Hello Fellow Yuneec Pilot!
Join our free Yuneec community and remove this annoying banner!
Sign up

Prop support cracked-Breeze won’t Fly

Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
43
Reaction score
5
Age
54
So I was out flying last weekend, no problems, went to fly this afternoon and notice one of the legs on the drone fell off. I locked it back on and then noticed when I was doing it that the prop support near the motor was cracked, and that is why I think the leg fell off. So I tried to fly it, and it would not hover steady, all over the place, and then it landed and stopped. I guess the crack is more serious than I thought, but no idea what happened. Last time I flew it it was fine. So looks like it is toast now and am out my drone. So disappointed.IMG_2124.jpg
 
Ouch, that's bummer. It seems a little cyanoacrylate type cement might re-weld that if you can spread the crack a bit, apply, and wrap it tight w/a tie-wrap. Maybe pull the motor first. I had a similar smack and have cracked the motor guards (really hard to find white pieces in the snow), and that material seems to weld nicely with that type of cement. Good luck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Prayingdsr
Would like to point out that 100% acetone (nail polish remover) melts the breeze plastic and is a neat trick to use on a leg that doesnt want to twist lock in place anymore. You just take a thin cloth like a cotton tshirt and soak a spot the size of your finger and rub it along the circular edge where the leg turns against the shell (the lip) and it will cause just enough of the plastic between them to meld together. You can unlock it if you need to take it apart with a razor blade between the parts if needed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AH-1G
Would like to point out that 100% acetone (nail polish remover) melts the breeze plastic and is a neat trick to use on a leg that doesnt want to twist lock in place anymore. You just take a thin cloth like a cotton tshirt and soak a spot the size of your finger and rub it along the circular edge where the leg turns against the shell (the lip) and it will cause just enough of the plastic between them to meld together. You can unlock it if you need to take it apart with a razor blade between the parts if needed.

Thanks, cool tips. Don you think I should try to repair it, or replace the body, which I would. It be able to do from what you described in one of your other posts. If I ever wanted to sell it, selling it with a crack that has been glued probably would not help with resell at all. Would a gorilla glue lime you suggest hold up to the stress of the motor in that location and vibration. My fear is having it up at a good distance and the. It letting go and coming crashing to the ground.
 
If you are not good at taking things apart I would definately recommend you dont buy a replacement body as you will likely not do well taking all the electronics out and then reinstalling them.
The glue should hold just fine but you need to take the time to do it right which involves trying to get the plastic scratched up anywhere you can get to on the inside and getting some epoxy in there. It's not completely necessary but is what I would do.
That epoxy would work just fine on the outside but to be sure i would also add some king of reinforcement but I need to take another look at that pic you posted.
Can you take a few more pics as I want to see all sides of how/where that crack runs so I can be sure. I guarantee I've got way more experience messing around and repairing breezes than anyone else here unless they run some kind of repair shop. I would like to at least see a pic from the inside with the leg removed.

I want to make it abundantly clear that I'm not trying to brag or make it sound like I'm special or anything. I've always been very good at figuring out how to repair things and have 100+ hours into messing around with this particular drone. Not because I was breaking them but because I like to fix things and noticed I could buy breeze parts drones really cheap. It's fun for me.
DoomMeister is who I turn to for the particulars on what the different boards do as he was into the breeze years before i ever touched a drone. Every once in awhile he needs to correct me on actual head knowledge on how the boards interact as in the non mechanical part of it all. Together we would make a great team other than knowing anything about how to get into the software part if things. Wish someone here could figure out a way to adjust the settings that Yuneec has locked us into....
 
