to make sure everything was correct. Recalibrated the compass. Flies like a dream. Make sure you are comfortable with soldering. Use shrink tubing on all connections.

 

[NRRTRAINS]

I also toyed with the idea of putting bullet connectors on the motor wires. Still may be a good idea.

hi
that would be great if you have to change the frame in the future , you can change a motor with out taken the frame apart , you will have to do a little soldering but faster then taken the Q apart if you can put the bullet connectors in the pod that would even better . let us know how and what you do and please take photos and post them .

 

[yufasa]

That is exactly right. I will take some photos when I have an opportunity.

 

[Ed Hahn]

It took me 8 to 9 hrs. lots of work good learning experience.

 

[Tim Lewis]

It took me 8 to 9 hrs. lots of work good learning experience.

Same here, but I drove 2 hrs, to have someone who offered to do the desoldering & soldering. I'm in no way good at solder work. I sure am glad I took more than 127 pics of how everything was, before I took it apart, lol.

 

[GARLUND]

Tim,

If you have a picture/pictures of the wiring/connections inside the body (preferably with the battery holder out of the way) I would greatly appreciate it. I'm almost done with a body replacement but want to make sure of the connections before applying power to it. I lost the pics I had of mine in the disassembly process. Thanks for any help you might be able to provide!