Raging Rotors: Ask Cub…Mato Sauce?
Hey guys, Cubby was sifting through his emails and shipped this one my way, which is a great observation/question from S. Kayess:
“I have a rather unique question for you. I would like to purchase a Proto-x FPV and I noticed in picsures that I’ve seen, that the two front translucent white rotor blades look really cool lit up in the pale blue color of the LED lights which are located on its frame shining up at the blades while flying indoors. So I got the idea of using the spare blades that come with the FPV to replace the rear black blades with the white spares so that the front blades glow in pale blue and the rear blades glow in the red color of the rear LED’s that shine up from the frame.
My question is this: If the FPV comes with exact matching spare blades as what is already on it. Can I take the two spare white blades and put the right rear blade on the left rear so it remains oriented properly with the right front? And take the left rear blade and put it on the right rear so it remains oriented properly with the left front? As far as I can tell this should work, shouldn’t it?”
The answer is YES! One can always use different color props, especially when taking advantage of something like the LEDs of the ProtoX FPV quadcopter. As for the correct propellers, there are a few things to keep in mind in order to keep the quad from flipping immediately after takeoff due to prop installation issues.
To start, the leading edge of the blade needs to face the direction of motor rotation. The leading edge of a propeller is the edge of the blade that points at an angle towards the sky, and is also usually the thicker edge of the propeller as well, as seen in the diagram to the right. On Counter-Clockwise motors, the leading edge should be pointing Counter-Clockwise, and the same goes for Clockwise motors, with the leading edge of the prop facing the same direction.
Which leads to my next point: there’s a quick trick that covers almost all quadcopters that makes propeller checks and installations easy:
- The propellers on the front arms of the quad rotate so that the spin points towards the center of the quad. Therefore, the front left motor is clockwise and the front right motor is counter-clockwise.
- The motors diagonal from the front motor spin in the same direction, therefore the rear right motor is clockwise and the rear left motor is counter-clockwise. You can see I have labeled this Alias to visually demonstrate; the matching colors show the motors spin in the same direction.
Here’s a neat little trick for those of you with the Proto-X FPV or Dromida Kodo that want more color than just the LEDs: Traxxas QR-1 Colored Propellers (Part #6226) will work on your quads!
Thank you again S. for the great question, and you all should feel free to ask me anything via kevin at bigsquidrc dot com.
That will do it for me, so until next time, Stay Shiny and Keep Flyin’!