Last edited:
If you are not good at taking things apart I would definately recommend you dont buy a replacement body as you will likely not do well taking all the electronics out and then reinstalling them.
The glue should hold just fine but you need to take the time to do it right which involves trying to get the plastic scratched up anywhere you can get to on the inside and getting some epoxy in there. It's not completely necessary but is what I would do.
That epoxy would work just fine on the outside but to be sure i would also add some king of reinforcement but I need to take another look at that pic you posted.
Can you take a few more pics as I want to see all sides of how/where that crack runs so I can be sure. I guarantee I've got way more experience messing around and repairing breezes than anyone else here unless they run some kind of repair shop. I would like to at least see a pic from the inside with the leg removed.

Yes, I can take some more pictures tonight and post them. When I tried to fly it not knowing of the crack it just wobbled around and would not stay level until it finally landed itself.
 
I am thinking the motor itself may have sustained some damage with your description of flying characteristics, but until the crack is repaired it will be hard to tell.
 
Well the good th hing is your breeze actually passed the tests to be able to take off. Part of what I want to know is are you certain the 3 motor screws are holding the motor in place and it doesnt wiggle? I had an issue with one of the parts ones I bought where a couple of the screws were trying to hold the motor in place but the plastics where the holes are was cracked and I think one had actually pulled through the hole. I ended up epoxy repairing plus added a really small washer on a couple of them.

Heres some pics of the worst body I received that out of boredom decided to start repairing. This thing is a mess but I absolutely 100% guarantee that if I wanted to replace the electronics in it it would fly and if you were not close enough to see what a mess the body is it would fly really well and you would never guess it looked like this:20190218_092811.jpeg20190218_092819.jpeg20190218_092827.jpeg20190218_092837.jpeg20190218_092846.jpeg20190218_092852.jpeg20190218_092859.jpeg20190218_092916.jpeg20190218_092945.jpeg20190218_092953.jpeg
 
Well the good th hing is your breeze actually passed the tests to be able to take off. Part of what I want to know is are you certain the 3 motor screws are holding the motor in place and it doesnt wiggle? I had an issue with one of the parts ones I bought where a couple of the screws were trying to hold the motor in place but the plastics where the holes are was cracked and I think one had actually pulled through the hole. I ended up epoxy repairing plus added a really small washer on a couple of them.

Heres some pics of the worst body I received that out of boredom decided to start repairing. This thing is a mess but I absolutely 100% guarantee that if I wanted to replace the electronics in it it would fly and if you were not close enough to see what a mess the body is it would fly really well and you would never guess it looked like this:View attachment 14570View attachment 14571View attachment 14572View attachment 14573View attachment 14574View attachment 14575View attachment 14576View attachment 14577View attachment 14578View attachment 14579

Wow, I would say that was a really mess for sure to fix. I will be going home at lunch time and will try and get some pics to post. What is baffling to me is that it was flying fine last weekend, and then when I tried it this weekend it was all over the place and noticed the crack. Not sure what could have happened.
 
I have only had 1 motor that had an odd wire issue that I was able to fix and have yet to see a mechanical motor fault but even a small balance issue with a motor is going to be really bad. It's one thing to fly with a little prop damage and quite another if the motor itself is out of balance. IF you have a motor issue they are easy to replace so no big deal.
IF the only damage is that crack and its flexing it certainly explains the wobbling and it's a really good thing that it wants to land. I dont like where the crack is as you cant just tape over the crack to hold it together from what the crack angle looks like. It's honestly odd the way it cracked but there are ways to reinforce it.
If you noticed in those pics I sent of that messed up body theres a lot more epoxy on it than is neccessary but that's because I didnt bother trimming it down. I can twist the body still like with that particular epoxy. Lots of epoxies turn into rock and would brittle fracture.
I need to take a shower so will be back in a bit.
 
