Iris+ arm replacement how to

Posted by DavidFolts on May 4, 2015 at 8:49pm

Well today I experienced a flyaway while in loiter, and the result was 2 broken arms, both on the right side.

So I proceeded to open up Pandora's box! 

Seriously! To replace the arms I need to desolder and resolder the motor and led leads? Son of a bitch.

OK then, anyone of y'all got any how-to suggestions for performing the replacement?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

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Replies

  • Thomas Reinsel August 4, 2015 at 10:49am

    I just experienced a broken arm and opened up to see what's involved and to be honest the soldering has me concerned on many fronts...  I sure wish they had plug in clips for the motors to replace parts...

    I just ordered another Iris on Amazon and will keep this as parts or pull the PixHawk out for parts / value....

    Does anyone know of a US repair center?

    I personally am not going to get into soldering just like how I don't repair antenna's on the RC.

    • Ray > Thomas Reinsel August 4, 2015 at 11:55am

      What they really should have is removable caps for the bottoms of the motor mounts that would let you drop the motor and wires through to the bottom of the arms. Then the wires wouldn't have to be messed with at all.  Probably cost 30 cents more per arm vs the one piece castings.  Kind of surprises me with the otherwise good design.

    • Thomas Reinsel > Ray August 4, 2015 at 1:15pm

      Agree Ray...  I'm not so sure the fate of the Iris but it sure has been a great aircraft for me.  

      My issue was a silly pilot error not waiting for more or better GPS after we hiked up to a forested area to do a tree canopy map project.  I had purchased spare arms and legs for whenever something might happen and now that I know what's potentially involved in un-soldering key area's - I'll just do a entire replacement and keep the Pixhawk...

    • Ray > Thomas Reinsel August 4, 2015 at 4:49pm

      Well, I am just a hobbyist and a glutton for punishment so I ordered a replacement esc/power board and I get to do even more work.  And partly I like trying to solve a good puzzle.  But I'd rather be flying and I am pretty pissed off at the poor arm design that turns what should be a 10 minute pop off the case, 4 bolts, and swap the arm job, into an hour or more workshop job with more difficulty than it should have.  This would NOT be a good thing in a commercial operation if you broke an arm in the field.  Even if you had a spare one it is just not a quick repair.  Honestly if I didn't have the FPV kit and a spare battery I'd be tempted to go with one of the other brands at this point.

  • Martin Ginkel May 5, 2015 at 12:41am

    Well you pretty much named the essential steps:

    * remove upper and lower shell

    * remove LED-cover (pry loose carefully) and cable clips

    * remove motor bolts

    * take a photo of the motor wires at the ESC board (to remember when re-soldering)

    * un-solder LED and motor wires

    * remove 4 bolts of the arm, detach and remove motor

    * attach in reverse order, be sure that the motor spins in correct direction afterwards

    • DavidFolts > Martin Ginkel May 5, 2015 at 10:50am

      And I'm rusty with the soldering iron, so to speak.

      The copter was on the ground for about 45 minutes before I found it (in a forest).  I'm lucky it didn't get snagged high up in a 86 foot tree.  Should I test the unit to ascertain if the ESC has been damaged?  Or just get the parts, and repair first?

  • Larry Farquhar May 4, 2015 at 9:12pm

    Here's a video showing how it's done.

    Dropbox - Error
    Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again!
    • Andrew Chilton > Larry Farquhar October 27, 2015 at 7:12am

      Larry, any chance you could repost the video link above?  Im getting a broken link message from Dropbox... and I have three legs to replace on my Iris+

      Thanks in advance

      ac

    • Aram Robledo > Andrew Chilton October 27, 2015 at 2:40pm

      Hey Andrew, 

      That video was removed by the original poster. You can use this reference https://3drobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/replacing-the-arm... and instead of cutting and resoldering you can just disolder and resolder directly at the 4in1 ESC. 

    • Aysten Frost > Aram Robledo October 27, 2015 at 4:12pm

      Good idea, or if you are patient enough, add a female and male bullet connector after cutting each wire where it says to cut for future crash repair.

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