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Propellers

These are what allow the motors to generate that thrust. You choose the size of the propeller based off the the wheelbase of the quadcopter. Like motors, you will need CW and CCW propellers. 

 

Here is how to tell which direction a propeller spins in. First of all if you familiar with the way an airplane wing is designed and how airplanes gain altitude, you should be able to tell right away. 

First, make sure the top of the propeller is facing up. You could tell if it is right side up by making sure that the concavity that forms from about the mid-region of the blade to the tip is facing downward. Another marker is that usually manufactures will engrave the dimensions of the propeller on the part that is supposed to face up. 

 

You should notice two things. 

  1. The blades on the propeller curve downward. 

  2. Although the change isn’t huge but generally one side of the blade will be a little bit thicker than the other side of the blade. 

 

The thinner part of the blade which is at the end of the downward curve is the trailing part. So if the thin part is on the right, then the blade spins to the left. When the propeller spins, the blade catches the air, and it travels downward along the negative slope which in turn pushes the quadcopter up. See picture below of an airplane wing if you are still confused. A drone propeller works in the same way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a note on materials. Nylon is an excellent material for propellers. I have crashed my quadcopter 6 times and they are still in excellent shape. I would recommend to stay away from plastic propellers because they tend to be easier to break.

 

Propellers are measured in two different ways. There is the diameter and the pitch. Both measured in inches. Remember the 1045 prop spec in the motor description?

The 10 represents the diameter of the propeller in inches. 45 actually represents 4.5 inches and this is the measurement for the pitch of the propeller. It is usually written in this format. The diameter is the distance between the two ends of the propeller. The pitch is measurement of how far a propeller will move through the air for every single rotation of the motor/propeller. However, this greatly varies because it depends on how much the quadcopter weighs, the speed of the motors, wind resistance, etc. That is a basic explanation for pitch though.

 

Refer to the website listed below for a good description on recommended prop sizes in correlation to the wheelbase and for an explanation on the effect of different pitches and diameters.

http://mydronelab.com/blog/arduino-quadcopter.html

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