I have only had 1 motor that had an odd wire issue that I was able to fix and have yet to see a mechanical motor fault but even a small balance issue with a motor is going to be really bad. It's one thing to fly with a little prop damage and quite another if the motor itself is out of balance. IF you have a motor issue they are easy to replace so no big deal.
IF the only damage is that crack and its flexing it certainly explains the wobbling and it's a really good thing that it wants to land. I dont like where the crack is as you cant just tape over the crack to hold it together from what the crack angle looks like. It's honestly odd the way it cracked but there are ways to reinforce it.
If you noticed in those pics I sent of that messed up body theres a lot more epoxy on it than is neccessary but that's because I didnt bother trimming it down. I can twist the body still like with that particular epoxy. Lots of epoxies turn into rock and would brittle fracture.
I need to take a shower so will be back in a bit.

Ok thanks. So do you have the exact name of the epoxy product you recommend for trying to repair this. I can go try and find some.
 
Yeah. It's just gorilla glue brand 5 minute epoxy.
Keep in mind like most epoxies what 5 minute means 5 minutes working time before it's too hard to use. Almost every available epoxies I've come across require 24 hours for full bond strength regardless of its stated working time.
It is VERY important that you do your best to mix equal parts together and that its mixed really well. You should ALWAYS mix more than you think you need so theres plenty to work with.
What I do is mix the equal parts on photo paper as it's nice and stiff with something small enough that it mixes well and you dont end up with a glob of one part and not enough of another. Sometimes I use a toothpick if it's a small amount and go up from there into maybe the end of a cheap small painters brush (like you would paint a picture with) as I like to be able to roll the stick over to help it mix. The other trick I use to really mix well is I buy those boxes of regular razor blades from harbor freight. After I do maybe a 30 second mix with a stick I take the razor blade and scrape the glue over itself over and over for maybe 1-1.5 minutes longer so I know it's super mixed. All I can say is you get a feel for how long to mix compared to how well you need it to flow and I'm not sure how to explain it any better. The bottom line is bec as use its 5 minute epoxy you dont have a lot of time to mess around as once it starts to harden quick if you dont have it where you want it it loses its holding strength. You want to get it where you want it while it still can spread easily or you really are going to struggle with it and it's just not going to hold anywhere near as well as it could. It sure would be great if I was there to help. It's not like it's hard to do. I just want you to succeed.
So depending on where you need to get the glue sometimes you can use a toothpick to get it there and sometimes it's just easier/better to use a finger. You could wear a thin rubber glove but to be honest it's easier without one. Of course you tend to leave your fingerprint though without one;)
Again, you must toughen up the area the glue is going to touch as the surface area you create by doing so adds a tremendous amount of strength compared to a smooth surface. To be honest all I usually do is take a razor blade and scrape up the area both on the flat and right on the sharp edge to create a bunch of different edges for the glue to grab. Try scraping or cutting in shallow gouges in all directions as the rougher the better.
You should be able to find that glue practically anywhere from a grocery store to hardware to home stores and any place like a walmart/target etc. I'm betting almost every car parts store has it too. Gorilla glues and tapes are extremely popular.
This reminds me that anyone who regularly uses epoxy and tapes like duct should watch the tests between different brands on youtube. It's amazing how good/bad some are at certain things and not others. It's not like the stuff is super cheap so why not buy what works best for your application.

So as far as the strength required for what you need it to do, fortunately the breeze isnt very heavy and I personally believe if i had it i could easily make it strong enough to not be a concern. By taking a few more pics I'm really hoping your repair will give you enough confidence in it that you wont be really edgy about flying it at its limit.
What I do with ALL my repairs or lighting additions is test them out maybe 4-6 feet in the air whacking the controls all over the place to attempt to shake it apart. I havent had any issue with my repairs/mods as I'm a bit paranoid of potentially hurting someone so i overdo it. I would rather carry around a couple extra grams than take the chance of having it fall out of the sky.

OK, time to mess with a parabolic antenna booster build I've wanted to try. I'll check my messages from time to time.

