Homemade Mods and Guards

Intruder101 · Apr 12, 2015

Hi all,

I have been scamming soo many ideas off this forum so that I am starting to feel guilty

. (not really) Now I thought I sort of give back, for what it's worth:

To start off, I treated my props with ArmorAll, if nothing else it gives it less friction through the air. And I believe since then the blades are every so slightly quieter.

Just spray and let them soak for a few minutes. Then wipe them down with a soft cloth.

Then since I am more about the instant satisfaction I thought I wanted to "build" a gimbal guard for transporting the bird rather than ordering from the internet ans waiting a few weeks for delivery. Looking around the garage I found some paint stirs from the local hardware store. Seems like a perfect fit.

I cut it into two strips, 5.75" (should have gone slightly longer, maybe 5 7/8" or even 6" to give it more wedge between the gear)

Then filed them down and wedged it into the landing gear. Instant gimbal guard for about, let's say nothing.zerozero dollars

It even fits into the case nicely when flying or extra.

One project that did not turn out so well was my home made prop balancing rod. I got some 1/4" aluminum rods and two 6mm thread cutting dies (CW and CCW). however along the production I slightly bent the rods just enough that they dont balance the props without bias to it's own weight. I have a short piece left and will try one more time. If that doesn't turn out I will buy the rod off of EBay.

After all that you can see I adopted the 1" PVC pipe ring landing gear extensions. I used black PVC pive, it is more slightly flexible than the white DWV pipe.

So, maybe this inspires you to post your homemade inventions and mods.

Take care.

battman2036 · Apr 12, 2015

all your links are broken

Intruder101 · Apr 12, 2015

battman2036 said:
all your links are broken

Great, first post and nothing works... I'll try to fix it. Thanks

Hope this works now, made some changes to the media embedded.

tcope · Apr 13, 2015

Soaking props in Armor All will not make them spin any faster.

I like the pipe mod.

Intruder101 · Apr 13, 2015

tcope, thanks for the comments. I used the pipe idea from other posts, no credit deserved here...

tcope said:
Soaking props in Armor All will not make them spin any faster.

Yeah, not sure about the speed, but it seems quieter.

So, is this your opinion or do you have evidence that improved aerodynamical drag negatively influences performance and thereby can not incease speed? It would be super interesting to see if someone with a handheld dynamo can measure any difference...

N017RW · Apr 13, 2015

Intruder101 said:
tcope, thanks for the comments. I used the pipe idea from other posts, no credit deserved here...

Yeah, not sure about the speed, but it seems quieter.

So, is this your opinion or do you have evidence that improved aerodynamical drag negatively influences performance and thereby can not incease speed? It would be super interesting to see if someone with a handheld dynamo can measure any difference...

Typically when one makes a claim such as:

"I treated my props with ArmorAll, if nothing else it gives it less friction through the air. And I believe since then the blades are every so slightly quieter" one needs to provide supporting evidence and expect challenges.

Simply saying, in a matter of speaking, " do you have evidence I'm wrong?" will fall short every time.

It's way more complicated that your simple assumption. The texture of an object's surface AND IT'S SHAPE play a role in drag coefficient.

For example... Do you know why a golf isn't smooth?

tcope · Apr 13, 2015

Intruder101 said:
So, is this your opinion or do you have evidence that improved aerodynamical drag negatively influences performance and thereby can not incease speed? It would be super interesting to see if someone with a handheld dynamo can measure any difference...

I can say it's based on what I've learned about the subject from many other sources. The coating of chemical left on the props is so super thin and the many other variables so much greater that the coating would not make any difference. I'd say it's comparable to flying through smoke.

With that said, I've coated my entire Phantom in 303 Aerospace Protectant but this was to give the plastic better UV protection and to make it easier to wipe off sand.

Intruder101 · Apr 14, 2015

N017RW said:
Typically when one makes a claim such as:

"I treated my props with Armor All, if nothing else it gives it less friction through the air. And I believe since then the blades are every so slightly quieter" one needs to provide supporting evidence and expect challenges.

Agreed to the challenges part.

My support is that it seems to be more quiet to my ears, and proof would be the result from the time when I mistakenly treated my riding lawnmower seat with Armor All and went to cut the grass on a steep incline.

That proof has no chemical composition formula, however should lend proof to the fact that there was a lot less drag, ergo that should help the 8 or 9K RPM by at least one or two RPMs.

N017RW said:
The texture of an object's surface AND IT'S SHAPE play a role in drag coefficient.

Thank you for the lesson in physics. I've worked the past 25 years in military aviation, fixed wing and rotary wing. And I hold a BS degree in Aeronautical Engineering & Design from ERAU. It's safe to assume I understand the workings of a fixed wing and rotating propeller and how it creates lift.

N017RW said:
For example... Do you know why a golf isn't smooth?

No, but you now made me look it up . That is fascinating. But hardly much similarity with a smooth propeller.

Hey N017RW, thanks for the challenge and entertainment. In reality I really just wanted to add something productive to the forum and not get in a contest of the minds... Let's move on.

Intruder101 · Apr 14, 2015

tcope said:
I can say it's based on what I've learned about the subject from many other sources. The coating of chemical left on the props is so super thin and the many other variables so much greater that the coating would not make any difference. I'd say it's comparable to flying through smoke.

With that said, I've coated my entire Phantom in 303 Aerospace Protectant but this was to give the plastic better UV protection and to make it easier to wipe off sand.

The props are spinning somewhere between 8K and 9K RPMs as far as I understand. That is 150 times per second.The slightest changes could help on or two revolutions per second and thereby increase the RPMs by 60 to 120 revolutions. Keyword here: could.

The protectant 303 you mentioned, has many similar applications compared to Armor All. The best one,which you mentioned, the UV blocker.

Nice add on to the post. Maybe there is someone out there that will repeat that. Thanks.

Glassman · Apr 14, 2015

303 Protectant is terrific on plastic and rubber for UV protection. I've been using it on my boats, RVs and all the outdoor toys for years.
I use a product called All Kleer on the windshield of my off-road vehicle to help control static cling and dust accumulation - the high desert where we ride is extremely dry and dusty.
I was introduced to All Kleer by a pilot buddy of mine. It does work and just maybe something like that would be good to use on a quad copter?

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/cs/cleaners_windshield/allKleer.php

Intruder101 · Apr 14, 2015

Glassman said:
I use a product called All Kleer on the windshield of my off-road vehicle to help control static cling and dust accumulation - the high desert where we ride is extremely dry and dusty.
I was introduced to All Kleer by a pilot buddy of mine. It does work and just maybe something like that would be good to use on a quad copter?

I will need to look into this product for other uses for my other hobbies. I also use Rain Ex on my car and truck windshield to have less crud and moisture sticking to it. And on the motorcycles' windshields I use Plexus, we use that on our windshields in the Air Force. This spray has characteristics of many compounds and chemicals, combined...

Thanks Glassman.

flybynight · Apr 18, 2015

Intruder101 said:
I will need to look into this product for other uses for my other hobbies. I also use Rain Ex on my car and truck windshield to have less crud and moisture sticking to it. And on the motorcycles' windshields I use Plexus, we use that on our windshields in the Air Force. This spray has characteristics of many compounds and chemicals, combined...

Thanks Glassman.

Well I spayed my wife down with armor all just now and she actually got louder,not quieter as i was hoping.