Pete
 
  • Like
Reactions: oldfhat
Yeah. It's just gorilla glue brand 5 minute epoxy.
Keep in mind like most epoxies what 5 minute means 5 minutes working time before it's too hard to use. Almost every available epoxies I've come across require 24 hours for full bond strength regardless of its stated working time.
It is VERY important that you do your best to mix equal parts together and that its mixed really well. You should ALWAYS mix more than you think you need so theres plenty to work with.
What I do is mix the equal parts on photo paper as it's nice and stiff with something small enough that it mixes well and you dont end up with a glob of one part and not enough of another. Sometimes I use a toothpick if it's a small amount and go up from there into maybe the end of a cheap small painters brush (like you would paint a picture with) as I like to be able to roll the stick over to help it mix. The other trick I use to really mix well is I buy those boxes of regular razor blades from harbor freight. After I do maybe a 30 second mix with a stick I take the razor blade and scrape the glue over itself over and over for maybe 1-1.5 minutes longer so I know it's super mixed. All I can say is you get a feel for how long to mix compared to how well you need it to flow and I'm not sure how to explain it any better. The bottom line is bec as use its 5 minute epoxy you dont have a lot of time to mess around as once it starts to harden quick if you dont have it where you want it it loses its holding strength. You want to get it where you want it while it still can spread easily or you really are going to struggle with it and it's just not going to hold anywhere near as well as it could. It sure would be great if I was there to help. It's not like it's hard to do. I just want you to succeed.
So depending on where you need to get the glue sometimes you can use a toothpick to get it there and sometimes it's just easier/better to use a finger. You could wear a thin rubber glove but to be honest it's easier without one. Of course you tend to leave your fingerprint though without one;)
Again, you must toughen up the area the glue is going to touch as the surface area you create by doing so adds a tremendous amount of strength compared to a smooth surface. To be honest all I usually do is take a razor blade and scrape up the area both on the flat and right on the sharp edge to create a bunch of different edges for the glue to grab. Try scraping or cutting in shallow gouges in all directions as the rougher the better.
You should be able to find that glue practically anywhere from a grocery store to hardware to home stores and any place like a walmart/target etc. I'm betting almost every car parts store has it too. Gorilla glues and tapes are extremely popular.
This reminds me that anyone who regularly uses epoxy and tapes like duct should watch the tests between different brands on youtube. It's amazing how good/bad some are at certain things and not others. It's not like the stuff is super cheap so why not buy what works best for your application.

So as far as the strength required for what you need it to do, fortunately the breeze isnt very heavy and I personally believe if i had it i could easily make it strong enough to not be a concern. By taking a few more pics I'm really hoping your repair will give you enough confidence in it that you wont be really edgy about flying it at its limit.
What I do with ALL my repairs or lighting additions is test them out maybe 4-6 feet in the air whacking the controls all over the place to attempt to shake it apart. I havent had any issue with my repairs/mods as I'm a bit paranoid of potentially hurting someone so i overdo it. I would rather carry around a couple extra grams than take the chance of having it fall out of the sky.

OK, time to mess with a parabolic antenna booster build I've wanted to try. I'll check my messages from time to time.

Pete

Thanks Pete! Here are two more pics. It looks like the bottom piece is what’s cracked. Is it easier to replace the whole bottoms of the breeze than the top or do you think I should just glue it. Also, attached is a pic of my case I have it in. Do you think it is too tight and maybe the pressure cracked the prop. Also, I just got this so it is still under warranty. Do you think Yuneec would just replace it? Thanks. again!IMG_2148.jpgIMG_2149.jpgIMG_2151.jpg
 
Hmmm.
I would be surprised if your case had anything to do with it other than if it whacked something. It's really weird though that that happened if you didnt crash, drop it or try to stuff it in something too tight. That epoxy should be enough to repair it from what I see.
I'm thinking about what I would do to increase the strength that you might be able to do but the biggest deal is to get the glue spread between and spread on both sides.
As far as Yuneec covering anything I personally doubt it but honestly havent a clue. Someone else is going to have to weigh in on that. It would stink to send it to them and they end up taking forever to get back to you and say it will cost $100 or more to change out the body. Theres no way they would glue it.
Do yourself a favor and verify that those 3 motor screws are all turned in and have no play. Dont need to overtighten them just need to make sure they are seated flat against the plastic.
Does that motor turn like the other 3 and have that stutter feel? I'm really doubting you have an actual motor issue. From what I've seen those motors are great and unless there was some weird defect I just dont think they fail.
There are a ton of reviews that remark on how surprised they are at how stable the breeze is even in some pretty strong wind considering the small props. My opinion is the motors are much better than they need to be.
Would like to also mention that anyone buying aftermarket props is likely making a big mistake as I've tried a few different brands and ALL of them were messed up in some way. Most of the issues are the grommets hole is slightly too small and the props will not freely swing in the pins causing crash after crash after crash. You absolutely need to spend the $ on OEM ones BUT there is a caveat to that.
What I've found is that the OEM ones that come in the little folding white box that come with it are the best but the other ones that come in a Yuneec package are slightly tighter as if the aftermarket ones grommet hole is slightly smaller but still allow a normal flight and wont cause a crash.
I mention this because if you have changed those blades they better move freely. I've messed around with trying to slightly enlarge the aftermarket grommets but it's just too difficult with the tools I have on hand so i wasted probably $50 trying to get cheaper ones.
You made a comment on reselling it at some point and yes you would probably take a big hit on it because of the crack even repaired and my opinion is dont even think about selling it. I'm hoping you got yours after the huge price drop at $180 or less as you got a good deal. If anyone jumps on the forum saying they are thinking about buying a much more expensive drone like an H I would push them to buy a breeze first or at least at the same time so they have something smaller but still flys easy to practice on. You can get one for about the cost of a single H battery so why not learn on the best deal out there. I cant think of anything that compares for that kind of $ and some people have gotten them for as low as $100 brand new.
 
Last edited:
Hmmm.
I would be surprised if your case had anything to do with it other than if it whacked something. It's really weird though that that happened if you didnt crash, drop it or try to stuff it in something too tight. That epoxy should be enough to repair it from what I see.
I'm thinking about what I would do to increase the strength that you might be able to do but the biggest deal is to get the glue spread between and spread on both sides.
As far as Yuneec covering anything I personally doubt it but honestly havent a clue. Someone else is going to have to weigh in on that. It would stink to send it to them and they end up taking forever to get back to you and say it will cost $100 or more to change out the body. Theres no way they would glue it.

It’s not like I have never crashed it, I did a few times where it landed in snow, but my last flight with it last weekend did not indicate to me any issues, it was flying fine, so not sure why it cracked, unless one of the crashed end up causing it to snap me the case or something. So frustrating!
 
Now that's more telling. My current guess is that it cracked in the cold and slowly got worse. I live in upstate NY just outside of Rochester and havent fown at all since it got cold out. Way too easy for plastic to crack and you really need to pay attention to your battery capacity as it can drop like a rock or suddenly drop out on you as the % gets around that 20% mark.
What I've been doing is nodding some of my drones with things such as antenna upgrades, fpv camera stuff, lighting additions and the like. I have a 4 level split 1605 sq ft not including the basement and all the rooms are small so it's not much fun even flying little stuff. I've collected quite a lot of great deal stuff but havent flown almost any of them because of the cold.
Heres some pics of them in a spare bedroom. It was my sons room and needs repainting.
I'm going through the paperwork for them to make sure I've got it all in order. Theres a whole bunch of breezes in another room that I'm not showing plus a few other drones. The pic with the 3 breezes are the latest ones I've wired up for some lighting but havent decided exactly what I want to do yet. Theres also another emaxx 4wd truck that I'm messing with that would normally be sitting next to the other one.
Basically what you are seeing is a couple MJX Bug 3s, a Force1 (Bugs 3 clone), Bugs 3 Pro, couple of Bugs 3 minis, some Propel Batwings, a Heli, some mini/micros, a Visuo XS-801S, tello, Star trek enterprises, millenium Falcons, XK X520 xvert (drone/plane that I'm dying to fly) and a whole lot of Propel Star Wars tie fighter/speeder and x-wing collector edition crazy fantastic drones that I got an absolute steel on. Even at $200 each the Propel Star Wars drones were reviewed as being great and I paid about $33 each for from an Ebay seller that was trying to establish a name for themselves. They are amazing considering all the attention to detail you get with one and fly really well too. Too many people dont read the instructions as you can easily set the trims if you need too. Just happened to get lucky when I heard about them. 20190218_152056.jpeg20190218_152105.jpeg20190218_152114.jpeg20190218_152125.jpeg20190218_152129.jpeg20190218_152133.jpeg20190218_152141.jpeg20190218_152211.jpeg20190218_152257.jpeg20190218_152834.jpeg
 
Now that's more telling. My current guess is that it cracked in the cold and slowly got worse. I live in upstate NY just outside of Rochester and havent fown at all since it got cold out. Way too easy for plastic to crack and you really need to pay attention to your battery capacity as it can drop like a rock or suddenly drop out on you as the % gets around that 20% mark.
What I've been doing is nodding some of my drones with things such as antenna upgrades, fpv camera stuff, lighting additions and the like. I have a 4 level split 1605 sq ft not including the basement and all the rooms are small so it's not much fun even flying little stuff. I've collected quite a lot of great deal stuff but havent flown almost any of them because of the cold.
Heres some pics of them in a spare bedroom. It was my sons room and needs repainting.
I'm going through the paperwork for them to make sure I've got it all in order. Theres a whole bunch of breezes in another room that I'm not showing plus a few other drones. The pic with the 3 breezes are the latest ones I've wired up for some lighting but havent decided exactly what I want to do yet. Theres also another emaxx 4wd truck that I'm messing with that would normally be sitting next to the other one.
Basically what you are seeing is a couple MJX Bug 3s, a Force1 (Bugs 3 clone), Bugs 3 Pro, couple of Bugs 3 minis, some Propel Batwings, a Heli, some mini/micros, a Visuo XS-801S, tello, Star trek enterprises, millenium Falcons, XK X520 xvert (drone/plane that I'm dying to fly) and a whole lot of Propel Star Wars tie fighter/speeder and x-wing collector edition crazy fantastic drones that I got an absolute steel on. Even at $200 each the Propel Star Wars drones were reviewed as being great and I paid about $33 each for from an Ebay seller that was trying to establish a name for themselves. They are amazing considering all the attention to detail you get with one and fly really well too. Too many people dont read the instructions as you can easily set the trims if you need too. Just happened to get lucky when I heard about them. View attachment 14590View attachment 14591View attachment 14592View attachment 14593View attachment 14594View attachment 14595View attachment 14596View attachment 14597View attachment 14598View attachment 14599

Wow, that is very cool. You love your drones it looks like. I am a star trek fan so think those are very cool! You have a lot of Breezes, no wonder you know so much about them. I am thinking of getting a Yuneec Q500 4K as my next drone, but trying to do some research first.

With regards to my breeze, I think I will just glue it and hope it holds and doesn’t come crashing to the ground one of these days! Lol
 
If you're only going to use glue, make sure as suggested, scratch the surface, and a small piece of paper towel for a bit of added strength.
 
Last edited:
If you're only going to use glue, make sure as suggested, scratch the surface, and a small piece of paper towel for a bit of added strength.

I guess I meant glue meaning something like you recommended. I did some research on some repairing plastic etc, and found some articles on different adhesives that people recommended:

These three kept popping up in articles.

Plastaide
Gorilla Glue
Plastic weld

Any thoughts? Thanks again for all your help!
 

New Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
20,977
Messages
241,829
Members
27,382
Latest member
Sierrarhodesss